The Duck of Minerva

Amanda Murdie

Amanda Murdie is Professor & Dean Rusk Scholar of International Relations in the Department of International Affairs in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia. She is the author of Help or Harm: The Human Security Effects of International NGOs (Stanford, 2014). Her main research interests include non-state actors, and human rights and human security. When not blogging, Amanda enjoys hanging out with her two pre-teen daughters (as long as she can keep them away from their cell phones) and her fabulous significant other.

Recent Posts

Human rights NGOs: Just Hot Air?

by Amanda Murdie | 3 December, 2012 |

Charli’s posts on Human Rights Watch and Autonomous Weapons got me thinking: should we really expect human rights international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to influence weapons systems?   On the whole, human rights NGOs are a pretty powerless lot: NGOs don’t control military resources like states do and they are typically not at the decision-making table.  Why would a powerful state ever listen to the musings of an NGO?  Are all of these reports and calls-for-action by NGOs really just hot air? This large question – the impact of organizations like Human Rights Watch – has been on...

read more

Tuesday Morning Linkage

by Amanda Murdie | 20 November, 2012 |

Good morning! Obama became the first sitting president to visit Myanmar/Burma yesterday.  Plus, Amnesty International announced the release of political prisoners in the country yesterday, too.  It’s a little rare for the organization to “name and praise” instead of “name and shame” so I wonder about the logic of Amnesty’s press release….hmm…that’s an interesting research question Obama is also working on maritime disputes during his trip.  Check out Doug Gibler’s post on maritime disputes (and territorial disputes more generally) at The Monkey Cage And: ISQ just posted a bunch of Early View...

read more

More doubt about human security improvement

by Amanda Murdie | 15 November, 2012 |

Morning!  Check out Reed Wood's post at Political Violence @ a Glance on the lack of improvement in core physical integrity rights over time. It's not just the Political Terror Scale, either - the Physical Integrity Index from Cingranelli and Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Dataset shows the same lack of improvement over time. Update:  Check out K. Chad Clay's take on the issue at  The Quantitative Peace.  

read more

Tuesday Morning Link-up

by Amanda Murdie | 13 November, 2012 |

Welcome, Venezuela and Hugo Chávez, to a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.  The US also won a seat.  Worth noting, Hugo’s seat wasn’t contested but the seat the US won was contested.  Don’t worry, though, Council may just be there for “rhetorical inaction.”  Or, maybe it does more than that. And, new members on the Russian domestic human rights council, too.  Seems like more of before. In case you are still interested in US election prediction, check out the awesome work of Emory political scientist Drew Linzer.   Drew, is it too soon to predict 2016? Nifty new email trick (wish I had...

read more

THE ACTIVISTS: War, Peace, and Politics in the Streets

by Amanda Murdie | 5 November, 2012 |

My good friend and awesome protest/network scholar Michael Heaney at the University of Michigan has released a documentary film, THE ACTIVISTS: WAR, PEACE, AND POLITICS IN THE STREETS. The film is with Melody Weinstein and Marco Roldán and, in addition to the central message of the film, shows the power of releasing academic work in a format that can reach a larger audience. For a limited time, Michael's film is available for free viewing (just viewing - not downloading) here.    

read more

Rejection

by Amanda Murdie | 25 October, 2012 |

In an effort to add to the discussion on the “living academic,” let me give hat-tip to an often hidden part of the profession: rejection.  I’ve had a little over a dozen things accepted so far as an assistant professor. I prominently display these successes on my CV.   Hidden way in some dark place in my mind, however, is the fact that I’ve also had about 20 journal rejections – and counting. I really wish, as a profession, we instructed newbie grad students about this part of the publication process a little more.  Economists tend to do a better job on this, see this or, my favorite, this....

read more

Right to leisure?

by Amanda Murdie | 22 October, 2012 |

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) includes a right that many grad students and professors probably feel is constantly under attack: the right to leisure.  It’s there, clearly laid out in Article 24: “Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.”  Whenever I introduce the UDHR to a room full of undergrads, I always get some smart aleck in the front row that is quick to associate the document with some sort of lofty, unattainable ideal because of this right.  What exactly is the right to leisure? ...

read more

Syria and Presidential Debate Bingo

by Amanda Murdie | 15 October, 2012 |

Greetings, Duck Followers.  I’m Amanda – assistant professor at Mizzou, avid hiker, crazy sci-fi romance novel reader, and pretty competent mother.  I’m excited to be a new “duckling” on the block.  On the eve of the next US presidential debate, I’ll go out on a limb and guess that the dire human rights situation in Syria will be mentioned.  I’ll also bet that neither candidate will say definitively that a humanitarian military intervention is needed. But, in line with my research and that of my colleagues, some forms of military intervention – especially intervention with a stated...

read more