The Duck of Minerva

Steve Saideman

Steve Saideman is Professor and the Paterson Chair in International Affairs at Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. He has written The Ties That Divide: Ethnic Politics, Foreign Policy and International Conflict; For Kin or Country: Xenophobia, Nationalism and War (with R. William Ayres); and NATO in Afghanistan: Fighting Together, Fighting Alone (with David Auerswald), and elsewhere on nationalism, ethnic conflict, civil war, and civil-military relations.

Recent Posts

The Rule of Three

by Steve Saideman | 30 December, 2015 | ,

While it is hard to do and particularly hard to do while starting out, the general conventional wisdom (and wise it is) is that one should try to have three pieces under review at most/all times.  Why? Because academic review is a capricious enterprise that often takes much time. Journals have gotten much better about shortening review times, with many journals averaging something like 40-60 days... which is actually more like two to three months (do weekends count?).  But that is an eternity for junior faculty, and the reality is that rejection means that one goes through this spin cycle...

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Friday Nerd Blogging: Early But Sans Spoilers

by Steve Saideman | 16 December, 2015 |

We have not Friday Nerd Blogged in a while, and we are reluctant to do anything that might spoil the Force Awakens.  Yet, my grading is done and my enthusiasm is making the Kessel Run in record time, so here's a non-spoilery bit of joy that is early and excessive.  May the Force Be With You as you grade and travel over the holidays.

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Duck, Duck, Nominate!

by Steve Saideman | 16 December, 2015 |

The Duckies have moved from here to the Online Media Caucus, but that does not mean that readers of the Duck should not participate.  Indeed, it means that the DoM is now eligible for nominations.  So, wander over to the OMC and nominate for a variety of categories, including best blog, best visual post, best podcast, best twitter account and more!

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Beyond “Rejection”

by Steve Saideman | 2 December, 2015 | ,

The following is a guest post by Jeffrey C. Isaac, who is James H. Rudy Professor of Political Science at Indiana University and editor in chief of Perspectives on Politics: A Political Science Public Sphere. “I reject this paper.” “I recommend that this paper be rejected.” “I am sorry to inform you that your paper has been rejected for publication.” Social practices are constituted in large part by the words we regularly use and the meanings these words typically convey. Political science is a social practice. And variations of the sentences above are commonly employed by political...

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Duckies Keep Quacking But In A Different Nest: Nominate

by Steve Saideman | 1 December, 2015 |

The new ISA caucus, the Online Media Caucus, has taken over the Duckies, and it is now nomination season (much safer than Duck Season).  So, head over to the new OMC blog and nominate your favorite blogs, posts, tweets, and other online media for the next round of the Duckies, to be awarded in Atlanta in March at the next ISA meeting.    As always, the Duckies will be sponsored by SAGE.  The big difference for Duck of Minerva fans is that now that the DoM is not running it, it will now be eligible for the competition (officers of the OMC are not eligible).  

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Rejection Is The Name of the Game

by Steve Saideman | 21 November, 2015 | ,

Much discussion lately about how much rejection is in this academic game.  I had a conversation yesterday with a pal who was finding it much harder, it seemed, to get work published after tenure than before. "I thought I knew how to do this." Folks have been calling for the true CVs of people--where rejections would be listed.  Not sure that is going to happen.  However, in this week where I received news of receiving a fellowship to supplement my sabbatical, I thought I would list many of the rejections of my work along the way (my spreadsheet for tracking my work is pretty good but...

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Killing the Occupation Analogy

by Steve Saideman | 2 November, 2015 | ,

I have spent much time here at the Spew discussing various analogies and kinds of analogies, including how IR can be like tacos and how to make a good IR pop culture analogy.  I love using analogies, and have often used them in my teaching, even as I know that they have their limits (thanks, Robert Jervis). But if I had to nominate one analogy to kill, to kill with fire, to destroy utterly, it would be the use of the occupations of Germany and Japan to discuss 21st century state-building/nation-building/post-war reconstruction.  I was inspired/depressed by this chain of tweets: Entirely...

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Academic Freedom Has a (mostly) Good Day

by Steve Saideman | 15 October, 2015 | ,

Today, the Hon. Lynn Smith issued her report on the UBC academic freedom controversy that I discussed here.  Jennifer Berdahl issued her response at her blog. The key pieces of the report are: "UBC failed in its obligation to protect and support Dr. Berdahl’s academic freedom. The Collective Agreement Preamble creates a positive obligation to support and protect academic freedom. Through the combined acts and omissions of Mr. Montalbano, the named individuals in the Sauder School, and others, UBC as an institution failed to meet that obligation with respect to Dr. Berdahl’s academic...

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Making Sense of Afghanistan

by Steve Saideman | 23 September, 2015 | ,

This is a guest post by Erik Goepner, a Phd student at George Mason University.  He commanded units in both Afghanistan and Iraq. American and international expertise, money, and blood have flowed into Afghanistan for 14 years, yet stability appears more elusive today than it did in 2002. High rates of civil conflict continue with record numbers of civilian deaths, corruption that plagues the government, and transnational terror groups such as the Islamic State appearing to grab power. The first stop in America’s war on terror has not gone as planned. The failure to achieve U.S. objectives...

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Civilian? Not an Insult

by Steve Saideman | 15 September, 2015 | , ,

Over the past week, in reaction to the reports about the gender-integrated Marine study, I have seen plenty of pushback mostly against women who tweet but also some male tweeps that basically say: "civ? Of course."  Which basically says that if you are civilian, you will have dumb opinions about the military.  Kind of like today's NYPD message to the media that they cannot understand policing because they are not police. This is so wrong in so many ways.  I will focus on the military side of things, but the problem is the same for police and other folks who think that only members of the...

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