You cannot build a manufacturing base in the 21st century without electrification technologies. Canada's pivot in its auto sector reflects this dynamic. Perhaps the US will be the last to learn this lesson. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

On Thursday, Florida's Board of Governors removed sociology from the general education curriculum of every university in the state. Chancellor Ray Rodrigues attacked the @asanews.bsky.social as illegitimate. On behalf of sociologists everywhere, I respond to them in today's @miamiherald.com:

@danbanik.bsky.social speaks with @bhbradlow.bsky.social, author of Urban Power, on the latest episode of the @globaldevpod.bsky.social podcast. Tune in here: buff.ly/Lo9nYpC

A global political economy told through the auto sector: Fordism : Keynesianism Just-In-Time / Toyotaism : Neoliberalism Electrified Vertical Integration / BYD-ism : ???

Thinking of buying some oil futures...

"1st, they bolster the sovereignty of a country which, despite being one of the world’s largest exporters of crude oil, still imports 10% of its petrol and 25% of its diesel. 2nd, biofuels let Brazil curb its greenhouse-gas emissions without alienating its farmers." www.economist.com/the-americas...

My latest article is online now at American Sociological Review: “Kinship Interlocks.” It’s about how some elite families manage to stay rich and powerful for many generations while others don’t. 🧵 (1/16)

Some countries to be pretty worried amidst the Iran war economic shock: Cote d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Ghana, Honduras, Jordan, Kenya, Mongolia, Paraguay, Rwanda and Uzbekistan. High near-term debt costs coupled with new debt becoming more expensive

Updated my plots for the evolution of the CO2-intensity of GDP for OECD plus other large economies and emitters. Since 1990, CO2-intensity has declined in most major economies (points below the 45° line). Exceptions here are Saudi & Indonesia. Scroll down for the big ones, India and China.

I really enjoyed speaking about URBAN POWER with @danbanik.bsky.social for his fantastic podcast In Pursuit of Development. Along with links to the podcast, he has done a great write-up of our conversation in this post. open.substack.com/pub/globalde...

The central faultline of the emerging post-liberal international order will be a geopolitical struggle over what metabolic-industrial system will dominate the 21st century — with smaller powers struggling to avoid total alignment with either bloc. My latest: foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/23/c...

"Chinese carmakers have made inroads in places like Brazil, Mexico, the UK and the Middle East — eating away at markets that have been strongholds for Ford, General Motors Co. or Mercedes." www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Lots of speculation rn (such as this FT article) on what war in the Middle East means for the future of oil. What do we know about the conditions under which we reach tipping points in clean energy adoption? Political science can tell us a lot! 🧵

"EV sales are surging in India, Mexico and Brazil, where they now make up a higher share of the market than in Japan, according to data from Ember, a thinktank. All are buoyed up by cheap Chinese cars." www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Notably, the one sector of these four where "rest of world" has a meaningful share is EVs.

Spain's renewables build-out has structurally decoupled its electricity prices from gas markets. Gas now sets the price in only 15% of hours, compared to 90% in Italy. Countries that invested early in clean power are far less exposed to fossil fuel price shocks. Those that didn't now pay the price.

"The auto sector makes up the biggest share of SA’s manufacturing and its contribution to the country’s economic output rivals that of the mining sector, but it is buckling under the pressure of rising costs and a flood of cheaper imports from India and China." www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Interesting to see that the World Bank (!) has issued a new big report on industrial policy. blogs.worldbank.org/en/developme...

There's been a fair bit of commentary on how split the BRICS have been on the war on Iran, which is a BRICS member. Last year, I wrote in the @financialtimes.com about how energy infrastructure shapes a critical divide within the group. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

🚨 Just published in Socio-Economic Review! 🚨 @sasemeeting.bsky.social The "power to pollute" and "post-neoliberal" climate finance By Benjamin H. Bradlow and Aishwarya Swamidurai The article is available open access at the following link. doi.org/10.1093/ser/...

Someone is winning the war giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

A thread -- which world leaders are calling for a shift to clean energy as a security investment in light of Iran War? First up, French President Macron: "...everything we do to more toward the transition is also about reducing our dependence.." (1/x) #cleanenergyisnationalsecurity

The last time the Strait of Hormuz was closed in 1979, Brazil launched an industrial policy to support sugar cane-derived ethanol fuel production, called "Proálcool." The campaign slogan for the policy was "Whoever has it, doesn't depend on anybody."

New article out in Climate Policy with @james7jackson.bsky.social: "Subsidizing global decarbonization: how Chinese state support for clean technologies enables and (potentially) obstructs a worldwide green transition." www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

If the energy crisis of the 1970s produced the first tentative wave of efforts to move away from reliance on hydrocarbons, what will come of this energy crisis?

Weird to be writing today about Brazil's energy history and the Strait of Hormuz being closed.

Happy to share that "Polarization and Democracy in Latin America" is out now with @uchicagopress.bsky.social and available in multiple formats. If it looks interesting, please consider requesting it at your university library! Check it out 👇 press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Thanks to Jerome Hodos for his thoughtful review of URBAN POWER in the latest issue of Contemporary Sociology! "A wonderful, illuminating book that deserves the attention of every urbanist... The book is a remarkable empirical achievement." journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Sociology has an expert analyst of the war in Iran: Ali Kadivar. His most recent Substack newsletter on "the fantasy of liberation by war" earlier this week has led to a fascinating interview on CNN. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxI_... open.substack.com/pub/alikadiv...

This is huge! Ben would be a major gain for the State House in Massachusetts.

📣 Publication day! The first paper from my project on Europe’s EV battery roll-out is finally out I unpack how the EU’s EV battery boom is entangled with sacrifice zones—investment in Serbia & Hungary de-risked through autocracy. www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandg...

"Chinese technology will play a major role in Africa’s energy systems. That is not inherently a problem. The problem is technology without transfer, investment without employment and transition without justice." www.businessday.co.za/opinion/2026...

I'm looking to see to what degree this division enables independence from the Western war march.

This is now common from ostensibly serious foreign policy thinkers—here, Biden’s China ambassador. But it’s a complete fantasy. They’re trash-talking a rival that is just not playing the same game. China cares more about Saudi or UAE than Iran, Brasil or Perú than Venezuela. 1/

🧵 IT'S OUT! My book Cities in Action is now available from Columbia University Press. Why do some cities step up on climate while others stay on the sidelines? And how can we not just explain but empower city action? @columbiaup.bsky.social cup.columbia.edu/book/cities-...

The war on Iran likely brings a new oil price shock and windfall profits. So, who stands to win? Our research shows: Last time around (2022), the US reaped the largest fossil fuel profits of any country ($377bn). 50% went to the top 1%, only 1% to the bottom 50%. A🧵

We always need to keep our eye on what kind of politics energy infrastructures enable.

The pre-rupture hypocrisies are back on.

Not in my name. This US citizen is against the US bombing of Iran.

Now out in the American Sociological Review We present the first large-scale assessment of the structure and evolution of temporalities expressed in U.S. climate change news coverage (2000 to 2021). For this, we analyzed more than 23,000 statements about climate change effects and actions. 🧵 1/

The only originally British firms still operating in the UK are RollsRoyce and Cooper (Minis) booth owned by VW. The rest are foreign owned (and shrinking bc Brexit removed easy access to the EU market.) For the longer history here: www.jstor.org/stable/2706799

The Biden Admin directed hundreds of billions to clean energy/manufacturing. Did these investments shift public opinion? We find that these projects are visible but not traceable: People notice nearby investments, but connect them to Governors, not Biden. Thread 👇 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

My first preprint is up! Qualitative Methods in the Digital Era: How computation entangles fieldwork? Drawing on 8 years collecting multiple types of data on Brazil’s environmental state, I reflect on how abductive fieldwork is changing. Comments welcomed osf.io/preprints/so...

I have a new review paper out in @environmentalpol.bsky.social! ✨ What would it actually take for states to pursue green transformations? I identify 5 capacities — planning, disciplinary, strategic, legitimation and adaptive — and their respective policy elements, capabilities and institutions

Really honored to have my new @harvardpress.bsky.social book be part of an @lpeblog.bsky.social symposium! I am deeply grateful to @lpeproject.bsky.social colleagues for the opportunity, and to my respondents @maggor.bsky.social, @abalasub.bsky.social & Amy Cohen for engaging with my work. 🙏

Moved my travels to the second half of April. Likely going to Brasilia, Goiana (Pernambuco), Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Maybe elsewhere too. Going to be busy!

While China was largely unable to avoid the predations of speculative real estate, it has done a better job avoiding the predations of speculative technology. The US is stuck in the throes of a destructive Silicon Valley-led version of the latter (and certainly didn't avoid the former).

National auto industries can die. The US is doing its best to be the latest example.

Caption this

China's Xinhua news agency has just published this editorial cartoon in response to Trump's rejection of climate policies. It is pretty clear that China views this as a HUGE geopolitical fumble by the US leaving the field clear for China's to win the global race to clean-tech hegemony