The Duck of Minerva

Mansfield and Snyder were featured on NPR's Morning Edition today. Have a listen.Filed as: Democratization, Democratic Peace

The world is abuzz this morning with the news that the radical muslim group Hamas has apparently won a majority of seats in the recent parliamentary elections in Palestine. The group which in the past has called for Israel to be 'wiped off the map' has apparenlty won a a 53% majority of seats in the parliament. Hamas' victory seems due in no small part to the dissatisfaction on the part of Palestinians with the incumbent government and their inability to stem corruption. However, this turn of events obviously puts a chill on the peace process in the short term. President Bush and Secratery...

In a speech last week at a nuclear submarine base in Brittany, French President Jacques Chirac signaled a shift in his country's nuclear doctrine (for coverage see here, here, and here; for hilarity, see Chirol over at Coming Anarchy). The speech outlined the reconfiguration of French doctrine which reflects Chirac's concern with ability of regional powers/actors to threaten French strategic concerns. This shift has been in the works for over a decade (see here). Specifically, Chirac noted that France's nuclear arsenal has been reconfigured to allow for tactical, retaliatory strikes against...

The United Nations has cancelled the speaking engagement of Pakistani human rights activist Mukhtaran Mai (a.k.a. Mukhtaran Bibi). For those that don't remember, Ms. Mai was sentenced to be gang-raped by a tribal court as punishment for misconduct by her brother. She fought her rapists in court and won, giving the compensation she received to schools in her district. Apparently, the Pakistani government blocked the appearance. The appearance was to take place on the same day that the country's prime minister was appearing. The UN justified the cancellation on the grounds that member states...

Rob over at LGM has a great post in which he cogently makes the case for why the Iraq War is now screwing up our ability to effectively deal with Tehran. Besides removing an obvious security concern from Iran's western front and providing Iran with 110,000 "hostages" in the form of US troops right next store (not to mention the ability to threaten to or actually destablize Iraq domestically), Rob touches on one issue that I find particularly interesting and have mentioned before: the effect of the Iraq War on the US ability to credibly threaten adversaries.Information is critical to any...

[Updated at 2:09pm]One of the biggest stories of late is the escalating nuclear standoff between Iran and the West. There is great speculation that many of the most important parties (e.g. Russia and the EU3) are now ready to refer the matter to the UN Security Council (UNSC). Other parties, such as China, may not be ready to sign on to sanctions but are becoming increasingly aware that this problem is not going away. The five permanent members of the UNSC are meeting today to try and hammer out a consesus on the issue. What are the odds that Iran will be reported to the UNSC and have...

While there is a great deal I would like to post about right now I am constrained by a paper deadline that is fast approaching (forget for the moment that it might be the worst paper I have written in years). So, until my plate is clear (approx. next Tuesday) I simply want to point out some developing stories to watch. Once the dust settles I will have lots to say about these stories. So for now....Sharon Undergoes Emergency SurgeryThe Israeli leader who recently forged a centrist party, one thought best positioned to deliver a further Israeli withdrawl and see the creation of a Palestinian...

US District Court Judge John Jones ruled today that the policies passed by the old Dover PA school board forcing the teaching of Intelligent Design are unconstitutional. (For the full-text of the judgment click here.) Halleluiah. The best part about the ruling is that it is written by a Bush appointed judge who personally advocates Intelligent Design, so hopefully that little tidbit of information will help head off the inevitable call that the decision was made by an activist court (although judging by how the supporters of the Administration have reacted to the domestic spying case I am...

So many things going on in the world right now that I'd like to comment on, but can only link to. On top of grading and writing it looks like my sister-in-law could be having her first child any minute now. With that in mind I thought I would recommend some reading this morning. Enjoy.Pelosi Hails Democrats' Diverse War Stances: Democratic House leader Pelosi is ethused by the lack of a coherent position on an Iraq War exit strategy by Democrats, stating that while they are preparing a comprehensive agenda platform for the 2006 midterm elections it will not include an exit strategy for Iraq....

Holiday preparation, grading and related work has seriously cut into the hard-hitting, serious analysis of international political events that I would like to do right now (and I suspect that goes for my fellow members as well as posting has have been a bit slow lately). So for the time being I am forced to vent on that warrior of Christ, Bill O'Reilly.The Daily Show just did a typically hysterical bit on the conservative pundit's 'War on Christmas'. In it, they replayed an old interview O'Reilly did with marketing and advertising expert Philip Nulman. In typical fashion, O'Reilly laid out...