The ISA Theory section is pleased to announce the results of its annual award process. The awards will be presented — virtually — at the 2021 ISA meeting, during the section’s annual business meeting. We would like to extend a warm congratulations to winners, entrants and the awards committees for their work. For the best book of the year award, the awards committee has chosen to honor two co-winners, noting that they represent two distinct...
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Episode 13: Campbell Writes Security, part 1
Patrick and Dan discuss a classic work of critical security studies, David Campbell’s Writing Sec…
The Leaky Pipeline
This piece is written by Bridging the Gap co-Director Naazneen H. Barma, Director of the Scrivner Institute of Public Policy, Scrivner Chair, and Associate Professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. It was commissioned as part of the "Represent" series on diversity, inclusion and representation in the national security sphere, an initiative of Defense 360 of the Center for Strategic and...
Leader Personalities: Trump vs. Biden
This is a guest post from Ryan Beasley, Senior Lecturer at the University of St Andrews, with research interests in political psychology and foreign policy: Juliet Kaarbo, Professor at the University of Edinburgh, who works on personalities, parliaments and parties in foreign policy; and Consuelo Thiers (Twitter @Consuelothiers), a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, who is completing her doctorate on beliefs and emotions in enduring...
Ant-Man as a metaphor for the modern professor
In Marvel comics and movies, Ant-Man is a super-hero who can change his size using a special suit and "Pym particles." When giant, he's...giant. But when he's tiny he keeps the same density as a regular human, giving him the ability to lift and move things much bigger than his insect size. The idea of shrinking in size but having to shoulder the same--or greater--burden resonated with me, and in a way feels like a metaphor for the modern...
COVID: An Extraordinary Crisis, but Ordinary Political Patterns
This is a guest post from Tana Johnson, an Associate Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her publications include the book Organizational Progeny: Why Governments Are Losing Control over the Proliferating Structures of Global Governance. COVID-19, which disregards national borders and threatens all countries, is a “problem without a passport.” The usual prescription is to 1) work...
Why are we so quick to dismiss the UAE-Israel peace treaty?
In September, the UAE and Israel signed "the Abraham Accords," normalizing relations between the UAE and Israel. The Trump Administration presented this as if it was equivalent to the Camp David Accords, a ground-breaking peace agreement that would transform the world. Much of the Middle East policy community, however, met it with a shrug. I'm not sure I'm joining in on that shrug. While it's true Trump exaggerated and misrepresented the deal,...
COVID and Fed Legitimacy
This is a guest post from Walter James, a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at Temple University with an interest in comparative political economy of financial regulation. The Federal Reserve has stood as a bulwark between COVID-19 and another Great Depression in the United States. But it must tread carefully to maintain its reputation and legitimacy once the crisis passes. Since COVID’s arrival in the United States, the Fed...
Theory section graduate student webinar: “Understanding the role of human nature in contemporary international thought”
On September 24, the ISA Theory section was proud to host a graduate student webinar, with a specific focus on the concept of human nature, its underlying ontology and issues related to its use in IR theory. The webinar began with presentations by two senior scholars, Professor Stefano Guzzini (Uppsala University & PUC-Rio de Janeiro) and Professor Laura Sjoberg (Royal Holloway University of London & University of Florida). Their...
What game theory taught me about last night’s presidential debate
Last night’s debate might go down as one of the greatest in recent memory, and I am prepared to die on that hill. It was ugly. But it was also raw, unfiltered, and honest. It was thin on policy substance which is why I think the majority of my Twitter feed thought it was a shitshow.[1] A few things stood out which I think are worth mentioning, even on an IR blog. The performances last night got me thinking a lot about game theory. I am not a...
On Publishing and Open Access
Recently, I was asked by an interdisciplinary journal to edit a special section on climate governance, and I inquired whether it was an open access journal where authors have to pay to publish. It is, and I declined because asking others to contribute to a special issue that they then have to pay to publish in strikes me as unseemly. I'm pretty uncomfortable with this model of publishing, but I dislike the existing paywall mafia too. Pay to...
Professor Julie Kaarbo on the Duck of Minerva
Professor Julie Kaarbo (U. of Edinburgh) discusses role theory, the relationship between FPA and IR theory, and a new project she is calling Breaking Bad. As always thanks go to Steve Dancz (https://stevedancz.com) for our theme music.