oooh, the comfy chair.

Dan,

Sorry for the off-topic comment, but I figured this was less intrusive than a random email would be. There's been some blogosphere chatter recently about Jonah Goldberg's book - Liberal Fascism - and I was wondering what your take on his theory is. A quick search of your site revealed this comment from way back in 2002:

http://drezner.blogspot.com/2002_09_29_drezner_archive.html#82558730

"It is true that fascism was a collective ideology, and it's also true that some prominent fascists (Mussolini) started out as communists. This is a pretty weak argument, however. Inasmuch as ideologies can be placed along a single left-right continuum, fascism belongs on the far right."

You didn't elaborate, however, so I'm curious what you think places fascism so clearly on the right of the political spectrum. Is it the nationalism vs. internationalism distinction?

They will need not only more schools, which yield immaterial results, but gadgets, which can he seen, touched, and lusted after, like an iphone. Defense spending kicks out aircraft carriers. Even if we don't need more aircraft carriers, nobody will argue that the money did not produce something; at the very least they can be used as stages for announcing accomplished missions.

So, educational institutions plus gadgets. Maybe they could start building mobile peace negotiation trailers that have all the state of the art communication equipment and reflect trendy psychological theories of lighting, background music, colors and fabrics that are clinically proven to contribute to reconciliatory moods and subsequent deal-making. My vote would be for dark purple velvet swivel chairs.

-Georgia

Daniel, really enjoyed your discussion with Heather. You guys are a great bloggingheads team- smart, incisive, civil, accomodating but firm. Loved it. (I'd tell Heather the same thing on her blog, but I can't worm my way past WordPress.) Anyway, keep of the good work.