political science job rumors

Things may get weird. Trying to fix the problems.

1. Nobody
   Unregistered

   While teaching an intro IR class (with some elements of comparative) this semester, I frequently asked my students whether (or to what degree) the events of the so-called Arab Spring impact some of the basic political science literature. Most of the discussion circulated around the nationalism, political culture and democratization literatures: "clash of civilizations," resource curses, the alleged incompatibility of Islam with democracy, etc. To a lesser extent, we discussed impacts on the revolutions literature.

   At any rate, I'd like to pose the question here: what literatures have been most impacted by the Arab Spring?

   Posted 2 years ago #

2. Nobody
   Unregistered

   I should add that, as a practical matter, I'm mostly interested in how much I have to tweak my course for next semester.

   Posted 2 years ago #

3. Contagion
   Unregistered

   Your three examples are good. To them I would add the literatures on contagion/diffusion of social movements and democratization etc (as with the Colored Revolutions, which you probably discussed). Also repertoires of collective action.

   http://ann.sagepub.com/content/598/1/33.abstract

   Posted 2 years ago #

4. IR Scholar
   Unregistered

   I think the biggest impact would be on those literatures that posit certain regime types or culture are insufficiently developed (economically, culturally) to support democratic institutions. If democracy takes hold in Tunisia and Egypt, and Syria, then these models (both macro-historical and quantitative) will have to reevaluated.

   Posted 2 years ago #

5. anon
   Unregistered

   ^Don't bet on it

   Posted 2 years ago #

6. who
   Unregistered

   The Arab Spring moniker assumes that these movements will lead to a more just society over there. This might or might not happen.

   Posted 2 years ago #

7. Mamdani
   Unregistered

   Mahmood Mamdani (Columbia Univ) penned an op-ed last weekend comparing the Arab Revolution with previous democratization experiences in Eastern Europe, Africa, etc. His conclusion: social science does a poor job predicting revolutionary events & democratization because much of soc sci models tend to ignore the role of human agency (what he terms "imagination").

   http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1149498/-/view/printVersion/-/14ynqusz/-/index.html

   Posted 2 years ago #

8. who
   Unregistered

   Eastern Europeans did not rape US reporters if memory serves well.

   Posted 2 years ago #

9. iusyafdt
   Unregistered

   But they did commit genocide. Take your pick.

   Posted 2 years ago #

10. anon
    Unregistered

    Neither did Tunisia.

    Posted 2 years ago #

11. who
    Unregistered

    ^^Neither did Poland.

    Posted 2 years ago #

12. Anon
    Unregistered

    Gotta say all of the above are pretty wrong: Food security, corruption, civil military relations, and Peace Studies (non violent resistance). There was no clash of civilizations, little ethnic conflict, and nationalism is irrelevant for these cases.

    Posted 2 years ago #

13. anon
    Unregistered

    You're wrong about nationalism. Look much more closely at the Egyptian protests.

    Posted 2 years ago #

14. anon
    Unregistered

    Mahmood Mamdani (Columbia Univ) penned an op-ed last weekend comparing the Arab Revolution with previous democratization experiences in Eastern Europe, Africa, etc. His conclusion: social science does a poor job predicting revolutionary events & democratization because much of soc sci models tend to ignore the role of human agency (what he terms "imagination").

    http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1149498/-/view/printVersion/-/14ynqusz/-/index.html

    what a load of crap... could you link to studies that predict the next big earthquake in CA, its epicenter, and its size on the richter scale with any degree of certainty?

    Posted 2 years ago #

15. anon
    Unregistered

    Revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt were caused mostly by higher grain prices, with a dash of Facebook and a pinch of American meddling.

    Food prices rule events, especially in overbreeding, overpopulated, urban-but-not-modern societies.

    Posted 2 years ago #

16. anon
    Unregistered

    And by the way, why do they need universities when they have no economy to employ the graduates? And no taxes to support public service jobs?

    Posted 2 years ago #

17. Simplistic
    Unregistered

    ^Rather reductionist interpretation there. There are food riots everywhere: they don't all lead to mobilized mass movements against apparently entrenched autocratic regimes. Go back to your Congressional voting studies. (Just for reference: Tunisia and Libya are/were mostly underpopulated, mostly urban, relatively "modern" societies in terms of overall infrastructure (physical and IT) and per capita GDP. How do you define "modern"? Does it mean they have to throw out Islam, or have to have access to Walmart? Is modern defined by culture, economics, politics, mindset, something else? If you are actually aspiring to be a political scientist, define your terms and don't let generalities stand in for analysis.)

    Posted 2 years ago #

18. anon
    Unregistered

    ^ "There are food riots everywhere."

    I haven't noticed any food riots around here. As you said, don't let generalities stand in for analysis.

    Posted 2 years ago #

19. anon
    Unregistered

    The Eastern Europeans committed genocide? Huh?

    Posted 2 years ago #

20. Simplistic
    Unregistered

    ^^ Yes, I should have been more specific re: food riots everywhere. I should have said food/fuel inflation/shortage/subsidy elimination riots have occured in N=50%+ of states (Africa, ME, and Asia, including China, being the hardest hit). But you likely would not have been aware of any of these because a) they didn't occur within 3 blocks of where you are standing, b) didn't make it on to Fox News.

    Posted 2 years ago #

21. nationalism
    Unregistered

    So how was nationalism connected to the Egyptian protests? I am willing to accept the concept, problem is I don't really know of any states or peoples who are not nationalistic. If the independent variable does not vary, how can it be a cause?

    Posted 2 years ago #

22. Iron Man
    Unregistered

    ^^^The last time I checked, the Balkans are in Eastern Europe. Of course, I don't pay much attention to Europe, so things may have changed since last I looked.

    Posted 2 years ago #

23. anon
    Unregistered

    ^^^ I notice that being specific falsified your earlier claims. Well done.

    Posted 2 years ago #

24. anon
    Unregistered

    ^ Lol

    And they wonder why departments cancel their ME searches...

    Posted 2 years ago #

25. kinghands
    Member

    Actually, what Ken told us is that he had to heavily re-write one of those chapters, but it did eventually get published several years later. In addition, he had a APSR and AJPS. So if you count that third article, then yes, he did have three top-3 articles out of the dissertation, which is pretty damn impressive.

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    Posted 1 year ago #

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