Quantitative and formal analysis of international relations, comparative politics, and American politics.
⚠️ This post was written in March 2014. Some linked resources may no longer be available. Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Joshua N. Zingher, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at Binghamton University. The content of this post is based on Josh’s paper, ‘An Analysis of the Changing Social … Read more
⚠️ This post was written in March 2014. Some embedded images and linked resources from the original Typepad blog may no longer display correctly. Editor’s note: A version of this piece is cross-posted at the LSE USAPP blog, and can be found here. This post is based on my recent article, The International and Domestic Sources … Read more
⚠️ This post was written in March 2014. Some linked news articles and legislative documents may no longer be available. Last night, Idaho Governor Butch Otter signed SB 1254 into law, making Idaho the seventh state in the US to allow concealed weapons on college and university campuses. The law allows anyone with an enhanced … Read more
I missed my last post, but thankfully I'm on top of this week's edition. Kyleanne Hunter and Oliver Kaplan have a piece at Political Violence @ a Glance discussing some of the military roots of the biathlon. I've never known much about the sport's history, but it certainly makes sense that its origins are so closely … Read more
As I'm sure most of you are aware, Nicholas Kristof believes that American academics (especially political scientists) don't do enough to engage with the public. Political scientists have responded: Steve Saideman discusses how Kristof's complaints are oddly out of date, the importance of academic journals, and his role in the ISA blogging dustup; Erik Voeten points out that … Read more
One of the basic functions of government in the modern era is to provide security for its citizens. Sometimes governments are unwilling or incapable of producing enough security, and so instead they will delegate the use of force to private citizens so they can provide security themselves. Here are two recent examples: Although the Mexican … Read more
There is currently a proposal before ISA to prevent blogging by the editorial members of ISA journals. While there are a few posts discussing how this is professionally problematic and limits some real discussion that is happening via blog, there is one other arena such a mandate would also hurt: My classroom. During the 2013-2014 … Read more
One of the goals of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917) was to institute term limits for all elected offices in Mexico. The term limits movement was in response to President Porfirio Diaz's rule over Mexico from 1877 to 1911, when he served seven terms. He became unpopular towards the end of his sixth term and it … Read more
A part of my responsibilities as a post-doc here at Alabama entails helping faculty with seeking out external funding for projects. One of these projects has involved developing a program to promote educational outreach throughout the state. In the course of this work I’ve been digging through some data on educational attainment rates in Alabama. … Read more
Forcing the government to shutdown, instead of fully implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), may seem like a huge misstep by the Republican party, as most Americans would rather see the implementation of the ACA instead of the government shutdown. But as I discuss below, Republicans may be able to walk away from this whole … Read more