Once again thinking about this excellent @iojournal.bsky.social article by @sch-ir.bsky.social, for no particular reason. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Checking out Democracy - Arts & Sciences Magazine Faculty members from the Department of Political Science visited public libraries to engage local communities and discuss historical context about the fragility of democracies around the world.

Professors @lkspence.bsky.social , @aklawrence.bsky.social , @adamsheingate.bsky.social , @consueloamat.bsky.social and Matthew Kocher organize discussions about democracy in public library branches in Baltimore County as part of the civic engagement initiative “How Do Democracies Survive?”

On Friday 12 Sep at 10am @consueloamat.bsky.social and I share new work on the varying logics of org. alliances in nonviolent resistance movements and their impact on prospects for democratization. Looking forward to 5 papers and our amazing discussants @Jess Braithwaite and @janakrause.bsky.social

We are so lucky to have you!! I look forward to working with you this year, Ben!

For those outside NYC, Brad Lander isn’t just a mayor candidate, he’s also the NYC Comptroller—the chief financial officer and auditor of the biggest city in the country.

Message and screenshot of the www.usip.org homepage, featuring a photo of the USIP headquarters building.

👋 Hello, we're the United States Institute of Peace (USIP)! We are very happy to join @bsky.app, and thrilled to announce that our website, www.usip.org, is back online! We look forward connecting here and bringing you useful content, resources and opportunities for peacebuilders around the world.

In today’s thread, we will revisit the articles published in Issue 3 of our 2024 volume. We hope you enjoy reading them!

#polisky #socialscience #ComparativePolitics #academicsky

Trump has handed a free gift to Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Tsinghua, Sciences Po and many other universities who will gladly enroll the tuition-paying foreign students who hoped to study in the US and are now barred. No surer way to make America weaker, poorer, and less influential abroad.

The Trump Administration Leaned on African Countries. The Goal: Get Business for Elon Musk. The State Department has intervened on behalf of Musk’s satellite internet company in five developing nations. In Gambia, U.S. diplomats have lobbied and browbeat at least seven government ministers a...

from @propublica.org: State Department officials campaigned to force Gambia to license Starlink, even threatening to cancel development projects.

US diplomats now work on behalf of Elon Musk?

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Friends of USIP

www.friendsofusip.org

In 'The Trouble of Color,' historian Martha Jones explores race by digging into her own ancestry In <em>The Trouble of Color</em>, Johns Hopkins History Professor Martha Jones explores racial identity by digging into her own family history

“When she asked a local librarian about the Bells, the family that had enslaved Nancy: “Now be careful,” the woman told Jones. “What you’re saying implicates one of Danville’s most important families.” hub.jhu.edu/magazine/202...

This liberation stuff reminds me of an old Polish joke: The Soviet, they liberated us. They liberated us from meat, they liberated us from milk, they liberated us from everything.

www.americanbar.org/news/abanews...

I guess the time has come to introduce Americans and everyone else currently in the US to the old Soviet joke that the USSR had freedom of speech but not necessarily the freedom after speech

📢 Today marks 100 days since the arbitrary detention of Jesús Armas, one of our 2022 Summer Fellows, who remains in isolation at El Helicoide. His case underscores the ongoing human rights crisis in Venezuela. We call for his immediate release. #FreeJesúsArmas #LibertadParaTodosLosPresosPolíticos

DOGE plays hardball in U.S. Institute of Peace takeover DOGE, which stands for Department of Government Efficiency, took over the U.S. Institute of Peace after threatening its officials with criminal prosecution.

This is what we are living through: wapo.st/42dj8kl

Wow

Georgetown has put together resources for federal workers who may be facing a transition in jobs. These include various seminars and workshops, as well as tuition scholarships providing a discount on many master's programs and certificates. Please spread the word to anybody who might benefit.

Sharing letter w/4 Columbia colleagues @pagefortna.bsky.social @vickymurillo.bsky.social Allison Carnegie & Turku Isiksel in which we speak only for ourselves, imagining how we would respond to the govt. This is *not* an official university statement. Grateful to @dandrezner.bsky.social for posting.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy on Mahmoud Khalil.

🧵 How do criminal organizations expand to strong states? My paper in @thejop.bsky.social explains how mafias successfully moved to Northern Italy—by striking deals with local actors and exploiting migrant labor. Thread: ⬇️

Don't let anyone tell you that there is no protest happening. Our latest Crowd Counting Consortium data update is now available. February saw thousands of events. 50501 days of action, immigration-related protests & Tesla takeovers were key spikes in activity. dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtm....

UK PM Starmer to Zelensky:

"You are very, very welcome here in Downing Street. As you heard from the cheers on the street outside, you have full backing across the United Kingdom. We will stand with you and Ukraine for as long as it may take."

I got laid off today, with the rest of 18F.

18F was an elite federal software shop. We made gov't websites work better, more efficiently for the American people. We saved taxpayers from getting screwed over by contractors. And were fired for it.

We made this website to tell our story:
18f.org

Political conference in DC interrupted by death threats against speakers critical of Trump | CNN Politics A political conference in Washington, DC, that bills itself as the alternative to the Trump-aligned CPAC was evacuated on Sunday after a death threat made against several of its speakers who have been...

A political conference in Washington, DC, that bills itself as the alternative to the Trump-aligned CPAC was evacuated after a death threat made against several of its speakers who have been critical of President Donald Trump.

BREAKING: Mexican President Sheinbaum argues that if cartels are deemed terrorist orgs, then the suppliers of weapons—over 74% of which come FROM the U.S.—should ALSO face accountability for enabling terrorism.

As a result, Mexico is expanding its lawsuit targeting U.S gun manufacturers. 🇲🇽

Three things that make the U.S. the envy of the world:

1) Professionalized military with strong norm of civilian control

2) Higher education and cutting-edge scientific research

3) Ability to welcome immigrants and attract the “best and the brightest”

All three are under threat.

This is pretty straightforward authoritarianism: if you don't support my toxic businesses, I will use my government power to kneecap yours.

Even after all this time, we should never, ever forget how shocking headlines like this are.