The Duck of Minerva

Bill Petti

Petti is Associate Director of Insights and Analytics at Alexion . Previously, he served as Lead Data Scientist in the Decision Sciences group at Maritz Motivation and a Global Data Strategist and Subject Matter Expert for Gallup.

Recent Posts

The Bush Doctrine as an example of Coercive Diplomacy (yes, I’m back)

by Bill Petti | 30 September, 2005 |

For those of you who where wondering where I have been (yes, all three of you:)), I have been stranded in comprehensive exam hell. Thankfully the process is now over and I passed with flying colors. Now its on to prospectus hell and dissertation hell (why do I get the feeling that grad school is a lot like Dante's Inferno, a series of ever worsening levels of pain--let's leave that discussion for another time....).On to something substantive. Dan's post on Iraq and what the exact relationship is between the Bush Doctrine and the Iraqi conflict raises some interesting questions. Dan outlines...

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The Practical Consequences of Definitions

by Bill Petti | 25 June, 2005 |

Well, the news is a flutter with talk of a new "Asian Invasion". The Chinese state-owned CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corporation) has made an unsolicitated offer for the US-based UNOCAL which trumps the current offer by Chevron. This bid follows hot on the heals of the acquisition of IBM's perosnal computer arm by the Lenova Group as well as another bid for an American company, this time Maytag, by the China-based Haier. One cannot help but see parallels (state-led--or state-'influenced'--industrial policy combined with cheap financing) between this incarnation of the Asian Invasion...

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Patrick stole my title…

by Bill Petti | 20 June, 2005 |

I guess that's what I get for waiting until everyone else has already posted. Ok, so I need to comply with the “five books I liked enough as a teen/young adult to read again as an adult” meme. After reading some other folks’ lists I am a little weary about posting mine, since I didn’t do all that much reading as a child (my teachers are still shocked that I am pursuing my PhD, as are many of those who ‘knew me when’—lets just say I wasn’t always ‘intellectually engaged’). The bit of reading I did do consisted mostly of biographies, books about baseball, and comic books (at one point I was on...

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First Principles and the Truman National Security Project

by Bill Petti | 18 June, 2005 |

Dan posted a while back on the debate over at Democracy Arsenal by members of the Truman National Security Project on what a progressive national security platform would/should look like. He provided a summary-to-date of the discussion, which I shamelessly pilfered for this post:Michael Singer started by posting a series of common principles that he felt had emerged from the Truman National Security Project's annual meeting. At America Abroad, Ivo Daalder took issue with Singer's description of American exceptionalism. Suzanne Nossel also responded to Singer's post, taking issue with each of...

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Expediency vs. Ideals or Intrinsic vs. Reputational Interests in Uzbekistan?

by Bill Petti | 15 June, 2005 |

[Cross posted at "Discord and Elaboration"]I think Patrick is on to something when he writes that the current dilemma facing the US in Uzbekistan isn't strictly one of security-vs-morality. Of course, one could (and many have) frame the issue in this way. However I think there is another way to look at the issue. I see the problem as strategy-vs-strategy, or more specifically, intrinsic interests-vs-reputational interests. The Defense Department sees the K2 airbase (K2 is shorthand for Karshi-Khanabad) as an intrinsic interest, one that is vital operationally to fighting the GWOT (Greater...

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So how good is Pedro Martinez?

by Bill Petti | 10 June, 2005 |

[Cross posted at Discord and Elaboration]As a New York Mets fan I can't help but marvel at the acquisition and the performance of Pedro Martinez this season. True, many doubted whether giving Pedro a 4-year deal given his age, loss of velocity, and recent injuries was a wise move by the Metsies, but so far the investment is paying off. It got me thinking--just exactly how good is Pedro? It seems to me that his antics over the years (the midgtet mascot, the Don Zimmer throw down, the threat to peg the Bambino in his *ss, etc.) has to some extent lessened the apprecatiation for just how...

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The US, Democratization, and Grand Strategy

by Bill Petti | 3 June, 2005 |

Cross posted at "Discord and Elaboration"G. John Ikenberry, an esteemed professor of IR at Princeton, had an interesting piece the other day at America Abroad on the seeming shift from a focus on terrorism to democratization by the Bush administration. It was a post in response to one by Anne Marie Slaughter--also of Princeton--who argued that the administration had not foresaken the fight against terrorists for a crusade of democractization, but rather the latter had subsumed the former. Slaughter writes:the Bush Administration doesn't think it has won the war on terror—that war has just...

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Conceding vs. Standing Firm: A new trend in US proliferation policy?

by Bill Petti | 31 May, 2005 |

Cross posted at Discord and Elaboration:Last week I (sort of) complained about the recent move by the US to allow Iran to begin the membership ascension process to the WTO in exchange for a further (not permanent) freeze on uranium enrichment until August, when presumably the EU3 can hammer out a more permanent deal with the Persian power. The US has refused to directly take part in the negotiations, but has worked with the EU3 in order to deploy a number of carrots and sticks. Agreeing to not veto Iranian ascension to the WTO (which has been a perennial event) seems to me to be an awfully...

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Identities, Interests, and the EU

by Bill Petti | 30 May, 2005 |

Patrick's post regarding yesterday's "Non" vote in France brings up an interesting point, one that is often missing from discussions of European integration in the MSM (mainstream media)--the importance of identity for political outcomes. Patrick argues that the vote yesterday was not driven by economic interests per se, but rather the successful framing of the issue by right and left groups as one of "us" (France) vs. "them" (other Europeans).While I believe identity played a role in this outcome I think it is more complicated than a simple self-other distinction (not that Patrick has...

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Nuclear Proliferation: Understanding Motivations and Assigning Blame

by Bill Petti | 29 May, 2005 |

Dan's post on the recent collapse of the NPT conference raises some interesting points. The recent negotiations, as well as the continuing stand-off between Iran, North Korea, and the US, leads to some very interesting questions regarding motivations, blame, and policy. I have been blogging about this issue as it pertains to Iran and North Korea over the past week, so some of this post will be based on my discussion there. Additionally, I will limit my discussion to these two states and the notion that US policy is to blame for a shift away from the NPT by non-nuclear powers. (While Iran was...

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