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

OAIS Blogging Awards: And the Finalists Are….

by Jon Western | 10 February, 2014 |

Thanks to all of you who voted over the past month for this year's OAIS Blogging Awards finalists. And a very special thanks to all of the nominees for transforming this platform into a strong and vital part of the IR intellectual community. We had an outstanding class of nominees this year -- a real testimony to the impressive talent and intellectual contribution that blogging makes to the IR profession. We had a great turn-out and some very close votes, and we're pleased to announce this year's finalists. Finalists will now be reviewed by a panel of judges that includes last year's winners...

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OAIS Blogging Awards: Last Call to Vote

by Jon Western | 6 February, 2014 |

Voting closes tomorrow at 5pm EST for this year's OAIS Blogging Awards. If you haven't already done so, now is the time to cast your ballot. You can review the nominees and get more information here. Once the votes are in, we'll identify the finalists for each category and turn the process over to our panel of judges. We'll announce the winners at the OAIS Blogging Awards and Reception at ISA Annual Convention on Thursday, March 27.

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Vote Now! Demonstrate the Blogging Contributions to IR Scholarship

by Jon Western | 30 January, 2014 |

One of the best ways to respond to the ISA Executive Committee proposal is to demonstrate the professionalism and the significant intellectual and scholarly contribution that blogging makes to the IR profession. We've assembled a slate of impressive nominees in four categories for outstanding On-line Achievements in International Studies (OAIS) Awards for this year. If you haven't already done so, please take a moment to cast your ballot. If you haven't received one or would like one, please email us for a ballot. We've had an impressive response thus far and we'd like to do better. We ask...

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Blogging and Teaching — and the Wrongheaded ISA Proposal

by Jon Western | 28 January, 2014 |

Steve has a nice roundup of many of the central concerns with ISA's misguided policy proposal to limit those involved in editing ISA journals from blogging.   I'd like to focus on one additional element. For many of us located principally in the teaching side of the profession, we realize and appreciate the significance and utility of blogs for pedagogical purposes.  Here in the Five Colleges, a key part of communicating with students is through various forms of social media.  My department has a Twitter feed and a Facebook page that features a fantastic daily blog by my colleague Vinnie...

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OAIS Blogging Awards Voting Begins

by Jon Western | 17 January, 2014 |

We're a week behind, but the nominees are in and voting is now open. We sent out ballots today to those who registered for voting. If you did not receive one or if you haven't registered yet, please email us for a ballot. Voting runs through February 7. As with last year, we will use a Borda-count process to create a list of finalists and then proceed to a second round in which a panel of judges (last year's winners and Duck permanent contributors) will determine the winners in each category. We ask voters to choose three (3) finalists for the Best Blog category, six (6) for the Best...

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Penultimate Call for Blogging Awards Nominations

by Jon Western | 30 December, 2013 |

One week left for nominations.  Please send us your nominations -- you can email us a nomination directly or post in the Comments thread below. Here's what we have so far for each category: Best Blog (Individual) Deborah Brautigam at China in Africa Jay Ulfelder at Dart Throwing Chimp Kan Opalo at An Africanist Perspective Tom Pepinsky Blog Lawrence Haddad at Development Horizons Michael Levi, at Energy, Security and Climate at CFR Bruce Whitehouse at Bridges from Bamako Ari Kohen at Running Chicken Daniel Serwer at Peacefare.net Stephen Walt at Foreign Policy Gerard Toal at Critical...

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Happy, Merry, and Peace

by Jon Western | 24 December, 2013 |

The semester is over, the papers are graded, and the departmental meetings are over (for a while). The shopping is done, the house is clean, the presents are wrapped, the relatives are here, and the kids are bouncing off the walls. All that is left to do is relax, reflect, and enjoy. Wishing all of you a very happy, restful, and peaceful holiday season.

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In Defense of Teaching (and Grading) the Long Research Paper

by Jon Western | 19 December, 2013 |

There's a Slate article titled "The End of the College Essay" circulating in various Facebook and Twitter circles critical of assigning long essays to undergraduates. The gist of the complaint mirrors the complaints I've heard over the years from students and colleagues (and others outside the academy) about assigning long research papers. Last summer, I attended a conference in Toronto on the future of liberal education in which a number of participants criticized the long-form research paper by noting that, unless students go into Ph.D programs, most will never write a long paper again in...

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Blogging Awards Nomination Update

by Jon Western | 17 December, 2013 |

The nominations are trickling in, but there's more work to be done.  We had some major IR blogging events this year -- Snowden, Egypt, Syria, Russia, etc....  and we're looking for nominations for the best work out there in 2013.  We're still taking nominations through the end of the month.  Sage is co-sponsoring the Awards and the Awards Reception at ISA in Toronto in March -- here's their press release.  Here's what we have so far for each category -- we don't have a single nomination for best new IR blog and only a handful of nominations for best blog post.  Please send us your...

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2014 OAIS Blogging Awards: Call for Nominations

by Jon Western | 9 December, 2013 |

We're a few weeks into the call for nominations for the 2014 OAIS Awards.  It's time to get serious.  We've had a number of impressive nominations, but given the excellent content out there, we're looking for a much larger pool of nominees.  We want to hear your suggestions. Post your nominations in the comments section below -- you may also email us a nomination directly. Please specify the award in the body of the text, provide the name of the blog, and a URL. Nominations close on 1 January 2014. Remember, finalists will be selected by popular vote, which will run from 5 January-31 January...

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