The Syrian crisis and the debt ceiling/government funding crisis have one thing in common in my mind. Narrative. In each situation, President Obama has a chance to “look Presidential” by being decisive. To be short about it, “Presidents order military strikes based on moral/strategic prerogative” and “Presidents tell Congress that the business of governing goes … Read more
Why did Obama seek Congressional authorization for military intervention in Syria? There are a number of theories, ranging from the facile to the subtle (and probably including the subtly facile). The “best” explanation, from my perspective at least, is that President Obama is signaling something about his ability to prosecute a potential conflict (for example, … Read more
When President Obama requested Congressional authorization for military intervention in Syria, he not only “scored one for the Constitution,” he also—not coincidentally—scored one for his party. First of all, he provided an opportunity for the GOP to lay bare the division within their ranks: on this dimension, there are effectively “I hate Obama, so I … Read more
Politico is reporting that Pelosi has sent a fifth letter urging House Democrats to support authorization for military intervention in Syria: “Pelosi, who says she won’t whip Syria vote, sends fifth letter in a week to colleagues…” The tweet suggests—to me at least—that the repeated (public) calls to support authorization for military intervention in Syria amounts … Read more
Quoting Politico … “[House Minority Leader Nancy] Pelosi said Wednesday at an event in San Francisco she does not plan to whip a Syria resolution when it comes to the House floor…” Leaving aside the moral and strategic questions about the advisability of striking Syria (far beyond my competence), the dynamic unfolding here is intriguig from a … Read more
My last post dealt with my personal conundrum about how best to deal with the problem of “I know these data are interesting, but I don’t (yet) have a theory to understand/explain/”test with” them. I got some very nice responses from colleagues and virtual friends. Thank you. (I have no idea why I get no comments on … Read more
It’s kind of a trick question, exactly the type of gambit that drives both research and blog posts. (The answer, it seems, is “both should magically emerge simultaneously.”) Anyway…I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately, and not the twerking kind. Both the seasonal goings-on and my mind doing laps on a vexing problem … Read more
As Labor Day weekend approaches, scores of scholars are steeling themselves for the “networking experience” that is the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association. Of course, the main value of networking is establishing relationships. For example, meeting new people can lead to coauthorships, useful information about grants/jobs/conferences, invitations to give talks, and so forth. … Read more
Paul Krugman recently wrote a post about how/why formal theory has fallen behind empirical work in prestige/prominence in economics. I agree with Krugman that the decline (if one thinks it has occurred) is not due to behavioral social science (Kahneman & Tversky’s voluminous body of work being the most notable of this field). Krugman argues … Read more
Thanks to Kevin Collins, I saw this forthcoming article (described succinctly here) by Omair Akhtar, David Paunesku, and Zakary L. Tormala. In a nutshell, the article, entitled “The Ironic Effect of Argument Strength on Supportive Advocacy,” reports four studies that suggest “that under some conditions…in particular, presenting weak rather than strong arguments might stimulate greater advocacy and action.” This … Read more