Chart showing U.S. stands out among high-income nations for unhappiness with political system.

People in higher-income countries are usually less likely to say their nation’s political system needs major changes or complete reform.

The United States, however, is a notable exception to this pattern.

www.pewresearch.org/...

Zach gets it exactly right. Orban was an authoritarian who built a rigged election system for his own gain. But Peter Magyar cracked the code - realizing that every vote in the countryside was worth two to three votes in the cities and so racked up countryside support, winning 2/3rds of the seats.

The polls have closed in Hungary - and it appears that turnout will approach 80%, a post-communist record.

👇

And it's a "global" survey that did ZERO fieldwork in Central, South, Southeast, or Southeast Asia or Australia. That's cool. It's only where most of the people are. Come on, guys...

Not going to say that any soft power list that ranks North Korea 63rd out of 175 countries is suspect, but I am saying it's just a list of countries people have heard of.

Also, how did they go up 2.4... uh... units in a year? Biggest jump of any country.

static.brandirectory.com/reports/bran...

After Trump pivoted on Iran and announced a two-week ceasefire, the acronym “TACO” made its way to headlines around the world — along with some creative translations to help explain the concept of “chickening out.”

Decoding TACO,from Japan to China to France, Italy, and beyond:
wapo.st/4stfr47

With Hungary’s crucial election a few days away, its National Election Office has published a list of accredited international observers (n. 859). Having spent nearly a decade researching the behavior of international observers, I decided to take a closer look 😊

www.valasztas.hu/en/internati...

China reported to dictate Cheng-Xi meeting itinerary - Taipei Times Bringing Taiwan to the World and the World to Taiwan

Surprising nobody, lol. It's clear who has power in the relationship between the KMT and CCP

www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/...

This is very very big. Like a big deal and massive cuts. These can’t even be seen as budgetary since you don’t get much savings in the context of trillions budget. They want the US out of R&D out of science research.

The NSF 2027 budget has noted that they will close out the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science Program (SBE). This is not a good thing. nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/FY-202...

그래도 안으로 들어오고 싶으시다면

It seems we just bombed some residential buildings in an attempt to kill a former diplomat who was trying to facilitate negotiations.

A civilian trying to *end* hostilities, surrounded by other civilians in their homes.

We are completely lost.

Americans by Name, Punished for Believing It - Bolts In a small Alaska town, American Samoans face prosecution for voting in the only country they’ve ever known. They live in a limbo, created by colonial expansion, that now confuses even public official...

Did you know that there is one group of Americans who are not entitled to birthright citizenship?

People born American Samoa are classified instead simply as “U.S. nationals” — and as a result they cannot vote or run for office anywhere else in the country.

Much more here, for anyone curious:

Thrilled that my paper (w/@sarahobolt.bsky.social,@catherinedevries.bsky.social,@simonecremaschi.bsky.social) was accepted at the American Political Science Review!

We find that declining public services fuel support for the populist right — and show why the right benefits more than other parties 🧵

Trump says S. Korea 'not helpful,' cites U.S. troops near 'nuclear force' on peninsula | Yonhap News Agency By Song Sang-ho WASHINGTON, April 1 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesd...

Trump says S. Korea 'not helpful,' cites U.S. troops near 'nuclear force' on peninsula | Yonhap News Agency en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN2026...

Part of the problem here is the operational capture of American strategy at the level of CENTCOM---Rubio, and this whole Administration, does not seem capable of viewing war as a set of political goals and the methods to achieve them, but rather solely at the level of operational deployments.

Imagine trust in polling being at an all time low and then doing “polls” where a quarter of respondents are AI agents hallucinating answers based on exit polling.

This news from the Pacific is part of a trend: Climate change is going to be bad for ex-military bases around the world, many of which are former US bases with toxins

direct.mit.edu/glep/article...

Who produces hate speech? And how does that matter for content moderation?

We show that across different countries and platforms, a relatively small share of users are responsible for a very large share of hate - overall, 5% write 83-100% of hateful content.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Tajfel et al. (1971) is the go to source in political behavior when introducing social identity theory (SIT). One of the main contributions of that text is that mere artificial group categorization results in discrimination. This is mostly ignored in political behavior research using SIT.

I know that the people who need to read this aren’t here, but here goes:

Rules of engagement aren’t for the enemy. They’re for you. They’re for your soldiers when they’re captured or wounded. They’re for your civilians when they’re in range of the enemy. They’re for your allies, to reassure.

This is more of an indictment of what has been considered good research than a revelation that AI can do good social science.

I'd like to see Claude go build a relationship with members of a former autocracy and then generate a clear theory to explain something no one had caught before

ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 한국인들은 저승사자도 공무원으로 만드는 사람들이라구ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

These are “low enrollment” majors but the classes are regularly at capacity. They changed the funding structure a few years ago here, switching the allocation from course enrollments to majors then blamed these departments for a structural, top-down change. This is entirely a political choice.

North Korea scholar Andrei Lankov detained in Latvia before lecture | NK News North Korea scholar Andrei Lankov was detained in Latvia and expelled from the country on Tuesday, just before the start of a public lecture in Riga. Lankov, a Russian and Australian national, confirm...

“I believe they see my writing style as excessively objective and they see it as a problem,” he said. “I say positive things about North Korea sometimes, and when negative, not in a hysterical style.”

Born #onthisday in 1868, the US sociologist + civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois. Celebrate with a look at the stunning hand-drawn "infographics" he made with his students, depicting conditions of African-American life in 1900: publicdomainreview.org/collection/w... #otd #BlackHistoryMonth

Trump claims he’s ‘talking’ about Taiwan arms sales with China’s Xi Any talks could run counter to key U.S. policy principles intended to reassure Taipei and Congress that state Washington will not consult with China on weapons deals with Taiwan.

In a move that could run counter to U.S. policy intended to reassure Taipei and Congress, U.S. President Donald Trump has said he is “talking” about Taiwan arms sales with China's Xi Jinping ahead of their April meeting.

www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/02...