This year at APSA, several mentors and friends reminded me of something worth sharing: some work just takes longer. It doesn't matter how much you work. The discipline doesn't always reward it, but it doesn't mean it's not important. In a career with so much randomness, ask the questions you want.

When studying "hate" (the famous -isms), it's important to understand the various causes and mechanisms that drive empirically similar (or even identical) outcomes in behaviour. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Looking for #APSA panels? Come see ours: New Research on the Legacies of Colonialism in Historical Political Economy Sat 9/13 4:00 to 5:30 pm. Thank you @agustingoenaga.bsky.social for organizing (what is going to be) an informative and productive panel!

APSA and Vancouver bound! I’m thrilled to have organized the panel, “democratic backsliding and opposition resistance,” taking place tomorrow at 8am PT. I’ll be presenting findings from my dissertation on international pressure and opposition to democratic erosion along with some great scholars.

In case anyone was wondering what it's like to have an economist and a statistician as parents. The Review Process ft. The Family Group Chat. 🫶

Looking forwards to presenting a chapter from my dissertation book project “Civic Pluralism and Democratic Resilience” Fri from 2-3:30pm in VCC West 122. Come thru! (And thanks, @lotemhalevy.bsky.social, for the shout—it’s great to see so much good work on civil society+democracy in the program!)

Here are some #APSA panels that explore the relationship between parties, CSOs, and democracy *in European Politics* featuring papers by brilliant jr women; @francescayton.bsky.social @maajanmor.bsky.social and what are sure to be sharp comments from uber smart and sharp @mierkezat.bsky.social!

Had a fantastic time interviewing and learning from the inimitable Val Bunce alongside @priscajoest.bsky.social for the APSA CP newsletter. Part of a great issue on Pathbreaking Women in Comparative Politics (ed. by Kate Baldwin + Ellen Lust): www.comparativepoliticsnewsletter.org/wp-content/u...

But also, I didn't know it was possible to miss a building. (If you're here for APSA, I suggest a stroll for some quiet time.)

Ten years after leaving Vancouver, I'm pleased to report that my memory has not failed me: public transportation is as awful as I remember it being (for a big city). (People used to the US, you'll be way more than fine. I relied on this public transportation network for a very long time.)

The Department of Political Science at Penn State is hiring in CP/IR, for a position focused on non-democratic politics. Link to apply: psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/PSU_Ac...

Looking for #APSA panels? Come see ours: New Research on the Legacies of Colonialism in Historical Political Economy Sat 9/13 4:00 to 5:30 pm. Thank you @agustingoenaga.bsky.social for organizing (what is going to be) an informative and productive panel!

Just getting ready for the Job Market, so I uploaded a new working paper to my website (www.lotemhalevy.com/research.html), along with some other goodies. The paper should be available on SSRN shortly!

If you’d like to join us, here are the links to the calls: Comparative Politics: apply.interfolio.com/173149 Security Studies: apply.interfolio.com/173160 International Political Economy: apply.interfolio.com/173150

New publication alert; this one with two former PhD students in our program at Georgetown: Simón Ballesteros and Daniel Solomon. "Formal Institutions After Conflict: Rebel Ideology and Post-War Constitutional Design." journals.sagepub.com/eprint/AB6CD...

A new piece I wrote appearing in FOREIGN AFFAIRS today www.foreignaffairs.com/germany/warn...

Apply until 🗓 Oct 05 for @excinequality.bsky.social In_equality conference We offer Lake Constance views, the best tote bags (you have @pengzell.bsky.social 's word for it), and a little inequality research

More people like Will please! 🫶Remember that it's possible to be kind while giving harsh and direct feedback.

Interesting new article that fits nicely within "The Building Blocs" research agenda (t.ly/us7kj), which we recently contributed to: t.ly/Dg6zK We, as scholars of Europe, can learn from scholars of MENA, SE Asia, etc, who have long emphasized the role of civil society for party competition.

And another great potential read for graduate students on the measurement of "waves" of democratization and autocratization by @skaaning.bsky.social especially helpful for students thinking about periodization (including thinking about the contemporary "moment"). doi.org/10.1080/1351...

I just re-read Rueschemeyer et al. (1992, 13-26). Although old, this section is good at outlining the different approaches to the study of development and democracy. Useful for scholars who integrate historically accurate quantitative analysis with CHA. (Would put on a grad syllabus on democracy.)

Folks on the (dire) job market (w a connection to the UK), make sure you check out the eligibility criteria on some external grants for early-career researchers. These are great options for early-career researchers looking to fund their own research! @britishacademy.bsky.social @leverhulme.ac.uk

Study inequality? Apply! Inequality is broadly defined (interdisciplinary and topic-wise) to include education, labor markets, gender, health, minority rights, social stratification, climate change, etc. This is a great conference for early-career researchers with generous funding available!

My brilliant co-author Haile Zola (@lse-ei.bsky.social ) presented our work at the Hard2Reach Populations: Applied Research Methods with Hidden, Marginal, and Excluded Populations hosted by Ray Duch at Nuffield College in collaboration w UNICEF. 1/3 oxford-candour.com/events/#hard...

New political science grad students, a piece of unsolicited advice: Take the full formal theory sequence; if your program doesn't offer it, go to the econ department (that's what I did). Formal logic is also a great option! Why? You never know what will happen during grad school. 1/8

Just trying to schedule an appointment: I have sent 3 emails, filled out the online form twice, called every day for the last two weeks, and have gone in person twice (empty desk). What am I missing?

If you’re teaching AP this year pls consider assigning our paper, which we wrote w American students in mind seeking to place "this moment" in a comparative context. We write about religion, nationalism, and groups targeted by ruling Confessional Illiberal parties. m.youtube.com/watch?v=NqzS...

Academia is equally cruel and charmed because you meet the coolest people and then their career whisks them away forever (or for a few months). Feeling blessed that @excinequality.bsky.social brought the ever-easy-to-laugh-with @na-wehl.bsky.social into my work-life "balance".

In his TIME article about activism and coalition building, ASA member Michael Rosino @michaelrosino.bsky.social‬ notes that "too often today, progressive organizers are highly educated whites who fail to build bridges with diverse communities and activists of color."

If you need to escape from current politics for a while, my co-author, Jørgen Møller, discusses our book "The Catholic Church and European State Formation, 1000-1500" on the New Books podcast: newbooksnetwork.com/the-catholic...

"This paper is mixed-method" The "mixed" methods: three diff-in-diffs with a 78-page appendix using scraped data classified by LLMs, 4 Zoom interviews sampled based on "vibes", and process tracing sourced without considering histography and written without logical tests.

🚨 Very excited to share that the call for papers for the EPSS annual conference in Belfast 2026 is live. 🔝 Lots of innovation to enrich the way we exchange ideas in political science in Europe. 🙏🏼 Sharing is caring!

"She argues that climate denial, racism, and misogyny are not separate issues but instead rooted in anthropocene anxieties." For a historical take that traces the roots of these ideas to conservative strategic alliances between ruling parties and religion: www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandg...

I know I'm preaching to the choir here but I went in to the library to get a political science book on the politics of the secret ballot that was misclassified in the history section and placed next to this book I didn't know I needed. Life (the library) is magic sometimes.

Working with @lotemhalevy.bsky.social was super fun and super inspiring! I learned a lot from her about ugly times, my favorite kind of times to contemplate these days … to new scholarship on liberalism 🤩🥂📚

Universities do realize that some academics don't have a spouse they can rely on to pay the bills when they are owed thousands, right? right? This has never not been an issue (so across institutions).

It's an honor to have an article with @lenkabustikova.bsky.social in this special issue on Illiberalism with so many scholars whose work I've learnt so much from. Thanks to @zsolt.bsky.social , @petraguasti.bsky.social , Dean Schafer, + Bálint Mikola! www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandg...

🚨 Confessional Illiberalism w @lenkabustikova.bsky.social 🚨 We searched for a piece like this as scholars of extremism in CEE that might help students (but also other readers) understand the current "illiberal moment"—its variations and adjacent concepts. 1/5 www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandg...

Sometimes we are all just Vizzini. Me, I am Vizzini. Today I learnt the actual definitions of so many British English words that absolutely do not mean what I thought they meant.

Big thank you to Laura Jakli for co-organizing and the @excinequality.bsky.social, @dfg.de & @onlinehbs.bsky.social for supporting our Inequality and Democracy in CEE conference. Grateful to Jason Wittenberg, @isabelamares.bsky.social & all participants for thoughtful feedback on my book project.

My article "Religious Exclusion and the Origins of Democracy" has been published in the Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social! Why did modern democracy originate in Western Europe? You can my article providing an original answer to this big question www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/rel...

I can't wait to add to this epic lineage one day (hopefully soon)!

Mixed feelings about being back in the US, but delighted to see so many wonderful friends and colleagues again @ces-europe.bsky.social. If you're around, please join us Friday/tomorrow morning for our panel on advances in the study of temporality in historical political analysis.😀Details 👇

My friend @ayeletc.bsky.social won a Horowitz Foundation Social Policy Grant for her dissertation work on Saving Regimes and Financial Citizenship. Congratulate and follow her for more exciting work in the intersection of social policy, socio-legal studies and good ol' comparative politics.

I just found out about this SUPER cool ERC project run out of the Vienna by @fdonoff.bsky.social. It could be of interest to HPE scholars interested in mass agrarian politics. datarev.univie.ac.at/about-the-pr...

New article from our latest issue (Issue 8, 2025): "Outsourcing Machines. How Programmatic Parties Include Clientelistic Strategies" by Gonzalo Contreras @gontrerasa.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... #polisky #socialscience #ComparativePolitics #academicsky

In my latest for @goodauth.bsky.social, I explore why the European Council & Commission are mostly silent despite growing concerns from the 🇪🇺Parliament about Turkey’s democratic decline. Since 2016, the 🇪🇺🇹🇷 relationship has shifted to practical deals, with strategic interests outweighing values.

Apparently, and thankfully, the European upper-middle class millennial thing to do is to get married in Tuscany, so in a month or so I'm headed for a string of weddings with some days in the middle to spare. Any recommendations? Places to stay?

The "heyday"

Our new IMR paper on the great replacement theory is now open-access. We find that about 20% (!) of German adults believe that white majorities are being deliberately replaced by non-white immigrants in a secretive attempt by malevolent elites to undermine their own country. doi.org/10.1177/0197...