People like to think that Trump/Iran/China are causing an inevitable and speedy energy transition around the world. The truth is more bitter especially if you look in mid powers in the Global South. South Africa, for example, already a coal giant, is letting MNCs explore offshore oil big time. 1/2

South Africa's offshore oil push meets grassroots resistance in court

Two court cases against oil majors TotalEnergies and Shell could derail South Africa's plan to expand offshore fossil fuels

climatechangenews.com

🚨 New paper in Stato & Mercato (in English): **Climate Action and Energy Transitions: Between Opportunities and Trade-offs** Remember that, until the return of Trump, politics made a big bet that greening energy and cutting emissions are a natural win-win? Did bundling the two pay off? Short 🧵:

Climate action and energy transitions: Between opportunities and trade-offs

rivisteweb.it

Greg Pollock and I argue in @heatmap.news that electric vehicle manufacturing in the US is a national security priority. EVs are the largest source of demand for advanced batteries. Batteries are essential building blocks of the 21st century economy with important defense applications.

Electric Vehicles Are a Defense Technology

Two former defense officials argue that Rivian may be as important to America’s national security as SpaceX.

heatmap.news

1/ The USMCA — nearly $2 trillion in annual North American trade — hits its renewal deadline July 1. US-Mexico talks only started in May, with a third round scheduled for July 20. A decision by July 1 is not happening.

Today is the day! My book, Owning The Green Grid, is officially out in the world! *For orders placed today, June 23, only* use the discount code "MITP30" at checkout to receive 30% off. 20% off with the code "READMIT20" anytime after. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/814358...

Excited to share the cover and an early endorsement from @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social for my forthcoming book, "The Carbon Wave." It's out Sept. 1! Preorders help the book travel further. The book is on sale this week with free shipping at Bookshop. Order your copy today! bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

I am restarting my Bill Connolly thread: he was not afraid to coin new terms!! He flooded the zone with cool concepts. I’m on a panel honoring his work at APSA (lab day wkend) and have returned to read him again. His work will frame my book on Austin and, reading him on Deleuze on Jerry Lewis … /1

Bonnie Honig@bonniehonig.bsky.social · 6mo ago

15/ “agonistic respect, critical responsiveness, branded contingencies, nontheistic gratitude, pluralization, the evangelical/capitalist resonance machine, the visceral register of cultural life, emergent causality [are] cluster concepts w/ “tensions & interdependencies”

I'm thrilled to be writing GREEN GIANT for PublicAffairs.

📚 Just published Growth, Democracy or Climate Action? The New Political Trilemma of Advanced Capitalism by @aidanregan.bsky.social, @hannaschwander.bsky.social, @cyrben.bsky.social and Tim Vlandas @agendapub.bsky.social @edinburghup.bsky.social Find out more: www.sciencespo.fr/centre-etude...

War → energy shock → inflation. This time: Iran. But we saw this already after Russia invaded Ukraine. Back then, the shock ignited some big debates on monetary autonomy and dollar dominance In a new paper w/@palmapolyak.bsky.social we go back to that moment. A short thread👇

Fossils: down. Clean energy: up. Economic growth: doing just fine. It's possible.

Nicolas Fulghum@nicolasfulghum.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Is electricity demand growth AND fossil decline possible? Australia says YES 🇦🇺 Fossil generation is now down 23% since the peak in 2009, despite demand rising 14% over the same period. Solar and wind have grown 20x since then and now make up a third of Australia's electricity.

The arc of the scenario universe is long, but it bends inevitably toward more realistic emissions. A new paper outlining the emissions scenarios we will be using in the upcoming IPCC AR7 report notes that "the CMIP6 high emission levels (quantified by SSP5-8.5) have become implausible".

I spoke with @nytimes.com about how OPEC works, in light of UAE's announced departure from the organization @climatesollab.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/04/28/b...

What Is OPEC, and How Does It Operate?

nytimes.com

Industrial electrification is now a security imperative, not just a climate one. Our new @ox.ac.uk @ecioxford.bsky.social analysis finds up to 90% of industrial energy demand could be electrified. The potential is there. The main constraint is policy. www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-04...

Industrial electrification is now a security imperative, finds Oxford analysis

Industrial electrification is becoming a matter of economic security as well as decarbonisation, according to new analysis from researchers at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of O...

ox.ac.uk

📣 My new publication with @GustavMeibauer is now out in @ejisbisa.bsky.social “Why US-China relations have not escalated yet: Power rise, power transition, and perceptions of resolve" It’s open access: doi.org/10.1017/eis.... @meibauir.bsky.social (1/4)

There's a global race to secure EV battery gigafactories & reduce reliance on China. But not all clean-tech projects are created equal. Some generate good jobs & domestic capacities, others produce ecological harm & low value-added enclaves. New paper & thread 👇 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

NEW RESEARCH: Up to 90% of industrial energy demand could be electrified with existing & emerging tech. Under high-ambition policy, 51% by 2050 is achievable. 84% under the most enabling assumptions. The technologies exist. The constraint is policy. www.eci.ox.ac.uk/news/industr...

The AI datacenter buildout is huge compared to past projects like the interstate highway system, the Apollo program, and the US railroad boom. But its still modest compared to global clean energy investment or oil and gas investment:

Companion lecture on clean energy transitions, featuring discussion of work by @bentleyallan.bsky.social @nilskupzok.bsky.social @jonasnahm.com & @greenprofgreen.bsky.social. youtu.be/C7QxR5_FZ00

Week 10 - Clean Energy Transitions - Global Environmental Governance

YouTube video by Josh Busby

youtu.be

Great Ember Report! Electrotech (solar, EV, battery & more) leapfrogs fossil fuels in emerging countries. Why? An example: A decade ago, solar required 5 times more upfront capital investment than a coal plant. Now, solar is less! Solar has free fuel! ember-energy.org/latest-insig... #energysky

The standard model of liberal, representative democracy is increasingly being challenged from the bottom and the top. In a new paper @Party Politics, Gidi Rahat and I seek to explain why political parties differ in the conception of democracy they advance. doi.org/10.1177/1354...

🚨 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/...

Iran. Venezuela. Iraq. Oil leads to bad governance and greed, which leads to friction with the United States, which makes military conflict more likely. goodauthority.org/news/is-oil-...

Is oil behind the U.S. attack on Iran?

Is oil behind the U.S. attack on Iran? To understand the Trump administration’s military targets, take a closer look at the petrostate pattern.

goodauthority.org

After months of wrangling and an epic list of delays, the Commission has finally released its Industrial Accelerator Act. This could turn into one of the EU’s most consequential industrial policy files in years - and the proposal is honestly not a bad place to start. Some quick thoughts:

Bill Connolly died yesterday and he was one of the good ones. It kills me that he was taken while our politics are like this. He deserved to outlive the bastards. I guess we’ll have to take it from here. But let me say: for depth of understanding, empathy & moral clarity, this man had few rivals /1

William E. Connolly Obituary February 25, 2026 - Eclipse Funeral Care

View William E. Connolly's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

eclipsefunerals.com

With great sadness, I learned of the passing of William E. Connolly yesterday, one of the most influential political theorists of our time. Bill was one of my most important mentors. He pushed me to study climate change when others discouraged me and when there was little interest in the subject ...

Sobering statistics for ABDs and TT. 67% of ABDs didn't get placed. Placement was only 38% TT.

APSA@apsa.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Students on the Job Market: 2024-2025 Graduate Placement Data | APSA Data on the Profession The 2024-2025 APSA Graduate Placement Survey was conducted from November-December 2025. Collecting data from 31 participating institutions that provided data about 181 doctoral students on the job market,…

If the US wants to regain industrial strength, it must learn from China’s approach to A.I./robotics. Treat it as factory infrastructure that policy must help deploy, not just research tech that lives in data centers. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Jonas Nahm@jonasnahm.com · 6mo ago

China automates while America hesitates. I have a piece in the NYT today arguing that America's strategy to compete with China in manufacturing is fundamentally misconceived — and that we're heading toward a reckoning we're not prepared for. 1/ www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/o...

China automates while America hesitates. I have a piece in the NYT today arguing that America's strategy to compete with China in manufacturing is fundamentally misconceived — and that we're heading toward a reckoning we're not prepared for. 1/ www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/o...

Opinion | America Has an Edge Over China. Why Won’t We Use It?

American manufacturing prowess won’t be restored without bringing new technologies to the factory floor.

nytimes.com

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/...