Gifts for Political Scientists, 2020
A curated 2020 holiday gift guide for political scientists and IR scholars—books, games, and tools for academics and policy enthusiasts.
QP Blogging
Civilian Victimization and Rebel Territorial Control in Sierra Leone
New research on civilian victimization and rebel territorial control in Sierra Leone’s civil war, examining variation in atrocities across conflict zones.
The “academics don’t have real world experience!” argument is really, really, dumb
A direct rebuttal of the claim that academics lack real-world experience—examining what political science research actually contributes to policy.
The strategic use of restraint in internet arguments
Sometimes, I like to argue. I spent eight years engaged in competitive debate in high school and college and the activity prepared me for scholarly research in ways that my classes in both of those settings could not. Early on, in the early frontier days of the internet in the 1990s and early 2000s, it … Read more
On Rex Tillerson’s Tenure as Secretary of State
On Tuesday, President Trump issued a tweet announcing that Rex Tillerson would be replaced as Secretary of State by current CIA Director Mike Pompeo. That Tillerson would be replaced as Secretary was not exactly news—reports of the tense relationship between Tillerson and the President date back several months at this point. What was surprising was the … Read more
On Michael Flynn’s Tenure as National Security Advisor
News broke late last night that President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor (NSA), retired Lt. General Michael Flynn, resigned his position amidst mounting concerns that he had improper and possibly illegal exchanges with Russia’s ambassador, and concerns that he was possibly compromised and vulnerable to blackmail. I’m not going to wade into these weightier issues. Flynn’s … Read more
How the US military’s overseas troop deployments affect global defense spending
This post is based on the article “Regions of Hierarchy and Security: US Troop Deployments, Spatial Relations, and Defense Burdens”, by Michael Allen (Boise State University), Michael Flynn (Kansas State University), and Julie VanDusky–Allen (Boise State University), which is forthcoming in International Interactions. Since the end of World War II, the United States has deployed … Read more
Constitutional Courts and the Dissolution of Political Parties
Editor’s note: The following is a guest post by Mert Moral and Efe Tokdemir for their forthcoming article in the International Political Science Review entitled, “Justices ‘en Garde’: ideological determinants of the dissolution of anti-establishment parties”. Mert is currently a doctoral candidate in political science at Binghamton University. Efe is a doctoral candidate in political science … Read more
How Legislator Professionalization Constrains Executive Decree Issuance in Latin America
This is a guest post by Alissandra T. Stoyan (Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Kansas State University) and Sarah Shair-Rosenfield (Assistant Professor, School of Politics and Global Studies, Arizona State University). This post is based on their article, “Constraining Executive Action: The Role of Legislator Professionalization in Latin America,” forthcoming at Governance and now … Read more
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). … Read more