By now, most observers who care about political science have surely come across, and commented about, Nicholas Kristof’s column bemoaning the cloistered nature of political scientists. I won’t try to
rehash what's already been done by Steve Saideman, MonkeyCage, and other notable scholars who are regularly engaging in public
discourse. Instead, I’ll try to touch on a few things that haven’t received much
attention in the debate.
In the original Indiana Jones movie, there comes a point
where the heroes realize that the bad guys are “digging in the wrong place” for
the Ark. They haven’t done their homework. I’m not saying Kristof is a bad guy
(he’s not), but he is definitely digging in the wrong place.