In association with the International Commission of Jurists

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11 Feb

Guzman’s book is an extremely useful addition to the literature, offering a rational choice explanation for compliance with international law. I think his three Rs of compliance (retaliation, reciprocity, and reputation) accurately reflect the best arguments for why states comply with international law. But as I was reading the book I was struck by the fact that none of the...

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11 Feb

Let me first thank Peggy McGuinness and everyone at Opinio Juris for this wonderful opportunity to discuss my book. I also want to thank the commentators, Jeff Dunoff, Alex Geisinger, and Kal Raustiala for their willingness to participate. I know that I will benefit from the discussion. I hope that the commentators do as well, and that...

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10 Feb

Following up on my previous post on the evolution of state borders in Eurasia, see also this animated map charting the imperial history of the Middle East and this PBS interactive map that includes historical political borders, natural resources, and religious populations (use the tabs at the bottom). But, regarding the Middle East, the big question is what will the map...

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09 Feb

The bloggers at Coming Anarchy have put together an informative series of posts about the shifting borders of states and empires. There’s a time-lapse animation of the expansion and contraction of Rome and Byzantium, a series of maps for each of Ethiopia, Poland, Armenia , Persia, and Russia. Also, there’s a series of comparative maps on state borders in...

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08 Feb

Once again, thanks to Roger Alford and everyone else involved with Opinio Juris for a rich discussion and an excellent example of how the Internet can facilitate in-depth exchanges. I wrote God and Gold hoping to set off a conversation about some important and often uncomfortable truths: that the modern world has developed under the auspices of an ever growing and deepening...

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08 Feb

This is the question Peter Spiro poses in his response to God and Gold. While noting that I call for an ‘organic, Burkean evolution’, he wonders whether I’ve given full weight to the role these institutions need to play, not as utopian solvers of humanity’s many problems, but as ‘the arena for addressing the problems of global society.’ It’s a probing...

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08 Feb

The situation in Kosovo may be coming to a head in the next few days. (See also this.) The New York Time is reporting today:Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said on Friday about 100 countries were ready to recognize the province's independence from Serbia, which political sources say could be declared on Feb 17. "We have confirmation by around 100 countries that...

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08 Feb

The final section of God and Gold addresses the question of why Anglo-Saxon optimism has so often been wrong, and what three centuries of Anglo-Saxon success means for world history. Much of this section focuses on American misapprehension of liberal capitalist democracy. While Americans think of it as a way to promote social peace and stability, they fail...

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