Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
@alichtenheld.bsky.social
Political Scientist | Professor @unileiden.bsky.social | Author, "Guilt by Location." Expert on forced displacement, conflict, peacebuilding. Consultant for USAID, World Bank, State Dept., others. @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social PhD. Crossfit enthusiast.
Sanctions are among the most widely used tools of US foreign policy and, according to most research, among the least effective. To learn about why that verdict may be misleading, check out my new co-authored article in @isq-jrnl.bsky.social
Balancing Act: Coercion, Terrorism, and Regime Stability
Abstract. A substantial literature seeks to understand the drivers and consequences of foreign policy instruments that states employ to change the behavior
tinyurl.com
Pretty clear the charge that Musk has killed millions of children bothers him. I find this surprising and we should exploit it. The world deserves to know that he’s killed millions of children and he deserves to suffer for the rest of his disgusting life.
Quinn Slobodian@quinnslobodian.com · 2mo agoIn the last three hours, Musk has posted that USAID “was central to the creation of COVID-19,” “funded coronavirus research in China that killed millions of people,” “was used for terrorism,” and “killed millions.”
The amount of money in Musk's bank account is not a measure of his genius or even the "value" of his companies. It is rather a measure of the gullibility of investors and the greed of the industry that is designed to harness that to fuel their own wealth creation.
This would put Elon Musk in the company of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and the great mass murderers in history.
Tim Dickinson@timdickinson.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe world's first trillionaire did this
“The dismantling of USAID, according to models from Boston University epidemiologist Brooke Nichols, “has already caused the deaths of six hundred thousand people, two-thirds of them children,” Gawande wrote.” hsph.harvard.edu/news/usaid-s...
USAID shutdown has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
The Trump administration’s decision to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths from infectious diseases and malnutrition, accord...
hsph.harvard.edu
Joshua Foust 🪖🎮@joshuafoust.com · 3mo agoThe single most defining thing Elon Musk has ever done is killing untold numbers of people by having DOGE illegally raid and disband USAID. Not rickets, not cars, not even the CSAMbot on X. It’s this, and so many media pundits just choose to unsee it.
A lot of critics of various kinds of aid should be reflecting right now. A faux-savvy question people often asked in DC to make themselves look hard-noted and results-based, was, "Would it matter if tomorrow you no longer existed? What would be different?" Well... thehill.com/homenews/adm...
USAID shutdown linked to sharp increase in violence across Africa: Research
New research suggests the shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) led to sharp increases in violence throughout Africa. African countries that received the most supp…
thehill.com
Honored that "Guilt by Location" has received a 2026 Distinguished Book Award from @isanet.bsky.social for best book in the study of the international politics of ethnicity, nationalism, & migration. Big thanks to the award committee & @unileiden.bsky.social for the write-up: tinyurl.com/4wpdpz4j
staff.universiteitleiden.nl
🧵Feels like shouting into the void, but it is essential to note that the Trump/Rubio gutting of the State Department and blowtorching of US diplomatic capacity and credibility is an accelerant to this spiraling war and will seriously undercut US/allied efforts to pick up the pieces after. 1/
I have a new paper. We look at ~all stats articles in political science post-2010 & show that 94% have abstracts that claim to reject a null. Only 2% present only null results. This is hard to explain unless the research process has a filter that only lets rejections through.
I see this take around from time to time and totally disagree. ICE just murdered a woman standing up to them. No Kings is among the largest protests in history. The complacency is coming from elites in media, business, universities, and the Democratic leadership
There’s a Silicon Valley billionaire freak out happening about a potential wealth tax ballot initiative in California. I hope everybody understands—the only way to make billionaires pay a similar *income* tax rate as their secretaries is via taxing unrealized cap gains or wealth
moving past this moment in US politics is going to require credible promises to prosecute the authors of all this human disaster. peoples interested in countering US authoritarianism can draw on international tools in this process, including joining the ICC internationalpolicy.org/publications...
I don't care what Bari Weiss was thinking. But as someone who moved from Russia to America for freedom, I didn't have "passing around a pulled 60 Minutes segment like Soviet-era samizdat" in 2025 on my bingo card. Anyway: watch what our government is doing, and share it widely.
Timothy Burke@bubbaprog.xyz · 8mo agoThe full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5
On DOGE’s watch, federal spending did not go down at all. It went up. But is still led to cuts that closed offices, canceled programs and deprived people of food, medicine and other aid. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
How Did DOGE Disrupt So Much While Saving So Little?
nytimes.com
Bad things happen when you hire opinion hacks to run media outlets Bad things happen when you hire non-academics to run universities Bad things happen when you hire businessmen to run the government Etc. Etc. Experience & expertise matter. And actual relevant expertise.
jamelle@jamellebouie.net · 8mo agoreally cannot be emphasized enough that bari weiss has literally never done journalism. i don’t mean that in the pejorative sense. i mean that in the “has never performed the job she was hired to do” sense
suspect a big reason why many academics and others who work in areas where getting facts RIGHT is key are disinterested in using LLMs for research: they’ve tried it, they keep noticing major errors in output, and they conclude that having to verify all that doesn’t actually save them time.
Not that it will but the willingness of Americans to obey is a very funny contrast with our self-image and should probably prompt some reflection bsky.app/profile/jonf...
Jonathan L. Fischer@jonfischer.bsky.social · 8mo agoNEWS: They're adding Trump's name to the Kennedy Center building right now. www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
No one who has ever witnessed a single faculty meeting could ever again claim that college professors are part of some sort of coordinated conspiracy to accomplish anything, let alone turn the entire US into a Marxist utopia/dystopia with an assist from their great pals in corporate boardrooms.
"Efficiencies are easy to promise, but difficult to realize in the stubbornly human-centered endeavor of education. And that is because education is, by necessity, inefficient." Preach! www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
Four Frictions: or, How to Resist AI in Education - Public Books
We are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.
publicbooks.org
Another way to restart the world’s idea machine is to restore funding and grants to universities, researchers, and artists.
Vox@vox.com · 8mo agoAmerica, you have spoken loud and clear: You do not like AI. But what if AI is the way to restart the world’s idea machine?
I am indebted to colleagues & friends, esp @stephrschwartz.bsky.social, @alichtenheld.bsky.social & the staff @aissr.bsky.social @uva-fmg.bsky.social
This fetid landmark, this historical stain on humanity is primarily due to the stunningly reckless obliteration of America's foreign assistance agency earlier this year. Led by the richest man on earth. In secret, on a weekend. With zero analysis or discussion of its catastrophic impacts.
For First Time in Decades, Child Deaths Will Rise This Year
Almost a quarter of a million more children around the world are projected to die in 2025 than in 2024.
wsj.com
This is always the plan with authoritarians wielding militaristic power. They create their own enemies to justify their power grabs. Netanyahu loved October 7th for this exact reason. His failures led to it, and instead of being held accountable, he got more power than ever.
Steven Beschloss@stevenbeschloss.bsky.social · 9mo agoPlace National Guard in harm’s way for no good reason. Two members are tragically and unnecessarily shot. The reckless regime’s response: We’re sending 500 more National Guard troops! What a disgrace.
"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply." me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...
How Can We Live Together? - Boston Review
Ezra Klein is wrong: shame is essential.
bostonreview.net
the research is clear: get yourself exposed to female peers nber semigated version: www.nber.org/papers/w34269
It was an honor to discuss my book at the @thecrs.bsky.social's annual conference, and I am grateful for "Guilt by Location" receiving this year's CRS book award. If you missed the keynote, don't worry, you can still order the book today! cup.org/4gOE8Cy www.amzn.com/1009523473
Conflict Research Society@thecrs.bsky.social · 11mo agoLive at #CRS2025 🎤 Adam Lichtenheld, winner of the CRS Book of the Year, is presenting his groundbreaking research on strategic displacement as part of military & political tactics. Grateful to our judges — and especially Corinne Bara for guiding the award process.
I would especially recommend the political science article referenced in the piece. Accommodation by mainstream parties of far right immigration policies does not win votes by taking the issue off the table, it loses votes for the mainstream parties www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Does accommodation work? Mainstream party strategies and the success of radical right parties | Political Science Research and Methods | Cambridge Core
Does accommodation work? Mainstream party strategies and the success of radical right parties - Volume 11 Issue 1
cambridge.org
jamelle@jamellebouie.net · last yr.this is so good
