Friday, September 08, 2006

Potter and international relations?

My alma mater sends out information on new publications by its staff. I thought one called Harry Potter and International Relations had to be a goof. After reading the ad copy, it looks interesting. The book is a collection of essays exploring how other cultures have reacted to the book and the possible lessons for understanding globalization. I find the globalization debate (greatly simplified as to whether Thomas Friedman or Samuel Huntington is closer to reality ) to be a fascinating one. Sure the decision to use Harry Potter has to be marketing related, but there is nothing wrong with using a popular icon to attract people to serious issues. This one would be probably be a good cross-over volume for people wanting an introduction to some of the issues in international relations.

And I can hardly mention Harry Potter without linking to this video.

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