Save the date! Nov 12-14, HU Berlin, part of the Socialization research project at @ktbberlin.bsky.social socializationproject.de

Critical Political Economy of the European Polycrisis, see andreasbieler.blogspot.com/2026/05/crit... @morton.bsky.social @chrishesketh.bsky.social

This is an excellent piece and I think it’s true that we are witnessing the death of the myth of peaceful economic sanctions. But this raises the question of what kind of politics is adequate to the death of liberal mythology and the stark revelation of the violent underside of liberal ‘peace’.

Concrete Destruction: Costs and Damages of the Concrete and Cement Industry and the Future of Construction Excited to share a study I co-authored, together with Tom Ackers, Conrad Kunze, Paulina Orozco, and Nils Urbanus, published by the @rosaluxstiftung.bsky.social www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rl...

an excellent outlook on the macro-political economy of inflation

geopolitics of grid synchronization, 1992-2026

Great editorial by @equatormag.bsky.social drawing a parallel between the Strait of Tsushima (1905), the beginning of the end of the Russian and other European Empires, and the Strait of Hormuz (2026) for the US Empire. www.equator.org/articles/gho...

The newly founded Brussel Institute for Geopolitics' mission statement is an eerie read: To remain soft on the inside Europe has to "strengthen its posture towards the outside" and learn "to act and think in terms of power, interests and strategy." big-europe.eu/mission-stat...

Whoa. What's the strategy here?

We got a chance to do something for @lpeblog.bsky.social on Muskism as a possible successor to post-Fordism, drawing on the concepts of Michel Aglietta and the Regulation School. This one was really fun! lpeproject.org/blog/muskism...

🌍💥Can wartime planning inspire a just ecological transition today? Next Wed., join us for a powerful talk by @rbaernthaler.bsky.social, @universityofleeds.bsky.social. Part of the #REALPostgrowth seminar series, rethinking economics for a world in crisis. Also online📲 www.uab.cat/web/sala-de-...

OUT: Carney's speech. IN: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speech in Beijing "navigate this post-Rupture world in which Washington’s reliability can no longer be assumed, and in which Beijing’s partnership, however complicated, cannot be refused" www.sinicapodcast.com/p/pm-pedro-s...

This was brilliant.

European Commission collaborating with Microsoft to cover up data centre emissions. Another great project for #EuropeanSovereignty

Is 'green growth' really phasing out fossil fuels and, if so, what does it mean for environmental sustainability, social progress, and (what’s left of) world peace? 📅 See you on Fri, 24 Apr, 1 pm CET, for the next @ecpr.bsky.social 'Energy Politics, Policy & Governance' seminar series.

New report: The EU paid universities more than €100 million to build Europe’s border regime Universities provide research, analysis, data and technology for border and migration control - and lend an illusion of scientific legitimacy to ethically questionable policies. tni.org/borderlabs

A backsliding transition: towards renewables-with-coal.

Today we launch our new policy briefing - Popular Asset Commissions: Building a Green Democratic Haringey. Written with @kmilb.bsky.social & @kaiheron.bsky.social for @abundance-org.bsky.social, the briefing informs Haringey Green Party’s 2026 local election manifesto. 🔗 t.co/Amk6knck6u

Worst of times, best of times. Looming fertilizer shortages push the world into a new hunger crisis. But for the concentrated fertilizer market the war on Iran is an extraordinary profit opportunity. Stocks are shooting up.

(1/2) Peter Thiel, lecturing on the Antichrist, shares his pal Benjamin's troubles: "When I met Netanyahu early in 2024, about a year and a half ago, we talked about what he’s doing in Gaza, and the one-liner he had was:

I would say I’m fairly knowledgeable about the corruption, violence, coercive authority, and brutal imperial power that pervades extractive sectors and yet I am still in shock at this Trump admin move to secure Zambian minerals

(1/2) Peter Thiel, lecturing on the Antichrist, shares his pal Benjamin's troubles: "When I met Netanyahu early in 2024, about a year and a half ago, we talked about what he’s doing in Gaza, and the one-liner he had was:

"Overcapacity is also not automatically waste. In energy transition industries it functions as insurance.[...] The alternative system, tight capacity calibrated to current demand, would produce the exact opposite outcome: price spikes, project delays, and political backlash against the transition."

I'll be speaking at King's with @triofrancos.bsky.social and Adam Hanieh in a couple of weeks 23 March 2026 17:30 to 19:30 www.kcl.ac.uk/events/who-o...

Tackiing the polycrisis afresh with @abieler.bsky.social and Vincenzo Maccarrone in a new critical political economy book on the EU www.ppesydney.net/critical-pol... @yanisvaroufakis.bsky.social @adamtooze.bsky.social @alexcallinicos.bsky.social

There are journal issues...and then there are journal issues! The truly epic 25th Anniversary Special Issue of the GEP journal, titled "Continuity and Change in Global Environmental Politics," is now live and free to read for the next 90 days through @mitpress.bsky.social.

“Companies like BAE Systems ... rely on public money although they are privately owned, with institutional investors benefitting from surging government spending and direct subsidies for research and development.” Khem Rogaly in @irishexaminer.bsky.social 👇 🖋️ @colinivan.bsky.social

On-going global oil gluts (unless a US-Iran war) mean that even tax cuts cannot sustain profitability for US oil/gas companies as prices fall. So they need to shift externalities onto the public. NB oil firms were ≈ 9.0% of cumulative profit for the top 3000 US firms 1994-2019 but 2020-24 only 4.5%

"In the battle between fossil and electricity capital, there are good reasons to think the latter will win in the long run. Of course, in the long run, as JM Keynes said, we are all dead."

The vessel Sea Horse is expected to arrive in early March

Meanwhile, NYT analysis shows that the Trump administration has established an effective blockade of Cuba and is pushing it toward a humanitarian crisis.

what do we talk about when we talk about energy? my answer features (among many others) adorno, bogdanov, and the austrian communist wilhelm frank, who experimented with national exergy balances in the 1950s. out april 2026.

I've often wondered how Steven Pinker's amazingly sloppy research and baseless claims* have for so long received a free pass. I wonder whether it could have something to do with a. his connections with the rich and powerful; b. his claims often aligning with what they want to hear. *See next post.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... our piece on Germany and the question of imperialism is out. An attempt at wrapping our heads around the political economy of Germany in times of genocide.

Two in three Germans have not gone mental, yet.

“The distant future can be a source of hope”, Jonathan White details in his book, In the Long Run, “but it can also be reason for passivity.” Noah Gordon on the three peaks of the climate transition, and the politics of promises www.break-down.org/three-peaks/

Good article in the Guardian today (with interactive graphics if you are looking online!) on post-growth economics www.theguardian.com/environment/...

NEW – Analysis: Clean energy drove more than a third of China’s GDP growth in 2025 | @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social @belindaschaepe.bsky.social Read here: buff.ly/M7N4yjx

Applications are open for the Finance Summer School 2026. Last two have been at Brown. This one is at LSE thanks to LSE European Institute and Huth Initiative, plus the Berkeley Program on Finance and Democracy. Stellar Line up. Apps open: forms.gle/WsEVk4Yy52Dn...

Spain's constitution promises democracy at work. Last year, @yolandadiaz.bsky.social convened an expert group to study how to make good on that promise. Lead by @isabelleferreras.bsky.social, we have delivered what is, we think, the highest-level 400-page report on economic democracy out there. 1/2

Coal power in China: most new coal plants in a decade went online in 2025; plans for new projects reached a record high, with the equivalent of >150 large coal plants proposed. Thankfully permitting slowed so the government is limiting the expansion to a degree. What's going on?

1/7 SCMP: "Chinese scholars have called for greater urgency in reducing reliance on US dollar assets, particularly after Washington and its allies froze about US$300 billion in Russian foreign exchange reserves in 2022." www.scmp.com/economy/glob...

In case this goes over some heads, the 'black and tans' were Britain's paramilitary police in Ireland during the War of Independence. After years of burning out whole towns and murdering innocent people, many went straight to Palestine to do the very same, preparing the way for Israeli takeover.

Dear friends, We at the Center for European Studies @sciencespo-cee.bsky.social are opening a position of Assistant Professor in political science, with a focus on climate transition policies. Please apply if you're super good (and not afraid to work with me ;). www.sciencespo.fr/centre-etude...

¿Veis lo rojo? Es el empleo creado en España respecto a otros países de la UE. Hacer políticas que protegen los derechos de los y las trabajadoras tiene resultados visibles.

According to ECB data, Germany has the highest wealth inequality of all EU countries. The top 10% own 67% of total wealth, while the bottom half own 1.3%. The countries ranking next in wealth inequality are Spain, Ireland, Estonia, France, and Austria.

EU Commission asked about comments on loss of life by ICE. “No comment” Follow-up: You condemned killing of Floyd, what is it now? “No comment. We condemn all loss of lives”. Follow-up: clarify “innocent lives.. you see these as innocent lives?” “We didn’t say innocent, it’s for US Gov to decide.”

In case the Olympic hockey rink isn't ready on time... the US is sending its own ICE to Milan.

1/2 SCMP: "Twenty-seven of the mainland’s 31 provincial-level jurisdictions have increased monthly minimum wages over the past year, with half introducing double-digit rises – outpacing China’s 5 per cent gross domestic product growth rate in 2025." www.scmp.com/economy/chin...