Reflections on the International Studies Association
Another conference in the books. Some thoughts: 1) No, I do not miss Chicago weather from late February or early March. 2) My most surreal moment had to be when a non-conference person, upon finding out what I did for a living, went on to say, “Now let me ask you something — I’ve read ...
Another conference in the books. Some thoughts: 1) No, I do not miss Chicago weather from late February or early March. 2) My most surreal moment had to be when a non-conference person, upon finding out what I did for a living, went on to say, "Now let me ask you something -- I've read this somewhere.... do you think it's true that some Jews in government have had divided loyalties? Is that why we invaded Iraq?" What made this moment extra-surreal -- it happened in the hotel jacuzzi. 3) Bob Wright will be very happy to learn that book publishers do, in fact, watch bloggingheads.tv. 4) A warning shot across ISA's bow: the number of panels at your conference is well beyond the point of diminishing returns. I know that most panels are accepted because that allows people to receive travel funds to attend the conference in the first place. At this point, however, there are simply too many panels per session -- and too many paper presented per panel. The wheat-to-chaff ratio has gone way down, and there are too many panels where the presenters outnumber the audience. If this trend continues, it will not surprise me if senior people abandon the conference all together (unless it's back in Honolulu) in favor of smaller, more narrowly focused conferences.
Another conference in the books. Some thoughts:
1) No, I do not miss Chicago weather from late February or early March. 2) My most surreal moment had to be when a non-conference person, upon finding out what I did for a living, went on to say, “Now let me ask you something — I’ve read this somewhere…. do you think it’s true that some Jews in government have had divided loyalties? Is that why we invaded Iraq?” What made this moment extra-surreal — it happened in the hotel jacuzzi. 3) Bob Wright will be very happy to learn that book publishers do, in fact, watch bloggingheads.tv. 4) A warning shot across ISA’s bow: the number of panels at your conference is well beyond the point of diminishing returns. I know that most panels are accepted because that allows people to receive travel funds to attend the conference in the first place. At this point, however, there are simply too many panels per session — and too many paper presented per panel. The wheat-to-chaff ratio has gone way down, and there are too many panels where the presenters outnumber the audience. If this trend continues, it will not surprise me if senior people abandon the conference all together (unless it’s back in Honolulu) in favor of smaller, more narrowly focused conferences.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Twitter: @dandrezner
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