State Department International Organizations Account, Outlays by Calendar Year Quarter ($m). International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Civil Aviation Organization doing OK. UN got about half of what it is owed. Other organizations do worse.

📣🚨The University of Utah is hiring! 1st line: Assistant Prof in Comparative Politics! For applicants who work on Asia (esp. China) or Africa, will be expected to teach quant methods, grad + undergrad. If you're a good fit and have questions, I can chat at APSA! utah.peopleadmin.com/postings/188...

Commentators are divided in their appraisals of two Trump-led Ukraine peace summits. But most have missed one thing: how the meetings have taught the president crucial realities about ending the war, argues Branislav Slantchev of @ucsandiego.bsky.social: ucigcc.org/blog/the-edu...

Political science can explain the historical factors behind authoritarianism, but has little to say about the actual experience of living under dictatorship. IGCC's Steph Haggard shares five novels that illuminate the realities of autocratic rule: bit.ly/45u6TBO

New post summarizing the takeaways from the new book by @debremaria.bsky.social !

The U.S. has had a fraught relationship with UNESCO for decades. But, argue Christina Cottiero and Stephan Haggard, the recent decision to withdraw—again—from the organization forms part of a pattern of the U.S. ceding influence in UN bodies to China: bit.ly/4mCmZPu

2 weeks ago, the U.S. announced we're leaving "woke" "pro-China" "pro-Palestine" "DEI" UNESCO. New blog from me & Steph Haggard on U.S. withdrawal from IOs + implications for Trump admin officials who claim countering China is "absolutely critical"+ thoughts on what's next ucigcc.org/blog/here-we...

🧵 When the government announces that it will fire people for producing numbers that the government doesn't like, here is how our institutions should respond. (Whether they do is another story.) 1/

Hegemonic suicide, example #214. Trump fired all USIP employees (for a second time) in a dead-of-night email; USIP effectively dead once again

This is painfully embarrassing.

Insightful piece by @sarahbush.bsky.social and @jenniferhadden.bsky.social (for your fall syllabi): reader.foreignaffairs.com/2025/07/03/t...

For @lawfaremedia.org, I explained how the Trump administration has destroyed promising policy progress on transnational repression in record time www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trum...

Utah drought management and water conservation policy is going great. Annual pray for rain day!

New 5 Questions piece on the Illiberal Regimes and Global Governance project page! On the super interesting new book by @alexdukalskis.bsky.social & @cooleyoneurasia.bsky.social ucigcc.org/research/fut... @ucigcc.bsky.social

📌The special issue "Illiberal Regimes and International Organizations" is now published as Vol. 20 Issue 2 in RIO! @the-peio.bsky.social link.springer.com/journal/1155... Summary thread with each piece-- 🧵

Why do peaceful protest turn violent? Today’s #NoKings protests are a case study of why we need to think about both how protesters behave AND how the government and police respond to protest. Millions of people protested peacefully, LA erupted in violence This is an analysis of why A thread

👋 Hello, we're the United States Institute of Peace (USIP)! We are very happy to join @bsky.app, and thrilled to announce that our website, www.usip.org, is back online! We look forward connecting here and bringing you useful content, resources and opportunities for peacebuilders around the world.

As political scientists, we really want to know when, where, and why people mobilize against repressive governments. Happy to share my latest article is out that helps us understand this in a specific context: intl legal petitions in the UN. How do courageous individuals overcome barriers?

Excited to share my new piece just out in @foreignpolicy.com: We keep hearing Trump’s foreign policy abandoned “values” for raw interests. But that’s not quite right. It still talks about “freedom” and “shared values” - just repurposed to serve a new agenda. foreignpolicy.com/2025/05/27/u... 🧵 1/

This is quite something on the State Department's Substack: statedept.substack.com/p/the-need-f...

Not just student data. DOJ apparently requested any email or text where faculty or staff discussed the Trump DEI EOs -- something that would target lots of pure political speech.

I couldn’t write a more eye-opening lecture on race and white identity politics than what this administration is offering in its differential treatment of Afrikaners versus every other refugee or immigrant group.

Traoré reportedly asking Chad for back-up to strengthen "national security" post-coup attempt kassataya.com/2025/05/06/a...

"America has, with stunning speed, descended into a world in which opponents of the government fear criminal investigations, lawsuits, tax audits and other punitive measures.” Levitsky, Way, & Ziblatt: US has crossed the threshold into competitive authoritarianism. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/o...

A report from the scene of a horrifying kidnapping on the streets of Worcester, MA today by @billshaner.bsky.social www.welcometohellworld.com/they-dont-ne...

U.S.-China tensions are intensifying. But while the U.S. backs away from international commitments, China seeks to assert global leadership. IGCC Nonresident Fellow Rachel Hulvey discusses how China is positioning itself as a responsible world leader for Talking Policy: ucigcc.org/podcast/amer...

Many political science faculty perceive declines in academic freedom since January, especially on Israel/Palestine (43%) & DEI (42%). Self-censorship reported in extramural speech (55%), communicating with students (40%), teaching (33%), and research (20%).

A lawless government wants us to believe we live in a lawless country. If we buy that lie, we start to think it can do whatever it wants—just because it says so. The rule of law is on life support, but it’s not dead yet. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/n...

We have travel grants of $500 for grad students going to APSA. Please apply using the following link: apsa.secure-platform.com/a/solicitati...

My position is this is not an either-or choice: the current autocratization in the US is a product of learning within an overt far-right network (Hungary, Brazil, El Salvador) AND traveling well-worn grooves in the American tradition for restricting rights

China deploys NGOs to quash criticism at U.N. organizations in Geneva www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

I keep seeing posts telling people not to use "deportation" to describe this outrage. I don't object to alternatives, but "deportation" w/out legal basis has long been an enumerated crime against humanity (from Nuremberg to the ICC). That includes (as a paradigmatic case) the deportation of citizens

Some thoughts on DOGE/the Trump administration's destruction of USIP, the Wilson Center, and home-grown social science/area studies expertise about the rest of the world: paulstaniland.com/2025/04/16/u...

Educating international students is a massive export of services. They pay us money earned in a foreign nation for a product the US has, until now, had an absolute advantage in. We cannot effectively sell these services if these students can be deported, detained, and even kidnapped at random.

Biggest mistakes I'm seeing in early reporting (thread): 1. Tariffmageddon isn't over: Lotsa tariffs to account for, but the average tariff rate is only down around one quarter. So most of the pain of Liberation Day is still with us.

“…there doesn’t appear to be any direct cause…no cases seem to be connected to the protest and later encampment on campus last April” Horribly uprooting students’ lives with no obvious rhyme or reason

Firing the director and the deputy means they both refused to do something, and in NSA-land that is almost certainly blatantly illegal surveillance of some sort Just a question of whom and with what BS predicate

The work of brilliant @laynamosley.bsky.social could not be more relevant today, as she spells out the links between democracy & markets, arguing that U.S. institutional investors have a fiduciary duty to express their concerns publicly & privately over the negative effects of democratic erosion.

Trump et al are tanking the US economy, in ways that could constitute a permanent structural break, with seemingly very little push back from business/finance interests or the politicians who political economy theories suggest should be beholden to them. 2/

AAUP has just published a memo laying out the many legal reasons why universities should not hand over the names & nationalities of their students or faculty, as the Trump admin has asked. Please share freely with your friendly university admin! @aaup.bsky.social www.aaup.org/news/institu...

A flyer you can distribute on how to handle ICE if they come to your campus:

On April 23, IGCC will host the next webinar in our new series designed to bolster the capabilities of the next generation of engaged scholars and peacemakers. All UC graduate students can register now for "Navigating Life Post-PhD: Communication and Influence Outside Academia": bit.ly/4jgJzvm

The erosion of democracy is a serious threat. The United States is not immune. Autocratization in this country has to be faced urgently and strategically...Here, I provide an overview of lessons learned from other countries: www.foreignaffairs.com/guatemala/ho...

As many of you know, staff at the US Institute of Peace (myself included) were fired en masse last Friday night. It’s a tough beat -- my amazing colleagues deserve better. It’s also not over, as USIP’s board is contesting the DOGE takeover in court. 1/ www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Sobering thoughts, including some of mine, on how American democracy may look in 10 years. By @pbump.com www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

BREAKING — Nearly all employees at the US Institute of Peace (USIP) received an email tonight informing them they were fired effective immediately, multiple staffers confirmed with me. Just a few HR and IT staffers are being kept on to assist DOGE’s illegal dismantling of the independent nonprofit.

Oh hey turns out it is possible to resist authoritarian demands to deliver your students for disappearance and deportation.

Everyone should read this excellent review!

Princeton president Christopher L. Eisgruber: “The attack on Columbia is a radical threat to scholarly excellence and to America’s leadership in research. Universities and their leaders should speak up and litigate forcefully to protect their rights.” theatln.tc/9MMrKDHy