Archive for July, 2006
During the Cold War, there was something of a consensus in American politics. We were fighting a life or death struggle, and because of that, a certain amount of cross-party cooperation was seen as valuable and even essential. Bipartisanship was held up as a superior moral value. What few recognized was how [...]
When I lived in London from 1994-96, researching my dissertation, I shared a flat in an old Victorian schoolhouse in Bermondsey, SE 1. It was a lovely flat, close to central London, but in an area that hadn’t been gentrified to within an inch of its life. About a 10 minute walk would [...]
There’s this discussion, which James pointed out to me. It’s interesting, and worth a discussion, but I’m also thinking that it’s a bit besides the point. Nationalisms don’t get uplifted or chosen or created by rational thought or process. What creates them is much more irrational than that, and much farther from [...]
I had some more thoughts on complex issues in public life. I do agree that there are issues that simply so complex that it is difficult to have a reasoned debate about them in a wider sphere. But what I also find fascinating is the way in which complex issues often get discussed [...]
From Roy Jenkins, Gladstone (London: Macmillan, 1995), p. 537:
“Gladstone saw that the maintenance of the liberal state was incompatible with holding within its centralized grip a large disaffected community of settled mind.”
(Referring to the Irish situation in 1885)
From Steven Englund, Napoleon: A Political Life (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004), p. 132:
“From Egypt’s perspective, the Europeans dropped suddenly onto their scene as an alien, hostile force majeure. Whatever the poor impression Egypt made on the French, the country was not a stagnant backwater, nor a tabula rasa yearning to have [...]
David is probably the smartest person I know, and I can always count on a lot of thoughtful conversation whenever we manage to get together
See, I told you James said interesting things.
So James said something interesting yesterday. This is not a shock. James often says interesting things. But I wanted to comment on something in particular:
Scientific knowledge has become so intricate and specialized that it’s impossible to expect even policymakers, let alone voters, to be well-informed about issues that will have significant impact [...]
The Jamestown Project- Small Tent April 16, 2009 dsilbey
- Votes Have Consequences, or Regionalization (continued) April 14, 2009 dsilbey
- What A Regional Party Looks Like April 7, 2009 dsilbey
- What Defeat Looks Like March 31, 2009 dsilbey
- The Wrong Question March 30, 2009 dsilbey
- silbey@h-war
- ANN: Baghdad at Sunrise: A Brigade Commander's War in Iraq Video Lecture Poste
- REPLY: Trinidad during World War II (3 Responses)
- CROSS-POSTED REVIEW: H-Net Review Publication: 'About Soldiers, More or Less'
- TOC: _Defence and Peace Economics_ , Volum e 20 Issue 3
- TOC: Journal of Conflict Resolution Table of Contents for 1 August 2009; Vol. 5
- Silbey@twitter
- silbey: You know it's the 21st century when your four-year-old uses the DVR remote control to pause the TV, gets candy, and then starts it again.
- silbey: @msilbey Or there's only a _Mother's_ Club: http://bit.ly/3vZVdg
- silbey: It's the 21st century when the local Jewish deli has wifi.
- silbey: @msilbey And gorilla!
- silbey: @thecline Sportsguy video: comedy gold. Extra bonus: the Doug Christie jersey he's wearing.
- silbey: @msilbey Hilarious. I think we should shout "Bingo" whenever the Redskins score from now on.
- silbey: @msilbey It's all about Vitamin D: http://bit.ly/2WlzpO
- silbey: Comedy gold: http://bit.ly/HmBm6
- silbey: @msilbey http://edgeofthewest.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/healing/
- silbey: @kdhopwood What she said.
