Quantitative and formal analysis of international relations, comparative politics, and American politics.
The 50th Anniversary episode of “Doctor Who” aired this week in theatres throughout the world. There was an interesting scene towards the end of the movie, which I would like to share. Below I give a very simplified version of the scene. There are two main characters in the scene, a human and a shape-shifting … Read more
It is a week before the American tradition of "Black Friday" starting on Thursday, and I have not done an updated list on "Gifts for Political Scientists" since 2010, so here is my proposed list for 2013. Trying to find gifts for that special poltiical scientist in your life can be quite difficult. Given the … Read more
A spoiler warning before I get to the heart of the discussion: This blog entry is being posted the Monday after the release of The Dark Knight Rises. The blog post deals with material presented in the film, plot elements, as well as some dialogue, so consider this a warning. While I am not going to … Read more
In Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (not to be confused with their most Excellent Adventure), the duo are killed and sent to Hell. On their way to an eternity of punishment, Death gives them the ability to escape their fate if they can best him in a game of their choosing. The wager seems to … Read more
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita explains how to buy a car cheaply–something he mentioned on the Colbert Report this week: The Colbert interview can be found here. Michael A. AllenMichael A. Allen is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Boise State University. His research focuses on international conflict, military alliances, and quantitative methods … Read more
Mind Your Decisions has done an annual gift list for economists for the last few years, and Presh just put together his 2010 list. Using his list as inspiration, I have compiled my own list of possible gifts for Political Scientists. Given my proclivity for strategic leisure, I believe I can construct this with some … Read more
This is a topic that I’ll probably expand on later, but I was just reading an article discussing the role of Hamid Karzai’s brother in the present Afghan conflict. This article gets at an issue that I’ve thought about before. From the FP article cited above: But he could not exist without the support of coalition … Read more
Joshua Keating at Foreign Policy had a piece posted a couple of days ago that just caught my eye. It basically talks about the current status of terrorist training camps and what the itinerary for the typical attendee entails. It's pretty brief, but I think it covers some interesting subject matter. And let me preface … Read more
A simple relink from Orgtheory. William Spaniel, a graduate student at the University of Rochester (and a fellow TCG player) has a set of 26 clips explaining basic game theory on youtube. The list can be found here. I've already passed this on to another instructor who will be using this for an online course … Read more
A friend outside of political science linked me this post asking if we deal with bargaining models in political science. For those of you who are not in the know, one of the mainstays of contemporary International Relations game theory treats war as a bargaining process between states. As such, the author argues that traditional … Read more