MISS UNIVERSE IS "INHERENTLY POLITICAL"

All BS students are required to read the staggering scholarship that is the blog post "What Does Miss Universe 2013 Tell Us About World Politics in 2013?" by Daniel W. Drezner of Foreign Policy magazine. His blog is all about finding politics and political science topics anywhere, even in pop culture, and yes, even Miss Universe. In his post today, he gets the expert opinion of Jessica Trisko Darden, Miss Earth 2007. She just so happens to hold a Ph.D  in Political Science from McGill University and a M.A. in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently a Faculty Fellow with the School of International Service at American University. Two of our favorite quotes by Jessica:

"In many ways, the Miss Universe pageant functions like any major international organization (IO). The decision-making process is opaque, often contested, and in many ways reflect the underlying power relations and interests of the dominant countries."

"...Miss Universe, while reflecting international norms of fair competition and equal representation, arguably globalizes specifically American values, including a Barbie-like model of beauty."

NOTE: There will be a pop quiz on this blog immediately after the NBC tape-delayed telecast tomorrow.