The Duck of Minerva

Rodger Payne

Rodger A. Payne is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Louisville. He serves on the University’s Sustainability Council and was a co-founder of the Peace, Conflict, and Social Justice program. He is the author of dozens of journal articles and book chapters and coauthor, with Nayef Samhat, of Democratizing Global Politics: Discourse Norms, International Regimes, and Political Community (SUNY, 2004). He is currently working on two major projects, one exploring the role of narratives in international politics and the other examining the implications of America First foreign policy.

Recent Posts

Gitmo

by Rodger Payne | 10 January, 2010 |

According to the Department of Defense, many of the captives released from the U.S. prison on Guantánamo Bay "return" to extremist activity -- and the rate is increasing. This is from the LA Times story of January 7: A new report estimates that one-fifth of the detainees who have been released from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have resumed extremist activity, a Defense Department official said Wednesday, a figure that intensifies the debate over the prison.The Pentagon report on the released detainees remains classified and officials refused to discuss it publicly. But...

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Kidnapping

by Rodger Payne | 29 December, 2009 |

I've been traveling in the southwest and reading different newspapers than I usually do. As a result, I learned that Phoenix is America's "kidnapping capital." The LA Times published the AP story I saw on December 27:The latest figures show Phoenix had 302 kidnappings in the first 11 months of 2009, when the city recorded an average of 27 abductions each month. The city had reached a 10-year high in 2008 with 359 kidnappings. The expected decline in 2009 would mark the first decrease since 2005, when the city had 228 kidnappings....Over the last several years, immigrant and drug smugglers...

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Selling the Afghan Surge

by Rodger Payne | 9 December, 2009 |

As you might expect, I've had a number of conversations with friends and colleagues about the prospects for the so-called "Afghan surge." Boosters like to point to the alleged success of the Iraq surge, but many of them ignore some salient points.For example, the U.S. also changed its military tactics in Iraq even as it implemented the surge. The military embraced counterinsurgency tactics, something it had been reluctant to do since Vietnam.Moreover, the surge coincided with the so-called Anbar awakening. Sunni tribal sheikhs split from al Qaeda and ended up working with the U.S. military...

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Wal-mart Isn’t Green

by Rodger Payne | 8 December, 2009 |

Monday, Steve Walt posted about the environment, drawing reader attention to several corporate efforts to make themselves greener. When I read those kinds of items, I always suspect "greenwashing." Actually, to be fair, Walt noted that Jared Diamond wrote about these business initiatives in the NY Times. This one caught my eye: Walmart is working to reduce its energy expenditures because energy (e.g., fuel for delivery trucks) is expensive;Environmentalists frequently point out that Wal-mart's alleged energy savings are designed only to save the company money. Consumers (more and more all...

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2010 Grawemeyer winner

by Rodger Payne | 1 December, 2009 |

Trita Parsi, who heads the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), has won the 2010 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. The prize is worth $200,000.The press release describes the award-winning ideas from Parsi's Yale University Press book: Improving relations between Iran and Israel is the key to achieving lasting peace in the Middle East, says the winner of the 2010 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.Trita Parsi, co-founder and president of the National Iranian American Council, earned the prize for ideas set forth in his 2007 book,...

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Praying for the end of time

by Rodger Payne | 23 November, 2009 |

President Obama has been receiving a fair amount of heat lately for "dithering" about U.S. policy towards Afghanistan. After all, the administration has been thinking through its Afghan policy since late summer. Critics in the opposition party say the President's decision is "long overdue" and that the "strategy review" needs to move from the "evaluation phase" to the "execution phase" ASAP.Administration officials have long said that the problem is made complicated by the signal America will send to Afghanistan if it too readily approves a troop increase. Ten days ago, Defense Secretary...

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Seeking Grawemeyer Nominations: 2011 Prize

by Rodger Payne | 20 November, 2009 |

Annually, the University of Louisville awards significant cash prizes in five fields: Music Composition, Religion, Education, Psychology, and World Order.For about 15 years, I have directed the administration of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. Basically, I chair the initial review committee that is housed within the Department of Political Science.The Award's basic purpose is described on our webpage:Submissions will be judged according to originality, feasibility and potential impact, not by the cumulative record of the nominee. They may address a wide range of global...

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Syria updates

by Rodger Payne | 11 November, 2009 |

Back in fall 2007 and spring 2008, former Duck blogger Peter Howard was carefully following reports about the apparent Israeli attack on an alleged Syrian nuclear facility of some sort. I just linked Peter's last post on the event, from April 2008, and to a Duck search result that should unearth his entire series of posts. The Israel target was quite mysterious and the rumors associated with the attack far outnumbered the facts.The German periodical Der Speigel has a lengthy story on-line dated 2 November that attempts to tell the tale. According to Erich Follath and Holger Stark, Israel's...

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Nuclear news

by Rodger Payne | 29 October, 2009 |

I'm beginning to think that a number of important people in the Obama administration must have read the Keir Lieber and Daryl Press piece in Foreign Affairs, March/April 2006, which explained burgeoning U.S. nuclear primacy, and have taken seriously the potential risks of primacy. Just more than 10 months since George W. Bush left office, the new administration in Washington has already taken a couple of important steps to reassure other states that the U.S. is trying to reduce the risks.Duck readers may recall that Bill blogged about the Lieber-Press thesis two and a half years ago -- and...

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Peace Prize

by Rodger Payne | 9 October, 2009 |

According to the Nobel website, the Peace Prize is supposed to be awarded annually to "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses".In 2009, the Norwegian selection committee decided that the most deserving person is Barack Obama. Frankly, I'm a little surprised.Yes, I was pleased in April when the President declared, "clearly and with conviction, America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear...

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