Helpful votes received on reviews:
100% (3 of 3)
Location: Worcester, MA
In My Own Words:
I'm a political scientist and economist by training and have taught widely in both disciplines. I love teaching international relations courses, but I also love teaching macroeconomics, international economics and statistics. It's a good balance. I've spent a good deal of time researching areas in international relations where economic and military interests intersect (and perhaps collide). This… Read moreI'm a political scientist and economist by training and have taught widely in both disciplines. I love teaching international relations courses, but I also love teaching macroeconomics, international economics and statistics. It's a good balance.
I've spent a good deal of time researching areas in international relations where economic and military interests intersect (and perhaps collide). This is the subject of my book Military Power, Conflict and Trade
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Reviews
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This book is a great read for many reasons. On the one hand, it is well written and well argued. Thomas states his judgement on Rhodes in the beginning, which is a negative one, but then weighs what can and cannot be said about the man based on available evidence. He does not make sweeping statements of any kind. He also measures what past biographers have said against the evidence. On the other hand, the story itself is fascinating. Thomas delivers a convincing portrait of Rhodes, one that punctures the heroic image of the "Colossus of Africa" while still revealing the clever and opportunistic nature of the man. We learn that Rhodes was a sickly child, whose frailty drove him… Read more
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
The Cash Nexus is an overly ambitious attempt to re-examine the link between economics and politics in the post-Cold War period. The most interesting part of the book is the first 6 chapters, which focus on how state institutions have emerged over time to serve the needs of war finance--the principal impetus behind the rise of the modern state. These institutions produce what Ferguson calls an optimal combination for producing power and include 4 institutions: a professional tax gathering bureaucracy; a parliament that accords a measure of representation to tax payers; the management of a system of national debt, which allows the state to borrow; and a central bank to manage a currency… Read more
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Cellini's story reads better than a novel. He is the quintessential Renaissance man. In his service to popes, kings and a slew of dukes he was a goldsmith, painter, sculptor, soldier and he may have had more near death experiences than any other that I have ever read about. Of course, his tale leaves himself always and forever blameless in each conflict, betrayal or other unfortunate episode that he finds himself in, which is tremendously entertaining. At first, the reader is seduced into believing that this man has been wronged countless times by a world full of the most slippery types of people. By the middle of the book, however, it dawns on the reader that Cellini must have played some… Read more
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