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: Superhero Oversight

by Steve Saideman | 13 May, 2016 |

Every time I think I am out, they pull me back in.  No, not leading the mafia.  Principal-agent theory.  Yep, and I blame Stan Lee.  How so?  I saw the new Captain America: Civil Wars movie... explanation below the break: The entire movie is essentially about who guards the guardians (a title used more than once for civ-mil relations books)--who is the principal that oversees the agents?  This is the classic question in civil-military relations--who oversees the folks with the guns?  We take it for granted in democracies in part because it is an essential ingredient.  But scholars have not. ...

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8 Strategies For Men To Combat Gender Bias

by Steve Saideman | 23 April, 2016 | ,

This is a guest post by Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham (@kgcunnin), Associate Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland. Foreign Policy recently published our article on women and the tenure process in International Relations. The article centers on the challenges women face and offers some suggestions on how to manage them for pre-tenure women based on our experiences. We conclude the article, in part, with a call to allies (i.e. people who are not, or are no longer, affected by these biases or are in a position to address them).  Here, I offer 8 ways that such...

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Either DA-RT Works, or It Does Not

by Steve Saideman | 8 April, 2016 | ,

This is a guest post by Theo McLauchin (@TheoMcLauchlin), Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Université de Montréal When is a norm not a norm? I ask this question when I read Colin Elman and Arthur Lupia’s vigorous defense of the Data Access & Research Transparency (DA-RT) initiative in APSA’s Comparative Politics section newsletter. I think Elman and Lupia try to have it both ways. Their piece argues, first, that journals need to adopt norms of openness. It then argues, in defense of DA-RT against a series of concerns that it will bring the editorial hammer down on many...

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Gender, Rank and IR: Missing Role Models

by Steve Saideman | 29 March, 2016 | ,

Last week, I asked a question online that was asked of me and then I asked at the ISA two weeks ago: Can you name women of color working in the US or Canada who do IR and are full professors? At the ISA, folks could only name one or two.  On twitter and facebook and my blog since then, the total has increased to eleven: ·  Neta Crawford of Boston University. ·  Condoleeza Rice, who was a full prof at Stanford before becoming provost and then worst National Security Adviser. ·  Jacqueline Braveboy Wagner, City College of New York. ·  Reeta Tremblay of U of Victoria. ·  L.H.M Ling of the New...

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Happy Anniversary, Canada!

by Steve Saideman | 25 February, 2016 | ,

This week is the 10th anniversary of the start of Canada's combat mission in Kandahar.  This was the most stressful Canadian "expedition" since the Korean War, as Canada skipped Iraq 2003 and Vietnam.  Today also happens to be the third anniversary of the rejection of an access to information request (Canadian for FOIA)--I had asked for the report detailing the Lessons Learned from the war.  While armed forces create such reports all the time, this was a first for the government to consider how the various agencies performed.  The report got buried, not just so that I couldn't see it, but...

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The Kurdish Conundrum

by Steve Saideman | 11 February, 2016 | ,

Now that Canada has decided to continue to train and support the Kurds in Iraq along with the Iraqi government, the question of the future of the Kurds is being questioned.  Indeed, yesterday, I received a phone call from a magazine in Kurdistan asking me about referendums and why some secessionist movements get to become states and others do not.  My short answer: "fair ain't got nothing to do with it" which could probably use a bit of nuance.  This is not just a Canadian issue but one for all of the countries intervening (or not intervening) in Iraq and Syria. The one thing I do know and...

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Why Isn’t There More Public Scrutiny of the U.S. Military?

by Steve Saideman | 11 February, 2016 |

This is a guest post by Risa Brooks, Associate Professor at Marquette University Americans’ relationship with the military exhibits an odd paradox: the country’s citizens profess to hold deep regard for the military, while in fact knowing little about it and paying minimal attention to its activities at home or abroad. Analysts of U.S. civil-military relations remain seriously concerned about this peculiar mix of societal reverence and indifference toward the military. Less clear is why Americans remain so disengaged from an institution that has such a profound role in the country’s...

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