Least #Europe forgets... #Africa is currently witnessing the fastest growing jihadist expansion in the world: "Nearly half of the fatalities (10,685) in the past year have been in the #Sahel." africacenter.org/spotlight/en...

This is great reading. It offers a very limited hope that European defence may ever work, but it does not rule it out entirely, so that's a relief. It's also slightly depressing research-wise. The complexity of it all almost prevents any meaningful understanding. In any case, go and read it!

📊 New dataset and paper alert! We’re proud to launch the Opposition Movements and Groups (OMG) Dataset, 1789–2019: a global dataset covering 1,452 mass mobilization movements. It was just published in Comparative Political Studies. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... Below follows a 🧵

Effects of the Ukraine War, including the 2025 EU White Paper on European Defence, have transformed the political economy of European defence production are examined in a new @jei-publication.bsky.social article written with @brunoomartins.bsky.social and @jocelynmawdsley.bsky.social

Effects of the Ukraine War, including the 2025 EU White Paper on European Defence, have transformed the political economy of European defence production are examined in a new @jei-publication.bsky.social article written with @brunoomartins.bsky.social and @jocelynmawdsley.bsky.social

New article today in @jei-publication.bsky.social for @brunoomartins.bsky.social , @nicholasmarsh.bsky.social and I - "The European Iron Network: the remaking of the political economy of European defence production following the Ukraine War" www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

We're delighted to announce and welcome a diverse group of 30 #emergingexperts to the 2025-2026 English-language Emerging Expert program. See short bios on each at www.forumarmstrade.org/emerging-exp...

Swedish Defence University advertises two postdoc positions focused on narrative geopolitics, or how emotional and widely circulated narratives shape international security, great power relations & geostrategic rivalry. fhs.varbi.com/en/what:job/... fhs.varbi.com/en/what:job/... Deadline: 31 Aug

Postdoc in Narrative Geopolitics @forsvarshogskolan.bsky.social We’re looking for a postdoc w expertise in machine learning, data mining, or related quantitative methods to explore how emotionally charged narratives shape international security & great power politics. fhs.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

New report "Transparency in European Arms Exports: Access to information and accountability" by @tmcasser.bsky.social and University of Amsterdam Law Clinics www.asser.nl/about-the-as...

Amid Sudan’s ongoing civil war, Bellingcat in partnership with Kenya’s Daily Nation was able to identify Kenyan-labelled ammunition crates in a suspected Rapid Support Forces (RSF) depot near the capital Khartoum. www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/06...

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.

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!

PhD students, post-docs, PhD holders in 20th century Eastern Europe: if you want a job, me and my pals at the Pilecki Institute are about to drop the motherlode. 12 jobs available across various fields. And you get to work with me. Keep your eyes on this space.

Swedish Defence University is advertising a postdoc in quantitative narrative geopolitics. The role involves applying data science methods to examine how narratives shape international security, great power relations, and geostrategic rivalry. Deadline: August 31. fhs.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

Helpful chart showing projected US aid to Ukraine which is already in the proverbial pipeline. "weapons and support from contracts signed in the past three years will continue flowing to Ukraine for years to come" www.csis.org/analysis/can...

#Andor is excellent, but some of the action feels more like the 19th and early 20th Century in space and doesn't take seriously the effects of technology. This lack of imagination is widespread in sci-fi and might help explain problems for the #stopkillerrobots campaign. www.prio.org/blogs/1772

NEW PUBLICATION: My PRIO colleagues @nicholasmarsh.bsky.social and Pavel Baev and I have just published a IDN Brief deadling with current trends and challenges regarding European Deterrence, which is going through a profound transformation. www.idn.gov.pt/pt/publicaco...

A pleaseure to discuss European rearmament at the latest episode of PRIO's Peace in a Pod. I was joined by Kori Schake, Director of Foreign and Defense Policy at the American Enterprise Institute and former foreign policy adviser to President George W. Bush. tinyurl.com/287hmftj

Here's a new and detailed five part investigation by France 24 into EU origin arms that were originally exported to the UAE, and then retransferred to Sudan via Libya. European weapons in Sudan (1/5): Bulgarian mortar shells in Darfur’s desert www.france24.com/en/africa/20... 1/

Want to learn more about how to defend democracy? Check out @idarudolfsen.bsky.social and mine course this fall at @prioresearch.bsky.social

Trump’s new arms sales push examined Trump’s proposed executive order to ease arms export rules risks fuelling global armed violence - prioritising defence industry profits over civilian protection. My op-ed for AOAV aoav.org.uk/2025/trumps-...

This fall PRIO will be hosting a brand new PhD-level course on Mass mobilization and democratization with @mariannedahl.bsky.social & @idarudolfsen.bsky.social Apply by 4. May!

Academic moaning. My last two peer reviews were of basically fake articles. In one a large proportion of the references were completely irrelevant or to works that don't exist, another was a paragraph by paragraph rewrite of an existing publication. Likely that LLMs made both easier to produce.

A summary of key points to bear in mind as we watch the rapid developments in Syria. The situation echoes many previous developments in Syria, except the circumstances today are different in a few new ways.

What is the state of arms control in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine? And how might we achieve arms control agreements with Russia in the future? Pavel Baev and I look at control of arms from landmines through to nuclear weapons in three new publications 1/4

New blogpost: European Defence Spending should be better aligned by @brunoomartins.bsky.social @jocelynmawdsley.bsky.social & @nicholasmarsh.bsky.social seceur.ideasoneurope.eu/2024/02/16/e...

@nicholasmarsh.bsky.social, @jocelynmawdsley.bsky.social and I wrote an op-ed in today's Aftenposten dealing with European defence industrial investments. For reasons that we explain in detail, more money invested does not necessarily translate into more capacity. tinyurl.com/mrv2kwzy

Great to have this paper w/ D. Seussler & P. Thurner published in the Review of International Organizations! We study the role of international rivalries in the Arms trade, focusing on arms transfers of the Interwar period.

Press conference with Swedish Minister of Defense right now: Damage to telecommunication cable between Estonia and Sweden. It happened in time close to the damage to Balticconncetor, also close geographically. www.svt.se/nyheter/inri...

My colleagues at NORSAR have detected a seismic signal consistent with an explosion in the Eastern Baltic Sea near the #Balticconnector pipeline. www.jordskjelv.no/meldinger/se...

3D-Printed Weapons and the Far-Right: The Finnish Accelerationist Cell

The Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament at Uppsala University will offer the course "Nuclear Weapons and Disarmament" in the spring of 2024 as an evening course with a 50% study pace in English. Deadline for application is October 16. Come and study with us! www.uu.se/en/study/cou...

A powerful autocratic wave is sweeping the globe. What will it take to foster a new democratic wave? And how can democratic countries support nonviolent civil resistance movements? Join us at PRIO next Monday, 13:00, for this seminar. Sign up here: prio.org/events/9068