The new V-Dem report was released today. There are dramatic declines in democracy in the US. Much worse than during Trump I.

New explainer from me, on understanding ICE as a paramilitary force, in more than one sense of the term 👇 theconversation.com/ice-not-only...

ICE not only looks and acts like a paramilitary force – it is one, and that makes it harder to curb

ICE, created in response to 9/11, meets most definitions of paramilitary forces. Critics worry it’s gone beyond its writ of immigration enforcement.

theconversation.com

Hope is a strategy. Funding women-led movements is how we make it real. WILPF is proud to support #AccelerateTogether. Learn more at accelerate-together.org. @mamacashfund.bsky.social

"On Monday, the RSF announced "a humanitarian truce providing for a cessation of hostilities for three months"" www.france24.com/en/live-news...

Sudan's RSF declares truce after army rejects US plan

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on Monday announced a unilateral three-month ceasefire a day after the army dismissed a US truce proposal from international mediators.

france24.com

A list of around sixty institutions/scholarships etc offering financial support for Palestinian students to study at undergraduate, MA and PhD level A tremendous compilation by Dr Tom Walsh & other academics docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Financial Aid and Study Opportunities for Palestinian Students

docs.google.com

PRIO is hiring! Specifically, we're looking for two post-docs for the project "Rituals in combatant-to-civilian transformation”, led by my excellent colleague Júlia Palik More information here: www.prio.org/about/career... www.prio.org/about/career...

Come join us at @statsvitenskap.bsky.social !

𝙅𝙖𝙘🍩𝙗 𝙉𝙮𝙧𝙪𝙥@jacobnyrup.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Moreover, I have recently been awarded an ERC starting grant towards the project GETGOV to work further on this, so expect more data on cabinet members in the future. I am currently hiring two PhDs and two postdocs: www.jobbnorge.no/en/available... www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

Al Jazeera Media Network condemns the ‘assassination’ of its Gaza correspondents and photographers by Israeli forces. 🔗: aje.io/eeht0q | #JournalismIsNotACrime

BREAKING: One of the most important and prominent reporters on the ground in Gaza has been Anas Al Sharif. He - and several other Al Jazeera journalists - have just been assassinated by Israelis forces whilst in their press tent in central Gaza. Speechless.

I am looking for a researcher (pre-doc) in my DFG-funded project "Violence Against Political Actors at the Grassroots Level" 👇

Kriminologisches Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen@kfnhannover.bsky.social · last yr.

🔍 Researcher (Pre-Doc) (m/f/d), 75% political science, criminology or related fields 📅 Start: 01.03.2026, limited to 3 years. 💬 Very good German language skills are required. 🎓 Doctorate within the framework of the project expressly desired! Further information: en.kfn.de/wp-content/u...

Damn, it looks just like the photos of the disappeared that were put up by relatives in the South American dictatorships

Mel Buer@melbuer.bsky.social · last yr.

Nestled up against the steps of City Hall in LA is a large placard with missing posters for the recently disappeared in the city.

Congratulations to the new Civil War Paths Fellows cohort!

Civil War Paths@civilwarpaths.bsky.social · last yr.

Welcome: Leo Bauer, Imrana Alhaji Buba, @edoardocorradi.bsky.social , @vbouemardinocheau.bsky.social l, Promise Frank Ejiofar, @fortierjacob.bsky.social , Nguyen T Ha, @kyawhsanhlaing.com , Dr Camille Laville, Tony Neil, @andreanovellis.bsky.social , Dr Hogr O Tarkhani, Favell Williamlich / end

To mark International Day of Women in Diplomacy, Torunn Tryggestad, Asha Ali and I reflected on increases in women’s representation at the UNSC & changes in the practice of diplomacy. Check out our blog based on our co-authored book chapter www.prio.org/comments/1789 @prioresearch.bsky.social

How do women ambassadors reshape diplomacy at the UN Security Council? – Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)

On the occasion of the International Day of Women in Diplomacy, 24 June.

prio.org

Looking forward #NEPS2025 in Barcelona next week and chatting all things ceasefires, gender, peace agreements, and negotiations!

New UCDP data release! In the 2024 update from the @ucdp.bsky.social, organised violence remained alarmingly high, with 61 state-based conflicts and nearly 160,000 recorded fatalities.

New data from UCDP shows the highest number of active conflicts ever recorded, press release found here: www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

UCDP: Sharp increase in conflicts and wars

The number of armed conflicts in the world reached a historic high in 2024. This is shown by new data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) at Uppsala University. Despite a marginal decrease i...

eurekalert.org

New Conflict Trends Report from @prioresearch.bsky.social using @ucdp.bsky.social data. "2024 marked a historic peak in state-based conflicts, with 61 active conflicts across 36 countries – the highest number recorded since 1946" www.prio.org/publications...

Conflict Trends: A Global Overview, 1946–2024 – Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)

PRIO Paper

prio.org

Have you heard of Taylor and Francis' STAR initiative? It stands for Special Terms for Authors & Researchers (STAR) and provides eligible individual authors and researchers based in many resource-constrained countries with free access to articles from their leading journals.

Do you work on gender and peacebuilding broadly defined (including everything from ceasefires to transitional justice)? I’m looking for pitches to contribute to a special issue, especially interested in quantitative research by scholars outside of Europe/US/Canada. Email/DM me!

Reminder that tear gas is a chemical weapon that is illegal to deploy in warfare, yet cops are allowed to blanket civilians in clouds of the stuff.

OPINION | Why police use of tear gas should be banned | CBC News

Tear gas is illegal in warfare under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and should be banned for use against civilians under international human rights law, write Vincent Wong, Natasha Williams and Maij...

cbc.ca

Seeing lots of discussion about whether the U.S. military will go along or push back against orders to confront mass protests. Here’s my take on what other cases and prior research tell us about what might happen. 1/

Lots of discourse around ICE abductions à la "ppl did nothing wrong & that's why it's unjust" & I can't underscore enough that *no one* deserves to be ripped off the street & disappeared into the prison network at the whim of the state. This is why we say "free them all." The system is the problem.

My Canadian university, Queen's, is offering TWENTY 4-year funded PhDs (40k CAD/yr) for a student of ANY citizenship who has been accepted at a top 100 US university but have had offer rescinded OR are reconsidering offer due to US policy. Details found here👇 www.queensu.ca/grad-postdoc...

Any Econ PhD students at Harvard (or elsewhere in the U.S.) worried about visa status, the @iies.su.se has openings for PhD students who have completed their coursework and are at the dissertation stage, starting in the fall. Apply here: www.su.se/institute-fo...

Relieved to hear that all the advocacy from my sector ensured that Carney re-introduced a Minister for Women and Equality. Reminder that holding politicians accountable is literally our job as voters. Calling out Carney did not mean we wanted the CPCs to win. It was for this exact outcome.

Are you a grad student who has presented a paper at ANY ISA conference (national or regional) between March 2024-March 2025? Nominate yourself (or someone else) for the Frances V. Harbour Graduate Student Paper Award. Check out link for eligibility! www.isanet.org/Programs/Awa...

🚨 New book out! 🎉 Thrilled to share Gender and Diplomacy: Critical Junctures, Innovations & Future Research Directions, co-edited with @EliseInTheWoods Exploring how gender, race & power are reshaping diplomacy. 📖 t.co/09HVZquuCX #Gender #Diplomacy #IR #FeministIR

Very excited to see my first book chapter published w. co-authors Nora Stai, Torunn Tryggestad and @kajbak.bsky.social on women ambassadors to the UNSC. Check out the book Gender and Diplomacy, edited by @eliseinthewoods.bsky.social and @chichoriktputli.bsky.social link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Gender and Diplomacy

This edited collection aims to bring new contexts and research innovations to study the changing nature of gender in diplomacy.

link.springer.com

Looking for 2 x guest lecturers (paid) to give research led talks within a new course 'Rethinking IR' for final yr UGs on ontological security, bodies/embodiment, emotions/affect, biopolitics/necropolitics, or visual global pol in the Fall 2025 semester. Pls DM/email expressions of interest 🙏

World Central Kitchen has run out of food to serve in Gaza. Its bakery ("recently the last working bakery in Gaza") is out of flour. There are 100,000+ tons of food in staging areas within driving distance of Gaza, and Israel refuses to let them in wck.org/news/gaza-up...

World Central Kitchen | WCK Forced to Halt Cooking in Gaza as Supplies Run Out

After serving more than 130 million total meals and 26 million loaves of bread over the past 18 months, World Central Kitchen no longer has the supplies to cook meals or bake bread in Gaza.

wck.org