Brandon Valeriano

James Bond Made Redundant

by Brandon Valeriano | 19 October, 2021 | Nerdblogging, Race, Security

There is perhaps no greater film institution than the James Bond franchise. Over 27 movies and 59 years from Doctor No (1962) to Goldfinger (1964) to the modern era of Goldeneye (1995) and Skyfall (2012), Bond is a touchstone in many people lives, although not without controversy. Bond is a threat to women, minorities, and buildings yet also an in-demand entertainment property. That is all over now. James Bond has been made redundant The central question in the latest Bond movie, No Time to Die (2021), is how does James Bond fit into our modern world? In an era of technology and advanced...

Ducking Out…

by Brandon Valeriano | 19 May, 2014 | Featured

Am I the first to use the pun “ducking out”? I can’t be, someone has to have used that to describe leaving the Duck of Minerva before. Regardless, this brings up two key problems with blogging, the quick move towards the cheap pun and to the tendency to do no actual background research on before a post. I am probably prone to both. In any case, I am moving on from the Duck. I will be moving over to RelationsInternational to help build a new blog. I think blogging is an increasingly important part of our academic jobs and we need more voices in this community. Therefore it is in our...

A Tale of Three Cyber Security Articles

by Brandon Valeriano | 15 May, 2014 | Featured

Cyber security has been on the general security agenda for some time now, but it is only recently that Political Scientists have really engaged the topic in a serious manner befitting of the theoretical and empirical advances in the field. In general, we have ceded this ground to those who either have a vested interest in the question (the cyber security industry) or to those who seek to inflate the threat based on imagined fears. This blog will review some recent work in the field and evaluate the state of knowledge plus future directions. Many pundits comment and pontificate on cyber...

The War against Neologisms: Calling Out “New” Types of War

by Brandon Valeriano | 8 May, 2014 | Featured

It seems that every pundit, scholar, and borderline academic publishing online has developed a new term to describe the state of war in the system. I can’t browse the pages of Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, or even the New York Times without someone making up a new term to articulate basic and common features of modern warfare. When I was younger (a wee political science bairn in Scottish), I thought all political scientists ever did was make up terms. A disproportionate number of the scholars we learn about in undergraduate classes include people who coined terms. No matter if these...

Things to do after finishing a book

by Brandon Valeriano | 2 May, 2014 | Featured

I just finished my cyber security book, provisionally titled Cyber Hype versus Cyber Reality. The feeling of loss has set in. I don’t know what to do with myself now, I am sleeping more than normal (but that could just be jet lag). Working on articles seems like too small a task. Starting a new project seems too big. How to get over this hump? On such occasions, a moment of reflection is order. If you had asked me two months ago, I would have sworn books are the best route to go in academic publishing. The ability to compose on one theme from beginning to end - to construct a near...

John Vasquez, Territoriality, and Staying Ahead of the Game

by Brandon Valeriano | 15 April, 2014 | Featured

by Brandon Valeriano and Andy Owsiak What follows is a dialog between us on John Vasquez’s contributions to the field of IR based on a recent roundtable honoring his work at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association in Toronto in March, 2014. Our remarks are cribbed from our statements on the panel. Brandon- Sometimes it is so hard to find a picture of a Duck that looks like your mentor… For many scholars, the cap on their career might be a roundtable covering the contributions they have made to the field and the scholars they have ushered into our community. For John...

Political Science without a Net

by Brandon Valeriano | 7 April, 2014 | Featured

Marc Maron, on his popular WTF Podcast, made an offhand remark that he does not prepare for his comedy performances. He feels that preparing is for cowards, that you need to be ready and willing to fail in your work since there is a fine line between a unique achievement and total failure. Skirting this line led him to ruin many times in his career, but it has also led him to the transcendent place he is at now. He has reached the heights of his field by putting it all on the line and risking total devastation by focusing on his Podcast, a new and untested medium at the time. Now he has...

The ISA Survival Guide: Everyone needs some Crack Pie

by Brandon Valeriano | 21 March, 2014 | Featured

ISA is coming, like winter for the Starks; it’s always just around the bend. Luckily, I almost have nothing but fond memories of ISA. It was my first conference and will be the one I remain loyal to for as long as I remain able. The key though is to maximize your experience. I know too many academics who never leave the hotel, never leave panels, and don't see the world. And please, take off your badge if you do leave the conference. My start with ISA was not auspicious since I ended up 20 minutes late to my own panel due to a mix up with the conference buses. This leads to the...

Failing at Football Diplomacy

by Brandon Valeriano | 13 March, 2014 | Featured

There has been a bit of recent news lately suggesting international football* considerations are making the divisions between states greater, supporting the idea that sports might not be the path to peace and reconciliation. While a few cases cannot disprove an idea, recent moves point in a troubling direction for the theory that we can settle differences between states on the football pitch. Relating back to early theories of functionalism, any form of cooperation, even on the sports pitch, might be beneficial to countries at odds with each other. The communication provided through...

Ukraine – Cyber Speculation Run Rampant (Updated)

by Brandon Valeriano | 7 March, 2014 | Featured

*I was a bit too quick to post last week and had to add quite a few recent events. Nothing changed my original analysis (BV 3/10/2014) With my most of research right now heavily focused on cyber conflict, it might be useful to review all the news on the cyber situation between Ukraine and Russia. There have been many posts on the Duck and elsewhere (Monkey Cage macro post) covering the conflict (here, here, here, here, here), so I will refrain from summarizing the basics. The cyber situation on the other hand has shown a remarkable amount of restraint, defying conventional wisdom but also...

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