The Russian government has developed a symbiotic relationship with the country’s pseudoscientific community.
6+1 questions about “The Politics of Pseudoscience: Power and Knowledge in Contemporary Russia.”
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Recent Posts
Bridging the Other Gap: Approaches for Blending STEM and Social Science Education
The COVID-19 pandemic makes it clear – our students need a blend of science and policy literacy. Transnational challenges with technical dimensions are increasingly common. Pandemic disease, climate...
Is bullying baked into academia?
Recently, David Edelstein and Jim Goldgeier circulated an open letter for signature to address bullying in the profession. The open letter can be found here. So far, there are nearly 100...
What If Academia Had a ‘Scout Mindset’?
Academia would benefit from “the motivation to see things as they are and not as” one wishes “they were.”
More Recent Posts
Fall of the Berlin Wall: Then and Now
Today 25 years ago the Berlin Wall was torn down, one of the most consequential events of the 20th Century, catalyst for the end of the Cold War and freedom for millions stuck behind the Iron Curtain yanked down on them by the USSR. I was a student just starting to get interested in the wider...
Christianity and the Sino-American Relationship
Last week, the Economist reported on the expanding sway of Christianity in China. While the numbers are difficult to pin down, The Economist reports that some argue that the number of Christians in China exceeds the number of official members of the Chinese Communist Party (87 million). What we...
The Costs of Irredentism
In For Kin or Country, the basic idea is to explain a set of policies that is always expensive. When one tries to take the territory of another country, there tends to be a response. While folks dismissed Obama's line about Putin's moves having a cost, it turns out that he was right. These costs...
Friday Nerd Blogging: Awakened Edition
I have yet to see any video that plays upon the news that Star Wars Episode VII has a new title: The Force Awakens. But twitter was abuzz yesterday with alternatives. So, here is two of mine:
China Tries to Come to Grips with Pollution
In the lead up to the APEC summit about to start this week in Beijing, China’s leadership undertook a series of emergency measures to avoid the continued embarrassment of a string of poor air quality days that had bedeviled the country over the previous year. The government reinstated the familiar...
Locals Know Best: Community Action Is Game Changer for Containing Ebola In Sierra Leone
This is a guest post by Dehunge Shiaka, Researcher and gender expert in Freetown Sierra Leone This is the second post in a series by Shiaka, which is meant to provide an insider's perspective on living in Sierra Leone during the Ebola crisis. The first one can be accessed here. To access our...
Are We Finally Ousting the World’s Last Dictators? Sadly, No.
[Note: This is a guest post by Andrew G. Reiter, Assistant Professor of Politics at Mount Holyoke College.] Following massive public protests challenging his attempt to amend the constitution and extend his 27-year rule; Burkina Faso’s President Blaise Compaore announced his resignation Friday,...
Advice for a Junior Colleague
What kinds of advice do you give junior colleagues early on as they think about what it takes to get tenure and promotion? With some new colleagues, I've been giving that some thought based on my own pretty recent experience. Obviously, some guidance is institution-specific, and I have a fairly...
Friday Nerd Blogging: Belated Halloween Edition
I have fallen behind in my Friday Nerd Blogging contributions, so I have this belated Halloween video:
My 5 Secret 'Weapons' for Finishing a Book
There is all kinds of advice out there on how to write and finish a book. We are frequently advised to 'Write everyday', 'write early in the morning,' 'workshop and present your work,' among other things. Here is a great overview of 10 steps to writing a book and another fantastic post called...
Disaster Politics and the American Red Cross
This is a guest post by Wendy Wong, Associate Professor of Political Science at University of Toronto, Director of the Trudeau Center for Peace, Conflict and Justice, and author of Internal Affairs: How the Structure of NGOs Transforms Human Rights. When the great fall from grace (especially those...
The Responsibility to Protect & Fear of Foreign Policy Failure
Last week I had the opportunity to partake in a workshop on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) at The Hague Institute of Global Justice (the Institute). The Institute is preparing to launch a project on R2P, seeking to bring academics, civil society and government/policy makers together to...