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

Translating Conference-Speak

by Amanda Murdie | 2 April, 2014 |

I’m leaving for the Midwest Political Science Association conference this afternoon, a wonderful 3 days since I returned from ISA.  I’m a little (*cough*) “conferenced-out” – it wasn’t a good idea to do both conferences so close to each other.  I am excited, however, to see all the fabulous IO panels at Midwest. As I finished up the last of my conference slides this morning, I was reflecting on the “conference-ese” we all use and what our phrases actually mean.  To the untrained participant, the phrase might not get noticed.  For the seasoned conference participant, however, it is obvious...

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How ISA is Like a Kansas Family Reunion

by Amanda Murdie | 14 March, 2014 |

As Megan noted, ISA is coming up.  I hope to see all of you at the blogging reception on Thursday evening, March 27th. As I’ve been preparing for the conference these last couple of weeks, I’m also preparing to be “blessed” with an unexpected visit from my grandparents in-laws today.[1] One of the "bonuses" of having them in my life has been their annual family reunion, held on a hot summer’s day outside of a town of 500 in Kansas.  There are many similarities between this event and ISA (or other major academic conferences).  Let me give you a few: 1.       You typically remember people...

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“A Social Science of Human Rights” – Some New Social Science

by Amanda Murdie | 7 March, 2014 |

 This morning, I woke up with a very nice notice about the 50th Anniversary Issue of Journal of Peace Research  in my inbox.  The issue is worth checking out – there’s some good stuff in there. As a human rights scholar, I was really interested in the “A Social Science of Human Rights” piece by Emilie Hafner-Burton.  While I'm happy to see human rights get a mention in this important issue, I think there is some significant literature that has been missed by Hafner-Burton's review.  I want to bring attention to this not as a “wait, why wasn’t I cited?” but because the piece raises a few...

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Depression and Academia – Let’s Talk

by Amanda Murdie | 4 March, 2014 |

Today, I fly to give a talk at my alma-mater.  As my advisor told me, it’s a victory lap.  It feels good – 5 years post PhD, great job, excitement about the future, and my family still intact.  However, the thought of going back also has me a little anxious: you see, I don’t have good memories about life in grad school.  My university was great, my advisors were fantastic, and my colleagues were super smart.  However, the whole experience was wrought with periods of anxiety, stress, and depression.   In short, my mental health really sucked in grad school. And, for much of my academic...

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The “Baptist-Burqa” Network and LGBT Advocacy

by Amanda Murdie | 28 February, 2014 |

It’s been a big and extremely depressing week for the rights of sexual minorities.  Despite some minor victories in Texas and Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s veto, anti-gay bills remain on the agenda in many US states.  Things continue to get worse in Uganda and Russia.  What can be done to help stop the abuse? Unlike many other human rights issues, as former Duck contributor Clifford Bob points out, sexual minority rights promotion is an area with a large and well organized counter-movement.  In Bob’s new book, he outlines how this “Baptist-Burqa” network of often religiously-motivated...

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Guest Post: Considering the BDS Movement from a Human Rights Perspective

by Amanda Murdie | 11 February, 2014 |

The following is a guest post by Joel R. Pruce, a post-doctoral fellow in human rights studies at the University of Dayton.  The transnational movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel continues to capture headlines and prompt crucial debate on the status of Palestinian claims to national self-determination and individual human rights protection, and the global public’s moral responsibility with respect to the ongoing conflict. Recent episodes, including the academic boycott passed by the American Studies Association and the SodaStream/ScarJo/Oxfam love triangle,...

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“Shame” on you, ISA

by Amanda Murdie | 29 January, 2014 |

Dear ISA Governing Council, Greetings.  You probably don’t know me but I’m a long-time user of your services.  My first real conference experience was at ISA Chicago in 2007.  I practiced my 10 minute presentation for hours in my hotel room and had to borrow $250 from my mom to attend.  I really benefited, however, from the feedback I received from all 7 people in the audience.  I’ve routinely attended ISA conferences in the time since 2007 and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  I’ve reviewed and contributed to ISA journals multiple times and am currently serving the Association as...

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Shouldn’t we call it the “having-a-husband” penalty?

by Amanda Murdie | 7 January, 2014 |

As Jennifer Grose at Slate reported this morning, a paper by Wendy Stock and John Siegfried at the most recent AEA meetings, had some very disturbing - but not surprising - findings in regarding women academics and marriage.  The Slate article calls it the "wife penalty."  I'd prefer it to be called the "having-a-husband penalty."  In no uncertain terms, having a husband costs: "For males, getting married within the first five years after graduation was associated with a 25 percent salary growth premium relative to other males. For females,however, getting married was associated with a 23...

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Dear Kansas Board of Regents

by Amanda Murdie | 19 December, 2013 |

Dear Kansas Board of Regents, Greetings.  You probably don’t know me but I’ve been a long-time user of your services.  I started my college career taking dual-credit courses at Pratt Community College in 1996, I attended the Kansas Board of Regents Honors Academy in 1998, and I am a graduate of one of your fine institutions, Kansas State University.  After getting my PhD, I even returned to Kansas State for 3 years as an assistant professor. I “did good” as a professor at Kansas State – I published a lot, won a big teaching award, and didn’t make waves.  Like a lot of people in my...

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Human Rights Week Roundup: New Work by (Somewhat) New Scholars

by Amanda Murdie | 13 December, 2013 |

December 10th was UN Human Rights Day, starting off Human Rights Week.  In many regards, 2013 has been a very good year for human rights practices around the world.  In other regards, 2013 has had some abysmal failures when it comes to human rights on the ground, especially the rights of sexual minorities. For our academic understanding of human rights, 2013 has been a very good year, with many excellent and novel pieces published in political science.  Although this list is in no way exhaustive, let me highlight five of my favorite new articles of 2013 by (somewhat) junior IR scholars (all...

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