The unsolved mysteries of APSA
Blogging will be light the next couple of days as your humble blogger attends this year’s annual meeting of the American Political Science Association. Despite my strong preference for Las Vegas, APSA has yet to be held in that city — we’ll see if they ever get another chapter from me!! I’ve blogged about this ...
Blogging will be light the next couple of days as your humble blogger attends this year's annual meeting of the American Political Science Association. Despite my strong preference for Las Vegas, APSA has yet to be held in that city -- we'll see if they ever get another chapter from me!! I've blogged about this conference before. The theme of this year's post will be "unsolved mysteries." Here are the burning questions I have about APSA going forward: 1) Will Laura McKenna wear sling back heels for her 8:00 AM on Thursday panel? If she doesn't, will her panel chair be cross with her? 2) What's the worst time slot to present at APSA? The two obvious candidates are the earliest panel time (which would be at 8:00 AM on Thursday) and the latest panel time (which would be Sunday at 10:15 AM). My vote is for the Sunday slot -- the dregs of a conference are more depressing than the beginning. Plus, at least the people who have the first time slot get their obligation out of the way. 3) There is a distinguished scholar who shall remain nameless for the purposes of this posy. This scholar attends APSA on a regular basis and, as near as I can figure, displays the identical sartorial choice at every conference. He always wears a rolled-up red bandana around his neck (political scientists, you know of whom I speak, so no naming names in the comments). Here's what I want to know: does the man have more than one kerchief? Is there a drawerful of them? Does he change it every day? Does he wear them when he's not at APSA or ISA? To quote an old Bloom County strip, "Does it get the chicks? I mean, in truckloads?" 4) As previously observed, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have complained about the lack of available venues for them to present their argument (whether this complaint is always sincere is another question entirely). Why, then, is there no APSA panel or roundtable devoted to their forthcoming book? Did APSA reject the panel? Was one never submitted? Political scientists are encouraged to contribute their own APSA mysteries.
Blogging will be light the next couple of days as your humble blogger attends this year’s annual meeting of the American Political Science Association. Despite my strong preference for Las Vegas, APSA has yet to be held in that city — we’ll see if they ever get another chapter from me!! I’ve blogged about this conference before. The theme of this year’s post will be “unsolved mysteries.” Here are the burning questions I have about APSA going forward:
1) Will Laura McKenna wear sling back heels for her 8:00 AM on Thursday panel? If she doesn’t, will her panel chair be cross with her? 2) What’s the worst time slot to present at APSA? The two obvious candidates are the earliest panel time (which would be at 8:00 AM on Thursday) and the latest panel time (which would be Sunday at 10:15 AM). My vote is for the Sunday slot — the dregs of a conference are more depressing than the beginning. Plus, at least the people who have the first time slot get their obligation out of the way. 3) There is a distinguished scholar who shall remain nameless for the purposes of this posy. This scholar attends APSA on a regular basis and, as near as I can figure, displays the identical sartorial choice at every conference. He always wears a rolled-up red bandana around his neck (political scientists, you know of whom I speak, so no naming names in the comments). Here’s what I want to know: does the man have more than one kerchief? Is there a drawerful of them? Does he change it every day? Does he wear them when he’s not at APSA or ISA? To quote an old Bloom County strip, “Does it get the chicks? I mean, in truckloads?” 4) As previously observed, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have complained about the lack of available venues for them to present their argument (whether this complaint is always sincere is another question entirely). Why, then, is there no APSA panel or roundtable devoted to their forthcoming book? Did APSA reject the panel? Was one never submitted?
Political scientists are encouraged to contribute their own APSA mysteries.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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