Amazing sequence of paragraphs in a piece on how dollar volatility has fallen to pre-election levels. on.ft.com/3JAflat

Looking for a long read to go with your coffee this morning? The Line is a project of incredible hubris - we got the story of how it unravelled.

CBRL invites applications for Workshop Grants! 📑 🔹 Deadline: Friday - 16 Jan 2026 For more details and to apply: www.cbrl.ac.uk/news/cbrl-wo...

China fueled global oil demand this century — could AI be the next driver? The UAE expects demand staying above 100 million barrels a day beyond 2040 And says the energy industry will need annual investment of $4 trillion to meet rising consumption www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

At @livunipol.bsky.social we are recruiting for an ESRC PhD studentship. Get in touch with me if you are interested in IPE and/or Middle East politics. Any other theme, check out my colleagues' work. More info... www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPH631/e...

In this symposium on Syria contributors paint nuanced, grim, but clear-eyed pictures of multiple transitional challenges. Comparisons to other cases and situation in poli sci lit remind us Syria's not terribly unique. Amazingly, they all suggest ways through the obstacles. zenodo.org/records/1745...

At @livunipol.bsky.social we are recruiting for an ESRC PhD studentship. Get in touch with me if you are interested in IPE and/or Middle East politics. Any other theme, check out my colleagues' work. More info... www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPH631/e...

🚨New publication with Kristijan Kotarski: Enduring Structural Power? Assessing the Dominance of the Anglosphere in Global Finance Before the Trump Turn Includes novel visualizations of global finance (banking, portfolio inv & FDI) showing persistent US centrality hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/487488

Fossil fuel use continues to climb, despite the growth of renewables.

Some photos from this morning at Mar Elias, the Damascus church that was targeted by a suicide bomber some months ago. Mass now takes place in a basement there. You can still see the damage from the bombing on the roof. Story soon @irishtimes.com #Syria

Tell me who is going to do the supplying, & I’ll believe you, if you can convince me: - The ECB/PBOC will replace the Fed as the int’l LOLR - 🇪🇺/🇨🇳 will tolerate 25% appreciations in the euro/RMB - 🇪🇺 will complete banking & fiscal union - 🇨🇳 will remove capital controls - 🇨🇦🇦🇺🇯🇵🇨🇭 will quadruple in size

Good piece as a “tail risk scenario.” But again, as I’ve tried to point out many times, any argument that 🇺🇸 is going to face a debt crisis & capital flight at debt/GDP ratios 100% lower than 🇯🇵 <now> must answer all kinds of questions about where investors are going to go: bsky.app/profile/mcop...

Some welcome developments: "Three diplomats told the FT that some Arab and Muslim states had voiced concerns over the plans to include Blair on a “board of peace” intended to supervise a postwar transition in the war-shattered strip, because of his backing for the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq."

After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results: - AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2% - ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1% - ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%

Finally got round to Adam Hanieh's important new article: Renewables expansion in Gulf is "additive" to hydrocarbons, both hydrocarbon &renewables expansion deepens GCC ties to China, and accumulation is still via the usual big (fossil-based) Gulf corporations onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Save the date 📅 We have an upcoming book launch by our very own @ndmlees.bsky.social on November 19th! 📚 Dr Nicholas Lees’ research examines the relationship between inequality, conflict, and democracy in world politics! We hope you can join us for what will be an exciting conversation.

With intense talks underway over forming an "international stabilization force" to replace Israeli forces in Gaza, I'm re-upping a post I wrote for @carnegiemec.bsky.social exactly one year ago that remains pertinent: carnegieendowment.org/middle-east/...

Colonial afterlives in the global cocoa supply chain: sharecropping, labour exploitation, and gendered (re)production, by Ellie Gore

Our Early Career Small Research Grants and Learning and Teaching funds open TODAY! 🎉 You must have been a BISA member for over 6 months to apply and the deadline is 24 November! 🌟 Eligibility requirements 👉 www.bisa.ac.uk/members/fund... @julietdryden.bsky.social @juanitamarieelias.bsky.social

Really excited to be involved in a pop up exhibition Migration, Refuge & Solidarity‘ on 7th & 8th Nov at @victoriagallery.bsky.social. I will be sharing audio-visual exhibition ‘A Place Along the Way: Stories from the Island of Samos’ as a part of it. vgm.liverpool.ac.uk/whats-on/exh...

Als nicht-weiße Person in Deutschland sind die rassistischen „Stadtbild“ Ausführungen des Bundeskanzlers unerträglich. Schlimmer ist aber, gelernt zu haben, dass SPD und Grüne nicht für meine Rechte einstehen werden. Minderheitenrechte sind verhandelbar geworden. Angeblich elitär und „linksgrün“

LOVING the cover design for Beirut Radical. Pre-order now, out in UK in December, US in February :) @ibtauris.bsky.social @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social @bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social

Congratulations to Dr Sarah Elmammeri, our former PhD candidate and the winner of the Manchester Jean Monnet Centre of ExcellenceDoctoral Thesis Prize.Her lecture titled ‘Between Layers of Borders: Reflecting on EU Policies and Asylum Seekers’ reflects the very best of our PhD student scholarship.

Haven't read my book yet & want to know more? Check out my #NewTextsOutNow interview with @jadaliyya.bsky.social ! #newton #millennialdreams #oman www.jadaliyya.com/Details/46914

Book launches! 🚨Women's Troubles will be launched in Liverpool on 12th November in conversation with Prof Liz Evans, and Belfast @centreforgender.bsky.social on 28th November (details to follow). Liverpool launch: www.ticketsource.co.uk/claire-piers... @livunihss.bsky.social @livunipol.bsky.social

For anyone in the Liverpool area, we are hosting a conversation and hands-on workshop on abortion rights and creative methods as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science - come join us! Sign up here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/claire-piers... @livunihss.bsky.social @livunipol.bsky.social

My article on the 20 point gaza "peace plan" is now out. Let me tell you why peace processes in the Israeli Palestinian conflict seem to keep failing, with a focus on Tony Blair the menace of the middle east theconversation.com/a-gaza-peace...

Publication day: @abuaardvark.bsky.social's timely and incisive America's Middle East: The Ruination of a Region is out now. ‘No one is better equipped than Lynch to tell this tragic story ... essential reading.’ — David D. Kirkpatrick 25% off w/code LYNCH25➡️ tinyurl.com/yvxua6u8

Sounds like an interesting new dataset on legislatives in authoritarian regimes 🤓

New Working Paper 🚨 I am introducing the new dataset on Parliamentary Elites in Authoritarian Regimes (PEAR). It includes information on the composition of parliaments in 819 legislative terms in 130 autocracies from 1945 - based on over 200k individual-level observations. tinyurl.com/48h68hmh

“I hope the Trump deal.. ends the active horrors. I fear that it could be another Camp David, a "last chance" based on deeply flawed assumptions and conceived in the absence of one of the ostensible negotiating partners which blows up in everyone's face.” abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io/gazas-tomorr...

Pleased to share our new article in which we critically engage with the role that the “categories of migration” play in determining who does and does not “belong” in Europe and how they are changing.

Building on our workshop last year on The Global Politics of Precarity and Insecure Work, @stellamorgana.bsky.social and I are delighted to share a collection of 6 original commentary articles on this theme in @gpejournal.bsky.social Read the full introduction here: doi.org/10.1332/2635...

Sharon Lifschitz, whose parents were kidnapped on Oct 7 and only her mother returned alive, writes on the two year anniversary to the massacres. "We know that hate and revenge cannot bring even a momentary relief from the pain." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

💥New: Academic careers have become a professional sport ✍️ @swallaschek.bsky.social #AcademicSky #ECRchat #AcademicCareers

Governing through guesstimates: mock precision in international organisations, by Lukas Linsi, Seiki Tanaka, Francesco Giumelli, & @lenseabrooke.bsky.social

"The Treasury’s decision to offer a “swap” in Argentina is really a signal that Washington is willing to wield its financial tools for political purposes in ways that depart from past norms. If that approach extends to the Fed...consequences for global stability could be profound." on.ft.com/4pPdCOz

The authors provide clear visualization of their data as they trace the connections between firms within states and across states, and they identify the directors who serve as nodes in the growing pan-Arab corporatism.

New open-access analysis in a sneak peek of our fall issue: @hannesbaumann.bsky.social and Alice Hooper trace the development of a pan-Arab corporate elite shifting demands on regimes toward “further neoliberal restructuring and regional economic integration.” onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Manchester synagogue attack latest: police say suspect shot after four people injured by vehicle and stabbings

In a new report, HRW, Syrians for Truth and Justice, and Syrian Archive document widespread abuses by government forces, government-aligned armed groups, and armed volunteers, including summary executions, deliberate destruction of property, and abuse of detainees.

I have organised an amazing roster of *virtual* presentations for the Centre for Gulf Studies at Exeter. Check out these incredible superstars, and register for the events (Tuesdays 17-18.30 London time) here: www.exeter.ac.uk/research/cen...

Spannende Vortragsreihe an meiner Alma Mater der @uni-hamburg.de koordiniert u.a. von @janwilkens.bsky.social

"When radical-right words come from Labour mouths, the nativist and illiberal values attached to these words become increasingly normalised, shifting the boundaries of what is politically acceptable... It’s time for Labour to engage in some self-reflection about the type of party it wants to be."

they're ringing that UNGA bell SO hard to try and get people to sit down again for the next speech but they should just let these people run around the chamber and scream like toddlers for a few minutes and get it out of their system before making them sit back down

I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win (h/t @miriamposner.com) www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

“The more the German industry continues to focus on phasing out niche technologies […] the easier it becomes for Chinese companies to expand their lead in batteries and new electronic vehicle architectures.” Remarkable op-ed by former VW boss Herbert Diess. www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/...

Why is this horrible for Universities? Just about everyone who isn't a citizen or green card holder already who's hired for a tenure track faculty position is hired through an H1B and then, after 3-5 years, applies for a green card. This is literally "No more foreign professors can be hired"

I wrote for @theguardian.com about the “Unite the Kingdom” rally. High time to pull head out of the sand and learn from other countries — if only on what NOT to do!