Scott Wolford
@thescottwolford
Professor of Government, UT Austin // Co-director, Correlates of War Project @correlatesofwar.bsky.social // IR, war, game theory, beer snobbery, rock music, Dune references
Inbox zero, which makes me anxious enough that I hope this post jinxes the shit out of it.
One of the Trump admin’s explanations for striking Iran—preemption of an imminent attack—put me in mind of my article w/@yujimasumura.bsky.social at @ajpseditor.bsky.social, which examines when govts use the preemption casus belli and how publics react. (1/x) doi.org/10.1111/ajps...
TIL George Patton briefly had two buttholes. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_...
Pardon the dated self-reference, but working on a model of war expansion inspired by WWI in a 19th century basement pub in Budapest feels like old-school #wolfording @jessecjohnson.bsky.social
"Shifting power, interstate war, and domestic politics," co-authored w/@utaustin.bsky.social PhD student @yujimasumura.bsky.social, is now out in Early View @ajpseditor.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1111/ajps...
Keeping this in the paper until some joyless scold makes us take it out...
A sample of what we'll talk about in undergrad Causes of War this semester...
If messing up "Rostov-on-Don" is a human error, I won't care so much. But if this is a symptom of @cnn.com using the fancy autocomplete that is an LLM... apple.news/Ay-n8V2HWQT6...
IMO this is the single funniest line in all of Star Wars. It's well-earned, totally in character yet totally absurd, and I laugh *every time* I see it. 3PO relentlessly shitting on R2 in the early moments of ANH comes close, but for my money no single line has this much fucking laugh in it.
Collective deterrence, with UT GOV PhDs, now assistant professors @joshlandry.bsky.social and Kevin Galambos. In Budapest, as you do.
Today in "Footnotes that I hope survive the review process." polisky
Whoever proposed this—a warning that I'm in caps lock right by the cursor instead of on a key obscured by my hands while I type—is one of my heroes.
Some writing at Sutter Pub on a brief break from the bustle of ISA.