Nob-les Oblige: An Introduction
Hello dear reader, welcome to my very first front page post. Most of you have seen me in and about these parts over the past few years, but for those who have not had the (mis)fortune of reading my rambling comments a short introduction.
I go by Nob Akimoto (a shortening of my birth name “Noboru”). Yes, I am Japanese, no I don’t have an accent (other than a Midwestern Ohioan twang) and currently live in Texas.
I go to school at the University of Texas at Austin as a master’s candidate at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, specializing in international law and global governance. No, I am not a political scientist, an attorney (though I have taken law school courses) nor an economist. I do have training in all three fields plus a smattering of history.
In my spare time I am a dungeon master and RPG setting author (the World of Avlis, minor plug: www.avlis.org ) and general sci-fi/fantasy geek. I love the following sports teams: The Chicago Cubs, Bulls, Bears, Fire and Blackhawks. The Ohio State Buckeyes and the Texas Longhorns. Chelsea FC, Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund. I am avid smoker of cigars and I used to be a scotch connosieur until I gave up drinking about a year ago.
I write to you today because I tend to comment on matters regarding foreign affairs and Erik was kind enough to invite me to fill a niche. While I will on occasion touch on subjects other than foreign policy (particularly the geeky ones), my primary blog posts will be about foreign policy. I don’t usually like labels, but I will flat out say I am liberal in my political leanings.
There will occasionally be begged questions, but I hope you, dear reader, will forgive my lapses. I will of course include a lexicon at some point with short summaries of IR theories and other terms as they come up. I hope to also include a short reading list with definitions so that you might explore them if you eventually feel the need.
This introduction is also here to solicit feedback. My primary interests in the field of foreign affairs has been security (specifically law and terrorism as well as maritime security), diplomatic history, and of recent financial history. That said, I’m flexible and I am equipped with google scholar plus database access, so I can give you concise summaries on a number of subjects if you so desire.
I would like to know what international issues Gentlemen here at the League find interesting. I would be happy to oblige you with a reasonably concise summary of what I know and what I think of it. For now dear reader, I bid you good night.
A Longhorn?
Well, I guess I’ll give you a chance, anyway.Report
Upon review, this comment may come off as snotty rather than light-hearted. I certainly intended the latter, apologies.
And welcome!Report
It came off as light-hearted, don’t worry. I do really hope you’re not a Schooner, though…Yes, it’s 2012, but OU still sucks!Report
Not technically (spent all my life in Canada), but OU has always been my team. It helped that my hometown (Ottawa) has a minor football team called the Sooners.
As an aside, I’ve always held out hope for a J.C. Watts presidential run. Not only was he an OU star, but also the starting quarterback for Ottawa’s professional team, the Rough Riders. I figure that makes him pretty much infallible.Report
Know why Oklahoma had the dust bowl? Cause Texas sucks and Kansas Blows (sorry Kansas that’s how the joke goes)
but welcome anyway 🙂Report
Even worse, a Buckeye.
Oh well, glad you’re here anyway!Report
Awesome.
Good to have you here.
Report
So are you in the game and have one of those cool phones?Report
Did you go to Ohio State for undergrad? Jason and I went there for our Master’s degrees.Report
I lived in Columbus for a few years as a kid. My connection to the Buckeyes is entirely of upbringing, my mother did some graduate study there and every autumn was basically an OSU fest.Report
Awesome. This seems long overdue, and glad you took the plunge.Report
Welcome, Nob. You’ve been tearing up the comments like nobody’s business, and I am really looking forward to your stuff.
I had not been informed you had been made a frontpager, or I wouldn’t have stepped on your toes for the Friday Jukebox with the Etta James tribute. Apologies. Of course, more Jukeboxing would surely be welcome…Report
As much as I appreciate front page status, I cannot hold a candle to Etta and would be more than honored to have her tribute over mine. So please, post away.Report
“You’ve been tearing up the comments like nobody’s business.” – Yeah, seriously.Report
I love the following sports teams: …The Ohio State Buckeyes and the Texas Longhorns.
All that Chicago crap and the liberalism I could accept, and I know I encouraged you to be more controversial, but this is going too far. It’s clearly an effort to be deliberately offensive.
As to postings on international (foreign? do they really still use that non-PC word in Austin?) affairs, there’s literally a wide world of interesting things to post about. I’d encourage you to pick up on current events, particularly those that might not be making front page news, and give us your best explanation.Report
Oh, and congrats and welcome. Very much so.Report
Technically we use the buzzword “Global Policy Studies” for what I do. In fact my specialization is explicitly Global Governance and International Law, which seems to me, basically a catch all term for a generalist like me that likes to muck around with international institutions.
For the immediate future, I think I’m basically going to pick a topic a week and write a memo length blog post about it. If there’s sufficient interest I’ll follow up. This stuff’ll often be random, ranging from nuclear proliferation, detention/drone strikes, to uranium recovery from sea water, Asian pop culture wars and Basel banking regulations.
I am something of a “finger in every pie” person. So I’m always game to listen to where folks want to go.Report
I am something of a “finger in every pie” person.
A man after my own heart (except for your taste in sports teams).Report
I find that the tragedy of the Cubs helps me get through the winter. NEXT YEAR WILL BE THE YEAR!Report
Yeah, the Cubs’ annual tragedies warm my winters, too–they leave a warm glow in my heart all year ’round!Report
I used to have to say this about the Red Sox.Report
I would like to know what international issues Gentlemen here at the League find interesting.
Jump in and write about what you find most interesting. We need more foreign affairs stuff, just getting started will likely spur the conversation more. Welcome!Report
Agreed, and welcome. I’m always interested in both just war theory and economic development, if you’re looking for a direction.
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Thanks, Jason.
Those are definitely things I’d like to touch on.
One thing I’d like to do is also use my blog posts as a way show what sort of work policy students/wonks are up to these days. I will likely have guest authors with op-eds posts and have them come in for discussion from time to time, particularly people who are good in fields like development and aid.Report
That would be pretty sweet. Why do I think that your contributions and solicited contributions are going to wind up undermining our “Ordinary” cred?
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Hopefully not. My colleagues are generally quite extraordinary, but being the drab generalist, I’m a bit more ordinary. I’m only extraordinary in the breadth of my knowledge rather than the depth.Report
Seriously. This is one subject area about which I have become increasingly fascinated over the years. I surely have my ideological views in general on the subject, but one thing I’ve learned the last few years is that those views rarely provide much guidance, or really much of interest at all, to say when it comes down to 95% of the nuts and bolts of international relations. Questions of war and, to a lesser extent, sanctions dominate probably close to 100% of public discussion on international relations, but in reality they make up an almost trivial percentage of actual international relations.
So I guess that’s my request – I would love to read, learn, and debate about facets of international relations that do not require debating “War! What is it good for?” or “Sanctions?”Report
Well, if you check above, I’ve started out with something that’s connected to security, but also has to do with some of the more nuts and bolts aspects of actually determining who owns what in the international system.
I think I’m going to focus on examining the UN Convention Law of the Sea over the next month or so. It’s an area I’ve spent a fair amount of time looking through, and gives us a nice discussion area to talk about the history of maritime governance and the roots of what I would consider the first true “transnational” or “global” system of governance, rather than simply a nation to nation transaction mechanism.Report
If I may make some requests: (1) safari tourism was what I originally wanted to study after college; (2) piracy’s impact on world trade was a close second (not the nerdy kind of piracy – swashbucklers! Arrrgh!); (3) how the U.S. treats Brazil like complete shit and no one knows or cares about it (especially as it relates to some of the power politics around the last Olympics selection.)Report
Safari tourism and other sorts of “new” global governance tools that rely on how people react to their feel good fuzzies is on my list of topics to cover…Report
I’m very much looking forward to it.Report
Hurrah Nob! Congrats and welcome!!Report
I’m very much looking forward to your posts. Welcome aboard.Report
Welcome aboard, Nob.Report
Thanks, boss.Report
Welcome, Nob! I very much look forward to seeing more foreign affairs posts around here, I tend to get lost in all the philosophy stuff around here and some International stuff would be a nice change. I’m so excited I am very willing to give you a pass on your terrible taste in sports teams.Report
(says the Wisconsin native)Report
Am I right in guessing you’re a Cheesehead, Plinko? If so, my dearest condolences to your recent gutrenching tragedy.
In addition to international stuff, I’m also hoping to snag a couple science blegs now and then.
I think in general ecclecticism is my greatest strength, and I tend to have friends who can help me fill in my blanks. Look for many random guests showing up.Report
Yes, but I’m over it, don’t worry, just giving you a mild heckling as your choice of teams is almost the perfect storm to the stereotypical Wisconsinite – who holds deep resentment toward sports teams from Chicago, Texas and The Ohio State University (in that order).
For professional reasons I’m very interested in the TPP, so any memos you might choose to write on that subject would be most interesting. What we hear is mostly vague junk, even though it’s actually very important to the way industry trends will shake out.Report
Plinko’s not the only Cheesehead here still wondering who those guys were that played the Giants this just-past Sunday. They looked a lot like the Green Bay Packers but obviously were not the same people. Uncanny.Report
I hope the disease was communicable but the 9ers are immune.Report
Welcome, Nob!Report
Ah, another Austinite.
Quick question, is the LBJ building the ugliest building ever built, or were there competitors in Soviet Ukraine?Report
The Bryan Center at Duke has to be in the running. The inside is worse.Report
That actually looks like the area around the LBJ building, which you can see here:
http://kutnews.org/post/top-morning-stories-june-13-2011
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=lbj+building&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1366&bih=536&tbm=isch&tbnid=T3FIzvKQwkc2aM:&imgrefurl=http://kutnews.org/post/top-morning-stories-june-13-2011&docid=ns6QbEKK6rKnmM&imgurl=http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kut/files/201106/LBJ_6_building.jpg&w=3072&h=2304&ei=3jIbT7DGLoTy2gW265zoCw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=829&vpy=108&dur=705&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=163&ty=105&sig=105287673977416817240&page=1&tbnh=161&tbnw=228&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0Report
I find that the library’s kinda grown on me…Report
You win. At least the Bryan Center is somewhat restrained.
Although, I guess I’ll offer the work of Tadao Ando as my ace in the hole.Report
I don’t mind Ando’s stuff…
Check this place out
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=donner+cmu&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1680&bih=918&tbm=isch&tbnid=rLWYwU6N0dSqLM:&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/haikiba/sets/1072264/detail/&docid=k8OSKCcicuVVLM&imgurl=http://farm1.staticflickr.com/29/54414176_859b5fa35a_m.jpg&w=240&h=180&ei=-IodT-2iB4qEsALB6onjCw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1253&vpy=471&dur=150&hovh=144&hovw=192&tx=75&ty=76&sig=100714962211238511698&page=1&tbnh=140&tbnw=187&start=0&ndsp=43&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0
It actually looks worse in person.Report
A dungeon masteras sci- fi fantasy geek, and an avid smoker of cigars! I bet you are beating the ladies off with a stick. 😉Report
To be fair, I don’t smoke cigars that often. I do love them, but I have maybe a couple a month.Report
Welcome aboard NobReport
Welcome, Nob!Report
Welcome to the club Nob.Report
Hook’em Horns!
It’s good to meet another Longhorn. But, I don’t think I could get along with a Buckeye fan.
At least there will be some talk about foreign policy… even if I’ll be reading more than contributing.Report
“I would like to know what international issues Gentlemen here at the League find interesting.”
After this past week, my big international issues question is where can I go that has a sunny beach that underdeveloped enough to have no cell phone or wifi reception, but developed enough to have quality mai tais?Report
Also, I will be flying to Norman next week, so I’ll wave from the air.Report
Try the Cook Islands. Though FYI, American cell phones rarely work anywhere else, so you’re probably good if you can avoid the wifi.Report
Welcome! I’m currently doing a masters’ in international affairs with a focus on development and conflict. I’d be very interested on your ideas on international development (my own are decided anti-Washington Consensus) and potential changes to global multilateral institutions to give a greater role to developing countries. (The G8 in particular is looking increasingly outdated, with China becoming the world’s largest economy, Brazil’s economy surpassing Italy’s, and India’s passing Canada’s. The UN Security Council is at least as bad, the World Bank and IMF even worse.)Report
International development is something I’m likely to grab a guest writer on, as it’s something I have a theoretical basis in, but not as much academic training.Report