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
There was Foreign Policy in the election
by Jon Western | 3 November, 2010 |
Dan made some interesting points on the topic, but this angle -- the raw nativism -- is really impressive (also gotta love the role of IR professor). I saw this on CNN about 11pm last night:
Some Good News from Pakistan
by Jon Western | 1 November, 2010 |
Last week, Asma Jahangir was elected to head Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), the leading professional organization for the country's lawyers. She is a very skilled broker and a committed human rights lawyer (she is United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief) and will add a much needed counter force to the increasingly politicized judiciary that is destabilizing the current political system.We don't often hear good news from Pakistan these days and it's easy to forget that there are still some powerful and influential liberal forces in the country....
The decline of American math and sciences?
by Jon Western | 28 October, 2010 |
I attended a forum on the math and science curriculum last night at my kids' school and we had an interesting presentation and discussion on the general state of math and science education in the United States. Several of the parents present at the forum were math and science faculty members from Smith College and from UMass. One prominent theme was the lament that the US was falling behind China and India in the math and sciences.One of the parents referred me to an article and data published last summer in Money magazine. A key finding:As math and science talent accumulates abroad,...
Bill Clinton and the Russian Israelis
by Jon Western | 23 September, 2010 |
Former President Clinton jumped into the Mideast Peace process earlier this week. According to Josh Rogin's reporting at The Cable, Clinton met with a group of reporters and, when asked to comment about the current negotiations, began by saying:"I wouldn't say too much about this if Hillary weren't Secretary of State and in charge of these negotiations, so I'm darned sure not going to say too much now."Ah, but that's not like Mr. Clinton.And it wasn't.According to Rogin, Clinton then proceeded "to go in depth on the issue for more than ten minutes." In case you missed it, he suggested that...
The new Global Views survey is here! The new Global Views survey is here!
by Jon Western | 16 September, 2010 |
I admit it, I usually look forward to the release of US and international public opinion data. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs just released this year's Global Views survey aptly titled Constrained Internationalism: Adapting to New Realities. Only a quick look so far, but a couple of things jump out on first glance: First, these views strike me as far more rational (in the Page and Shapiro sense) than the general tenor of elite and media discourse. In the past decade, the US has spent roughly half of the world's expenditures on defense (i.e., slightly more than every other country in...
Relevant? Who Me?
by Jon Western | 16 September, 2010 |
OK, I'll bite. Lots being written these days about the relevance of political science. The latest today from Stephen Hayward at American Enterprise Institute. I'll join with John Sides that this is an intellectually sloppy caricature of the discipline. But, I'm always struck by the question -- often posed by political scientists themselves -- are we relevant? Here's a little thought experiment on the IR/Comparative side of the discipline: let's say that all IR scholars (security and IPE) and comparativists simply stop their formal and informal advising to the US government, think tanks,...
Much Ado in Mostar
by Jon Western | 10 September, 2010 |
OK, so I've been bit pessimistic of late -- an impending war between Israel and Iran, the rise of religious fundamentalisms around the globe, Bosnia's leadership taking the country back to the brink, etc.... But here's an upbeat story. I helped Steve Nemsick and Jane Applegate a bit on their new documentary about Andrew Garrod's work with Youth Bridge Global in the southern Bosnia-Herzegovina city of Mostar. I've spent quite a bit of time in Mostar in the past several years and I've lectured at both Mostar ""East" and Mostar "West" universities. The students really are hungry for an end to...
The World’s Most Dangerous Crisis
by Jon Western | 3 September, 2010 |
[cross-posted at Current Intelligence]Earlier this week, President Obama announced the end of America’s combat mission in Iraq and pledged his commitment to begin drawing down American forces in Afghanistan beginning next summer. A key theme in his address to the nation was the need for the United States to redirect resources from nearly a decade of two wars and invest in the economy at home. Yet, although the President is trying to move away from an era of “perpetual war,” Washington is already abuzz about the next impending military action the region: an Israeli strike on Iran, which would...
My Summer with Religious Rights
by Jon Western | 2 September, 2010 |
I've been on the road most of the summer (8 of the past 10 weeks) so the blogging has been quite light. I spent twelve days in Israel and then a bit more than three weeks doing research in Europe followed by my first real vacation in more than a decade -- a three week car trip with my kids out to visit family and friends in the upper Midwest. One of the more intriguing elements that linked all three trips was the presence of conservative, religious politics everywhere I went. I talked to Jewish settlers on the West Bank, I spent time with several young (and newly self-identified)...