commentary

on policy matters

Vox interview on “civil war” and the conflict in Ukraine.  April 24, 2014.

Syria’s Civil War.  In “The Political Science of Syria’s War,” POMEPS Briefing #22, December 18, 2013, George Washington University.

Obstacles to Ending Syria’s Civil War.  Foreign Policy (online), December 10, 2013.

Iraq’s Civil WarForeign Affairs 86, 2 (March/April 2007), 2-16.

An International Organization for Democracies? Accreditation versus a “League”  Stanford University, 2008

Testimony before the U.S. House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations, September 15, 2006. (On U.S. strategy in Iraq and implications of withdrawal.)

Reforming International Institutions to Promote International Peace and Security. Prepared for the International Task Force on Global Public Goods. 6 January 2005.

Catastrophic Terrorism and Civil Liberties in the Short and Long Run. Presented at a symposium on “Constitutions, Democracy, and the Rule of Law” held during Columbia University ‘s 250th anniversary celebrations, October 17, 2003 .

 

blog posts

search at The Monkey Cage and the pre-WaPo archives here

 

on academic work

Taking the Gamble (Reply to Alex Downes, “Regime Change Doesn’t Work”).  Boston Review, September/October 2011.

Two States, Two Types, Two Actions: Comments on Charles Glaser’s Rational Theory of International Politics. Security Studies 20, 3 (August 2011), 431-440.

Comments on R. Harrison Wagner’s War and the State: The Theory of International Politics. International Theory 2, 2 (July 2010), 333-342.

State Failure and Challenges to Democratization in Africa, comments on Robert Bates’ When Things Fell Apart: State Failure in Late-Century Africa. Perspectives on Politics 7, 2 (June 2009), 361-363.

Comments of the Report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges, and Change. In Ernesto Zedillo, ed., Reforming the United Nations for Peace and Security, Proceedings of a Workshop to Analyze the Report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges, and Change. New Haven, CT: Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, 2005.

Two Questions about Ethnicity and Nationalism:  Explaining Motivations versus Explaining Variation.  In Edward Mansfield and Richard Sisson, eds., The Evolution of Political Knowledge: Democracy, Autonomy, and Conflict in Comparative and International Politics. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 2004.