The new V-Dem report was released today. There are dramatic declines in democracy in the US. Much worse than during Trump I.

ICE not only looks and acts like a paramilitary force – it is one, and that makes it harder to curb ICE, created in response to 9/11, meets most definitions of paramilitary forces. Critics worry it’s gone beyond its writ of immigration enforcement.

New explainer from me, on understanding ICE as a paramilitary force, in more than one sense of the term 👇
theconversation.com/ice-not-only...

Hope is a strategy.

Funding women-led movements is how we make it real.

WILPF is proud to support #AccelerateTogether.

Learn more at accelerate-together.org.
@mamacashfund.bsky.social

Sudan's RSF declares truce after army rejects US plan Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on Monday announced a unilateral three-month ceasefire a day after the army dismissed a US truce proposal from international mediators.

"On Monday, the RSF announced "a humanitarian truce providing for a cessation of hostilities for three months"" www.france24.com/en/live-news...

Financial Aid and Study Opportunities for Palestinian Students

A list of around sixty institutions/scholarships etc offering financial support for Palestinian students to study at undergraduate, MA and PhD level

A tremendous compilation by Dr Tom Walsh & other academics

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

PRIO is hiring!

Specifically, we're looking for two post-docs for the project

"Rituals in combatant-to-civilian transformation”, led by my excellent colleague Júlia Palik

More information here:
www.prio.org/about/career...

www.prio.org/about/career...

Come join us at @statsvitenskap.bsky.social !

Al Jazeera Media Network condemns the ‘assassination’ of its Gaza correspondents and photographers by Israeli forces.

🔗: aje.io/eeht0q | #JournalismIsNotACrime

A photo of Anas Al-Sharif and his Al Jazeera colleague Mohammad Qrere in their press bullet proof vests looking at their phones. Both are reported killed. Photo credit to Motassem A Dalloul.

BREAKING: One of the most important and prominent reporters on the ground in Gaza has been Anas Al Sharif.

He - and several other Al Jazeera journalists - have just been assassinated by Israelis forces whilst in their press tent in central Gaza.

Speechless.

I am looking for a researcher (pre-doc) in my DFG-funded project "Violence Against Political Actors at the Grassroots Level" 👇

Absolutely wild game

Damn, it looks just like the photos of the disappeared that were put up by relatives in the South American dictatorships

Congratulations to the new Civil War Paths Fellows cohort!

How do women ambassadors reshape diplomacy at the UN Security Council? – Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) On the occasion of the International Day of Women in Diplomacy, 24 June.

To mark International Day of Women in Diplomacy, Torunn Tryggestad, Asha Ali and I reflected on increases in women’s representation at the UNSC & changes in the practice of diplomacy. Check out our blog based on our co-authored book chapter www.prio.org/comments/1789 @prioresearch.bsky.social

Hey, thanks for your interest. No, this is for an academic journal which does not pay for publication.

Hey, thanks for your interest. No, this is for an academic journal which does not pay for publication.

Looking forward #NEPS2025 in Barcelona next week and chatting all things ceasefires, gender, peace agreements, and negotiations!

New UCDP data release! In the 2024 update from the @ucdp.bsky.social, organised violence remained alarmingly high, with 61 state-based conflicts and nearly 160,000 recorded fatalities.

UCDP: Sharp increase in conflicts and wars The number of armed conflicts in the world reached a historic high in 2024. This is shown by new data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) at Uppsala University. Despite a marginal decrease i...

New data from UCDP shows the highest number of active conflicts ever recorded, press release found here: www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

"[2024] was also the 4th most violent year since the end of the Cold War, driven largely by the civil war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the bombings in Gaza."

Conflict Trends: A Global Overview, 1946–2024 – Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) PRIO Paper

New Conflict Trends Report from @prioresearch.bsky.social using @ucdp.bsky.social data. "2024 marked a historic peak in state-based conflicts, with 61 active conflicts across 36 countries – the highest number recorded since 1946"

www.prio.org/publications...

Have you heard of Taylor and Francis' STAR initiative? It stands for Special Terms for Authors & Researchers (STAR) and provides eligible individual authors and researchers based in many resource-constrained countries with free access to articles from their leading journals.

Do you work on gender and peacebuilding broadly defined (including everything from ceasefires to transitional justice)? I’m looking for pitches to contribute to a special issue, especially interested in quantitative research by scholars outside of Europe/US/Canada. Email/DM me!

OPINION | Why police use of tear gas should be banned | CBC News Tear gas is illegal in warfare under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and should be banned for use against civilians under international human rights law, write Vincent Wong, Natasha Williams and Maij...

Reminder that tear gas is a chemical weapon that is illegal to deploy in warfare, yet cops are allowed to blanket civilians in clouds of the stuff.

Seeing lots of discussion about whether the U.S. military will go along or push back against orders to confront mass protests.

Here’s my take on what other cases and prior research tell us about what might happen.
1/

Lots of discourse around ICE abductions à la "ppl did nothing wrong & that's why it's unjust" & I can't underscore enough that *no one* deserves to be ripped off the street & disappeared into the prison network at the whim of the state.

This is why we say "free them all." The system is the problem.

My Canadian university, Queen's, is offering TWENTY 4-year funded PhDs (40k CAD/yr) for a student of ANY citizenship who has been accepted at a top 100 US university but have had offer rescinded OR are reconsidering offer due to US policy.
Details found here👇

www.queensu.ca/grad-postdoc...

Any Econ PhD students at Harvard (or elsewhere in the U.S.) worried about visa status, the @iies.su.se has openings for PhD students who have completed their coursework and are at the dissertation stage, starting in the fall. Apply here:
www.su.se/institute-fo...

Relieved to hear that all the advocacy from my sector ensured that Carney re-introduced a Minister for Women and Equality.

Reminder that holding politicians accountable is literally our job as voters.

Calling out Carney did not mean we wanted the CPCs to win. It was for this exact outcome.

Are you a grad student who has presented a paper at ANY ISA conference (national or regional) between March 2024-March 2025?

Nominate yourself (or someone else) for the Frances V. Harbour Graduate Student Paper Award. Check out link for eligibility!
www.isanet.org/Programs/Awa...