It’s not clear to me how Peter Mandelson’s “singular talents” differ from his elite network connections that meant he had a relationship with Epstein (and Trump). Isn’t that why they put him in place? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I’m looking forward to chairing this event at the Appledore Literary Festival. I’ll speak with the journalist Michael Sheridan about his book on China, the Red Emperor. If you’re in Devon, join us! appledorebookfestival.littleboxoffice.com/events/123175

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*New & open access* We draw on our book Indulging Kleptocracy, reflecting on the importance of networks - even more than states, we argue - in today’s global order. @oxfordacademic.bsky.social @jheathershaw.bsky.social @britishacademy.bsky.social journal.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/articles/13/...

I’m looking forward to chairing this event at the Appledore Literary Festival. I’ll speak with the journalist Michael Sheridan about his book on China, the Red Emperor. If you’re in Devon, join us! appledorebookfestival.littleboxoffice.com/events/123175

@tenaprelec.bsky.social Tom and I wrote this paper based on @oxunipress.bsky.social Indulging Kleptocracy for @britishacademy.bsky.social journal. Our global future will be increasingly kleptocratic unless govts enforce their own laws. journal.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/articles/13/...

An excellent book on a topic that many of us have worked on for years. The problem of authoritarianism for academic freedom isn’t purely external (as some on the Right claim) or purely internal (as some on the Left claim). It is both, intertwined. www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/how-p...

This is an excellent blog on how working politically in aid is hampered by large disbursements. “As one staff member put it: 'generally, [aid] money disrupts change, it does not promote it'.” Ergo: don’t scale up. Small disbursements via small often faith based agents.✅ odi.org/en/insights/...

A cracker from my colleague John Heathershaw and his co-author Ricardo Soares de Oliveira. #Capitalismisthecrisis @jheathershaw.bsky.social

Again, right out of the authoritarian playbook. All very familar to me from living in West Africa and Central Asia.

In war, even the victors and their supporters who are physically unharmed can be morally injured. What else explains lack of due regard for the killing of children (including by those who claim to be humanitarians and Christians)? open.substack.com/pub/johnheat...

Netanyahu is like the head teacher of a school which stops the kids getting food, where part of the playground is run by bullies, and whose teachers kill lots of the kids as punishment. When inspectors question the head’s decisions, he blames the bullies. economist.com/middle-east-...

"One of the defining features of the Trump decade is the strange combination of conservative Christians’ fervent loyalty to the president and Trump’s obvious ignorance of Christianity. Playing to his base, Trump pretends to be an ardent follower of a faith he couldn’t care less about."

“Come meet us in Dubai.” An offhand remark, but one that captures a seismic shift in global corruption. Professor's Ricardo Soares de Oliveira and John Heathershaw reveal how professional enablers are redrawing the map of illicit finance. Read here: www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/blog/come-me...

The Israeli Far Right and Christian Zionists in the US, together with the governments of both countries, are the most responsible for the famine in Gaza. open.substack.com/pub/johnheat...

Apparently I said: "Donald Trump is normal". That needs to be heard in context.

“The Russians simply exploited our own corrupt system. They studied America’s pay-for-play culture, found its weak spots, and very carefully manipulated it." It's worth going back to this Vox interview with Craig Unger. It's not about regimes, its about networks. www.vox.com/world/2018/9...

Gubad Ibadoghlu, still under house arrest, shows how the UK's sanctions on entities affiliated with Azerbaijan involved in the sale and transit of Russian oil exposes both the limits of the current regime and the possibilities for secodnary sanctions. crudeaccountability.org/balancing-ac...

Laws and rules to counter kleptocracy must have greater extraterritorial reach and/or more effective multijurisdictional partnerships to meet a challenge which is becoming even more transnational in form. With Ricardo Soares de Oliveira. theconversation.com/come-meet-us...

Notre chercheur Ricardo Soares de Oliveira co-signe avec @jheathershaw.bsky.social une analyse percutante sur le rôle de Dubaï dans l’offshoring de la grande corruption mondiale. 👉 À lire sur @theconversation.com theconversation.com/come-meet-us...

'Virtually every week, the Trump family seems to find a new way to profit from the presidency... including a Trump tower in Saudi Arabia, a Trump hotel in Oman, and a Trump golf club in Vietnam. “We’re the hottest brand in the world right now,” said Eric Trump.' www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

"Illicit finance is always transnational, so there is no need to declare defeat just because dodgy business is on the move. However, we are entering a new stage in its global dissemination and complexity" - @jheathershaw.bsky.social for @uk.theconversation.com theconversation.com/come-meet-us...

From @csc-barrington.bsky.social wherein he discusses what "I will never allow London mansions to be the bitcoin of kleptocrats" (David Lammy) might actually mean. blogs.sussex.ac.uk/centre-for-t...

I quite enjoyed writing this. 'MAGA is not a coherent agenda or ideology but an unstable identity movement of a minority of Americans. A “powerful” individual in such a context seeks image and status over actual control or domination.' johnheathershaw.substack.com/p/the-fake-p...

"The misappropriation of Girard’s ideas by the American right is not just a matter of academic concern; it has significant implications for our political discourse and society." salmagundi.skidmore.edu/articles/117...

What do we do with scandalous scholars? I went to a great conference of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence this week and wrote this post. johnheathershaw.substack.com/p/scandalous...

📺NEW VIDEO📺 Last night, key British offshore financial centres failed to meet their own deadline for revealing who owns companies registered there. It’s time the UK Government escalates its response & ensures places like the BVI are no longer safe havens for the world's corrupt. Watch and read ⤵️

Liberal-International-Order question of the day.. Does the new US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act guidance which prioritises national economic interests violate article 5 of the OCED anti-bribery convention? Or have states always done this and hence the LIO was and is a simulacrum?

👏 Viviana García Pinzón's "Trajectories of Governance: Tracing the Entanglements of Order and Violence in Peripheral Cities of Latin America" published in our @brisunipress.bsky.social series has won an award from the Latin American Studies Association. bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trajectories...

Solar powered oil production in the ethnically-cleansed (sorry "liberated" [according to BP]) territories of Karabakh. Nice Orwellian PR. Western oil majors parroting the talking points of Eurasian dictators. It's all to be expected. www.azerbaycan24.com/en/bp-the-el...

I wrote for my theological blog about the delusions of grandeur in the UK's strategic defence review. johnheathershaw.substack.com/p/ploughshar...

Some musings about being an expert witness in asylum cases a little conflict with the US Department of Homeland Security open.substack.com/pub/johnheat...

Ditto. I’d like to make sure my research is “in sync” with Trump administration so I’m still able to visit the US, but I’m not sure whether he wants to use our book as a how-to guide for indulging kleptocrats. @tenaprelec.bsky.social

Yesterday, we launched the new Exeter Centre for Eastern European and Eurasian Studies. @catherineowen.bsky.social Muireann Maguire, Nelly Bekus, and others organised with excellent external speakers and a display of the wealth of Eurasia expertise at Exeter. www.exeter.ac.uk/research/cen...

Excellent piece on "propserity gospel" and politics among American conservative evangelicals. open.substack.com/pub/thestron...

I was not surprised but I was angry about Starmer's "island of strangers" speech. It came not 24 hours after we hosted one of his MPs are our cafe project for refugees and new immigrants. So, I had to write about it... open.substack.com/pub/johnheat...

Of all the Queen Elizabeth memorial proposals, this one is the most central Asian.

Last week, the Indulging Kleptocracy tour went to Geneva to brief a special session of the UN on illicit finance and Paris to speak to the OCED on the book. Thanks to hosts and fellow speakers. unctad.org/meeting/spec... @tenaprelec.bsky.social @oxfordacademic.bsky.social @cais-exeter.bsky.social

Why are populists electorally successful in the West? It's not just about inequality and technology. And the religious aspect is not just about Conservative evangelcials and nostalgia. There's something deeper in the false hope they offer. johnheathershaw.substack.com/p/populism-a...

Just published something on the big fad of 2025. Short answer: no. open.substack.com/pub/johnheat...

Looking forward to speaking at @unctad.bsky.social next week about kleptocratic enterprises and professional enabling. I'll present research to which @tenaprelec.bsky.social @marianizzero.bsky.social @cais-exeter.bsky.social and others have contributed. Great lineup. unctad.org/meeting/spec...

Glad you enjoyed the book @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com

Enablers of kleptocracy are often willfully unwitting. 'FINMA said it found a “very high” appetite for risk at Reyl, along with “a certain carelessness” in how it conducted due diligence.' www.occrp.org/en/investiga...

A short essay on what the trade war tells us about America's political economy under Trump. johnheathershaw.substack.com/p/trumps-tra...

Superb analysis from Liz on state capture/kleptocracy in the US and globally. We need to talk about the related concepts of "state capture" (@lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social), "kleptocracy" (@tenaprelec.bsky.social) and "Poligarch" (@balint.bsky.social)! 1/2 www.foreignaffairs.com/world/econom...

Here’s how this plays out. Companies pause, add the tariff to the price for the American consumer, and only deliver items where that price is paid. Within weeks, undelivered and hugely expensive items will be a political reality. Then we’ll see that Trump’s power is less than he thinks.

Thank you @petergeoghegan.bsky.social for the opportunity to write for Democracy for Sale about our @oxunipress.bsky.social @tenaprelec.bsky.social Tom Mayne book #IndulgingKleptocracy.

This is a nice @democratization.bsky.social piece co-authored by @cais-exeter.bsky.social @catherineowen.bsky.social. I think my work is at the intersection of actor-centred & sociological approaches to regimes. The actors & their social context are transnational. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....