Deutsche Welle has an interesting article on why German politicians want doctorates (and how this gets them into trouble when their dissertations turn out to be ever so slightly dodgy). Yet he does understand the allure of the “doctor” title in Germany. “A doctorate gives a kind of cosmetic effect to the reputation of the […]
Henry Farrell
Henry Farrell is an associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University.
Posted inPolitics
Reforming the American Welfare State
Kimberly Morgan (GWU) has a new Foreign Affairs article that draws on the comparative welfare state literature to present two novel propositions to American policy makers – that the modern American welfare state currently helps the well off much more than the poor, and that making it better would involve learning from other countries. . The United States […]
Posted inPolitics
Post-Democracy
Charlie Stross argues that we’re living in a post-democratic system. Institutional survival pressure within organizations — namely political parties — causes them to systematically ignore or repel candidates for political office who are disinclined to support the status quo or who don’t conform to the dominant paradigm in the practice of politics. … The status […]
Posted inPolitics
Remembering Aaron Swartz Again
There was a memorial service for Aaron in DC last week. Like Rick Perlstein, I wasn’t able to go. Unlike Aaron’s funeral, it was a specifically political event, intended to draw publicity both to Aaron’s causes and the causes of Aaron’s death. Public deaths are strange. When someone dies, what is left is an imperfect […]
Posted inPolitics
Hilary Mason on Data Sharing
Hilary Mason, chief scientist at bit.ly, has two posts on how and why companies like bit.ly should share data with academics. As a beneficiary (together with John and other members of a team of social scientists – we wrote the Arab Spring research that she mentions) of bit.ly’s generosity, I can only applaud. However, there’s […]
Posted inPolitics
Algorithmic Advertising and Racial Bias
Computer scientist Latanya Sweeney turns from her highly influential work on data privacy to investigate patterns in Google AdSense. Specifically, she asks whether the ads that you see when you search for someone by name vary depending on whether you search for a characteristically black or characteristically white name. First names, previously identified by others […]
Posted inEducation, Higher Education
MIT and Aaron Swartz
Larry Lessig, in his justifiably angry post on Aaron Swartz’s death says the following: Early on, and to its great credit, JSTOR figured “appropriate” out: They declined to pursue their own action against Aaron, and they asked the government to drop its. MIT, to its great shame, was not as clear, and so the prosecutor […]
Posted inPolitics
Remembering Aaron Swartz
I don’t want to write about the circumstances of his suicide – it’s too raw. I do want to write about who he was. I suspect that the media will turn this into a story of Aaron as persecuted hacker, which gets at only one part of him. He was one of the kindest, sweetest, […]
Posted inPolitics
Supply Chains and Labour Rights
The fire in Bangladesh has spurred a broader political controversy over whether large US firms such as Walmart have a responsibility to improve safety conditions in their subcontractors. This feeds into a broader set of questions over the extent to which international labor rights are observed. Most of the research (including Beth Simmons’ important recent […]
Posted inPolitics
The Economist and the Irish Famine
The Economist has a review of two books on the Famine in the most recent issue. Both authors describe the folly and cruelty of Victorian British policy towards its near-forsaken neighbour in detail. The British government, led by Sir Charles Trevelyan, assistant secretary to the Treasury (dubbed the “Victorian Cromwell”), appeared far more concerned with […]
