The Duck of Minerva

Jon Western

Jon Western has spent the last fifteen years teaching IR in liberal arts colleges at Mount Holyoke College and the Five Colleges in western Massachusetts. He has an eclectic range of intellectual interests but often writes on international security, U.S. foreign policy, military intervention, and human rights. He occasionally shares his thoughts about professional life in liberal arts colleges. In his spare time he coaches middle school soccer, mentors the local high school robotics team, skis, and sails.

Recent Posts

Lawrence Eagleburger

by Jon Western | 4 June, 2011 |

I'm not sure if there is any irony that Lawrence Eagleburger died in the same week that Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic appeared in the Hague to face trial on genocide and crimes against humanity. Eagleburger was the only career foreign service officer to rise to the rank of Secretary of State and in his death, he is receiving plenty of accolades for his analytical mind, his straight-talk, and his diplomatic and bureaucratic skills.My own take is more mixed. I served in INR's office of Eastern Europe and worked as an analyst on Bosnia during the war -- including responsibilities for...

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Obama’s “1967” Play

by Jon Western | 20 May, 2011 |

What to make of it? Was it significant, or just more of the same? Of course it was significant -- it is the first time a U.S. president has publicly claimed the "1967 lines" as the basis for negotiations and it came after an apparent "angry" phone call from Netanyahu to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanding that the language be removed from the speech. It was clearly meant to send a signal. For the past five months, the Obama administration's reaction to the Arab spring has been a blend of soft rhetorical support with a wait-and-see approach. (This, by the way, was exactly the...

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The Tea Party and the Future Face of American Power

by Jon Western | 11 May, 2011 |

With the politics of "budget crisis" dominating the political discourse, what does a Tea Party-dominated Republican foreign and defense policy look like? Not good. Gutting diplomacy and development and leaving defense spending largely uncut means American power becomes more blunt and unwieldy. I've written up my take in the current issue of Current Intelligence. Here's a portion: Republican Congressional leaders have pledged that nothing is off the table... Except of course, it turns out the Republicans aren’t really all that serious about cutting defense spending. With nearly 30 million...

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Office Hours…..

by Jon Western | 10 May, 2011 |

Stacie Goddard and Tom Burke from Wellesley created this "typical meeting between a student and faculty member at the Political Science Department of Wellesley College" for their annual Political Science majors' dinner. Well done.

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ICC Sheriff Too Quick on the Draw

by Jon Western | 9 May, 2011 |

This is a guest post by Leslie Vinjamuri and Jack Snyder. Leslie is Co-Director of the Centre for the International Politics of Conflict, Rights and Justice and a Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She is also the co-chair of the London Transitional Justice Network. Jack is the Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Relations at Columbia UniversityLast Wednesday’s announcement that the International Criminal Court will seek arrest warrants against three senior officials in Libya...

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Most Entertaining IR Scholar? None of the Above?

by Jon Western | 28 April, 2011 |

Steve Walt has a challenge: ...who are the most amusing, entertaining, or witty writers in the field of international relations and foreign policy? I don't mean books or articles that are "funny" because they are wildly off-base; I mean scholars who are a joy to read because their prose is lively, they offer amusing asides, and maybe even manage a laugh-out-loud witticism on occasion. And to narrow the field a bit more, let's exclude journalists (who are rarely all that amusing but usually have livelier writing styles). Since I'm hosting Steve for a talk next week here in the Five Colleges,...

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Russian political humor is back

by Jon Western | 21 April, 2011 |

Vadim Nikitin has an excellent run down. With a possible Putin - Medvedev face-off looming for next year's presidential elections, the campaign season has already begun. This trailer shows how it all might go down in 2012 and was featured on, of all places, the Russian Communist Party's website. The clip ends with "There's always an alternative: Communist Party of Russia."Nikitin has translated the key points as they appear in the clip: ANCIENT RELIGIONS HAVE FORETOLD THIS… IT IS UNAVOIDABLE… Clip of Putin: “The next elections in the Russian Federation are in 2012″ TWO CANDIDATES… BUT ONLY...

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A teachable moment: “provoked by rebels”

by Jon Western | 20 April, 2011 |

In my seminar at Amherst College today, my students discussed the status of their final research papers, their research designs, and the use of sources. One student asked what were the rules for using quotes or pulling block text from other sources. Since so many folks seem to be reading Alan Kuperman's stuff these days, I showed my students the Kuperman article that Patrick linked yesterday in which Kuperman argues the case of moral hazard in Libya. I asked them to pay close attention to the use of the quote from the New York Times:By helping rebels, we thus increase the risk of retaliatory...

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Benghazi: What were the signs?

by Jon Western | 15 April, 2011 |

Why did the Obama administration really intervene in Libya? Andrew Sullivan and Steve Walt both reject the administration's claims (again) that we were on the verge of a mass slaughter in Libya if Qaddafi's forces had been allowed to move into Benghazi. Walt also wants us to read Alan Kuperman’s op-ed “A False Pretense for War?” As usual, Kuperman has an interesting take: First, he argues that there was no credible evidence of an imminent slaughter in Benghazi – and that, in fact, the signs point in the opposite direction – that Qaddafi has shown restraint with respect to attacking...

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Music with a conscience from Ivory Coast

by Jon Western | 9 April, 2011 |

Some late Friday night blogging... Music tells us a lot about different places around the world and I love to collect it from my students and use it in the classroom. Worth noting that Ivory Coast has long had a great, socially aware, music scene. Zouglou started during the student protest movements in the 1990s (the protests initially began over the rolling electrical blackouts during the exam periods but spread to broader political demands). The music genre has gained widespread following in Europe especially with the popularity of Magic System. Soum Bill and Les Salopards may be a bit...

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