The Duck of Minerva

The Special Rapporteur's report on "Protecting Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms While Countering Terrorism" is making headlines for something other than countering terrorism - for (gasp) what CNSnews.com reporter Adam Brickley calls "a radical definition of gender" which he notes the UN General Assembly has already rejected several times, and implies is dangerous to global social and political organization. Others have decried the "co-optation" of the anti-terrorist report to redefine gender, argued that the report attempts to "hamstring actual counterterrorism efforts", and an "excuse...

In response to my discussion of his post "The Trouble with Dames in World Politics," Dan Drezner (among other things) challenges me to blog more, and to blog more about the issues directly related to Gender and IR - an encouragement so emphatic that it gets both bold and italic emphases.While I will start blogging more about when my book publisher thinks that's an acceptable substitute for a manuscript, those deciding on my tenure consider it service, and it paints my new house ... I (kind of) accept the challenge. Dan is right that I have not blogged a lot about issues related to gender and...

I am overdue on a journal contribution I need to finish today (hopefully, the editors don't read this blog), but couldn't pass this one up ...Referencing an article in The Daily Telegraph called "Men Lose Their Minds When Speaking to Pretty Women," Dan Drezner writes a blog entry on Foreign Policy, "The Trouble with Dames in World Politics," where he, among other things, blames the Cuban Missile Crisis on Jackie Kennedy, expresses concern that Michelle Obama might be the next Helen of Troy, muses about Angelina Jolie's relative success as a celebrity activist, and wonders what a country...

I didn't get my local newspaper in Blacksburg, and usually use national sources (the New York Times and Wall Street Journal online, mostly) to get my news. Its been awhile, actually, since I've gotten a "local" newspaper (actually, I think, since the Pensacola News Journal where I grew up) and even longer since I've had to rely on it for news ... I don't have the APSA excuse for not blogging (for the first time in my career, I didn't go). Instead, my excuse is that I didn't really have an idea how hectic moving across the country (a week before classes started), closing on my (just-built)...

I have been largely absent from the blogosphere over the last week or so, and will remain so for the next week or so, as my energy is split evenly between moving hassles and getting lost on campus at my new institutional home ... but I couldn't resist this one.I was just reading the Google News headlines to feel like I still had a pulse while I haul boxes and yell at builders, and I found this gem ... "Obama Optimistic About Mideast Peace". This is about the least intelligent article I've read in a long time (which might just mean that I don't read enough news). Among the highlights is that...

The International Studies Compendium is a field-defining project of somewhat epic proportions. According to its architects, it "will be the most comprehensive reference work of its kind for the field of international studies" - a group of literally hundreds of 10,000 word, article-length, peer-reviewed literature reviews - published in hard copy in its entirety, online with updates, and in subject-specific edited volumes. In the two years this project has been going on, it has inspired massive amounts of frustration, even more hard work, and the occasional Compendium voodoo doll. I am...