Intra-elite, state-centric society is a strategic front, and ought to be defended and put to use in the continued development of a global and decolonial turn in IR.
A reckoning with the traditional diplomatic community
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Academia
Remembering Susan Sell
This is the second in our series of remembrances on the late scholar Susan Sell. Since I learned of Susan’s untimely passing on Christmas Eve, I’ve been trying to articulate exactly how important...
Live. What are you waiting for? A reflection on Susan Sell’s influence.
This is the first in a series of remembrances on life and career of the late Susan Sell. When I think about Susan Sell, I think about a life lived unapologetically, beautifully, and gratefully. I...
Book Nook – All Options on the Table: Leaders, Preventive War, and Nuclear Proliferation
Our next Bridging the Gap Book Nook features Rachel Whitlark, an associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She discusses her recent...
More Academia Posts
What Walt and Mearsheimer Get Wrong About the Security Dilemma
The security dilemma plays a central role in Walt and Mearsheimer’s reading of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But what if they get the security dilemma wrong?
Talking Great-Power Competition in the Heart of Empires Past
It turns out that it’s hard to write a roundup of happenings at the Duck of Minerva when there aren’t many to speak of. Much of that’s on me. What’s my excuse? Well, the kid finally contracted COVID. The rest of my family succumbed in short order. So that was fun. On the upside, none of us get seriously ill. On the downside, we got to experience post-COVID fatigue, with a helping of mental fog on the side. We recovered just in time to take our long-planned trip to Thessaloniki. The official purpose of the trip: to participate in 2022 European Workshops in International...
Book Nook: Region-Building in West Africa
Our next Bridging the Gap Book Nook features Emmanuel Balogun, an assistant professor of political science at Skidmore College and Bridging the Gap's inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Fellow. He discusses his new book Region-Building in West Africa: Convergence and Agency in ECOWAS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLVZp56pL4Q
Strategies of Unusual Size
I wrapped the 2022 edition of my undergraduate “Grand Strategy” seminar this past Tuesday. This must have the eight or ninth iteration of the class. I like teaching it. I really do. But I have significant reservations about “grand strategy” as a classroom subject. I’m not at all convinced that grand strategy is a thing. Yes, plenty of people advocate for a preferred “grand strategies.” Not a few of them would love to become the ‘next George F. Kennan,’ which leads to some truly eyeroll-worthy titles. It’s one thing to point to a proposal, such...
Best Practices in Quantitative Conflict Studies
When it comes to quantitative data in conflict studies, standards for collection, reliability, ethics, and usage remain behind the curve. We discuss five things that scholars can do to address these gaps.
Episode 23: Being Academic and Pandemic Time
In this “Whiskey Optional” episode, PTJ facilitates a conversation among four colleagues from dif…
Partnered Engagement: A New Form of Ethical Policy Engagement
What happens when a research subject becomes a research and briefing partner? In 2017, I was contacted by the peacebuilding NGO Peace Direct to contribute to a policy report on community-based atrocities prevention. I invited a local peacebuilder I knew from Colombia to partner with me in the endeavor. We co-facilitated an online forum and drafted a chapter for the report. We then shared our findings – plus her experiences and my research – with NGOs and policymakers in the U.S. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, once I got involved with the Sié...
Why Land Acknowledgements?
The ISA statement lacks not only comparative history but also local historical depth. It also distorts moral responsibility.