September 9, 2005 [LINK]

APSA convention wrap-up

I've just added a new page containing an edited version of my notes from last week's American Political Science Association annual meeting: Washington APSA 2005. It's similar to what I did for the 2002 APSA meeting in Boston (that page has been reformatted), except that I decided to limit my summaries to the more informative panels I attended. Below are the most significant panels I attended, including the names of the panelists. Asterisks denote the most distinguished speakers. The usual disclaimer applies: These are MY notes only, and because they probably contain a few inaccuracies and omissions, they should NOT be cited.

Sept. 1:
The Bush Second Term

PANELISTS: Michael Barone*, Jonathan Rauch, Ron Brownstein*, Amy Walter, Barry Jackson (White House).

Present in audience: David Broder*, Thomas Mann*, Charlie Cook*.

Offensive Neorealism, Global Jihad, Preemption

PANELISTS: Robert Jervis*, Stephen Van Evera*, John Mersheimer.

Case Studies & Theory Development in Soc. Sci.
(roundtable on new book by Alexander George and Andrew Bennett)

PANELISTS: Chris Achen, John Odell, Daniel Drezner (one of my favorite bloggers), Jack Levy.

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Sept. 2:
Resisting executive assaults in Latin America

PANELISTS: William Brandt, Diana Kapiszewski, Peter Siavelis, Adam Brinegar, Valeria Palazza.

Bush Foreign Policy: Is the revolution over?

PANELISTS: Francis Fukuyama*, John Ikenberry*, Jeff Legro* (U.Va.!), Joseph Grieco*. (Upshot of the answer: YES!)

I.R. theory in the era of global terrorism

PANELISTS: Kenneth Waltz*, Robert Keohane*, Alexander Wendt*, Paul Viotti*, Barry Posen*.

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Sept. 3:
Elections in Afghanistan and Iraq

PANELISTS: Larry Diamond*, Andrew Reynolds. (In response to my question, Larry Diamond said that a rapid scheduling of municipal elections soon after liberation was considered, but Paul Bremer vetoed it. The idea of giving each Iraqi citizen an equity certificate in nation's oil wealth was never seriously considered; it would be too costly to carry out.)

Intl. pol. economy and environmental policy

PANELISTS: Randall Stone, Liliana Botcheva-Andonova, Jana von Stein.

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Sept. 4:
U.S.-Canada-Mexico security cooperation

PANELISTS: Philippe Lagasse, Joel Sokolsky, Abelardo Rodriguez, John Cope, Richard Downie.

My observation: I'm taken back by the lack of any mention of NAFTA! European Coal & Steel Community (later EEC, EU) showed how economic integration can work hand in hand with regional security insitutions (NATO).

Response by Joel Sokolsky: There's a growing antipathy to NATO in Canada, which prefers bilateralism. U.S. refusal to abide by softwood lumber ruling makes Canadians anti-NAFTA. Security trumps trade, and NAFTA is the weak spot.