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Perspectives on Politics

@poppublicsphere.bsky.social

Peer-reviewed journal of the American Political Science Association, cultivating a political science public sphere. https://apsanet.org/publications/journals/perspectives-on-politics/

238 Posts2061 Follower 1415 Folgt

Nuffield College Library @nuffieldlibrary.bsky.social · 3d ago

This commentary builds on the authors' paper in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social Rethinking the deterrence-disarmament dichotomy: The complex landscape of global nuclear weapons preferences doi.org/10.1017/S153...

Rethinking the Deterrence-Disarmament Dichotomy: The Complex Landscape of Global Nuclear Weapons Preferences | Perspectives on Politics | Cambridge Core

Rethinking the Deterrence-Disarmament Dichotomy: The Complex Landscape of Global Nuclear Weapons Preferences

doi.org

Perspectives on Politics @poppublicsphere.bsky.social · 3d ago

NOW OUT ON FIRSTVIEW!! How Do #Voters Reason about Intraparty Democracy? #Constraints Rather than #Influence By Ann-Kristin Kölln & Helene Helboe Pedersen www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · 4d ago

#OpenAccess from @poppublicsphere.bsky.social - How Do Voters Reason about Intraparty Democracy? Constraints Rather than Influence - https://cup.org/4hyGoRK - @annkristinkolln.bsky.social & Helene Helboe Pedersen #FirstView

The image features the text "Perspectives on Politics" in bold, blue letters on a white background, with an illustration of a person holding a megaphone in the background. The bottom section reads "#OpenAccess" in white on a blue background.

Perspectives on Politics @poppublicsphere.bsky.social · 4d ago

NOW OUT ON FIRSTVIEW!! One Message, Multiple Functions: Local #Propaganda as Bureaucratic Trace Management By Jianjun Yu www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · 5d ago

#FirstView from @poppublicsphere.bsky.social - One Message, Multiple Functions: Local Propaganda as Bureaucratic Trace Management - https://cup.org/4ARvgqC - Jianjun Yu #FirstView

Banner image featuring the title 'Perspectives on Politics' over a city skyline, with a prominent graffiti quote about free speech and journalism, hashtagged #FirstView.

Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · last wk.

Perspectives on Politics - Volume 24 - Issue 3 - https://cup.org/4cFOy7V Where not #OpenAccess, this issue of @poppublicsphere.bsky.social is free to read until the end of October 2026

Cover of "Perspectives on Politics" journal, featuring an illustration of a figure with multiple arms, each holding different weapons and tools. The figure stands on a field of small houses, against a backdrop of soldiers. Text reads: "Special Section: Authoritarian Politics.

Perspectives on Politics @poppublicsphere.bsky.social · last wk.

Thank you, CUP, as always!!

Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR@cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · last wk.

Perspectives on Politics - Volume 24 - Issue 3 - https://cup.org/4cFOy7V Where not #OpenAccess, this issue of @poppublicsphere.bsky.social is free to read until the end of October 2026

Perspectives on Politics @poppublicsphere.bsky.social · last wk.

NOW OUT ON FIRSTVIEW!! Think #Globally, Act #Locally: The Determinants of Local Policy Makers’ Support for #Climate #Policy By @sabrinabarias.bsky.social & Joshua A. Schwartz www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Perspectives on Politics @poppublicsphere.bsky.social · last wk.

NOW OUT ON FIRSTVIEW!! From Courtiers to Courtship: #Tory #Feminism & the Political Dangers of #Flattery By Geertje Jeanne Bol & @maryjomacdonald.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Perspectives on Politics @poppublicsphere.bsky.social · last wk.

NOW OUT ON FIRSTVIEW!! The Disappearance of #Political #Moderates Online: How the Privacy Function of #Social #Media Amplifies Observed Political Polarization By Fuhai Hong, Shouzhi Xia & Chen Zhang www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology @cmist-cmu.bsky.social · 2w ago

What kinds of environmental plans do local policymakers support? In Perspectives on Politics, @sabrinabarias.bsky.social and CMIST's @joshschwartz.bsky.social demonstrate that the probability of policy adoption can be increased by strategic design. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Think Globally, Act Locally: The Determinants of Local Policy Makers’ Support for Climate Policy | Perspectives on Politics | Cambridge Core

Think Globally, Act Locally: The Determinants of Local Policy Makers’ Support for Climate Policy

cambridge.org

Research Group on Constitutional Studies, McGill University @rgcs-mcgill.bsky.social · 2w ago

“From Courtiers to Courtship: Tory Feminism and the Dangers of Flattery,” co-authored with Geertje Bol, in Perspectives on Politics. doi.org/10.1017/S153... 2/2

Abstract: Flattery appears to be a trivial vice, yet it receives a curious amount of attention in contemporary political analysis. Scholars often view flattery as a symptom of autocratic regimes, an association with a much longer history. In seventeenth-century England, republicans likewise understood the courtier’s flattery as a humiliating sign of slavish dependence on the ruler. This article complicates this position by turning to an understudied perspective in the history of political thought: Tory feminism. We show how two Tory feminists, Mary Astell and Judith Drake, challenged the standard republican narrative by drawing on a broader set of experiences—namely, the dynamics of flattery in courtship. We argue that they used the example of courtship to isolate the true wrong of flattery: its employment to subordinate the flattered. Astell and Drake applied this insight to the political realm, contending that the most morally troubling forms of flattery emerge not in monarchical courts, but in republican political spaces. Recovering the perspectives of Astell and Drake is not merely a matter of diversifying the canon; it also shows how gendered assumptions have shaped our conceptual history of flattery. A more complete account of flattery—its value, dangers, and the political environments in which it flourishes—requires attention to the insights of these Tory women.

Perspectives on Politics @poppublicsphere.bsky.social · last wk.

NOW OUT ON FIRSTVIEW!! Toward Solidarity in #Democratic #Theory & Practice By John N. Medearis www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Women in the History of Political Thought @whpt.bsky.social · 2w ago

@maryjomacdonald.bsky.social and Geertje Bol wrote on why flattery of rulers isn't the kind of flattery you should be worried about... Tory feminists show us that flattery is particularly dangerous when it is used to subordinate. 👩‍🏫 First presented at the 2024 WHPT conference in Ghent!

Jan Eijking@janeijking.com · 2w ago

Excellent new article in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social by Geertje Bol ( @whpt.bsky.social ) and @maryjomacdonald.bsky.social 👏 "From Courtiers to Courtship: Tory Feminism and the Political Dangers of Flattery" 👇 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Perspectives on Politics @poppublicsphere.bsky.social · last wk.

NOW OUT ON FIRSTVIEW!! Closing the Gap: #Gender, #Race, & #Welfare-State Knowledge By Jasmine English www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Perspectives on Politics @poppublicsphere.bsky.social · last wk.

NOW OUT ON FIRSTVIEW!! American Public Support for #Higher #Education in the Trump Era By Leonie Huddy & Seden Yilmazturk www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · last wk.

To round these critical perspectives on polarization out, you cannot do better than @pettertornberg.com's essential recent @poppublicsphere.bsky.social article, available here open access: doi.org/10.1017/S153...

It’s Not Polarization; It’s the Radicalization of the Political Right

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 July 2026
Petter Törnberg

Abstract

Polarization has become the master concept for diagnosing contemporary democratic crises. The notion denotes three features: symmetry between parties, politics as an opinion space where positions diverge, and mutual repulsion between opposing camps. Yet none of these capture current realities. Across democracies, the central dynamic is not two poles drifting apart but the transformation of the political right into authoritarianism, norm breaking, and openness to political violence. Social democratic and center-right parties tend to respond in the opposite way from what “polarization” implies: by accommodating rightward. Attempts to salvage the polarization frame with modifiers (“asymmetric,” “affective,” “sectarian,” “pernicious”) concede these realities but risk hollowing out the concept’s definitional core. These limitations reveal a deeper misdiagnosis: when one party turns antidemocratic and illiberal, incivility and conflict are inevitable—but they are symptoms, not the root problem. Misdiagnosing them as the central issue leads to viewing civility and compromise as remedies, thereby risking the legitimation of authoritarian actors. This article proposes an alternative lens: the radicalization of the political right. Developed in the study of extremism, the radicalization framework better captures asymmetric change, identity-driven politics, and the mainstreaming of illiberalism. It foregrounds identity fusion, threat narratives, elite entrepreneurship, and escalation. Concepts are never politically innocent and persisting with “polarization” risks both misdiagnosing and normalizing authoritarian threats.
Keywords
Political polarization
radicalization
democratic backsliding
radical right
authoritarianism
democracy

Department of Politics & International Studies, Uni of Cambridge @campolis.bsky.social · last wk.

📄 New in Perspectives on Politics by POLIS PhD candidate @connorpobrien.bsky.social: ‘Good Governance as Responsible Sovereignty’ 🏛️ Reconstructing Francis Deng’s contributions to conflict management & global governance: 🔗 www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #PolSci #IntRelations #OpenAccess

Joshua Schwartz @joshschwartz.bsky.social · 2w ago

It's been 6 years (!) in the making, but I'm happy to share a new piece in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social w/ @sabrinabarias.bsky.social. Since federal efforts to combat climate change have been reversed, we evaluate the kinds of environmental plans *local* policymakers support doi.org/10.1017/S153...

Think Globally, Act Locally: The Determinants of Local Policy Makers’ Support for Climate Policy | Perspectives on Politics | Cambridge Core

Think Globally, Act Locally: The Determinants of Local Policy Makers’ Support for Climate Policy

doi.org

Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · 2w ago

CALL FOR PAPERS Submit papers on "Qualitative Bayesian Reasoning in Practice" is a special issue of @poppublicsphere.bsky.social. APSA welcomes case studies, comparative work, and multimethod research. Submit by December 10, 2026 - https://cup.org/4xxMF4U

Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · 2w ago

#OpenAccess from @poppublicsphere.bsky.social - Think Globally, Act Locally: The Determinants of Local Policy Makers’ Support for Climate Policy - https://cup.org/3VF6vOa - @sabrinabarias.bsky.social & Joshua A. Schwartz #FirstView

Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · 2w ago

#OpenAccess from @poppublicsphere.bsky.social - Closing the Gap: Gender, Race, and Welfare-State Knowledge - https://cup.org/4jdDD9N - Jasmine English #FirstView

APSA @apsa.bsky.social · 2w ago

Studying qualitative Bayesian reasoning or curious about it? @poppublicsphere.bsky.social wants your work on a special issue on broadening a conversation beyond methodologists. Submit by Dec 10th! View submission details: buff.ly/zEt4KfT

Calls for Papers - American Political Science Association (APSA)

Calls for Papers Calls for Papers Please find any active calls for papers for Perspectives on Politics below. Qualitative Bayesian Reasoning in Practice

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Mary Jo MacDonald @maryjomacdonald.bsky.social · 2w ago

In our new article in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social , Geertje Bol and I turn to Tory feminists who use flattery between the sexes to challenge our assumptions about what flattery is, in what environments it flourishes, and the dangers it poses to politics. doi.org/10.1017/S153...

From Courtiers to Courtship: Tory Feminism and the Political Dangers of Flattery | Perspectives on Politics | Cambridge Core

From Courtiers to Courtship: Tory Feminism and the Political Dangers of Flattery

doi.org

Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · 2w ago

#OpenAccess from @poppublicsphere.bsky.social - Toward Solidarity in Democratic Theory and Practice - https://cup.org/4hElW0G - John N. Medearis #FirstView

Jan Eijking @janeijking.com · 2w ago

From Courtiers to Courtship: Tory Feminism and the Political Dangers of Flattery | Perspectives on Politics | Cambridge Core

From Courtiers to Courtship: Tory Feminism and the Political Dangers of Flattery

cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · 2w ago

NEW ISSUE from @poppublicsphere.bsky.social - Perspectives on Politics - Volume 24 - Special Issue 3 - September 2026 https://cup.org/4cFOy7V Special Section: Authoritarian Politics

Perspectives on Politics @poppublicsphere.bsky.social · 3w ago

NOW OUT ON FIRSTVIEW!! The #Democracy–#Decarbonization Dilemma: Can #Climate #Assemblies Provide an Escape Route? By @fergusgreen.bsky.social & @michelezadra.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Perspectives on Politics @poppublicsphere.bsky.social · 3w ago

NOW OUT ON FIRSTVIEW!! Positional Blurring in Context: How #Dimensionality & #Ideology Constrain #Strategy By @ndelacerda.bsky.social & @jacobgunderson.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Perspectives on Politics @poppublicsphere.bsky.social · 3w ago