May 2015 – The Scholar's Stage

Signal Like Its 1711: James Addison on Partisan Signaling, 18th Century Style

30 May, 2015By The People, Electoral Intrigues, Europa Regina, History, Narrative

Portrait of Joseph Addison (1672-1719), by Godfrey Kneller, c. 1712 Image source: Wikimedia I sometimes complain that 21st century American political culture has been hijacked by hyper-partisan signaling. It is easy to forget that this is not a new complaint. You can find political signaling spirals rearing their ugly head many times in humanity’s past–at […]

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Chinese Strategic Tradition: A Research Program (II)

28 May, 2015History, Narrative, Political Theory, Strategy, The Middle Kingdom

This post is the second in a series. I strongly recommended readers start with the first post, which introduces the purpose and methods of this essay. That post focused on what is published in English on Chinese strategic thought. This post focuses on what has been written about Chinese strategic practice–that is, the military, diplomatic, […]

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The Chinese Strategic Tradition: A Research Program (I)

26 May, 2015History, Political Theory, Possessions For All Time, Strategy, The Middle Kingdom

Mao Zedong writing On Protracted Warfare (Yan’an, 1938) Source: Wikimedia. INTRODUCTION Last fall I wrote a popular series of posts outlining the history of the eight decade war waged between the Chinese Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu (old style: Hsiung-nu) nomadic empire. My posts were a response to a prominent American strategic theorist who misunderstood […]

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When Modern War Met an Antique Art

08 May, 2015Dogs of War, History, Japan, Narrative

Kobayashi Kiyochika, “In the Battle of the Yellow Sea a Sailor Onboard Our JapaneseWarship ‘Matsushima’, on the Verge of Dying, Asked Whether or Notthe Enemy Ship had been Destroyed” (October 1894) [2000.109a-c] Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The earliest extant woodblock print was uncovered in a 7th century tomb excavated in the outskirts of […]

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Introducing: Asabiyah

02 May, 2015Dogs of War, History, Near East, Political Theory, Steppe and Sown, Tyranny

If mankind is, as has been claimed since ancient days, a species driven by the narrow passions of self interest, what holds human society together as one cohesive whole? How can a community of egoists, each devoted to nothing but his or her own ambition, thrive? Or for that matter, long exist? Thomas Hobbes of […]

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Monthly Archives: May 2015

Signal Like Its 1711: James Addison on Partisan Signaling, 18th Century Style

Chinese Strategic Tradition: A Research Program (II)

The Chinese Strategic Tradition: A Research Program (I)

When Modern War Met an Antique Art

Introducing: Asabiyah

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