The Department of Political Science at Fordham University will be hiring two Assistant Professors this fall: one in Judicial Politics and one in Comparative Urban Politics. Both positions will be at Fordham's Rose Hill location in The Bronx.

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"A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People."

🚨Job Posting🚨 I've received funding for a project on "Rethinking the Anti-Corruption Toolkit" and am hiring a 2-year postdoc (political theory or related) to help. Ideally starting this fall, but can be flexible. For best consideration apply by the end of next week! apply.interfolio.com/188955

Summer reads so far

Trumpism will not last forever, because it is based in fraud and racist lies; and no lie can live forever.

Compare Alito's description of Trump's racist statements (on the left) to Justice Kagan's anthology of Trump's racist statements (on the right). These are passages from this morning's opinions in Mullin v. Doe.

The heatwave in Europe is so extreme, it's 25–32°F (14–18°C) above normal. You read that right. France recorded it's hottest day ever. The UK had its hottest ever June day. The ground is exceeding 122°F (50°C). People are dying. Tell me again why we shouldn't talk about climate change???

What is the philosophy of work and democracy that follows from the historic labour movement? In my new article, I develop a democratic defense of labour unions and show how it leads to a distinctive vision of industrial democracy. Forthcoming in the APSR stevenmklein.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one.

Delighted to share my guest essay from this morning's @nytimes.com opinion section. And kudos to the Times for their excellent artwork!

Important to remember that the cultural argument of his first book is that poor people are poor because they are bad people.

Nineteenth-century political theory was just writing thousands of pages about your favorite week of the French Revolution

I started typing it out as a joke, but honestly an “AI’s Impact on AI” conference is probably overdue

It is striking how much the FR followed the logic that Machiavelli found in Livy’s history of Rome: once the monarchy was abolished, class enmities burst into forms that determined the politics of the Republic. But in Rome, it took centuries for autocracy to win that conflict; in France, a decade.

Over the weekend mainstream Dems called the UFC fight an example of ‘bread and circuses’, which is correct except that there is no bread and the circus is only for the very special birthday boy.

Political theorists: what is your favorite account of the French Revolution from the history of political thought?

I cancelled my Paramount+ subscription since the corrupt spectacle from last night was broadcast on it. This means that I’m also cut off from streaming Star Trek, but I don’t think I’m interested in supporting the franchise as long as the Ellisons control it.

My hope for The Odyssey is that it leans into the play of identity, recognition, and imposture. In this era of fraudulence, I really think it is the most salient dimension of the story.

from Unto This Last by John Ruskin

Also the world's first trillionaire directly responsible for the deaths of potentially millions around the world due to the illegal destruction of USAID

I just remembered the one good thing that I have ever done - putting "Heaven or Las Vegas" over a video of a red panda eating - so here it is. Let it cleanse your timeline.

everyone, I have produced a report on how to remedy the decline of scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. here it is: Executive Summary: Fund the Humanities and Social Sciences. Body: Fund the Humanities and Social Sciences a hell of a lot more. Please cite this as the Carroll report.

It’s a real bummer that fossil capital abolished spring.

I see a lot of charts everyday. Few make me go: THIS IS CRAZY. www.carbonbrief.org/ai-boom-mean...

University administrators have totally lost their minds

Tonight, hours before our election count begins, USC's admin formally ran to the Trump federal NLRB asking them to overturn democracy. This shit is wildly cynical and has huge implications for academic workers nationally and I am begging my journalist followers to get in touch

The building that houses the agency responsible for containing the spread of invasive pests in the United States has a bed bug infestation

I’m about halfway through Carlyle’s The French Revolution and my one complaint is that Mill didn’t burn it a second time.

From our February Issue: “They Attend Strictly to Their Own Business”: Disability and the Construction of the Worker-Citizen by ANN K. HEFFERNAN. doi.org/10.1017/S000...

Each yappy billionaire tech moron thinks that he is a modern day Socrates, offering biting truths to an immobile public. But where the old fly of the marketplace circled the agora to bite and rouse the public to reason, these guys are just flies circling their own shit.

I am delighted to report that Parties on the Ground: A Study of Nominations for the House of Representatives, by five highly esteemed political scientists and also a sixth less qualified guy, is available for preorder from UChicago Press www.amazon.com/Parties-Grou... bookshop.org/p/books/part...

If you've ever thought to yourself, "I wish there were a theorist of ecological communism who also made great wallpaper," then I have an article just for you. doi.org/10.1177/1474...

"I show how Morris built a vision of ecological flourishing on the foundation of the democratic freedom of workers, which I call 'regrowth communism'...only in the struggle of workers for freedom through fellowship is earthly flourishing possible, since mastery degrades both human and nonhuman life"

Interesting article on William Morris as a thinker for the present moment - resonant with ideas in play for the forthcoming Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition 'A Call to Art: William Morris & the Pre-Raphaelites'.

If you've ever thought to yourself, "I wish there were a theorist of ecological communism who also made great wallpaper," then I have an article just for you. doi.org/10.1177/1474...

I say without hyperbole that this is the most brazenly corrupt action in US Presidential history. That it does not immediately lead to impeachment is a dangerous sign of how far the rule of law has declined.

I went to commencement for the second time and I’ve decided that I really like doing it for corny reasons that basically boil down to the fact that you get to be this for graduating students

Congratulations to all the new graduates, but especially to all the Smithies!

My book is now available in paperback. Read if you are curious to know how smart folks from the past have grappled with economic inequality.

Recently, for *obvious reasons*, I've been thinking about what it means when anxiety and sadness are caused not by individual predispositions, but by the state of the world itself. This led me to early 19th-c. France and the notion of "mal du siècle" (sickness of the century) aeon.co/essays/young...

Financial crisis is being used to bypass tenure protections. University of Essex fired me & 11 others from the Business School in a clear targeting based on our philosophical orientation & social justice commitments. Please sign the public statement: sites.google.com/view/mmpubli...

Freud: In my book I invented the Death Drive as a cautionary tale Politicians: At long last, we have created the Death Drive from the classic psychoanalytic essay Beyond the Pleasure Principle

this truly is the thing that makes the united states exceptional, and right wingers hate it so much they want to destroy it

"Given the grinding maw of our unjust and unstable economy the distinction between...liberal arts education and a job-market-focused degree could collapse...If there is an academic hack to protect us from capitalism...it will soon only be available to a microscopic few." shorturl.at/mk6IM

I am proud to announce the publication of our Critical Exchange on "Settler Colonialism and Political Theory" now out online first in Contemporary Political Theory. (1/6) link.springer.com/article/10.1...

“The legislative power is the heart of the State, the executive power is its brain, which gives movements to all its parts. The brain may become paralyzed and the individual still live. A man can remain imbecile and still live; but as soon as the heart has stopped to function, the animal is dead.”

The Trump Dept of Education investigation of Smith College for admitting trans students is utterly baseless, as one can verify simply by reading the text of Title IX. Its further claim that Smith violates Title IX by treating trans women as human beings is likewise repugnant. Details on the blog. 👇

I think there would be close to zero student interest in it, but this would be a fun seminar.

Tomorrow, May 6 at 5:30 pm CDT, @haymarketbooks.org and @pilsencommbooks.bsky.social welcome @alybatt.bsky.social, author of Free Gifts! With @gabrielwinant.bsky.social, she'll explore her critique of capitalism’s persistent failure to value nature. Register for this hybrid event: buff.ly/qHWenTm