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23 Jan, 28 tweets, 7 min read
How did I change (or not) the content in my Intro to International Relations course during the 4 years of Trump? [THREAD]
This thread is my way of answering @dhnexon's excellent question

In this thread, I'll share

- what I added

- what I reinforced

- what I dropped/diminished
To start, what did I add?
(1) A lot more on race.

This included...
...being upfront about Wilson's racism and how that influenced his thinking about intervening in World War I and forming the League of Nations: in short, he viewed himself and the US as the savior of "White Civilization"
Speaking of "White Civilization", I brought in Clash of Civilizations. This seemed especially important since Trump administration officials kept referencing it when discussing US-China relations.
(2) Lot more on "International order"

There was just so much discussion of the "Liberal International Order" and it's "demise" over the past 4 years that you couldn't ignore it
I thought it was critical for students to understand what we mean by "International Order". Indeed, "order" became THE central concept of the first part of the course.
This required spending a lot of time wading through the definitions...
...though, as much as I like @SlaughterAM's definition, I ultimately stuck with Ikenberry
We also spend time on the origins of the phrase (it's relatively recent)...
...and a bit of time on the "idea" of International order (it's much older)
(3) A lot more on Hegemonic Stability theory
Previously, HST got a reference in the class, but now it's the focus of my discussion on the international politics of trade and finance (which is nice, since I can fall back on my @LSEIRDept training!)
In turn, this greatly simplified my discussion of international trade, finance, exchange rates, etc. It all boiled down to this slide
Next, which lessons were reinforced by the Trump Presidency?
(1) The fact that I spend an entire lecture on the centrality of the US$ in the international system. That didn't change, at all.
(2) The `isms': what better way to think about the changes in the tone of US foreign policy than to view it through a "realist" or "liberal internationalist" lens. That is why this assignment is valuable
(3) The US is NOT super nice
duckofminerva.com/2019/03/asshol…
Finally, what did I drop?
(1) I spend A LOT LESS time discussing the "awesomeness" of democracies: in war; promoting peace; promoting cooperation; promoting trade. To be frank, this is because the Trump years have laid bare how we really don't have a good grasp on the concept
(2) Though I have some discussion on leader traits and characteristics, not as much as you might think.
For instance, while I have students engage in this exercise....
...a key lesson I took from the Trump administration is how much stability there is in the general direction and behavior of states toward one another despite leader personalities and relationships with other leaders.
In many ways, Trump was the exception that proved the rule: that's not to say there are NO differences, but continuity in US Foreign Policy is evident
Indeed, I'll stick to much of what I said in this @UChicagoCIR debate about "replacement level Republican" and Trump
In sum, the Trump years altered my IR course by:

-- More race, order, & system structure
-- Reinforce $, isms, & US not "shining city on a hill"
-- Less "democracy is awesome" & leader relationships/personalities

[END]

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Paul Poast Profile picture
20 Jan
In the final hours of Trump's Presidency, it's worth asking: what just happened?

With respect to foreign policy, Trump told us exactly what was going to happen...back in 1987. That's when he placed a full page open letter in @nytimes @washingtonpost & @BostonGlobe

[THREAD]
He then followed up that letter with an interview on @Oprah

oprah.com/own-oprahshow/…
At the time, there was speculation that the letter signaled his intent to run for President in 1988

nytimes.com/1987/09/02/nyr…
Read 24 tweets
Paul Poast Profile picture
17 Jan
The Capitol Attacks make clear that the US can't lead abroad if democracy is undermined at home.

MLK taught that same lesson...we just didn't learn it.

[THREAD]
In particular, I am referring to the warnings and lessons in King's 1967 "Beyond Vietnam" Speech

kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/do…
King had become an outspoken critic of the war. This is not surprising. In his 1964 Nobel Prize speech, he highlighted war as the third great plague on modern society (the other two being racial injustice and poverty)
nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1…
Read 19 tweets
Paul Poast Profile picture
12 Jan
Was the attack on the US Capitol an attempted coup?

Rather than debate that question here (or in another forum), I'm making it an assignment. Specifically, I'm asking my Quantitative Security students to determine if it belongs in our coup/attempted coup datasets.

[THREAD]
A core goal of this course is to introduce students to how Large-N data on violence and security are created.

We put WAY TOO much emphasis on estimators & software (Stata v R 🙄); not enough on the quality of the data going into the analysis.
First, what happened? @johncarey03755 offers a succinct explainer

facebook.com/Dartmouth/vide…
Read 21 tweets
Paul Poast Profile picture
8 Jan
According to The Polity Project, the US is no longer a democracy.

Why does that matter? Why is the Polity Project wrong?

[THREAD] Image
Why does the Polity score matter?

There are a host of other democracy measures out there, such as @freedomhouse or @vdeminstitute.

But the Polity Project offers what is probably the most widely used social science measure of a country's regime type.
The Polity Project assigns to every country in the world from 1800 to the present an annual "Polity score" from -10 to 10.

10 = Purely Democratic
-10 = Purely Autocratic
Read 28 tweets
Paul Poast Profile picture
7 Jan
Rather than share an "IR Book of the Week", here are 5 political science books (and 1 history book) shaping how I'm processing and understanding this moment in America (largely from a Comparative politics perspective)

[THREAD]
Sarah Birch on violence as an instrument for manipulating election outcomes.

press.princeton.edu/books/paperbac…
@monika_nalepa's work on transitional justice. Addresses how societies (namely new governments) come to terms and address the wrongs committed by the previous government.

cambridge.org/core/books/ske…
Read 7 tweets
Paul Poast Profile picture
6 Jan
Political Scientist here:

Yes, that is political violence.

Yes, this is an attempted coup.

Yes, the US Polity score will take a hit.
To elaborate:

- "electoral violence" to be exact.

- military wasn't involved (canonical case), but *attempt* is key (and that it was incited by commander in chief is significant).

- I say it goes to 6. Democracy held, but we ain't "consolidated"
Though (h/t @_ChristinaBoyes) it appears that the Polity Project had already downgraded the US to a 5 (systemicpeace.org) Image
Read 14 tweets

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