I've written a new blog post on the ethics of intervention in Iran.
Some justify the US–Israeli strikes as humanitarian. I argue, by contrast, that the ethical case is even weaker than the 2003 Iraq War. @publicethicsblog.bsky.social
www.publicethics.org/post/the-eth...
Humanitarian Regime Change?
In our latest post, @jamespattison.bsky.social criticises the humanitarian rhetoric used in the justification of the ongoing US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
CFP for our wonderful Brave New World graduate conference in pol theory. Please share.
Please share!!!
Brave New World Graduate Conference in Political Theory 2026 at Mancept @uompols.bsky.social
Call for papers:
Delighted to announce that Fredrik Dybfest Hjorthen and I have secured an ARHC grant to work on "The Ethics of Responding to Rising Global Authoritarianism", for two years from Feb 2026.
🚨New Shepherd.com article by James Pattison article out now! 🚨
Exploring 'The best books to understand how the global order is changing' w/ Anne Applebaum, Lucia Rafanelli Henry Farrell Abe Newman and more! 🌟
Read more about his book and his picks here 👉 https://ow.ly/MMMW50XxyAS
. @jamespattison.bsky.social and I are organizing a section for the upcoming ECPR GC, this time in lovely Krakow (08-11 Sept. 2026). This year's theme is: A World in Crisis: Conflict and the Future of Global Justice. Please consider submitting panels or papers by January 5.
ecpr.eu/Events/Event...
Our book, Prioritizing Global Responsibilities, is now featured on Shepherd.com. For this feature, I highlight five best books that have helped me understand how the changing global order affects our understanding of global responsibilities. shepherd.com/best-books/u...
Watch the interview with #JOGSS editors @jamespattison.bsky.social & Ulrich Petersohn!
JOGSS welcomes novel research on global security
📝 No fixed reference style at submission
📚 Bibliography excluded from word count
⚡ Quick turnaround
🤝 Pre-submission exchange
🔗 www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6oe...
Important paper on the Tigray War. Key points: Death toll likely to be larger than 800k and Ethiopia obscured the crisis, creating 'zone of invisibility' to reduce calls for international action : www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
🚨 #REF2029 update - Matthew Flinders and @ailsahenderson.bsky.social
provide an update on REF2029 sub-panel 19 - Politics and IR:
🎉 Pause button pressed & Sub-panel members appointed:
@usempire.bsky.social @rgwhitman.bsky.social @jamespattison.bsky.social @whitproject.bsky.social
Read here 👉
By a factor of 10.
And the number users who likely saw it in their feeds is higher over on Bluesky as well, which is remarkable.
www.altmetric.com/details/1807...
With global health budgets collapsing, @lukeglanville.bsky.social and I have a short reply up at BMJ Global Health. We argue that states must resist the pull of self-interest and short-termism. Ethical prioritisation means focusing on effectiveness and the worst-off.
🔗 www.bmj.com/content/387/...
The cover image of The Journal of Global Security Studies appears on the left. At the bottom, the journal’s homepage URL (https://academic.oup.com/jogss) and Bluesky handle (@journalofgss.bsky.social) are displayed in white text on a navy blue background. The background for the rest of the image features a firework held in a hand. Overlaid on this is the article title and author names: “JoGSS New Editorial Team Introduction” by Ulrich Petersohn and James Pattison.
From 2025, #JoGSS is run by a new editorial team headed by Ulrich Petersohn & @jamespattison.bsky.social.
Read their editorial to learn about the vision and goals shaping the journal's next chapter 👉 doi.org/10.1093/jogs...
A fight in a madhouse about who is Napoleon...
“The Journal of Global Security Studies” cover image appears on the left. The journal's homepage URL (https://academic.oup.com/jogss) and Bluesky handle (@journalofgss.bsky.social) are provided in white text on a navy blue background at the bottom of the image. The background for the rest of the image features coins pouring out of a glass bottle. This is overlaid with the article title and author name(s): “Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is Not: China and Russia’s Implementation of Economic Sanctions” by Victor A. Ferguson.
How do China and Russia employ economic coercion through subtle and less conspicuous means?
📘 @victoraferguson.bsky.social’s comparative study offers valuable insights into the mechanisms and strategic logic underpinning their sanctioning behaviour.
🔗 Open access: doi.org/10.1093/jogs...
Why do states implement certain cyber strategies, and why might they change over time? CMIST’s Nadiya Kostyuk together with Evan Perkoski and Michael Poznansky argue that bureaucratic politics is an important factor. Read their latest in @journalofgss.bsky.social academic.oup.com/jogss/articl...
- Fulfilling this duty requires the eschewing of illiberal measures, given the risk of weakening the fight against global authoritarianism even further.
- The indirectness of this duty means that it should be viewed as weighty – and sometimes weightier than other emerging duties because it concerns the prerequisites required for the fulfilment of other duties.
- Just as states possess duties to tackle the ongoing and emerging threats posed by climate change, the misuse of AI, and pandemics, they also have a duty to confront global authoritarianism.
Here are the key points:
- This duty stems from states' domestic duties of self-defence, threats to democracy and human rights in other states, and more broadly the need for a conducive international environment in order to fulfil global responsibilities.
My new paper, "The duty to confront global authoritarianism", is now out in the European Journal of Political Theory.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
To do this, I consider three potential approaches. The first (the ‘complicity-based approach’) holds that states and other liberal democratic actors should avoid being causally involved in backsliders’ violations of democratic freedoms.
further towards aligning with authoritarian global powers and weaken the prospects of collective action to tackle key global challenges.In “The ethics of responding to democratic backsliding abroad”, I consider how states should respond to democratic backsliding in other states.
It might seem that it is vital for liberal actors to adopt a strong line. They should, the thought goes, react firmly to protect the civil and political rights of those affected to avoid being complicit, as well as to maintain their own integrity. Yet reacting robustly might push backsliding states
The past decade has seen many previously liberal democratic states weaken or abandon key aspects of their liberal democracies and take authoritarian turns. This poses a major dilemma for remaining liberal democratic actors. What should they do?
I've written a short blog about my paper on responding to backsliding, available here: ajps.org/2025/04/14/t...
Really delighted to see this out
New open access article in @journalofgss.bsky.social on how China and Russia (similarly!) use economic sanctions. Using new data, I disaggregate 53 CN and 50 RU cases from 2000-23 to look at ~300 separate sanctions, examining 6 mechanisms of implementation and their dynamics. doi.org/10.1093/jogs...