As we close our 40th year, we reflect on UNU-WIDER’s legacy and look to future. Director Designate @apvjustino.bsky.social reminds us of the task ahead: harnessing shared knowledge to improve lives in an uncertain world. Learn more about the work we do: go.unu.edu/XR6Xh #WIDER40 #2025recap

How do violent pasts shape democratic politics decades later? A new Broadstreet blog by @laiabalcells.bsky.social, @apvjustino.bsky.social and @andrearuggeri.bsky.social dives into findings from the Comparative Political Studies special issue. Read more: go.unu.edu/fc9rP

First time writing for Broadstreet blog! With @apvjustino.bsky.social and @andrearuggeri.bsky.social, we wrote about the Special Issue just published at Comparative Political Studies: www.broadstreet.blog/p/legacies-o...

A great overview of a great special issue, including our paper on the legacies of antifascist resistance in Italy. Thank you again @laiabalcells.bsky.social @apvjustino.bsky.social @andrearuggeri.bsky.social !

Food security is vital for dignity, equality, and peace, yet it’s often compromised in conflict settings. On today's #HumanRightsDay, we explore how hunger and conflict create a damaging cycle. Read this blog by @apvjustino.bsky.social: go.unu.edu/Y0Y4d

The #SocialSummit2025 is live in Doha! 🌍✨ Catch us at the our booth to discuss inequality, social protection, and building trust. 📍Solutions Square, hall 6, QNCC Don’t miss our Solutions Session with UN DESA and Government of Finland tomorrow: go.unu.edu/hfQhS @apvjustino.bsky.social

Yesterday at #SocialSummit2025, UNU-WIDER and UN DESA, supported by the Government of Finland, co-hosted the Solutions Session "Trust as the Foundation for Social Development." @apvjustino.bsky.social highlighted that 60% of people globally struggle, with many households one shock away from poverty.

📽️ "Fragility is an issue that affects all of us." At @fiia.fi event on the crisis in global development, @apvjustino.bsky.social warned that most of the world’s extreme poor live in conflict-affected countries, and cutting aid risks deepening both poverty and instability.

Today's seminar focused on the decline of global development and possible ways forward. The speakers discussed topics such as the role of global aid in mitigating human suffering, states' justifications for withdrawing from global development, and the interdependence between poverty and conflict.

At @ifpri.org Policy Seminar, @apvjustino.bsky.social and Maria Eugenia Genoni (World Bank) showed that global poverty is increasingly concentrated in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Breaking the poverty-fragility trap needs better investing, managing, and measuring. Watch: go.unu.edu/gImJP

📅October 17⏰9:30AM EDT 📌 Tackling extreme poverty and financing for food systems in Africa 🤝 Organized by IFPRI and partners on the margins of the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings 💬 @lflopezcalva.bsky.social @apvjustino.bsky.social @anamibanez.bsky.social @jo-swinnen.bsky.social 🎟️ bit.ly/Poverty-

@apvjustino.bsky.social is at Fragile Lives 2025 in Berlin! Tomorrow, her keynote discusses the global erosion of trust—in institutions, in democracy, and interpersonally—and what this means for social cohesion and governance in fragile contexts. Learn more: go.unu.edu/XxaSa

New publication alert: "Legacies of Repression and Resistance in Early 20th Century Europe", at Comparative Political Studies. With @andrearuggeri.bsky.social and @apvjustino.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

💭 A recent survey reveals declining faith in democracy among European youth. To earn back young people's trust, "[d]emocracy must prove it can deliver tangible results," writes @apvjustino.bsky.social, Deputy Director of @unu-wider.bsky.social. Read more: go.unu.edu/fWQba #UNUYouthMonth

I’m honoured to have been appointed the next Director of UNU-WIDER starting May 2026. WIDER has long been a beacon of rigorous, policy-relevant research on pressing global challenges. Leading this remarkable institution is both a privilege and a responsibility I take on with deep commitment.

📢 New Policy Brief: How to make aid work in fragile states Aid in fragile contexts needs more than technical fixes. The brief calls for long-term, flexible support rooted in local legitimacy. 📄: go.unu.edu/pTvBB #FragileAid @apvjustino.bsky.social @rgisselquist.bsky.social @anvaccaro.bsky.social‬

Juan Masullo and I wrote a piece on the recent assassination attempt on Senator Uribe in Bogotá, its connections to the drug war, how it echoes the past, and why it is only the most visible form of how the drug war undermines democracy. 1/2

That’s a wrap! 💬 The 2025 #WIDERDevConf brought bold ideas on how inclusive social protection can drive growth, trust & equity. From tax justice to climate resilience, one thing is clear: we can’t afford to go without it. Catch the highlights 👉 go.unu.edu/n7DCj

📉 Global trust is in crisis A new WIDER Working Paper by @apvjustino.bsky.social and Melissa Samarin reveals how declining trust in governments and between people is weakening the social fabric in countries around the world. 📄 Read the paper: go.unu.edu/LqJgS...

The period 2020-2023 has been the most violent in 30 years. The current international financial architecture often neglects security needs in fragile countries. @apvjustino.bsky.social calls for  tailored, long-term financial engagement that supports peacebuilding. go.unu.edu/zMGy5

📢 Join us on 24 April at 12PM EDT for the launch of #UNDESA World Social Report 2025, co-produced for the first time with UNU-WIDER! The event includes a presentation by UNU-WIDER Deputy Director @apvjustino.bsky.social, key report findings, and audience Q&A. Register here 👉 go.unu.edu/xDRmk

🌍 Why does 40% of the world feel life is worse now than 50 years ago? Insecurity and distrust are key issues. @apvjustino.bsky.social & Marta Roig discuss urgent insights from the UN DESA World Social Report 2025. 👉 Watch: go.unu.edu/mPQ2d #WorldSo#WorldSocialReportn#EveryoneIncluded

Today, we celebrated our 40th anniversary with an Evening Exchange co-hosted with our long-term partner ZIPAR. In a panel on Zambia’s debt and development challenges, @apvjustino.bsky.social underlined: “It cannot be a trade-off between fiscal reform and investing in people.” go.unu.edu/kmJTu

Our keynote speakers will be Patricia Justino @apvjustino.bsky.social, Deputy Director of the United Nations World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki, Finland, and Amber Peterman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 5/6

At a UN DESA event, our Deputy Director @apvjustino.bsky.social joined global leaders, including António Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN, to discuss new evidence from the World Social Report 2025 and the future of social development: go.unu.edu/mPQ2d #SocialSummit2025 #EveryoneIncluded

Spent the last two days in deep conversation about tax and conflict with this brilliant group in Helsinki, @unu-wider.bsky.social. More on our meeting and work here! www.wider.unu.edu/event/tax-co...

Much food for thought after a productive workshop on armed group taxation at @unu-wider.bsky.social with a fantastic crowd, @apvjustino.bsky.social, @maxgallien.bsky.social, @ashleyajackson.bsky.social, @tbandulairwin.bsky.social, @yguichaoua.bsky.social, @jessietrudeau.bsky.social and many more.

The calls for reform of the international financial architecture are many and multifaceted What better way to understand what is on the global financing for development agenda than to read Prof Jose Antonio Ocampo's latest book! This book is open access go.unu.edu/7Yb7T

'forcing the world’s poor to pay for Britain’s safety'. Brilliant and brutal Guardian editorial about UK's decision to redirect aid to defence. Must read. chakrabortty.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

@bmartorano.bsky.social , @apvjustino.bsky.social , @maastrichtu.bsky.social , @ununiversity.bsky.social

This is not just about the shutdown of USAID. When are governments going to realise that reductions in development aid are shortsighted policies that in the end will hurt is all? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The experiment we are about to to live through is because two businessmen are convinced that what makes the USA great is its the private sector, not understanding there are no functioning markets without functioning public institutions.

The eastern DRC war could reshape the region open.substack.com/pub/continen...

Amid today’s massive NIH cuts to universities, please know that my research colleagues: - Develop new cancer treatments for kids - Are curing sickle cell disease - Build new tech to help premature babies survive - Prevent teens from dying of drug overdose - And more #NIH #MedSky #research #science

This is a good long read on the challenges around ONS & UK national stats Wld emphasise this bit on how ONS are finding it harder than originally thought to get access to - & use - admin data across govt & have realised that census will still need an actual survey www.ft.com/content/dd55...

Just to repeat, the White House has provided *no evidence* to back up the President’s claim of widespread fraud in USAID. The evidence it has presented points in precisely the other direction. www.cgdev.org/blog/white-h...

Due to this idiotic statement, by a person who has proven his inability to distinguish truth from online propaganda, I just donated to Wikipedia. Please do the same.

Trump suspends U.S. foreign aid for 90 days, saying aid is “antithetical to American values” and serves to “destabilize world peace.” apnews.com/article/trum...

A great opportunity for early career scholars.. Apply below

New @cgdev.org policy paper: *MALARIA VACCINES* are a huge scientific breakthrough. But the world is dragging its feet on rolling them out. We examine why, and how to go faster. 🧵

To share: Come join us! Two AP positions Trinity College Dublin in Comparative politics and IR. Great city, wonderful department. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DKX659/a... www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DKX664/a... @tcdpoliticalsci.bsky.social

We are hiring predocs!! Come join us: cornell.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/CornellCaree... #econsky PLEASE RT! @aaronsojourner.org what was the version of @econ_ra here again? Sorry I forgot!

🚨🚨New working paper🚨🚨 @apvjustino.bsky.social @kallehi.bsky.social and I were leading an 18 months program: www.wider.unu.edu/project/stre.... 14 WP will be published by Jan-25. One of the outputs is a review of the literature on social assistance during crises www.wider.unu.edu/publication/...

#ConflictSky Note: ESOC "will cover travel expenses for presenters" to travel to Taipei!!

Do you want to work with world-class conflict researchers in a supportive environment? Come be my new colleague! @uupeace.bsky.social is hiring a Senior Lecturer and an Associate Senior Lecturer. More info here ➡️ www.uu.se/en/about-uu/... and here ➡️ www.uu.se/en/about-uu/... Conflictsky

From @voxdev.bsky.social and @olihanney.bsky.social, here's an excellent overview of crucial insights from development economics in 2024: voxdev.org/topic/ten-ke...

I've had a long-running thread on twitter on the real migration crisis (not enough migrants). Will start posting here... but for the earlier 1,000-plus examples, see here: x.com/charlesjkenn...

Recently joined BlueSky? Here's a starter pack of FT journalists to follow go.bsky.app/GhSgfrR

The £290 million was probably well spent in Rwanda. The £425 million in the UK, completely wasted.

📣 Out now Journal of African Economies: "Effects of the Intensity and Duration of COVID-19 Lockdown Policies on the Use of Coping Strategies: Evidence from 4 African Countries" with Ghassan Baliki, Wolfgang Stojetz, Ani Todua, Dorothee Weiffen & Mekdim D. Regassa academic.oup.com/jae/advance-... 1/n