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

Friday Nerd Blogging: Preparing for the Future or the Past

by Steve Saideman | 23 May, 2014 |

I was a fan of X-Men long before I was a fan of Poli Sci.  So, I am eagerly awaiting the chance to see Days of Future Past, which may or may not do kind things to one of the very best X-tales. + For those who have opted out of one or more of the movies, here is a nice, snarky summary of the X-movies to prepare you for the new one (and yes, I have seen all of these): I had much fun thinking about what Graham Allison might say about the role of the mutants in the Cuban Missile Crisis in X-Men First Class.  I look forward to over-thinking the new movie. H/T to Vulture

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Friday Nerd Blogging: Make Mine Marvel

by Steve Saideman | 2 May, 2014 |

This summer may be the most Marvelous yet with Captain America 2, Spider-Man 2, X-Men Days of Future Past (otherwise X-Men First Class 2) and Guardians of the Galaxy.  Sure, not all are by Marvel Studios but all are based on Marvel Characters. Do we need so many sequels (with GoG being essentially a sequel to Avengers)?  Of course not.  But more Marvel is more Marvel, and for that I am thankful. Here is a most un-superheroic video that promotes this weekend's latest entry into more Marvel:

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Doing the Stability-Instability Dance

by Steve Saideman | 26 April, 2014 |

The stability-instability paradox is a concept from nuclear deterrence land: that if two sides both have nuclear weapons that can survive a first strike, it might just create deterrence at the strategic level AND free up both sides to engage in violence at lower levels.  Sounds just like an air-headed theory that would never happen in reality because, you know, NUKES!* * To be clear, I have not studied deterrence theory closely since grad school, so I may not have this entirely right, but I am pretty sure I have the basics. Well, in 1999, the Pakistani army pretty much followed the...

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Friday Nerd Blogging: Exceptional That Proves the Rule

by Steve Saideman | 18 April, 2014 |

I stopped collecting Spider-man long ago when it got all clone-tastic.  I tend to hate TV/movies/comic books that use clones in their plots.  However, there is one exception Orphan Black is back tomorrow night.  Only ten episodes last season so plenty of time to binge to catch up.  Just heaps of fun and some amazing acting.    

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Why I Participate At Political Science Rumors

by Steve Saideman | 10 April, 2014 |

The first rule of the internet is not to read the comments for any op-ed one posts.  Why?  Because the cover of anonymity allows people to say awful stuff.  Of course, Twitter amply demonstrates that people will say awful things on the internet even when one can be clearly identified.  Anyhow, over the past several years, a series of websites have been gathering spots for both aspiring and experienced political scientists to exchange in rumors and opinions about the profession (to be clear, anyone can post so it might be economist students seeking to troll or other folks entirely).  Given...

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Data Street Cred

by Steve Saideman | 1 April, 2014 |

I am not known for being a statistics whiz.  I have published quantitative work, but I am seen, rightly so, as more comfortable with qualitative work, comparing apples and oranges.  Still, I had the gumption to offer advice on twitter about data today.  What and why? GDELT was a new dataset that seemed to promise heaps of utility to those who wanted to study event data--which are counts of particular events of interest and handy for analyzing events over time.  It came under fire recently for a variety of reasons.  I did not use the dataset nor do I work with event data, so I am not in any...

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Patricia Weitsman Scholarship

by Steve Saideman | 1 April, 2014 |

Patty didn't want flowers, so instead endow a scholarship at Ohio University.  This is from an email her husband sent out to her supporters: Please visit Ohio.edu/ Give and note in the online form that the gift is in memory of Dr. Patricia Weitsman and request that funds be designated to The Patricia A. Weitsman Memorial Scholarship, or call (740) 593-0732 to make a gift via phone She was such a great person, a terrific teacher and influential scholar.  I am glad that that her school will have something lasting to mark her memory and her contributions.

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Dear Friends of Patty

by Steve Saideman | 31 March, 2014 |

Dear friends of Patty, The news is awful.  The second battle with leukemia is over, but this time, Patty lost.  The last effort to treat the disease failed, as she died last night.  I thought her friends in the IR business should know. I found out about her struggle late during the first round of her fight, but was kept apprised via a community info-sharing/coordination group the second time.  It is clear that Patty was just as brave, stubborn, tough, and all that the second time, but it was apparently not enough. Over the past year or two, I have been sending Patty silly pictures to try to...

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