My COVID-induced intellectual lethargy must have rubbed off on the blog, because not a lot’s been shaking over the last few weeks – though it may seem that way given that it’s been like a month since the last roundup.
We’ve had two excellent 6+1 posts from members of our own team.
Josh Busby provides a detailed discussion of his new book, States and Nature: The Effects of Climate Change on Security. I found his motivations for writing the book particularly interesting. Obviously, the relationship between climate change and security is a hugely important topic. But Josh notes that most studies treat violence as their outcome of interest. As he notes, that’s a limited understanding of the relationship between climate and security. Climate change can kill a lot of people in ways that don’t involve people inflicting violence on other people.
Adam Lerner writes about his new book, From the Ashes of History: Collective Trauma and the Making of International Politics. Its argument: “Collective trauma, especially when generated by instances of mass violence, is a foundational force in international politics – one that shapes politics within and between states for generations.” Adam looks at three cases: post-independence Indian autarky, how the articulation of collective trauma at the trial of Adolf Eichmann “shifted Israeli foreign-policy imaginaries,” and the use of post-traumatic stress disorder as a rhetorical commonplace by U.S. critics of the War on Terror.
Bridging the Gap also posted two installments of regular series that they run at the Duck of Minerva.
“Book Nook” is a video series that promotes… books. In the latest episode, Emmanuel Balogun talks about Region-Building in West Africa: Convergence and Agency in ECOWAS. Emmanuel was Bridging the Gap’s inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Fellow. The other post introduces its second DEI fellow, Fabiana Sofia Perera.
But that’s not all. Van Jackson writes about the emerging debate within conservative circles over U.S. foreign policy. He identifies three major camps: nationalist militarists, neoconservatives, and realpolitik restrainers.
Is he right? I’ve got no idea. Read it and let us know.
What about podcasts? Got some of those, too.
The Hayseed Scholar (remember, we don’t produce; we just provide an additional distribution outlet) interviews Carla Martinez Machain.
We finally released the “Chinese International Relations” episode at Whiskey & IR Theory. Check it out.
In case you missed yesterday’s newsletter – or want to read it without the discussion of the latest spat over realism – the discussion of older arguments about anarchy is available in blogpost form.