☢ #NuclearPoliticsParadox No.21 📈 The rise of #China as a nuclear peer to the US, amid deepening ties with Russia, poses an unprecedented 'two-peer challenge' to #NATO. Aderito Vicente examines how this shifting landscape endangers alliance cohesion. 👉 bit.ly/423p7b4

If backlash against women's inclusion constitutes democratic deconsolidation, why has it been possible to declare a democracy as consolidated without women? My short blog for ECPR's The Loop:

🦋 #ScienceOfDemocracy No.117 Feminist scholarship is warning of a backlash against #GenderEquality and women’s inclusion. ♂️♀️ Fadhilah Primandari revisits our understanding of democratic consolidation and asks: is it biased towards men’s political domination? 👉 bit.ly/4njuYSo

Michael Ganslmeier & Tim Vlandas have developed a 🆕 approach to measure the fragility of findings in #PolSci. Showing that empirical results can change substantially when researchers vary modelling choices, they advocate for greater use of systematic robustness checks. 👉 bit.ly/4guMQa5

❎ India’s refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine challenges the norms of principled foreign policy. 🤝 Ankita Mukherjee shows how, while claiming to defend sovereignty, India has deepened ties with Moscow and capitalised on discounted Russian oil. ➡️ bit.ly/4nIB7Y5

➡️ Has #Japan really swung to the right? 🔥 @rnords.bsky.social explores how the collapse of one-party dominance has fuelled European-style #Populism — and opened the door to wider social change. #Sanseito #SoheiKamiya 👉 bit.ly/4pwYHJ2

☢ #NuclearPoliticsParadox No.20 🚫 In every nuclear state, secrecy, executive powers and stifled debate cut the public off from their government’s nuclear decision-making. 🙋 Sterre van Buuren explains why this is — and why citizens must push for more accountability. 👉 bit.ly/3HZRBvJ

📱 The view that #DeepSeek is a tool of Chinese #Censorship is, Ruairidh Brown argues, mistaken. 🤖 The AI is not censoring but self-censoring, a crucial distinction for understanding its role in shaping political norms. 👉 bit.ly/466DbD5

🔜 Join the next #ECPRHouseSeries Roundtable ☢️ European Nuclear Deterrence: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 🤝 Collab with @ecprtheloop.bsky.social 🗣️ @Susmonika.bsky.social @lindedesma.bsky.social, Valentina Cassar, July Decarpentrie & Mahmoud Javadi 📅 Tue 14 Oct, 16:00–17:30 BST 👇 Register FREE

🌍 Frank Tu Ngo highlights Japan’s leadership in mitigating one of today’s most urgent global health challenges, #AntimicrobialResistance. 🦠 By capitalising on its political influence, funding + expertise, #Japan is driving global efforts against AMR. 👉 bit.ly/4n3bTn4

⚖️ We tend to regard #FreeMovement as a legal and institutional achievement. 🚶‍♀️ Drawing on research in #WestAfrica and #SouthAmerica, Zoé Perko shows how informal practices and historical networks redefine how ‘free movement’ really works. #GlobalSouth 👉 bit.ly/3Vgm7V1

Check out this new blog post @danielcaseycbr.bsky.social and I wrote about using e-newsletters from Australian and UK Members of Parliament as data. #polisky

📣 Politicians communicate with their constituents every day, but what are they saying? 💻 @danielcaseycbr.bsky.social + @ozerthinking.bsky.social  examine new datasets which allow researchers to access every e-newsletter sent by MPs in Australia and the UK. 👉 bit.ly/3Vc2Ns4

☢ #NuclearPoliticsParadox No.19 💭 Cold War-era nuclear thinking can help explain how today’s challenges emerged. 📝 But @lindedesma.bsky.social warns that uncritical reliance on outdated frameworks leads to misguided policies on #NuclearWeapons. 👉 bit.ly/47xYHSt

📣 Browse free-to-read #ecprgc25 articles from @ejprjournal.bsky.social, @epsrjournal.bsky.social, @prxjournal.bsky.social, @epsjournal.bsky.social, @ejir.bsky.social & @ecprtheloop.bsky.social 📚Academic Freedom buff.ly/yEZUpKO 🤖Artificial Intelligence buff.ly/3kE606T 💡Open Science buff.ly/XcFL5fL

🗣️ Western govts have armies of Mandarin speakers + AI translators, yet they keep misreading #Beijing. 🔎 @messingschlager.bsky.social argues that we need independent, context-rich expertise to decode #China’s history-laden signals + puncture bureaucratic groupthink. 👉 bit.ly/3JVKvc4

☮️ #Armenia’s US-brokered peace with #Azerbaijan has come at steep domestic cost. ⛪ @liut.bsky.social  explores how Prime Minister #NikolPashinyan’s foreign policy pivot triggered a rupture between the state + the influential Armenian #ApostolicChurch. 👉 buff.ly/Q2VoZry

🦋 #ScienceOfDemocracy No.116 🗣️ In a climate of populist narratives, citizens need a clear message about democracy. 💭 Agnieszka Pawłowska proposes we should be provided with plain democracy, which would empower us to recognise + use the fundamentals of democracy. 👉 bit.ly/47x8Df1

💸 Many regard #CashTransfer programmes as cost-efficient tools to alleviate poverty across the #GlobalSouth. 🌍 But, as Guido Maschhaupt & @elassal.bsky.social argue, in autocratic contexts, these programmes can have unintended + politically significant consequences 👉 bit.ly/484Hznm

🎉 Congratulations @llschenoni.bsky.social! ✍️ Check out Luis' blog 'What Ukraine and Russia might look like after the war' on The Loop. 👉 bit.ly/3Vy9gNV Using examples from 19th C #LatinAmerica, Luis argues that the effects of war outcomes on security will endure for decades.

☢ #NuclearPoliticsParadox No.18 #KeirStarmer’s speeches around the UK's #StrategicDefenceReview contain narratives that make nuclear strengthening seem prudent and logical. 🚨 Zeenat Sabur argues that these narratives alert us to the insecurity to which #Nuclear posturing leads us. 👉 bit.ly/4lWHsO5

Why do #opposition parties sometimes support the government? My analyses show that parties use their votes in #parliament to shape how voters see them, what policies they can influence, and where they might end up after the next election @polscileiden.bsky.social @sgparliaments.bsky.social

🔎 Focus on the new Syrian government's sectarianism risks overlooking its dual policy of co-optation and brutality. 🔃@andreanovellis.bsky.social suggests a new framework to explain how the logic of post-conflict consolidation drives this seemingly contradictory approach. #Syria 👉 bit.ly/4mRje9i

💻 Drawing on over 75 years of data, @rickvanwell.bsky.social of @ecprsgpp.bsky.social explains that when deciding how to behave in parliament, 📊 opposition parties make strategic trade-offs between winning votes, entering government and influencing policy. 👉 bit.ly/3Vtw6WX

🗳️ #EuropeanElections are traditionally seen as less significant than national elections. 🌍 But Ugur Tekiner argues that recent European elections accurately reflect the national mood in Member States + reveal the growing #Polarisation around Europe. 👉 buff.ly/01YgoPv

To celebrate #InternationalDayAgainstNuclearTests / #IDANT I’m re-upping my recent article with @ecprtheloop.bsky.social highlighting that all states have a responsibility to preserve & universalize the #CTBT while preventing the return of #nucleartesting. #nukesky theloop.ecpr.eu/nuclear-norm...

Pleased to share our recent post about the EU’s new migration pact, which was prepared as part of the RENECO project funded by @MykolasRomerisUniversity, a partner in the @ERUA-European Reform University Alliance. Thank you @ecprtheloop.bsky.social for publishing it

🌎 For over 50 years, the #EuropeanParliament & the US Congress have steadily practiced transatlantic parliamentary diplomacy. ♀️ In a second Trump era, Lorenzo Santini of @ecprsgeu.bsky.social asks, what space remains for #GenderEquality? #Women'sRights 👉 buff.ly/ymqlRZd

🗣️ Did you catch the Academic Freedom roundtable earlier at #ecprgc25? 📝 Get up to speed on the various pressures facing our community with our ⛓️ #ConstraintsOnAcademicFreedom series. 👉 buff.ly/PP50A8q

🗣️ Feeling inspired by the Illiberalism in Europe roundtable earlier at #ecprgc25? 👀 Check out The Loop blog pieces from speakers @leoniedejonge.bsky.social, Andrej Zaslove & @petraguasti.bsky.social. ✍️ bit.ly/45uKu69 ✍️ bit.ly/45MEiYn ✍️ bit.ly/4mgVDP8

🧭 #EUEnlargementDilemmas No.28 🔃 Lesley-Ann Daniels & @msanjaume.bsky.social explore a paradox at the heart of #Ukraine’s path to #EU membership. ↔️ Drawing on new survey data, they call for a more adaptive and politically sensitive enlargement strategy. 👉 buff.ly/bIdjFGW

🗣️ Attending the Illiberalism in Europe roundtable at #ecprgc25 tomorrow? 💻 Get prepared by reading the latest commentary on how illiberalism is reshaping the political landscape in our 🌊 #IlliberalWave series. 👉 buff.ly/P9cbmDI

🌐 The security situation in the #MiddleEast reflects the hard realities of power struggle and the implications of the quest for regional hegemony. 🤏  Nadeem Ahmed Moonakal  shows how the actions of #Israel, #Iran and the US are shrinking the space for long-term stability. ➡️ buff.ly/DhKSMvP

⏰ Today at #ecprgc25 ⬇️ Meet Academic Editor @profmartinjbull.bsky.social & Managing Editor Kate Hawkins to find out more about publishing on The Loop.

🎭 #DemocraticTransformations No.19 🤳 Drawing from her research into #SocialMedia as a space for sharing marginalised narratives, 💻 Friedel Marquardt presents the online 'grace space' to safely foster transformative conversations around new ideas. 👉 buff.ly/gS7zF4P

🗣️ Feeling inspired by the Academic Freedom Under Pressure roundtable earlier at #ecprgc25? 👀 Check out The Loop blog pieces from speakers @sldelange.bsky.social and Iris B. Segers: ✍️ bit.ly/45wLUNi ✍️ bit.ly/3Jf8HFU

#ecprgc25: there are still a few slots left on blog-writing for The Loop. And even if you are without a pre-booked slot but interested in speaking with us, please drop by our stand and we will see what we can do to accommodate you @ecprtheloop.bsky.social

💭 Are we nearing a new incarnation of the French vision of a Gaullist Europe? ☢️ Focusing on #NuclearDeterrence, threat perception and defence capability,  Amélie Jaques-Apke examines the strategic dilemmas and operational deficiencies in European #DefencePolicy. 👉 buff.ly/jJdyoai

🔄 We ❤️ open science and believe in the free flow of information at ‪The Loop‬. 🤩 Not only is our blogsite 🆓 to read, it's 🆓 to publish with us AND you can republish our articles for 🆓, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. Find out more: theloop.ecpr.eu

🧭 #EUEnlargementDilemmas No.27 ↔️ Enlargement, without credible enforcement of democratic standards, threatens the Union’s integrity. 📈 Rafaela Gonzalez Lucioni argues that the #EU must reform internal mechanisms and adopt a phased, conditional approach to accession. 👉 buff.ly/zGHsARg

This is my latest piece in The Loop @ecpr.bsky.social based on recent fieldwork in Argentina 🇦🇷. Thank you to all the officials and informants who shared their insights with me. @edinburghpir.bsky.social

I'm elaborating on the concept of Fascist Zeitgeist for a book I'm writing (😜), and I found this article I wrote for The Loop (@ecprtheloop.bsky.social) a couple of years ago, and decided it's time to share it again... theloop.ecpr.eu/the-fascist-...

📊 European research continues to overlook how race, class, and legal status shape victims' experiences of #WorkplaceSexualHarassment, despite rising EU concern. ↪️ Irene Landini says studies of higher education cases should take an intersectional turn. 👉 buff.ly/nSo2Irc

🤖 The US + China recently unveiled rival #AIgovernance blueprints.  🌏 Framed as calls for innovation or cooperation, Elif Davutoglu argues they signal a global legitimacy race in which AI governance becomes a battleground for shaping future international order. 👉 buff.ly/LDSRkRe

☑️ Want to find out more about The Loop at #ecprgc25 next week? 👋 Academic Editor @profmartinjbull.bsky.social & Managing Editor Kate Hawkins will be ready to answer all your questions at the Meet the Editors session on Thursday 28 August ⬇️

📑 A new Pact on Migration and Asylum is coming into force. 🔎 Evelina Staykova and Ildiko Otova examine its solidarity mechanism, a central element of EU #MigrationPolicy. ⚖️ While the mechanism holds potential for positive change, it also carries significant risks. 👉 buff.ly/MKFYERp

🚨 Last 5️⃣ slots remaining for The Loop Blog Bootcamp at #ecprgc25 🚨 👇 Book your session at the link below before they all go!

📝 Maria Merkouraki argues that a 2025 joint letter from 9 #EU member states signals a sovereignty-led pushback against the #EuropeanCourtofHumanRights. 🧑‍⚖️ This backlash erodes the Article 10 protections of the #ECHR & the long-term viability of judicial diplomacy in Europe. 👉 buff.ly/VcEabvk

🌎 #JavierMilei is not merely shifting Argentina's foreign policy but dismantling it's diplomatic institutions, argues @consuelothiers.bsky.social. 💭 As ideology replaces expertise, #Argentina is a stark example of how personalist leadership can upend international relations. 👉 buff.ly/oJPgD5y

📕 From EU #TradeWars to snap ultimatums on #Iran, Trump's international playbook is startlingly predictable. 🏳️ Trump seeks not agreement, but surrender. 🫸 Shamsoddin Shariati explains how Europe must now learn from this pattern and respond with firmness, not concession. ➡️ buff.ly/A0jodu0