So with the new year starting Tuesday, I will be continuing to blog into 2013. The past year has mostly focused on my interest areas, political science, conflict and technology. But I've also mused on things that are not my "core expertise", such as gun control and domestic politics. Since I'll be finishing coursework this … Continue reading Crowdsourcing 2013’s Content!
Politics
Stuff that’s happening in politics, discourse, social media and technology.
Facepalmz: Gun control, armed guards in schools, etc. (Part 2)
Basically I'm just going to focus on the political economy, and problems of information asymmetry and game theoretic issues with the assertion that armed guards in schools will lead to no more mass shootings. For those who missed Wayne LaPierre's speech, Jason Linkins at the Huffington Post provides a really good assessment of it. With … Continue reading Facepalmz: Gun control, armed guards in schools, etc. (Part 2)
Facepalmz: More gun control thoughts (Part 1)
My last post got a little snarky toward the end, so I'm going to try to stick to purely behavioral or game theoretic arguments in this installment. I can already tell you I will fail. Without further ado, into the Thunderdome (of game-theoretic gun control arguments). 1 ) If they charge them, they will win … Continue reading Facepalmz: More gun control thoughts (Part 1)
My ordered thoughts on mass shootings and gun control
So I left a note on Facebook this past weekend that got some likes and a 'share' even. Being a Facebook post, it was long on emotion and a little shorter on precision, so I promised a friend a blog post that was a bit more structured with regard to gun control, mass shootings. Here … Continue reading My ordered thoughts on mass shootings and gun control
Goma, M23, and the success of peacekeeping
The timing of reading Virginia Page Fortna’s Does Peacekeeping Work seemed appropriate as the M83 rebels in eastern Congo (DRC) marched in and took Goma, only to recently withdraw under the auspices of the MONUSCO force currently operating in the DRC. During this series of events I saw a tweet from Oxfam’s Policy and Practice … Continue reading Goma, M23, and the success of peacekeeping
A thought on Gaza and Twitter
If an airstrike happens in Gaza and no one live tweeted it, did it happen? That I’m even pondering this question demonstrates a shift in the evolution of information control in military operations. Perhaps the issue we’re facing is that in times past we needed a barrier between the publicly available information about combat operations … Continue reading A thought on Gaza and Twitter
Book review! “Crafting Peace” by Caroline Hartzell and Matthew Hoddie
Caroline Hartzell and Matthew Hoddie make an argument that the most robust form of negotiated peace involves a well-designed power or institution sharing agreement between the parties involved in a civil war. They make this argument in “Crafting Peace” using a statistical analysis of conflict cessation that includes variables covering duration, external intervention and measures … Continue reading Book review! “Crafting Peace” by Caroline Hartzell and Matthew Hoddie
Amnesty Australia talk
Big shout out to the TechChange team, especially to Gerard McCarthy our Director of Asia/Pacific Programs to getting this video rendered, edited, and up for viewing. Just some thoughts on tech, human rights and small island states - the talk was given in July in Sydney, Australia.
The political economy of cynicism: What else could you do with $100,000 in Pakistan?
I'm generally not big on entering into the fray when it comes to the politics of the Muslim world, since I'm not an expert on the topic. But I am an expert on political economy and coalition behavior is contested spaces. The news of Pakistan's Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour's $100,000 reward to anyone who murders Nakoula … Continue reading The political economy of cynicism: What else could you do with $100,000 in Pakistan?
Philippe Le Billon: Wars of Plunder (Columbia University Press: 2012)
Philippe Le Billon’s Wars of Plunder takes previous research on the mathematical relationship between natural resources and conflict and combines this with qualitative understandings of power and space to create a nuanced explanation of how different natural resources relate to conflict. Focusing initially on work done by economists such as Paul Collier and Macartan Humphreys, … Continue reading Philippe Le Billon: Wars of Plunder (Columbia University Press: 2012)
Charles P. Martin-Shields 