Curtis Evans, of Evanston, carries a U.S. flag through gas deployed by federal officers as they clear protesters from the entrance of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview on Sept. 19, 2025. Evans said he was a Marine during Ronald Reagan’s term.

🧵 Authoritarianism, Democratization, and Coalition Politics. The consensus around here is, more or less, that the United States is currently a consolidating authoritarian regime controlled by a mix of reactionary populists and fascists.

good speech www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

I'll be returning to campus this fall as the inaugural Tony and Teddie Brown Associate Professor of Public Policy. I am excited to have earned tenure at Duke and humbled to receive this specific endowed chair (more on that later). I've been sitting on this news for a while now...

Applications are open for SFI's 2026 Complexity Postdoctoral Fellowships. SFI offers early-career scholars intellectual freedom, competitive benefits, research funds, and collaboration with leading scientists. Learn more: santafe.edu/news-center/news/join-sfi-as-a-complexity-postdoctoral-fellow

I’m trying to figure out the right way to say this, because: Look, the CPB closing is devastating, and I don’t in any way want to blow even a wisp of smoke that it isn’t. But twice today, I’ve seen people express how sad they are that all of public television and radio is over. Not true! (1/3)

New from me: I recently joined the Civic Café podcast (APSA’s Civic Engagement Section) to talk about my career path and research. The common thread is building a stronger democracy by helping both people and government strengthen their civic muscles. open.spotify.com/episode/5865...

I don't know why this paper is open in my tabs, or who sent it to me, but it's important! It's about the Democrats' faith that good policy will yield political support, which appears, with some examination, to be wrong.

Just finished up at the Evanston No Kings rally. It was safe, peaceful, and a show of solidarity by *at least* 1,000 people. Go to your local protest. Don’t let this administration scare you. Stand with your community when our leaders won’t.

As we say on the internet, "some personal news." After 39 years on the job I am retiring as an NYU professor. In this thread I will take a few moments to reflect on my academic career. Spoiler alert: I am not leaving the field, or the fight for a public service press. 1/

Heading back from Providence reading the brilliant people I met over the past three days. Starting with this recent piece by @susglickman.bsky.social about the historical and ideological roots of Biden’s CHIPS Act, and the political economy baggage they come with.

The Political Economy of Finance Summer School 2025 at the Watson Institute has been off to a great start. We had @thunen.bsky.social on the dollar empire (no pic sadly but fantastic talk, and shirt); now politics of debt and debt relief with @chloethurston.bsky.social.

(I would appreciate it if you shared this because it feels weird to write something like this and then have no one read it)

So grateful to be joining a truly amazing set of fellow fellows at the American Academy in Berlin (@americanacademy.bsky.social)--including @oonahathaway.bsky.social. @cape-team.bsky.social is doubly represented with @chloethurston.bsky.social joining, too! www.americanacademy.de/announcing-t...

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging." Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council. I wrote about my decision in TIME. time.com/7285045/resi...

***Online First Special Issue Release of Urban Affairs Review – The Local Politics of Public Health*** Open Access coming soon! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

I’m excited to share that it’s my first official day on blue sky! I’m also thrilled to say that my first solo-authored article, “Race, Gender, and Public Opinion Toward Black Female Political Elites,” has been accepted for publication @thejop.bsky.social! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...

AI industry giants owe their existence to taxpayer-funded, open research, but many have abandoned this collaborative model. I spoke to The Atlantic about how US science and tech leadership was built on shared knowledge. When companies hoard research, innovation suffers and accountability declines.

Really enjoyed getting to engage with Emily and @chloethurston.bsky.social's excellent new book on debt relief. I shared my thoughts on what we can learn from their work about the current mobilization around debt relief--from student loans to medical debt.

that's right

Live on the APE blog: Book Symposium on The Political Development of American Debt Relief! Read reflections on Zackin & @chloethurston.bsky.social 's excellent recent book from David Bateman, @profsorelle.bsky.social, and Megan Ming Francis. www.americanpoliticaleconomy.org/blog

Nice to see some organizations speaking plainly www.amacad.org/news/board-s...

We hang together or we hang separately. Could not be clearer what is happening and how universities must respond.

There is so much money sloshing around Dem politics, and so many ways to get in-person interaction are cheap in the grand scheme of things, so why not do it? For their part, ambitious pols podcasting about human connection might actually do something about it, start hosting picnics.

This embroidery in Evanston, IL, isn’t the quickest-reading sign of the #HandsOff protests, but it sure does capture the public mood.

"As a former president of Harvard University, believe me when I say that ways can be found in an emergency to deploy even parts of the endowment that have been earmarked for specific use by their donors." Kudos to Larry Summers for this publicly. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...

10/ And once Trump has the lawyers, colleges and industry under his thumb, it becomes very hard for the opposition to have any viable space to maneuver. Trump didn’t invent this strategy. It’s the playbook for democratically elected leaders who want to stay in power forever.

9/ The tariffs are DESIGNED to create economic hardship. Why? So that Trump has a straight face rationale for releasing them, business by business or industry by industry. As he adjusts or grants relief, it’s a win-win: the economy improves and dissent disappears.

8/ What could Trump demand as part of a quiet loyalty pledge? Public shows of support from executives for all his economic policy. Contributions to his political efforts. Promises to police employees’ support for his political opposition.

7/ But the private sector also plays a rule to protect democracy. Independent industry has power. The tariffs are Trump’s tool to erode that independence. Now, one by one, every industry or company will need to pledge loyalty to Trump in order to get sanctions relief.

6/ Healthy democracies rely on an independent legal profession to maintain the rule of law, independent universities to guard objective truth and provide forums for dissent to authority, and independent state/local government to counterbalance a powerful federal government.

5/ Trump knows that he can weaken (and maybe destroy) democracy by using spending and taxation in the same way. He is using access to government funds to bully universities, law firms and state and local governments into loyalty pledges.

4/ British kings used taxation to reward loyalty and punish dissent. Our own revolution was spurred by the King’s use of heavy taxation of the colonies to punish our push for self governance. The King’s message was simple: stop protesting and I’ll stop taxing.

3/ You see, our founders created a President with limited and checked powers. They specifically put the power of spending and taxation in the hands of the legislature. Why? Because they watched how kings and despots used spending and taxes to control their subjects.

2/ This week you will read many confused economists and political pundits who won’t understand how the tariffs make economic sense. That’s because they don’t. They aren’t designed as economic policy. The tariffs are simply a new, super dangerous political tool.

Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive. No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief. 1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.

APSA Statement on the Rights of International Scholars The American Political Science Association (APSA) is deeply disturbed by recent violations of the basic rights of international scholars in the United States. Over the past few weeks, there have been several reported instances of international…

The first Black Senator from New Jersey breaking the record of an unreconstructed segregationist bigot who fathered a Black child out of wedlock? Regardless of party, thank God Strom Thurmond's record is dead.

The point of an attention-grabbing stunt is self-evident. And the point of talking overnight is so that the “impressive” time when you’re 15 hours in comes while everyone is awake to tune in. Also, no single action will solve the problem. The next step is to do the next thing.

New op-ed out @goodauth.bsky.social based on our global research w Ken Roberts, @muratsomer-eng.bsky.social @jennifermccoy.bsky.social Timely lessons re pressure on institutions and nature of pro-democracy coalitions goodauthority.org/news/us-demo...

" Small-minded politicos cannot build from politics to policy; pointy-headed mandarins cannot build from policy to politics." www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/... I don't agree with everything in this by @samrosenfeld.bsky.social @daschloz.bsky.social but it is _so much better_ than anything else.

I'm revisiting Skowronek's contribution to the JER special issue on the early US state that @gauthamrao.bsky.social and I did a few years ago, and I'm increasingly sympathetic to his frustration with us historians. His basic complaint...

My story: I’m a single father and cancer researcher whose wife died of a rare cancer. Science and biomedical research is personal to me. Here is my op-ed in my hometown newspaper. Pls fwd. www.vindy.com/opinion/edit...

OMG I just got the galleys of my new book, after all these years it's going to be real

Let's brainstorm over strategy Imagine you were part of the strategy team of a major US university: 1) what would be your short-to-mid term strategy to respond to current attacks on higher ed? 2) Who / how would you organize? 3) For what objectives? 4) With what means?

I wrote about the new frontier in land use reform: building codes slate.com/business/202...

I don't know what Jeff Bezos means by "personal liberties and free markets." But I do know this: The biggest threat to personal liberties and free markets in America today is Donald Trump. My @postopinions.bsky.social column on this week's trauma at the Post. wapo.st/3DaSKxX

Here in Illinois, ten years ago we saw the consequences of a rampant ideological gutting of government. It genuinely harmed people. Our citizens hated it. Trust me – I was elected based in part on just how much they hated it.