I'm a Joseph Nye fan, so I hope he is on again. Having said that, I think his contribution has been more in policy than in academics. I've read several of his academic articles, and have found the substance/verbage ratio pretty low, as the above said about political science writing in general. Maybe not Nye's fault, but the 'industry' Nye has written many articles on oil and security over the past 30 years, and they have been based on conceptual errors that economists would not make. Yet in the past three years, I noticed a sudden improvement in op-eds, despite some lingering errors. This shows he is open minded. I'm a Nye fan because despite the oil issue and 'soft power' which is a concept that goes back, oh... 4000 years, he's smart, moderate, and level headed. If all governments had people like him in policy, the world would be a better place. Dan might be a future Nye!

This was an interesting discussion that raised some worthwhile questions. I never thought I'd be in favor of a revolving door policy before today ...

Yes critics! Poli sci needs them desperately! Weber said one had to put on methodological "blinders" to do vocational science responsibly but didn't seem to anticipate how such disciplinary renunciation would eventually lead to the ivory cage. Quantitative policy wonks in the academy have been rendered anachronistic. The only ones doing anything these days in the political academy of any "relevance" are the theorists, (surely not all, not even most,) who study and interpret paradigms, cultures, and have a broader view of history that predates 1945. Get beyond staid behavioralism! Get beyond the pragmatist "problem solving" quantitative bullshit. Get beyond DC! Reevaluate the very notion of the political!

Interesting discussion, but, as Nye observes, the lack of competent area specialists, with a deep knowledge of the languages, histories and cultures of other countries and regions, is the greatest lacuna in American "political science." It is hardly surprising that US foreign policy lurches from one fiasco to the next when its leading specialists of international relations are monolingual "theory" builders with little knowledge of history and a touchingly naive faith in human rationality.... What wisdom could such people bring to policymaking, one wonders, even if they did deign to leave their ivory towers to advise the politicians in Washington? Anyone of average intelligence can master the "science" of international relations in a few months. The various positions have been staked out for centuries, and are well-known to any student of political philosophy. All you need to do is read the classics (Grotius, Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, Clausewitz etc. etc.), or some twentieth-century textbook summary of the classics (Kenneth Waltz, Hedley Bull, Raymond Aron, Pierre Hassner), and, voilà, you are an expert on international relations. Except, of course, you are nothing of the kind because without knowledge of other countries your knowledge of the theory is completely USELESS---like that of most American academics.

good point. that really gets to the crux of the matter. they're all about "theory" and what we need are experts on reality.
it's kinda like how Eli Lake somehow convinced himself that the Iraq war actually was a good idea after thinking about it for a couple more years. it's all an abstract game of geopolitics in his head and meanwhile people are being blown up and shot.

Quoting Francoamerican:
Anyone of average intelligence can master the "science" of international relations in a few months. The various positions have been staked out for centuries, and are well-known to any student of political philosophy. All you need to do is read the classics (Grotius, Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, Clausewitz etc. etc.), or some twentieth-century textbook summary of the classics (Kenneth Waltz, Hedley Bull, Raymond Aron, Pierre Hassner), and, voilà, you are an expert on international relations.

Finally: the comment we've been waiting for. Thank you, Franco: can't imagine it being put better.

Ask not what your country can do for your little corner of Academia (oh, excuse me, The Academy), ask what your little corner of Academia can do for your country!

Why is French foreign policy such a debacle than Franco? Cote d'Ivoire? Lebanon? Algeria? Way to go smart France! ... dare I go back into antiquity and mention.... the Maginot Line? My favorite French moment of all time though is the Battle of Poitiers, back in the day (circa 1300s), classic French moment in history.

Quoting Lyle:
My favorite French moment of all time though is the Battle of Poitiers, back in the day (circa 1300s), classic French moment.

"classic French moment" . . .um, more like a "classic Lyle moment." Which is to say: unthinking, reactionary, and, dare we say, dumb? Show me where FrancoAmerican said anything favorable regarding French foreign policy vis a. American foreign policy, as you accuse. Also, the Maginot Line is hardly from "antiquity" - you're only about 2000 years off, there. Look: you sometimes have interesting things to say - I appreciate your emphasis on international human rights. I even tend to agree with you on that! But saying things like "classic French moment" reveals you to be a provincial rube.

nikkibong, Do you understand facetious? And there is a point to be made about America's foreign policy woes being the product of ignorance. America isn't the only country with foreign policy woes. The most brilliant and learned people in the world (Europeans, especially the French) have an imperfect foreign policy dotted with failure as well. So something other than ignorance of others is at play in our world.

Quoting Lyle:
All there is a point to be made about America's foreign policy woes being the product of ignorance. America isn't the only country with foreign policy woes. The most brilliant and learned people in the world (Europeans, especially the French) have an imperfect foreign policy dotted with failure as well. So something other than ignorance of others is at play in our world.

Nobody, nobody would argue otherwise. And FrancoAmerican certainly wasn't.

Ah... nikkibong, you must not have read what Franco wrote very carefully. I'd go back and re-read what he wrote.

Are you doing some Kabbalah style reading to get at the "real meaning" ?

"It is hardly surprising that US foreign policy lurches from one fiasco to the next when its leading specialists of international relations are monolingual "theory" builders with little knowledge of history and a touchingly naive faith in human rationality.... What wisdom could such people bring to policymaking, one wonders, even if they did deign to leave their ivory towers to advise the politicians in Washington?" Yet, if French academic and foreign policy experts are so much better... why is French foreign policy often a debacle? If only Europeans ran American foreign policy, there wouldn't be any "fiascos"?

Quoting Lyle: "It is hardly surprising that US foreign policy lurches from one fiasco to the next when its leading specialists of international relations are monolingual "theory" builders with little knowledge of history and a touchingly naive faith in human rationality.... What wisdom could such people bring to policymaking, one wonders, even if they did deign to leave their ivory towers to advise the politicians in Washington?"

Yet, if French academic and foreign policy experts are so much better... why is French foreign policy often a debacle? If only Europeans ran American foreign policy, there wouldn't be any "fiascos"?

Lyle, you did not listen to the dialogue. You did not understand what I said. You have no knowledge of history, and, as far as I have been able to glean from your idiotic rantings on this and other occasions, you have no ability to understand what other people say in general. You are a perfect example of an uneducated American RUBE.

Quoting Francoamerican: Lyle, you did not listen to the dialogue. You did not understand what I said. You have no knowledge of history, and, as far as I have been able to glean from your idiotic rantings on this and other occasions, you have no ability to understand what other people say in general. You are a perfect example of an uneducated American RUBE.

I wonder what an uneducated French rube is like.

Fascinating argumentation Franco. Just call people rubes or American, and ipso facto you win. Brilliant. French people in charge of American foreign policy would lead to debacles, just like it does in France.

Quoting Lyle: Fascinating argumentation Franco. Just call people rubes or American, and ipso facto you win. Brilliant.

French people in charge of American foreign policy would lead to debacles, just like it does in France.

This thread didn't get stupid until you started posting. Just saying. Anyway, let me make another pitch for the Daniel Deudney diavlog and Deudney's book, Bounding Power. Deudney reframes liberalism and realism as being just components of an older tradition of interstate republicanism, a tradition that dates back to antiquity. (And by the end of the book HG Wells and Jules Verne figure in to it.) I think Franco in particular would enjoy it.

Wait... It's not the people saying I'm stupid, a rube, or an American who turned this thread stupid? It's not the people who don't get facetious? Haha.

Quoting claymisher: I wonder what an uneducated French rube is like.

Just like Lyle.

I think Nye was exactly right in talking about "theological disputes" in the academy and recommending that it become a "broader church." My father has been an academic for 30 years and I see a lot of narrow-mindedness, sticking to orthodoxy, and whatnot. Academia could benefit from a reformation.

Show me where in this diavlog Franco invoked his Gallicness to prove his intelligence. This is simply straw-man nonsense.

Quoting claymisher: This thread didn't get stupid until you started posting. Just saying.

Anyway, let me make another pitch for the Daniel Deudney diavlog and Deudney's book, Bounding Power. Deudney reframes liberalism and realism as being just components of an older tradition of interstate republicanism, a tradition that dates back to antiquity. (And by the end of the book HG Wells and Jules Verne figure in to it.) I think Franco in particular would enjoy it.

Thanks. I think I listened to it. Maybe I should listen to it again. I don't think liberalism (in the American sense) and realism are at all compatible.

No, not just like Lyle because I don't speak French. Ah, that must mean I don't know history, ahhh!!! Only French people know history, ahhh!!!! Where is France anyway, next to Turkey cause there are a lot of Muslims in France and Turks are Muslims yes. Cote d'Ivoire is just north of France, yes, yes that's true. Yay.

It's implied nikkibong, it's implied.

Quoting nikkibong: Show me where in this diavlog Franco invoked his Gallicness to prove his intelligence. This is simply straw-man nonsense.

BTW, Franco: I used to spend a lot of time on the Rue Georges Huchon in your hometown!

Thanks Nikkibong. Since I am half American, half French, the gallophobia of Lyle and his ilk is like water off a frog's back. I am unfamiliar with the Rue Georges Huchon. Which arrondissement is it?

Quoting Francoamerican: I am unfamiliar with the Rue Georges Huchon. Which arrondissement is it?

It's not: it's in beautiful Vincennes http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&cl...-8&sa=N&tab=wl Have a good day.

I'm not actually anti-Gallic. I love France. France is awesome and beautiful. I'm particularly fond of hirsute French women. My problem with you Franco is your argumentation. If it's American, it's stupid. If it's American, it's wrong. If you are American, you are a rube. As if you can't be stupid, wrong, or ignorant yourself. You can't expect people to respect you just because you're French. That doesn't mean anything.

Quoting Lyle: I'm not actually anti-Gallic. I love France. France is awesome and beautiful. I'm particularly fond of hirsute French women.

My problem with you Franco is your argumentation. If it's American, it's stupid. If it's American, it's wrong. If you are American, you are a rube. As if you can't be stupid, wrong, or ignorant yourself. You can't expect people to respect you just because you're French. That doesn't mean anything.

You said it, not I: If it's American, it's stupid. Of all the people who post here you confirm national stereotypes more than anyone.

Well, you represent France very well too. Haha.

Quoting Francoamerican: Thanks. I think I listened to it. Maybe I should listen to it again. I don't think liberalism (in the American sense) and realism are at all compatible.

I meant to say I think you'd like the book. As for realism/liberalism, aw crap, you put me on the spot. I can't remember the details now. It took me a damn month to get through that book too, and now I gotta reread it!