Your humble blogger wasted many hours online had some fun with Ngram, Google's new
book-searching algorithm. Here are ten interesting discoveries:
1) "Global governance" has become a really
popular term of art.
2) For all the talk about free trade being under threat in the real world,
it's doing pretty well on the printed page.
3) Balancing is definitely more popular than bandwagoning.
4) Interest in hegemonic stability theory peaked right around the same time as… U.S. hegemony. On
the other hand, interest in bipolarity remains robust.
5) Somewhat surprisingly, the rise of China has not translated into the world of books.
6) What's the more popular game theoretic device, the Prisoners Dilemma or
the coordination game? Here the answer really did surprise me -- though it should be noted that if you
replace PD with Tragedy of the Commons, you get this.
7) For all the complaints lodged by some about rational choice theory
dominating the social sciences, constructivist approaches appear to be catching up in popularity -- though only in a relative
sense.
8) You say that non-state actors are displacing governments in world
politics? I say, "feh." [Ahem, what about this?--ed. Oh you want a piece of me? Then take this!!]
9) Which FP blogger gets the most mentions on the printed page? You'll have
to click here to find out. Hint: it ain't me.
10) The biggest non-state threat mentioned in books appears to be terrorism, and it's not close. Of course, there is also jerry-rigged
proof that, in assessing threats in world politics, zombies are clearly on the rise.
Readers are strongly encouraged to waste their day develop their own Ngram
tests.
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