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16 Jun, 4 tweets, 3 min read
Pundit Paul: "I agree with Biden. Foreign policy IS an extension of personal relationships!"

Pedantic Paul: "Foreign policy is an extension of personal relationships....except differences in regime types also matter. Oh, the global distribution of power too. Actually,...."
Seriously though, lot's of great work showing that something at the center of international politics -- diplomacy -- does actually matter.

h/t to @jkertzer for the summary thread!
And the question "do personal relationships matter in international politics" is a great one to pose to students: I do so by having them consider the Boris-Bill relationship (h/t to @e_sarotte)
Indeed, the person-state-system debate marked the discussion Fiona Hill, @kath_stoner, @brucebrookings, & I had yesterday on 🇺🇸🇷🇺 relations and the Biden-Putin summit (@BrookingsFP)

brookings.edu/events/russia-…

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More from @ProfPaulPoast

Paul Poast Profile picture
19 Jun
The Emancipation Proclamation is a crucial document, not least of all because it ensured the Union could win the American Civil War.

[A #JuneTeenth2021 Thread] Image
The American Civil War was not solely an "internal affair".

Throughout the early years of the war, Lincoln's administration feared intervention by the Europeans, notably the British.
tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…
As Lincoln remarked in his first State of the Union: "[A nation] which endures factious domestic divisions is exposed to disrespect abroad, and one party, if not both is sure sooner or later to invoke foreign intervention.”

presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/firs… Image
Read 27 tweets
Paul Poast Profile picture
12 Jun
@IntOrgJournal's 75th anniversary special issue on "The Liberal International Order" largely omits international security affairs.

This leads me to ask: What Would Hedley Bull Think? 🤔

[THREAD]
To be fair, the special issue covers a range of important topics facing the world (e.g. climate change) and the editors fully acknowledge the omission of security affairs.

But they justify the omission by saying that security institutions, namely @NATO, seem to be just fine.
One could take issue with the claim that security institutions are presently "alive and kicking" (moreover, the editors even acknowledge that the nuclear nonproliferation regime is "under siege")
politico.com/news/2021/06/1…
Read 25 tweets
Paul Poast Profile picture
8 Jun
Do forward-deployed forces deter? Not if they're merely "Tripwires". That's what Dan Reiter and I argue in this new @TXNatSecReview piece!

This is the first paper in a project I'm roughly titling "You've formed an alliance! Now what?"

tnsr.org/2021/06/the-tr…
My early work on alliances (which is heavily indebted to @BAshleyLeeds) mostly looked at formation.
cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/978150174…
This new project explores what states (mostly major powers and, well, really 🇺🇸) should do with allies once they have them.
Read 6 tweets
Paul Poast Profile picture
5 Jun
What made Kenneth Waltz a "Realist" and why was his form of realism "Neo"?

Time to #KeepRealismReal

[THREAD]
As pointed out in a previous #KeepRealismReal thread, Waltz key "realist" text, Theory of International Politics (TIP), doesn't even contain the word "realism", let alone "neorealism"

The main reason TIP is viewed as a realist text is because a goal of the book is to make sense of "the balance of power".

Why does that make it a "realist" text? Let's take a moment and go back to Hans Morgenthau
Read 23 tweets
Paul Poast Profile picture
28 May
What is a “country”?

Is it the same as a "nation" or a "state"?

Does 🇹🇼 count as one?

[THREAD]
Frank @zappa gave us about as good a definition as any (we'll come back to this at the end): 🍺+✈️
More generally, “country” is a conversational term used to describe a host of political-territorial entities on 🌏
Read 38 tweets
Paul Poast Profile picture
22 May
What's the difference between "international politics" and "foreign policy"?

Welcome to the theoretical world of Kenneth Waltz!

Time to #KeepRealismReal

[THREAD]
The distinction between "international politics" and "foreign policy" is central to Waltz's work.
tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…
To understand the difference, let's start with Waltz's 1956 book, "Man, the State, and War"
cup.columbia.edu/book/man-the-s…
Read 27 tweets

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