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Joshua Kertzer

@jkertzer.bsky.social
2.4K followers 511 following 106 posts

John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and of Government at Harvard University | International relations 🤝 political psychology jkertzer.sites.fas.harvard.edu

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Reposted by Joshua Kertzer
Noah Zucker @noahzucker.com · 23/09/2026
🚨 Workforces exposed to globalization and decarbonization are often overwhelmingly male. New article at @ajpseditor.bsky.social with @rickyclark.bsky.social and @rkhoban.bsky.social asks how layoffs of these men shape voting: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
AJPS article: "Breadwinner Backlash." Abstract: Low-skilled men have long been vulnerable to globalization, decarbonization, and other forms of economic disruption. When shocks are realized, women often increase their paid labor to compensate for men's loss of income. We study how layoffs of low-skilled men and concurrent shifts in workforce composition toward women affect voting. We theorize that this labor market rebalancing produces “nostalgic” coalitions of men and women that seek a return to male-breadwinner family models. Such attitudes fuel right-wing movements that pledge to protect conservative gender roles. Evidence from local labor markets and voting in the United States over the last two decades, as well as a longitudinal study tracking individual Americans over several decades, support this theory. These findings contribute a new gender-based account of the globalization backlash.
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Please stop sending me AI-generated manuscripts to review! Thank you for your attention to this matter
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
A huge thank you to all of the hard-working team at @apsa.bsky.social, and countless section and program chairs, for a wonderful #APSA2026 in Boston! 🦞 Special shout-out to all of the grad students who took time to introduce themselves! I know everything is stressful, but you're doing great! 😊
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
What's #APSA2026 for, if not for a Sunday 8 AM panel? Leaders! Decision-making! - Jack Levy & Yintong Chen - @mlandauwells.bsky.social - @mitsurumu.bsky.social & I - Hohyun Yoon & Jonathan Renshon - @mcfuhrmann.bsky.social James Kim - @profsaunders.bsky.social @mikegoldfien.bsky.social
Leaders and Decision-Making in IR
Sun, September 6, 8:00 to 9:30am EDT (8:00 to 9:30am EDT), Marriott, Salon I

This panel examines how leaders and their characteristics shape foreign policy decision-making in international security. The papers build on insights from psychology and foreign policy analysis to advance our understanding of how leaders matter in international politics, whether in regards to the microfoundations of risk-taking and threat perceptions, the role of emotions and experiences, or methodological advances in the study of elite cognition. The papers offer lessons for integrating psychological processes, improved measurement, and elite-mass dynamics into theories of international politics and security.
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Noah Zucker @noahzucker.com · 01/09/2026
Princeton Niehaus Center (@niehauscenter.bsky.social) now accepting applications for 2027–28 postdoctoral fellowships: niehaus.princeton.edu/fellowships Deadline: Thursday, October 15, 2026
niehaus.princeton.edu
Apply for our Fellowships
Apply NowThe Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance (NCGG) at Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs invites applications for postdoctoral research associates from ...
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Minju Kim @minjulisettekim.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Attending APSA? I will host a book roundtable on my recently published book TAMING THE CAREERISTS! The roundtable will take place on Saturday, September 5, from 10am to 11:30am in Marriott Salon C.
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Political Psychology @ispp-pops.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
When is an outgroup kinda sorta an ingroup? Lucy Song asks whether race affects foreign threat perception. Among white Americans, higher white identity tracked with viewing white-depicted adversaries as lower threat than non-white-depicted, even when controlling for out-group animus. buff.ly/yFalewy
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Please stop sending me AI-generated manuscripts to review! Thank you for your attention to this matter
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Congratulations to @chagaiweiss.bsky.social on the publication of Delivering Tolerance! A rigorous and engaging take on institutional solutions for prejudice reduction, and an impressive study of contact theory at scale ⚙️🧠🕊️ @princetonupress.bsky.social
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Thomas Zeitzoff @zeitzoff.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Interested in the public’s skepticism towards new technology like AI? @janzilinsky.bsky.social and I’ve got a paper for you. We built a scale and found that worries about social media, AI, and modernity form a coherent anti-tech disposition. Conditionally accepted at @ajpseditor.bsky.social
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
🚨 Going up on eJobs later today: Harvard has an open-field tenure-track search this fall, with priority areas in American Politics, International Relations, Formal Theory, and Quantitative Methods. Feel free to reach out with any questions! academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/16668
academicpositions.harvard.edu
TENURE-TRACK PROFESSOR IN GOVERNMENT
The Department of Government seeks to appoint a tenure-track professor in Government. The appointment is expected to begin on July 1, 2027. The tenure-track professor will be responsible for teaching ...
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The 2026 iteration of the Harvard-MIT IR Summer Reading Group has wrapped up! 📚 For our format innovation this year, each week a guest (non)-speaker circulated work in progress, which we discussed and provided feedback for over lunch (this year's line-up is below)
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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
In Delivering Tolerance, @chagaiweiss.bsky.social develops a new theory of prejudice reduction, arguing that public institutions & the people within them can improve intergroup relations in conflict-ridden societies. Out now! Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Delivering Tolerance: How Unintended Institutional Inclusion Reduces Prejudice by Chagai M. Weiss
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Minju Kim @minjulisettekim.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
My book, Taming the Careerists, will be published by Cambridge University Press this September! There is growing debate over whether federal employees should be easier to dismiss in order to make them more responsive to presidential directives. What would be the consequences of such a change?
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
We typically think of deterrence as cold and calculating. In a new JCR with @uoft-poli-sci.bsky.social's Pomeroy & Rathbun, we explore the psychology of deterrence thinking, showing it relies on intuition instead. When we shoot, we shoot from the hip. 🧵 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
We typically think of deterrence as cold and calculating. In a new JCR with @uoft-poli-sci.bsky.social's Pomeroy & Rathbun, we explore the psychology of deterrence thinking, showing it relies on intuition instead. When we shoot, we shoot from the hip. 🧵 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
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British Journal of Political Science @bjpols.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
From April 2026 - Elite Misperceptions in Foreign Policy - cup.org/4cmGwBb - @jkertzer.bsky.social, Joshua Busby, Jonathan Monten, @jordantama.bsky.social & @ckafura.bsky.social #OpenAccess
BJPolS abstract from a research paper discussing domestic politics in international relations, focusing on American public opinion from 2004-23. The paper highlights how foreign policy elites misinterpret public opinion, perceiving it as more isolationist. The study uses paired surveys of elites and non-elites...
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Pia Raffler @piaraffler.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Publishing null results *is* hard. Thrilled to finally see this paper with @danielnposner.bsky.social and @dougparkerson.bsky.social investigating the impact of bottom-up accountability on healthcare outcomes in print in the JOP. Thread 👇 doi.org/10.1086/736577
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Happy 50th birthday @ssp-mit.bsky.social! 🥂 Security studies wouldn't be the same without you!
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ISPP @polpsyispp.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Congratulations to Leonie Huddy of Stony Brook University on receiving the 2026 Harold Lasswell Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions. Read more about Leonie and all ISPP award winners here: bit.ly/4vMtt2X #ISPP #PoliticalPsychology #LasswellAward
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Thomas Zeitzoff @zeitzoff.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Excited to share my new paper w/ @janzilinsky.bsky.social that's conditionally accepted at @ajpseditor.bsky.social 🎉 Is there a general "anti-technology" orientation among Americans? We built a scale and found that worries about social media, AI, and modernity do form a coherent disposition.
Artificial Intelligence, Social Media, and the Politics of Anti-Technology
Jan Zilinsky
Technical University of Munich
Institute of Experimental Psychology at the Slovak Academy of Sciences
Thomas Zeitzoff American University
Abstract
The growth of new digital technology, in particular new forms of communication and ar- tificial intelligence, has raised questions about technology’s role in society. Critics argue that it has increased hate speech, polarized the electorate, reduced deliberation, and coarsened the discourse. Others have emphasized the democratizing potential of tools facilitating col- lective action and enabling broader exchange of ideas. To better understand citizens’ general orientation towards technology, we develop a new anti-technology scale and test it on two diverse samples of Americans. Our scale measures three distinct areas of anti-technology attitudes: 1) attitudes towards social media, 2) attitudes towards artificial intelligence, and 3) concerns about modernity. We show that these areas form a general latent anti-technology orientation. We then show that this general anti-tech orientation predicts attitudes towards technology policies and support for contentious actions against tech companies. Finally, we use a pairwise comparison experiment to understand which pro- and anti-AI arguments are most persuasive.
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
🚨 Now out in @bjpols.bsky.social w @busbyj2.bsky.social @jordantama.bsky.social @ckafura.bsky.social: Do American foreign policy elites know what the public wants? Partnering with @global-affairs.bsky.social, we show that elites systematically misread the room 🧵 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
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EJIR @ejir.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
"Voluntary action in International Relations" by Joseph M. Parent and Paul K. MacDonald has recently been published in EJIR and is available online. Find it here: t1p.de/otzph
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Vincent Heddesheimer @vheddesheimer.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
📢 New paper out in @AJPS_Editor with Christian Baehr & Fiona Bare: "Climate Exposure Drives Firm Political Behavior: Evidence from Earnings Calls and Lobbying Data" When & how do firms engage in climate politics? 🧵 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/ajps...
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British Journal of Political Science @bjpols.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
NEW - Elite Misperceptions in Foreign Policy - cup.org/4cmGwBb - @jkertzer.bsky.social, Joshua Busby, Jonathan Monten, @jordantama.bsky.social & @ckafura.bsky.social #OpenAccess
BJPolS abstract of a research paper discussing the perception gap between elites and public opinion on foreign policy based on surveys of American elites and the public. It highlights a tendency for elites to view public opinion as more isolationist, impacting foreign policy decisions.
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Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · 27/03/2026
#OpenAccess from @iojournal.bsky.social - Convergent Flexibility: How International Law Keeps Pace with Technological Change - cup.org/4bLca9S - @jcanfil.bsky.social #FirstView
A large white "IO" on a dark blue background with the hashtag "#OpenAccess" below it.
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Elizabeth Nugent @ernugent.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Out in @thejop.bsky.social: How Exiles Mobilize Domestic Dissent with @aasiegel.bsky.social We investigate how Egyptian exiles influenced a cascade of online dissent that culminated in anti-regime protests back home in September 2019. Article link: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
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Harvard Department of Government @harvardgovdept.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
"Sandel is the closest thing political philosophy has to a rock star. He’s known, in particular, for his Socratic style of moral questioning." Read the @nytimes.com piece 👉 www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/b...
nytimes.com
A Philosopher ‘Prophet’
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Erik Voeten @erikvoeten.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Conceptualizing and Measuring Geopolitical Alignments - www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
annualreviews.org
Conceptualizing and Measuring Geopolitical Alignments
A vast literature examines how geopolitical alignments influence militarized conflict, trade, investment, aid, and other outcomes in international relations. Yet, considerable ambiguity remains regard...
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Writing an autoethnography about my experience watching academics attempt to use listservs
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Thomas Zeitzoff @zeitzoff.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
New in Terrorism & Political Violence: Why did radical environmental groups stop using arson & sabotage? And, given the threat from climate change why haven't those tactics returned? My article "Where's the Sabotage" seeks to answer these questions. Free link: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/QYFAW...
Where’s the Sabotage? Repression, Recruitment, and Tactical Evolution in the U.S. Radical Environmental Movement. Thomas Zeitzoff   Why did the U.S. radical environmental movement shift away from tactics like arson and sabotage in the mid-2000s? And given the rising threat of climate change, why haven’t these more contentious tactics made a comeback? This puzzle is particularly significant to scholars of terrorism because radical environmental groups like the Earth Liberation Front appear in major terrorism databases, and faced heavy repression from the government, despite causing no fatalities. I argue that repression and recruitment networks play a central role in shaping tactical repertoires. To test this theory, I combine original data on eco direct actions (1995–2022), surveys, and interviews of activist experts. I find that repression sharply reduced the pace of direct actions—particularly sabotage and arson—and disrupted the punk and anarchist recruitment networks that had supported them. In their place, the climate justice movement emerged, favoring civil disobedience and mass protest over clandestine tactics. Repression thus altered the movement both directly (by targeting high-risk actors and their tactics) and indirectly (by reshaping recruitment pipelines). I conclude with a discussion of how climate politics, activist subcultures, repression, and the contested boundary of what constitutes terrorism may influence the future trajectory of radical environmentalism.
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samuel mehr @mehr.nz · 20/02/2026
the new paper on bouba/kiki in chicks is utterly compelling canonical, elegant method from comparative cogsci & its partner in developmental science, ultra-simple design, ultra-clear effects, no need for fancy analyses, machine learning, or AI it appeared in an appropriately badass venue (Science)
Matching sounds to shapes: Evidence of the bouba-kiki effect in naïve baby chicks  Maria Loconsole1*, Silvia Benavides-Varela2,3, Lucia Regolin1  Humans across multiple languages spontaneously associate the nonwords “kiki” and “bouba” with spiky and round shapes, respectively, a phenomenon named the bouba-kiki effect. To explore the origin of this association, and whether it is unique to humans, we tested the bouba-kiki effect in baby domestic chickens (Gallus gallus). as a precocial species, chicks can be tested shortly after hatching, allowing us to control their pretest experiences. Similar to humans, both 3-day-old [experiment 1 (exp. 1)] and 1-day-old (exp. 2) chicks spontaneously choose a spiky shape when hearing the “kiki” sound and a round shape when hearing the “bouba” sound. results from naïve young animals suggest a predisposed mechanism for matching the dimensions of shape and sound, which may be widespread across species.main fig from the paper showing the association between bouba/round and kiki/spiky in newborn chicks
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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
This new paper offers practical solutions for pluralistic ignorance (when people assume their opinon is unpopular when many others share it): -in loose cultures, share accurate information -in tight ones, lowering the costs of speaking up can spark social change. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Lol
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International Organization @iojournal.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Automated nuclear weapons systems are not just a Hollywood plot device. In this #Firstview article, @joshschwartz.bsky.social and @mchorowitz.bsky.social evaluate how they could impact the credibility and effectiveness of nuclear threats. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
Delegating Destruction: Coercive Threats and Automated Nuclear Systems | International Organization | Cambridge Core
Delegating Destruction: Coercive Threats and Automated Nuclear Systems
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Mitsuru Mukaigawara, MD, MPP @mitsurumu.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Our new ProjectGEOCAUSAL website is live! We’ll be posting the latest updates on cutting-edge applications of spatiotemporal causal inference to address the world’s most pressing problems. Check it out: geocausal.org
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Weatherhead Center for International Affairs @weatherheadcenter.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
When leaders frame disputed land as “territory we might lose” rather than “new land to gain,” people in Argentina & Chile become more willing to support risky escalation and less willing to compromise. New study by @andizhou.bsky.social: loom.ly/cjdEJkM
Screenshot of article title, bylines, and abstract.
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
As the saying goes, every op-ed is a job talk www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Trump Was Right to Oust Maduro
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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
A new paper finds ideological bias in research analyses: Research teams composed of pro-immigration researchers estimated more positive impacts of immigration on public support for social programs, while anti-immigration teams estimated more negative impacts. science.org/doi/10.1126/...?
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Lisa Dellmuth @lisadellmuth.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
New Special Issue in @the-peio.bsky.social: Public Opinion and International Organizations. In the SI intro, we map the field, place the SI papers & identify ways forward: rdcu.be/eXt2R with @jonastallberg.bsky.social, 🙏 @adreher.bsky.social, reviewers & SI authors #Polisky #InternationalRelations
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Ken Schultz @kschultz.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Apropos current events, I want to tout this paper by @soyounglee.bsky.social showing that discussion of economic benefits can reduce public support for military action. People are skeptical when they think specific groups (e.g., oil companies) will benefit. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Domestic Distributional Roots of National Interest
SOYOUNG LEE Yale University, United States, and Duke University, United States

What international issues become national interests worth fighting for, and why? Contrary to conventional wisdom, I argue that issues without clear economic value, such as barren lands, are more likely to be perceived as national interests because they do not benefit any single domestic group. Since who benefits is unclear, politicians have an easier time framing such issues as benefiting the whole nation. I test this argument using survey experiments on the American public. The results show that first, issues providing diffuse benefits to citizens are more likely to be considered national interests than issues providing concentrated benefits to certain domestic groups. Second, issues with clearer economic value are harder to frame as having diffuse benefits because they are more easily associated with specific beneficiaries. This study proposes a new theory of national interest and offers a potential explanation for why people frequently support conflict over issues without obvious benefits.
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British Journal of Political Science @bjpols.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
NEW - Foreign Policy Failures and Global Attitudes Towards Great Powers: Evidence from the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan - cup.org/3YSsX4N - @rachelmyrick.bsky.social & @wpmarble.bsky.social #OpenAccess
BJPolS abstract from a scholarly article about the perceived foreign policy failures of the US in Afghanistan and its impact on global perceptions of US leadership. The text mentions a survey across 24 countries and findings on changes in favorability after the fall of Kabul on 15 August 2021.
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Gwyneth McClendon @gmcclendon.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
Coauthors Liz Sperber, O’Brien Kaaba and I have published 3 papers about youth civic ed and political participation, based on a WhatsApp experiment and a prior in-person pilot conducted in collaboration w/ Caritas Zambia CCMG Zambia @poverty-action.bsky.social and United Council of Churches Zambia
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Mashail Malik @mamalik.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
New paper in @ajpseditor.bsky.social. Is descriptive representation good for substantive representation? Why do voters stay loyal to corrupt and poorly governing ethnic parties? I argue that we ought to focus less on patronage and more on dignity concerns. Defiant pride can come at a price. 1/🧵
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Josh Busby @busbyj2.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Some news. My book on climate and security for Cambridge University Press is the winner of the 2026 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Advancing World Order. Thrilled to be among the august company of previous winners. www.uoflnews.com/post/uofltod...
uoflnews.com
2026 Grawemeyer world order award winner explores the connection between climate change and security | UofL News
For his work to understand why climate change leads to negative security consequences in some places and not others, Joshua W. Busby, professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, ...
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
A friendly reminder that some of you should really spend less time online
youtu.be
"ladies and gentlemen, the weeknd" (HD Original)
YouTube video by Steadfast
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British Journal of Political Science @bjpols.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
NEWS - The Politics of Imperial Nostalgia - cup.org/4p1QbRA "right-wing opposition to criticism of the imperial past is stronger than left-wing support" - Christopher Claassen & @danjdevine.bsky.social #OpenAccess
BJPolS abstract discussing the nostalgia for empire in post-imperial European contexts, examining public opinion and attitudes towards imperial history.
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International Organization @iojournal.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Our online special issue, The Future of Global Governance and World Order, is out! It features 15 short essays plus the editors' introduction, all #OpenAccess. www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #IOFoGG
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World Politics @worldpolitics.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
For the first Encode/Decode post, go back to @jkertzer.bsky.social, @ryanbrutger.bsky.social & Kai Quek's @worldpolitics.bsky.social article using cross-national #survey #experiments in #China and the #US to test for a #security dilemma. Read their original #empirical work: doi.org/10.1353/wp.2...
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Joshua Kertzer @jkertzer.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Congratulations to @yusakuhoriuchi.bsky.social and @kmatush.bsky.social for the launch of the Global Public Opinion Lab (GPOL) at Florida State! Lots of exciting plans in the works! (I couldn't take any pictures of public opinion, so here's one of Spanish moss)
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