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

(Insert Research Method Here) Doesn’t Smell Like Roses

by Amanda Murdie | 18 October, 2016 |

There’s an interesting debate going on over at openGlobalRights.  Drawing on their recent Social Problems article, Neve Gordon and Nitza Berkovitch provocatively accuse human rights quantitative scholars of “concealing social wrongs” by using quantitative cross-national data that does not account for the disproportionately high voter disenfranchisement among African Americans.  Todd Landman and Chad Clay, two scholars known for their use/production of quantitative human rights data respond to Gordon and Berkovitch, saying that their piece ignores much quantitative human rights scholarship...

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Manufacturing Dissent: How The New York Times Covered the Brexit Vote

by Amanda Murdie | 29 September, 2016 |

The following is a guest post by Nives Dolšak, Professor, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs at the University of Washington, Seattle, and Aseem Prakash, Professor, Department of Political Science and Walker Family Professor for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle. The Brexit vote has come and gone. After the initial shock, the world seems to have refocused on events elsewhere.  Importantly, the British economy is doing fine; the British pound trades more or less at the same level against the US dollar or the Euro, as it did prior to the Brexit...

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We Need More Metal! The Political Economy of Heavy Metal

by Amanda Murdie | 19 August, 2016 |

The following is a guest post by Dr. Robert G. Blanton, Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  For as long as it has existed, heavy metal music has been associated with controversy – the aggressive nature of the music and lyrics arouses seemingly constant suspicion and often deep dislike, and metal bands have long been the target of controversies and even legal actions (some unfounded, some not). Somewhat ironically, there is an increasing awareness of the beneficial impacts of heavy metal for emotional well-being and possibly governance. Indeed President Obama famously...

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Gearing up for the Academic Job Market: Don’t Dabble

by Amanda Murdie | 10 August, 2016 |

There are many things worth dabbling in: Pokeman Go!, the arts, alternative medicine, old films, astrology, gourmet cuisine….the list could go on and on.  I really like when people, including graduate students, tell me they are dabbling in these things or other hobbies.  It’s probably going to help both their productivity and their overall happiness. As much as I like “dabblers” in those types of things, here’s one that I’m really tired of graduate students saying they’re dabbling in: The Academic Job Market Every year, I get students that contact me saying that they are planning to “dip...

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Could the Olympics Help Human Rights?

by Amanda Murdie | 5 August, 2016 |

Grab your popcorn – opening ceremonies for Rio 2016 are tonight! It’s my favorite part of the Olympics; I really could do without the whole “sport” thing that comes after.  And, one of my favorite parts of tonight’s opening ceremonies are when the various country teams get to be announced: the parade of nations. I love the outfits, the flags, the background stories, the family members crying, and the look on the faces of all the athletes who are in the midst of a dream realized. It’s too much and, much to my family’s chagrin, I probably will be crying by the end of it. Until quite recently,...

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Keep Your Political Interference to Yourself: A Case for Academic Freedom and Shared Governance

by Amanda Murdie | 19 June, 2016 |

Hi, Ducks!  It’s me, Amanda.  It’s been a long time.  I’ve not blogged in awhile. There were many reasons for the break.  First, it was a busy spring: I finished up being the ISA Program Chair, got a new position I am excited about, and continued working on projects that I love. It’s also been a very sad spring.  In fact, it was a pretty sad year at the University of Missouri, where I’ve worked for the past 4 years. Mizzou faced a season of growth, some of it which I was super supportive of.   In August, I marched with graduate students when their health insurance was taken away (with less...

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Citation Count Data and Faculty Promotion

by Amanda Murdie | 18 February, 2016 |

The following is a guest post by Dan Reiter, the Samuel Dobbs Candler Professor of Political Science at Emory University. Dr. Cullen Hendrix’s recent Duck of Minerva post on citation counts sparked a vibrant discussion about the value of citation counts as measures of scholarly productivity and reputation. Beyond the question of whether citation count data should be used, we should also ask, how are citation count data being used?  We already know that, for better or worse, citation count data are used in many quantitative rankings, such as those produced by Academic Analytics and the...

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PhD-in-Hand? Why?

by Amanda Murdie | 4 February, 2016 |

Inside Higher Ed must be having a slow news week.[1] Today, they are reporting on the APSA 2014-2015 Graduate Placement Survey as if it’s brand new.  The report actually came out in early December.  Oh, well. When I read the report – and shared it with my grad students –in December, I was struck by something that the Inside Higher Ed editor highlighted today: "More ABDs are starting full job searches, and fewer of those in the expanded pool are landing faculty positions, study finds." That finding is technically true.  About 32% of ABDs[2] were “not placed” in any job – tenure-track,...

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The Importance of Evidence-Based Human Rights Advocacy

by Amanda Murdie | 9 November, 2015 |

The following is a guest post by Michele Leiby & Matthew Krain of The College of Wooster. We are at a moment where there’s more media attention, research and advocacy on behalf of global human rights than ever before. Given our common interests and goals as members of an international human rights community, it’s surprising how infrequently and ineffectually we communicate and contribute directly to one another’s work. Our recent research on the efficacy of human rights messaging is both informed by this gap and an effort to bridge it. We know that advocacy groups often deal with issues,...

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Gearing Up for the Academic Job Market: Getting THE CALL

by Amanda Murdie | 20 October, 2015 | ,

Mid-October is a beautiful time of year – leaves are changing, the air is getting crisp, and there are a variety of outdoor activities to partake in.  All of the wonderfulness of October is meaningless, however, to a special group of individuals: those on the academic job market that are worried about employment in the next academic year.  For this group, mid-October is typically the beginning of the horrible downward spiral of (a) hitting refresh on your inbox[1], (b) double checking that your phone is on and charged, (c) trying to have the willpower to avoid checking job rumor websites,...

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