Elections Are Only The Tip Of The Iceberg: When Interest Groups And Direct Action Groups Are More Effective Than Political Parties

In every democratic country, languishing behind every proud parliament, there are groups who feel ignored by their national governments. They claim that an important issue (immigration, environmentalism, civil rights, self-determination) is being ignored by mainstream politicians, and they grow disaffected as a result. Some of these groups are targets of systematic oppression, whereas others – despite their relative privilege – simply find that politicians are not talking about their issue. But whilst the contexts and the issues may differ, these under-represented groups share at least one problem: they all find their concerns being ignored. Some groups have solved this problem, Continue reading Elections Are Only The Tip Of The Iceberg: When Interest Groups And Direct Action Groups Are More Effective Than Political Parties

Poli Sci Fi

I am thrilled to share that my co-editor, Justin Vaughn, and I have just published the book, Poli Sci Fi, with Routledge. The collected works feature several different authors, including three other bloggers from the Quantitative Peace. The volume connects central research and themes of political science to science fiction films and TV shows (specific episodes). The target audience for the book is first or second year undergraduate students; a potential introductory course on political science could focus on understanding political science through science fiction (the book closely follows several introductory political science texts). Naturally, other audiences certainly can enjoy the book as well. Often, Continue reading Poli Sci Fi

The Future of Political Science (summary, short discussion)

I have mentioned, in a previous post, all of the books that fill up my summer reading list. As of now, I have at least one book completed and several more have been added to my list.  I have recently finished The Future of Political Science: 100 Perspectives, a collection of 100 short articles aimed at discussing what has not been properly analyzed or should be analyzed in political science.  The book ended up being more oriented towards the fields of American and Comparative than I had originally anticipated (mostly by the title); however, this is more my own fault than anything else. Quickly Continue reading The Future of Political Science (summary, short discussion)

Summer Reading List?

This is a partial bleg post. While finishing up some weekly chores in the laundromat I realized that my kindle was quickly running out of content and needed some fresh additions. Summer can be a good time to catch up on reading that we intended to do during the semester or to check off some divergent topics that we had not had time to get to earlier.  As such, what is everyone reading this summer and/or what do they recommend?  I am generally looking for books that are in international relations or methodology and can be bought for the kindle, Continue reading Summer Reading List?

Evolutionary Path Dependency

A few colleagues and I have started to delve into Richard Dawkins The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution.  Apparently, our leisure reading involves reading science based books.  For those of you who are still reading the book, this blog post goes into detail about Chapter 11 and this introduction will serve as my official spoiler alert (in case you do not want your science spoiled); for others, we can venture on.  

Finally Choosing Sides, Huh?

This isn't terribly surprising, but it seems that some NATO states have finally made their preferences publicly known.  The UK is sending a small group of military advisors to Libya to…well, advise, and train Libyan rebels.  This is apparently part of a joint British and French operation.   I don't think it was a secret that most of the states involved in the intervention in Libya wanted Ghadaffi gone—They have said as much.  However, I think most of these states expected that their objective could be achieved under the guise of acting on a UN mandate, whereas the prolonged fighting Continue reading Finally Choosing Sides, Huh?

Citing eBooks

I got my Amazon Kindle about a year ago and I really enjoy it, but I am  finding myself become increasingly frustrated by the apparent lack of standards when it comes to citing eBooks.  On some occassions this isn't really a problem—if you need a particular page number you can often times type a phrase into Google Books and find what you're looking for (assuming the correct edition is available).  But to some extent this defeats the purpose of having an eReader.  Furthermore, Google Books often censors the content of a variety of books, so it's not guaranteed that you Continue reading Citing eBooks

Rum and Revolution

NPR has an interview this morning with Tom Gjelten, the author of Bicardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause, which  details the rum company’s history in Cuban politics and the role it played in the Cuban Revolution.  The company was very supportive of the Revoultion at first, as its success was derived essentially from its cubanismo, if you will: In the 1950s, the family’s support for Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution was a natural carryover from 100 years of involvement in Cuban nationalistic movements. Pepin Bosch, the chairman of the company at that time, Continue reading Rum and Revolution

More from SSRN: Publishing Advice for Graduate Students

It appears that I might be a little late to the game judging by the Technorati reactions; however, that will not stop me now or in the near future.  After some initial prompting from Richard Frank, this stellar introductory piece for graduate students posted back in January (universalized for all disciplines) details four avenues for publication: book reviews, conference presentations, articles and replies, and books.  Abstract: Graduate students often lack concrete advice on publishing. This essay is an attempt to fill this important gap. Advice is given on how to publish everything from book reviews to articles, replies to book chapters, and Continue reading More from SSRN: Publishing Advice for Graduate Students