The Duck of Minerva

Josh Busby

Joshua Busby is a Professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin. From 2021-2023, he served as a Senior Advisor for Climate at the U.S. Department of Defense. His most recent book is States and Nature: The Effects of Climate Change on Security (Cambridge, 2023). He is also the author of Moral Movements and Foreign Policy (Cambridge, 2010) and the co-author, with Ethan Kapstein, of AIDS Drugs for All: Social Movements and Market Transformations (Cambridge, 2013). His main research interests include transnational advocacy and social movements, international security and climate change, global public health and HIV/ AIDS, energy and environmental policy, and U.S. foreign policy.

Recent Posts

Climate Change as Anarchy: The Need for A New Structural Theory of IR

Climate Change as Anarchy: The Need for A New Structural Theory of IR

by Josh Busby | 1 April, 2019 |

I arrived in Toronto for ISA on Thursday and went straight to the annual luncheon hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, which featured some of my favorite policy oriented scholars, Kori Schake, Dan Drezner, Charles Kupchan, and Barry Posen. It was a lively discussion about the rise of illiberal nationalism and what it means for world order. Someone from the audience asked about climate change, and the topic got lost in the shuffle. The last questioner, an older guy in a brilliant purple shirt, asked again about climate change and whether the international community was up to the...

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Asshole Theory of US Foreign Policy: A Primer

by Josh Busby | 12 March, 2019 |

This is a guest post from Paul Poast, an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. “Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.” That was Churchill’s summary of US foreign policy. After US President Trump’s call for “huge” monetary payments by allies hosting US troops, it seems the US is again pursuing “other possibilities.” Just as complaints about  “free-riding” allies are a regular occurrence, the US poorly treating its allies is not new. Many have lamented “American hubris”,...

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Pakistan’s Proxies: Rising Costs, Uncertain Benefits

Pakistan’s Proxies: Rising Costs, Uncertain Benefits

by Josh Busby | 9 March, 2019 | ,

This is a guest post from Adnan Naseemullah from is Senior Lecturer in International Relations, King’s College London, and the author of Development after Statism (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Indian airstrikes near Balakot inside the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the 26th of February, and Pakistani airstrikes in response, have created anxiety because nuclear conflict lies at the end of a steep escalation ladder. India was retaliating against a Valentine’s Day suicide attack on a convoy of paramilitary forces in Pulwama, in Indian-administered Kashmir, in which 42 were...

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The Politics of Embarrassment: Brand Failure in Canadian Foreign Policy

The Politics of Embarrassment: Brand Failure in Canadian Foreign Policy

by Josh Busby | 13 February, 2019 |

This is a guest post from Eric Van Rythoven. Eric Van Rythoven recently finished his PhD at Carleton University studying emotion, world politics, and security. His work is published in Security Dialogue and European Journal of International Relations. The Trudeau government is in crisis.  Yesterday morning Jody Wilson-Raybould, Canada’s former Attorney General recently demoted to Minister of Veterans Affairs, resigned from cabinet.  The resignation comes on the heels of a Globe and Mail report that someone in the Prime Minister’s Office allegedly attempted to influence...

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The Importance of Recognition in Venezuela

The Importance of Recognition in Venezuela

by Josh Busby | 2 February, 2019 | , ,

This is a guest post from Elsy Gonzalez, a PhD candidate from the University of Chicago in the Department of Political Science. Last Wednesday, January 23, President Trump recognized Venezuelan opposition leader, Juan Guaidó’s claim to the presidency. Through this statement, Trump ultimately rejected Nicolas Maduro’s government and hedged his bet on regime change in this South American country. While this behavior is hardly surprising given the recent animosity between Washington and Caracas, many other countries in the region and around the world flocked to support Guaidó as president...

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Your Publons Profile and Extra Credit in the After Life

Your Publons Profile and Extra Credit in the After Life

by Josh Busby | 30 January, 2019 |

https://twitter.com/dhnexon/status/1088916204184629248 What's the right amount of reviews to do in a year? For my university's annual performance review, I went through and counted how many I did last year, which included some grant and book proposals. I topped out around 40, which seemed like a high number to me. How many is too many?Is that actually a high number though? Perhaps that is just the price of seniority and being in the business for a good number of years. In my case, I get a lot of requests for reviews from journals outside political science, since I write on climate change...

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Duckies Reminder

Duckies Reminder

by Josh Busby | 28 January, 2019 |

This is a guest post from Brent Sasley, Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington and chair of the ISA Online Media Caucus. Just a reminder that nominations for the Duckies (Online Achievement in International Studies) will close February 1, but we are still accepting nominations until then! Send nominations to onlinemediacaucus@gmail.com. Self-nominations are welcome. The categories are: Best Blog (Group) in International StudiesBest Blog (Individual) in International Studies Best Blog Post in International Studies Best Twitter Account Special Achievement in...

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New Year. New Intentions.

New Year. New Intentions.

by Josh Busby | 2 January, 2019 |

I'm not much for New Year's resolutions, but I just listened to Pod Save America's resolutions podcast. Ana Marie Cox was a guest and talked about her approach to New Year's resolutions. She talked about "intentions" rather than resolutions since resolutions have the air of failure about them: you either completed the task or you didn't. Intentions has a quality that is less judgmental and more aspirational. Aside from some discussion of self-care (which I think is generally good), the podcast focused on time management and our interaction with technology, which resonated with me. Several of...

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2019 Duckies

2019 Duckies

by Josh Busby | 2 January, 2019 |

This is a guest post from Brent Sasley, Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington and chair of the ISA Online Media Caucus. ISA 2019 is coming up fast, so it’s time to start thinking about the Duckies! A lot has happened in the last year, and scholars and researchers have been more active than ever in trying to help us figure it all out. Let’s recognize their efforts! The Online Achievement in International Studies Reception and Awarding of the Duckies will take place on Wednesday, March 27 at 7:30pm, hosted by the ISA’s Online Media Caucus (OMC). We will first listen to...

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Dear Political Science, it is time for a SELF-REFLEXIVE turn!

Dear Political Science, it is time for a SELF-REFLEXIVE turn!

by Josh Busby | 18 December, 2018 |

This is a guest post by Lahoma Thomas, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. This piece on reflexivity and positionality emerged from a panel she organized at APSA 2016, titled: “Race in the Field: Understanding How Identity Frames Field Research”and has evolved as one of her primary research agendas. Follow her on Twitter at @LAHOMAthomas. The issues of reflexivity and positionality have been prominent features of my academic career, especially throughout my doctoral studies in political science. Reflexivity entails a critical reflection...

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