Episode 2 of the Beyond Series explores digital connection and mobility across conflict-affected borderlands.

@petechonka.bsky.social reflects on how social media shapes migration dreams and risks for youth in Hargeisa.

Listen: tinyurl.com/BeyondXCEPT2
More about this project: xcept.riftvalley.net

“Into the Wood Chipper”: Whistleblower's Inside Story of DOGE Shredding USAID, 14 Million May Die A new book tells the inside story of the second Trump administration's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID. Its author, Nicholas Enrich, worked at USAID for over a decade before he was pushed out of the agency in early 20...

A new book tells the inside story of the second Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID. Its author, Nicholas Enrich, worked at USAID for over a decade before he was pushed out of the agency in early 2025, when the Elon Musk-led DOGE summarily cut its staff and funding.

PEACE INFRASTRUCTURES is coming out in little more than a week!

More at mitpress.mit.edu/978026255361...

@mitpress.bsky.social

‘Bordering on Insubordinate': How George Mason’s Conservative Board Chair Went After Its President Text messages obtained by <i>The Chronicle</i> detail a monthslong campaign to get Gregory Washington to dismantle its DEI programs and fall in line with Trump’s demands.

While George Mason University’s president was fending off attacks by the Trump administration, the head of his own board was orchestrating a pressure campaign against him. Here's what we learned from reviewing hundreds of text messages. https://chroni.cl/4tuH3qs

PEACE AND INSTABILITY: TIGRAY SINCE THE PRETORIA AGREEMENT

This analysis examines post-2022 Tigray, where unresolved territorial disputes, political exclusion and stalled processes point to a fragile peace and risk of renewed conflict.

Read: tinyurl.com/4f625c7n

Inside the fight to protect New Deal art from a Trump administration sale Advocates are fighting to save New Deal-era murals in a historic Washington, DC building from being sold or destroyed.

A nice article on how our asst. director, Mary Okin, is working to protect the Wilbur Cohen Bldg (the old Social Security Bldg) & its artwork from demolition or sale.

The Cohen Bldg & its art is a symbol of gov't that is of, by, and for the people.

#history #art

www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

A Crowded and Fragmented Security Landscape in Africa: Identifying Three Trends and Their Consequences - Egmont Institute It has been more than a decade since the UN last authorized a multidimensional peacekeeping in Africa, in spite of the continent experiencing the highest number of state-based conflicts in […]

In our new piece for @egmontinstitute.bsky.social Jonathan Fisher & I explore 3 #security trends in #Africa:

🌍 Decline of #multilateralism
🔗 Ad hoc #coalitions
🛡️ Security outsourcing

→ Fragmentation, privatization & weaker accountability
benefit 'authoritarians'

egmontinstitute.be/a-crowded-an...

Grad students and professors are left out of collective bargaining bill unless Spanberger steps in Governor Abigail Spanberger is considering a bill that would expand collective bargaining for some government employees but deny it to others.

Faculty & graduate workers were excluded from a collective bargaining bill in Virginia—unless @abigailspanberger.com steps in.

"Collective bargaining certainly would have been meaningful in the fight to protect ourselves & our academic freedom."

— @bletiecq.bsky.social , @aaupmason.bsky.social

Apparently VA lawmakers think most higher ed faculty are tenured.

Not true.

Here’s GMUs stats:
1238 adjuncts
718 tenured
571 term (limited contracts)
192 tenure-track

The vast majority have few protections.

We need Collective Bargaining NOW! @donscott757.bsky.social @ssurovell.bsky.social

Dogs and students and this moment I am a political scientist. I have spent the last 30+ years studying security, including war and how to best manage violence. Today when I picked up the paper (or the NYT app on my phone, actually), I...

First blog since Jan 2025. Inspired by a somewhat depressing interaction with my students.
www.deborahavant.com/post/dogs-an...

SEMINAR REPORT | RETHINKING ETHIOPIA II: YOUTH & POLITICS

Young essayists, scholars & practitioners debated their place in politics at the 2025 IPSS & RVI Peace Research Facility seminar, where five finalists presented their essays & engaged the audience.

Read more: tinyurl.com/Rethinking-E...

Collective Bargaining is essential… @local6741.bsky.social @aaup.org @aft.org @aaupmason.bsky.social

Don’t cut higher ed workers out!

Ethiopia’s Troubled Peace The government is picking favorites amid a split in the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

The Ethiopian government is picking favorites amid a split in the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which could unravel the country’s fragile peace, warns @hilarymatfess.bsky.social.

Is Conflict in the Horn of Africa Unavoidable? Ideas matter. And it's high time key players in the Horn (politicians, academics, journalists, analysts, and military strategists) chose to escape the pro-war shackles of geography and history.

Governments in the Horn must be careful not to play host to conflicts arising from rivalries on the other side of the Red Sea.

open.substack.com/pub/kenopalo...

Risk of Renewed War in Tigray With the possibility of renewed fighting in Ethiopia's Tigray region, reminders and recommendations for the world to take preventive action.

A death toll as high as 600,000, millions displaced, widespread sexual violence – the last war in #Ethiopia’s #Tigray region looms large as tensions escalate again.

From Sarah Miller and Abdullahi Boru Halakhe:

www.justsecurity.org/132370/tigra...

Ethiopia, Eritrea and Tigray: A Powder Keg in the Horn of Africa | International Crisis Group The risk of hostilities involving Ethiopia, its northernmost Tigray region and its neighbour Eritrea remains high three years after the last major war in the area. African states and outside powers sh...

🔥Risk of descending into a new conflict in an already volatile Horn of Africa. While all sides appear wary of igniting a new war, simmering grievances, overblown rhetoric and military preparations indicate core actors are readying themselves for that eventuality.

www.crisisgroup.org/brf/africa/e...

Peace with Adjectives: Conceptual Fragmentation or Conceptual Innovation? Abstract. What strategies can be employed to conceptualize peace? In recent years, scholars have introduced an impressive array of “peace with adjectives”

Does 'peace' mean the same everywhere, or is it fragmenting into adjectives? This piece by @spbmartel.bsky.social, Jarstad, Olivius & @jsoderstrom.bsky.social debates if qualifiers like 'liberal' or 'sustainable' signal innovation or conceptual chaos in peacebuilding.

doi.org/10.1093/isr/...

🎙️ In our new podcast, produced in collaboration with the @jodemocracy.bsky.social, Galo Mayorga and @kaimthaler.bsky.social discuss how state weakness, militarized security policies, and public fear are reshaping Ecuador’s democracy. 🇪🇨🇪🇨

🎧 Listen to it now:
👉 tinyurl.com/y5zyn6jp

POLICY BRIEFING | RETHINKING AID IN SUDAN AND SOUTH SUDAN

This brief is drawn from a 2025 Kampala convening with Sudanese and South Sudanese civil society. As international aid shrinks, frontline actors warn of worsening food insecurity, mass displacement and collapsing services.

🧵1/2

SAVE THE DATE | Join EWNET for an online webinar exploring how #Ethiopia has been written into global knowledge and how Ethiopian thinkers have written the world from Ethiopia.

Fri 30 Jan 2026| 13:30 Cambridge | 15:30 EAT

Register: tinyurl.com/3kbm7xuj

Book Review (12/25): The Second Emancipation Explorations in African leadership

Book Review:

The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide, by @hofrench.bsky.social >> www.africanistperspective.com/p/book-revie...

On Saturday 6 December, RVI and the Sudan Norway Academic Collaboration hosted Sudanese researchers for a discussion on why five decades of peace initiatives have struggled to deliver stability in #Sudan and what causes agreements to falter in practice. 🧵1/2

The ‘Wolqayt question’ from c. 2015 to the Tigray war: agrarian claims in Amhara nationalism The emergence of Amhara nationalism as a central political trend in Ethiopia can be dated to 2016. It soon gained considerable audience within the Amhara region and beyond. This article analyses a ...

The ‘Wolqayt question’ from c. 2015 to the Tigray war: agrarian claims in Amhara nationalism

Latest articles in JEAS:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The Jervis Forum Roundtable 17-11 on Jarstad, et al, eds., Relational Peace Practices H-Diplo | Robert Jervis International Security Studies Forum Roundtable Review 17-11 Anna Jarstad, Johanna Söderström, and Malin Åkebo, eds., Relational Peace Practices. Manchester University Press…

Great to see this roundtable and reviews out! Looking forward to more continued conversations around peace research’s way forward!
With M Åkebo and A Jarstad
Thanks to @h-diplo.bsky.social @tlyons.bsky.social @lkriesberg.bsky.social @emmamurphy.bsky.social Paul Diehl
issforum.org/roundtables/...

The Risk of a New Ethiopian-Eritrean War Is Growing Changing dynamics in Tigray could erode the current balance of uncertainty.

New essay in Foreign Policy with Abel Abate D. on Eritrea-Ethiopia tensions. It covers the sources of mutual restraint thus far; some of the factors that are eroding this delicate balance; and what can be done to avert another war the Horn of Africa cannot afford.

foreignpolicy.com/2025/10/21/e...

National Guard collects unfavorable public input on D.C. deployment Internal documents reviewed by The Post reveal, with rare candor, how domestic missions rooted in politics risk damaging Americans’ trust in the military.

WaPo exclusive: The National Guard, in measuring public sentiment about Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C., has internally assessed that its mission is perceived as “leveraging fear,” driving a “wedge between citizens and the military.” www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

The Resistance Is Inevitable.

We’re sick & tired of ICE & FBI agents profiling, harassing, & violently arresting our neighbors.

#wearealldc

Incredible turnout in DC yesterday, including a strong AAUP contingent.

@aaupmason.bsky.social
@gwaaup.bsky.social
@afthighered.bsky.social

Thousands march to the White House united in our demand. We want federal forces out of DC Now!! Free DC! Free DC! #WeAreAllDC #FreeDC

Devex Newswire: Is the global aid decline a blip or a deeper transformation? Is aid at a turning point? Plus, the next phase of Brazil’s plan to finance forest preservation.

Devex Newswire: Is the global aid decline a blip or a deeper transformation? www.devex.com/news/devex-n...

Here's what the third day of elementary school looked like in Mount Pleasant, Washington DC.