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Paul Staniland

@pstaniland.bsky.social
6.7K followers 1.8K following 657 posts

UChicago political scientist, amateur bee photographer, Carnegie South Asia nonresident scholar, despairing Bulls fan, public school parent, etc. www.paulstaniland.com

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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Adjusting to AI in a discussion-based, "great books"-esque seminar built around a small number of texts; trying to maintain skill-building in writing while dramatically expanding the oral/interpersonal side of the course:
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Reposted by Paul Staniland
Aidan Milliff @aidanmilliff.com · 10/06/2026
@pstaniland.bsky.social I appeared on Grand Tamasha 🎙️ with @milanv.bsky.social to discuss our new book on Indian public opinion. Check out the episode here: grand-tamasha.simplecast.com/episodes/wha... And the book is free to download until June 15: doi.org/10.1017/9781...
Here's alt text for the image:

> Promotional graphic for the Grand Tamasha podcast, Season 15. Purple background with bold white text reading "What Do Indians Think About the World?" Below the title, pink text lists the guests: Milan Vaishnav with Paul Staniland and Aidan Milliff. The bottom-left corner shows the Grand Tamasha logo; the top-left shows the podcast and Hindustan Times logos. On the right, circular headshots of two guests (Paul Staniland and Aidan Milliff) appear alongside the cover of their book, *Indian Public Opinion toward the Major Powers*, published in the Cambridge Elements in Indo-Pacific Security series by Cambridge University Press.
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
I got a preview of the new Obama Presidential Center (more later of the views from the top)
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
The Trump Administration's Puzzling Strategic Retreat From East Asia open.substack.com/pub/danieldr...
open.substack.com
The Trump Administration's Puzzling Strategic Retreat From East Asia
Someone make this make sense to me.
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
UChicago will offer free tuition for families with incomes below $250,000, greatly expanding undergraduate aid | University of Chicago News news.uchicago.edu/story/uchica...
news.uchicago.edu
UChicago will offer free tuition for families with incomes below $250,000, greatly expanding undergraduate aid
Starting in Autumn 2027, initiative covers tuition, fees, housing and meals for families with incomes below $125,000, dramatically increasing access to a transformative UChicago education
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Free to read/download until May 18:
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Reading about 1970s India, listening to a podcast series about 1970s Britain. Just the worst decade.
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Aidan Milliff @aidanmilliff.com · 05/05/2026
Book Alert! @pstaniland.bsky.social and I have a new Cambridge Element out now — and free to download through May 18. It's the result of nine years of digging through historic survey data on how the Indian public thinks about major powers. Read it here: www.cambridge.org/core/element...
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Quite a fascinating interview: "Arakan Army Chief Twan Mrat Naing on Talks With the Myanmar Government, and Relations With India and Bangladesh" thediplomat.com/2026/05/arak...
thediplomat.com
Arakan Army Chief Twan Mrat Naing on Talks With the Myanmar Government, and Relations With India and Bangladesh
“The military government wants to negotiate from a position of strength but we will not succumb to such pressure.”
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
New book! @aidanmilliff.com and I spent years tracking down survey data from the late 1950s-2025 on how the Indian public has viewed China, the US, and Russia/USSR. We use the data to explore trends and patterns. Cambridge has made it Open Access until 5/18, so go read for free here: t.co/YtNCz74758
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
after the rain
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
I argue that debates over democratic backsliding and competitive authoritarianism in South Asia, while still important, need to be complemented by a renewed focus on how militaries exercise power and influence in Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and even Nepal: carnegieendowment.org/research/202...
carnegieendowment.org
The Shadow of the Military in Modern South Asia
Military rule is now a defining political factor in South Asia. Here’s how analysts can understand and account for it.
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
for a distraction from [waves wildly at everything happening in the world]:
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
An extremely exciting infusion of new foreign policy talent into the Chicago area: globalaffairs.org/chicago-coun...
globalaffairs.org
Chicago Council on Global Affairs Appoints Two Vice Presidents of Research for Geostrategy and Global Security
April 9, 2026
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Appears that a US submarine may have sunk an Iranian destroyer off Sri Lanka. That wasn’t on my bingo card.
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
An extremely timely project!!!!
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Reposted by Paul Staniland
Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Yet again:
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
washingtonpost.com
Trump pursues Iranian decapitation without a plan for what comes next
The U.S. has a fraught track record of toppling autocratic regimes and securing peaceful democracies — even when it has vision for the day after.
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Yet again:
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
I roll this perpetually-relevant meme out every once in awhile:
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Reminiscent of Stalin telling a group of visiting Indian communists to advocate the unification of India, Pakistan, and Ceylon (digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/rec...):
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Chairman Mao dispensed some wildly unhelpful advice over the years; this nugget was to Nasser after the 1967 war (from Lorenz Luthi's "Cold Wars"):
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
China set to widen footprint in Bangladesh as India's ties decline en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/b...
en.prothomalo.com
China set to widen footprint in Bangladesh as India's ties decline
China has stepped up its investment and diplomatic outreach in Dhaka, most recently signing a defence deal to build a drone factory near Bangladesh's border with India.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 24/01/2026
an administration staffed to the top with degenerate liars
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
The Pentagon struck a conciliatory tone toward Beijing in its new defense strategy, stating that its overarching goal is to establish “strategic stability” in the Indo-Pacific region www.wsj.com/politics/nat... via @WSJ
wsj.com
Pentagon’s New Defense Strategy Strikes Conciliatory Tone on China
The blueprint says the U.S. will focus attention on the Western Hemisphere while reducing its military role in Europe, South Korea and the Middle East.
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Reposted by Paul Staniland
nicoblar.bsky.social @nicoblar.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Happy to announce the 1st ever @isanet.bsky.social conference in South Asia in August 2026. Hosted in Colombo, Sri Lanka, we welcome proposals from scholars based in and/or studying South Asian politics & international relations, but also broader global themes ofc www.isanet.org/Conferences/...
eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
ISA-SAWP Colombo 2026: Call for Proposals
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Hyde Park is hip and cool: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
winter Chicago
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
I use class presentations and an oral exam alongside papers now in my undergrad seminar (and blue book final all by side papers in my UG lecture): “Professors are turning to this old-school method to stop AI use on exams” wapo.st/4pU5mNf
wapo.st
Professors are turning to this old-school method to stop AI use on exams
A small but growing number of educators are experimenting with oral exams to circumvent the temptations presented by powerful AI platforms.
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Sushila Karki government beset by court decisions kathmandupost.com/politics/202... via @kathmandupost
kathmandupost.com
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
My thoughts on US-India relations in the Trump era for Chicago Council on Global Affairs: - US deeply unreliable & mercurial - Unclear if even a weakened Trump would lead to a rapid shift back toward pro-India policies - India needs to engage more broadly in US, especially beyond the coasts (1/2)
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Illinois & Chicago stuck in "high tax, massive debt, comparatively unremarkable public services" equilibrium that will take either crisis or real political creativity to change: www.statecraft.pub/p/should-the...
statecraft.pub
Should the Feds Bail Out Chicago?
“Municipal debt is the history of America”
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
"Casinos, high-rises and fraud: The BBC visits a bizarre city built on scams" bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Myanmar's Shwe Kokko: Inside a city 'built on scams'
A haven for the super rich, or a city built on scams? The BBC was invited to find out.
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
theatlantic.com
‘A Recipe for Idiocracy’
What happens when even college students can’t do math anymore?
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
huge sale on Cornell University Press books:
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
I could spend my life just watching camera release videos: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMXV...
youtube.com
Welcoming the EOS R6 Mark III
YouTube video by CanonUSA
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
Really important survey from @ChicagoCouncil: “the bipartisan embrace of US-China competition no longer holds among the public, with partisan differences in perceived threats from China and disagreements on current US-China trade policy” globalaffairs.org/research/pub...
globalaffairs.org
Americans Reverse Course on US-China Competition
While Republicans remain focused on limiting China's rise, a majority of Americans now favor a policy of cooperation and engagement with Beijing.
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
From Brooklyn Heights
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Pakistani general's Dhaka visit explores stronger defence ties www.thedailystar.net/news/banglad...
thedailystar.net
Pakistani general's Dhaka visit explores stronger defence ties
General Sahir Shamshad Mirza meets Bangladesh’s three service chiefs
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armando l sanchez @mandophotos.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
Border patrol agents deployed tear gas on the 3700 block of North Kildare where residents say a landscape worker, a resident, and a woman on a bike were detained. Video from a resident.
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Chicago's SkyDeck is pretty awesome (first time I've been here despite living in Chicago 19 of the past 25 years):
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
Afghanistan-Pakistan clashes: www.dawn.com/news/1948219...
dawn.com
23 troops martyred, 200 Taliban and affiliated terrorists killed in border skirmishes with Afghanistan: ISPR
21 hostile positions on Afghan side of border were briefly captured and multiple terrorist training camps were rendered inoperative, says ISPR.
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Can't say I am loving the "Donald Trump sends combat forces to Chicago on an obvious pretext" experience.
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Based on his track record at UChicago, there is truly no one I would less want to be in a foxhole with than Daniel Diermeier, so very unsurprising news here: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
current draft syllabus for my Political Violence lecture class: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8swsa...
dropbox.com
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
current draft syllabus for my Political Violence lecture class: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8swsa...
dropbox.com
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Paul Staniland @pstaniland.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Fun video on assessing US cities' "Majorness": www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrj-...
youtube.com
Can We Agree On the 4 Major U.S. Cities?
YouTube video by Ray Delahanty | CityNerd
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