Black cats deserve nothing but good luck! #OnThisDay marks National Black Cat Day, an initiative that began in the UK to challenge old superstitions and help black cats find loving homes. Today, we're joining in and giving these feline friends some extra love. 🐈‍⬛🖤

By every measure, Opus 4.8 beats human experts as peer reviewers in a study of 124 Harvard social science papers covering a range from statistical analyses to formal models to qualitative work. As academics, we need to figure out how to adapt the practice of science to AI, and we need to do it fast

Breadwinner backlash: The gendered effects of industrial decline by Richard Clark, Roza Khoban, and Noah Zucker is now available in Early View. @rickyclark.bsky.social @rkhoban.bsky.social @noahzucker.com ajps.org/2026/09/23/b...

I’m happy to share that my first peer-reviewed article is now published open access at @jird-jour.bsky.social. In it, I investigate whether international parliamentary institutions (IPIs) serve as control devices for legislators within international organizations (IOs). tinyurl.com/2k5xnfrf (1/6)

Attending to control? International parliamentary institutions and parliamentary oversight of foreign affairs - Journal of International Relations and Development

Traditionally dominated by the executives, parliaments increasingly push for a more active role in multilateral affairs through International Parliamentary Institutions (IPIs). Conceptual research has...

link.springer.com

Swiss MPs now have an AI tool to draft parliamentary initiatives. Before “MPs are too lazy to write their own” takes: Few parliaments give MPs more ndividual rights. Yet the Swiss Parliament is among the OECD’s least professionalised Result? Lobbies / interest groups often draft amendments for MPs

#PSA If you want your work to be replicable, PLEASE include in the codebook the actual acronyms used in the same dataset(s) and DEFINE what they mean. Some -- even published -- codebooks read like someone's stream of consciousness.

What do yesterday’s ST results imply for liberal democracy? In our ongoing nationwide survey, we asked about support for liberal democracy (following doi.org/10.1177/0010...). Acceptance of & ambivalence toward illiberal action are worryingly widespread, though majorities reject each transgression.

🔥 Trending on SciLove today 🔥 🔬 Is support for authoritarian rule contagious? Evidence from field and survey experiments 👤 Dahlum et al., 2026 📖 American Journal of Political Science @ajpseditor.bsky.social 🔗 https://www.scilove.app/article/10.1111/ajps.70067 #PoliSci #AcademicSky

​​⏪ 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗥𝗙𝗦… 🇷🇺 Irina Busygina analysed #Russia ’s policy towards the Russian Far East using the #authoritarian state-driven #regionalism (ASDR) before and after the war in Ukraine. ⛓️‍💥 What 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 did emerge in relation to Russia’s ASDR? 📖 Read the article here 👉 doi.org/10.1080/1359...

Great article on methodological pluralism that articulates exactly my thinking about the relevance of different kinds of research in times where so much emphasis is placed on causal inference journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

🚨 New publication: My contribution to @iemed.bsky.social's Mediterranean Yearbook 2026. In this chapter, I examine if #Lebanon's current reform moment represents a genuine opportunity for change or another episode of resilience by its entrenched political system. 🔗 www.iemed.org/publication/...

From Crisis Governance to Civic Renewal: Can Lebanon Reinvent Its Political System?

Is Lebanon at the dawn of a genuine opening with the coincidence of a new reformist executive, a weakened Hezbollah and a state apparatus with access to international financing?

iemed.org

“We examine whether intergroup contact during the FIFA World Cup 2026 reduces outgroup bias toward host-country citizens. The mega tournament creates countless opportunities for direct contact, making it an ideal setting to test if personal interactions can overcome stereotypes”

Just Phil@philaiv.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I'm obsessed with the videos of Europeans experiencing the U.S. for the first time (World Cup visitors). All very positive, at least on my feed.

Fieldwork update: many observations, insightful exchanges, and some unexpected new-found fame in India.

We may also soon have to think very hard about the difference between knowledge creation versus knowledge sharing. Those that genuinely like knowledge creation may not like the "circus" around knowledge sharing. How we can we rethink institutions to overcome this?

Why do arguments often change people’s beliefs without changing their attitudes? In a new APSR with @scottclifford.bsky.social and @patrickpliu.bsky.social, we point to belief relevance: arguments are more persuasive when they grapple with the idiosyncratic reasons people hold their political views.

Quatar gifted a luxury Boeing to Trump. Autocracies give more lavish diplomatic gifts than democracies. Why? Domestic politics. New article w @olejacobsending.bsky.social and Neil Ketchley in The Review of International Organizations @springernature.com link.springer.com/article/10.1...

“Ambassador, you’re really spoiling us!” Diplomatic gifts and profligate autocrats - The Review of International Organizations

The Review of International Organizations - Qatar’s “unconditional” gift of a $400 million Boeing 747-8 to Donald Trump serves as a reminder that states have long used diplomatic...

link.springer.com

The 2026 edition continued a tradition that has shaped the field since 2008, creating space for collaboration, feedback and academic community across career stages. Read more 👉 www.hertie-school.org/en/news/allc...

Visions in Methodology in Berlin: A conversation with Professor Asya Magazinnik

At the end of May and with spring in full bloom, Berlin became a hub for a growing and influential community of women scholars in political methodology. For three days, the Visions in Methodology conference turned the Hertie School into a space of research exchange, mentorship and collaboration

hertie-school.org

New article in @coco-journal.bsky.social! B. Reinsberg and I ask: does competition in the global development finance HIC improve results? Drawing on data from 30 MDBs across 144 countries, our answer is: yes, it can - at least among major development banks. Check out our piece: bit.ly/49HTEir

Fresh out of the oven! Thanks to the members of @qmul-sse-cgd.bsky.social, @sajuria.com, @liviosilva.bsky.social, @ktertytchnaya.bsky.social for their comments and suggestions!

Women in Legislative Studies@winls.bsky.social · 6mo ago

What explains differences in policymaking processes and outcomes across authoritarian regimes even when they share regime type, policy challenges and goals? @emisimison.bsky.social (@qmulsse.bsky.social) proposes a novel framework in @govjournal.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/gove...

Why are legislatures in some authoritarian regimes more powerful than others? @emisimison.bsky.social (@qmulsse.bsky.social) & Alejandro Bonvecchi (UTDT-Conicet) tackle this question Lawmaking under Authoritarianism. Factions, Institutions, and Outcomes Across Dictatorships doi.org/10.1017/9781...

Lawmaking under Authoritarianism

Cambridge Core - Latin American Government, Politics and Policy - Lawmaking under Authoritarianism

doi.org

Up to 23 percent of papers published in conference proceedings with a leading publisher had coauthorships for sale at some point

Solal Pirelli@solalpirelli.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Did you know there's a barely hidden market for authorship of fake scientific papers in conferences? New preprint w/ @abalkina.bsky.social, @mkunesova.bsky.social, and @yaamurozturk.bsky.social : arxiv.org/abs/2604.22458 We found 4,000+ ads & matched them to 1,720 IEEE conf. papers! ...🧵

🚀 Come work with us: 7 PhD positions in #InequalityResearch at the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”, @uni-konstanz.de Fully funded (TV-L E13, 75%, 4 years) Start: 1 Oct 2026 Application deadline: 15 Apr 2026 ℹ️ t1p.de/j3vk5, apply here: t1p.de/h5mz9

This #WomensHistoryMonth, we recommend "Simone de Beauvoir Studies", edited by Claudia Bouliane. A multidisciplinary journal dedicated to themes relevant to Simone de Beauvoir’s legacy, such as gender, sexuality, race, feminism, postcolonialism and political activism. Link below! ⬇️

Just out! 💥 @ecprtheloop.bsky.social Populists often criticise international organisations but still work through them. Trump? More likely to walk out — and make the exit part of the show. My new piece looks at multilateralism, populism, and politics as performance 👇

The Loop@ecprtheloop.bsky.social · 8mo ago

🔮 #FutureOfPopulism No.101 🔬 @giadapasquettaz.bsky.social argues that although Trump is indeed a populist, he is a distinct species within the category. ❎️ Unlike other populist leaders, Trump doesn't seek to reshape #Multilateralism from within. Instead, he rejects it altogether. 👉 bit.ly/4aVu1M2

"How do authoritarian actors navigate the liberal international order, adopting democratic facades without committing to democratic principles?" Federico Salvati engages with this question in our latest issue! Out now, and #OpenAccess 📘 👉 buff.ly/DdO3S1R

Women’s participation in skills training Pakistan is constrained primarily by social and safety barriers, rather than preferences or the ability to monetise skills. Read today's article to learn more:

VoxDev@voxdev.bsky.social · 8mo ago

🆕 When women can’t move freely and easily, they can’t participate in the labour force Today on VoxDev, Ali Cheema (LUMS), Asim Khwaja (Harvard), Farooq Naseer (LUMS) & Jacob Shapiro (Princeton) discuss mobility barriers to women's economic participation: voxdev.org/topic/labour...

We are happy to release the Paths to Power Dashboard. It is the perfect tool for politics nerds! You can find it here: ptp.isv.sv.uio.no/ptp/ It allows you to explore governments from 1966-2021 using the PtP and WhoGov datasets. See examples below. The app has been programmed by Stuart Bramwell.

IR Realists saying farewell to the Rational Actor Assumption

From November 2025 - Are Democratic Innovations Legitimate to the Broader Public? Evidence from Survey Experiments in Ghana - https://cup.org/47DOSRd - Eric Kramon #OpenAccess

📢New issue of #PAG21 is out!📢 In "Wording Matters" @michaelhansenphd.bsky.social employs a survey experiment to test the effect of different frames on support for women's reproductive rights. 🌟Available #OpenAccess🌟 polisky gendersky buff.ly/8CmpDpK