That's it. I've checked the very last proofs of the book and it's now off to the printers. I hope it will reach Hobsbawm fans, Hobsbawm sceptics, and anyone curious about the intellectual life of the left in the 20th century!
Publication: 18 Aug (US), 4 Sept (UK)
www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
This is true - and @christinaboswell.bsky.social and I have written a whole book about it! It's called 'States of Ignorance' and it explains when and why European states have "ignored" irregular migration:
www.cambridge.org/core/books/s...
(ft. @mcslaven.bsky.social social amongst others!)
...and yet impossible to say that it's game over for the centre, who will likely be represented by Edouard Philippe in 2027, who won handily in Le Havre. So who knows? 2027 really is anyone's guess! 9/end
...once again the hollowness of Macron's political strategy and the difficulty of institutionalising the "movement-party" at a local level. Even where Macron is said to have intervened (in Paris, to help Dati), it failed. The inexorable rightward drift of French centrists continues... 8/
...peel off enough right-wing voters to secure victories. This was Bardella's strategy, but it has natural limits. Right-wing voters are v important in local elections in France. In the meantime, the macroniste centre has more or less disappeared locally, if it ever existed, confirming... 7/
...except perhaps the persistence of an "anti-fascist" front républicain in very specific contexts, eg. in Nimes, where a communist-led left coalition saw off a strong RN challenge (this is definitely one of the happier stories of the night!). In general, far-right did not manage to... 6/
...far-right should be disappointed. RN secures its bastions in south-east and north. Ciotti (far-right ally) won in Nice, which is big, but RN lost other contests in larger cities, mostly gaining smaller towns (eg. Beaucaire, Agde) in its fiefdoms. No obvious national momentum here... 5/
...small towns, holding a good local power base, but serious losses elsewhere (esp Dati's poor showing in Paris). Many right-wing candidates are not party people but "divers droite", so unaffiliated (eg. Toulon). Again, not clear whether a national dynamic exists... 4/
...centre-left have always had good traction locally, less clear that they have a national strategy or a candidate who can be competitive in a presidential election. LFI, though, are clearly hamstrung by Mélenchon, who is unpopular. As for the centre-right, it's a mixed bag: lots of success in... 3/
...on the left, the declining power of the far-left (LFI) within the left coalition is clear. PS successes in Paris (see below), Lyon, Marseille have emboldened centre-left who may be uninterested in 2022 + 2024 left coalition, esp with LFI's weak performance in 2nd round. However, ... 2/
Some thoughts on French local elections: general dynamic confirms "quadripolar" fragmentation of French politics (see my article on this from 2022 below). It's *very* difficult to use these elections to predict 2027, but... 1/
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
My former student @theozenou.bsky.social has written a great piece about the weird and wonderful world of present-day French royalism. Anyone fancy a quick Restoration...? unherd.com/2026/03/meet...
This was fun. Lots of speculation about the upcoming election(s) in France in 2026 and 2027, and even a little bit of solid analysis.
Today I had the pleasure of recording an interview with @emile-chabal.bsky.social for the Modern & Contemporary France podcast. Emile shared his thoughts on what's in store for French politics in 2026, talking about Macron's presidency, the far right, and the 2027 Presidential Elections.
Edinburgh-based Francophone friends may like to come along to a conversation I'm having on my book and the state of France with the journalist Étienne Duval at 16:00 on 24 February at the @ifecosse.bsky.social. Venez nombreux! www.ifecosse.org.uk/events-agend...
Impossible not to love this story. Historians represent!
🧵CEH's second digest is out now, detailing our latest special issues, journal news, and more.
And once again our six editors have each highlighted a recent article they've enjoyed - read on to see which ones they picked, and why! ⬇️⬇️⬇️ [1/7]
www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...
For some time, I've thought that the closure of universities in the UK would be a 21st century version of deindustrialisation, with the heart ripped out of communities and the collapse of entire local economic ecosystems. What a terrible (and avoidable) waste. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
This brewing rebellion addresses a major mistake by the government that @emile-chabal.bsky.social and I wrote about in @foreignpolicy.com. But raising the profile of this issue the govt has opened the way for the right parties to promote even more damaging policies. foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/05/b...
We at @conteurohistory.bsky.social have just published our latest editorial digest for Jul-Dec 2025, including details of new special issues + our favourite articles. Give it a read! www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...
Love this!
I have a new article out in the Journal of Contemporary History: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
It examines Soviet humanitarianism by focusing on Soviet Red Cross hospitals in Tehran, Addis Ababa, and Phnom Penh.
📷 Soviet Red Cross hospital in Addis Ababa, ICRC Audiovisual Archives
Absolutely. That would be another way. Fund permanent jobs and make universities apply for the money. Create systemic change, not star power.
And they pretend they want "blue-sky" thinking when so much EU funding rewards those who already have it all. How could it be otherwise when the amounts are so huge..? You don't trust a fresh-faced postdoc with 2m EUR, much less 7m!
Yes, of course, that's the rationale, but even then the money could have been used so much more effectively (while still fulfilling that goal!).
Yes, that's a separate issue about conflating funding for all subjects. Sure, if you need a 5m EUR piece of equipment, a 7m EUR grant makes sense. But arts and humanities scholars need something very different. We're cheap!
This is so problematic. Creating big-money grants (7m EUR!) is such a travesty. Instead of funding 1 researcher, why not fund 25 with smaller grants? It would create more ideas, secure more careers, and create so much more innovative knowledge. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-euro...
Of all the arguments that Mahmood is making for her wretched immigration "reforms", this is one of the most self-serving and disngenuous. It's also wrong. By attacking the principle of settlement, she is quite literally attacking people like her. Shame on her.
Wow, the pressure!
