POLSCI/Academic hivemind, I need some help. I have at the last minute been asked to fill in for a course called Applied Politics. I'm looking for recommendations for shorter books at the intersection of political science/current policy debates, both domestically and internationally.

For the record: this is more or less my take, put in much more succinct wording than I can manage at the moment.

Eric Blair@protecttruth.bsky.social · 2d ago

lots of DNC stories and I’m seeing all kinds of crazy accusations and responses. Let me summarize the reality 1. Ken Martin is taking on DC corp/centrist consultants. Many of the leaks/hit pieces are sourced to them. 2. Martin is shifting $ to states and on-the-ground early spending. Good.

For our mega-survey on populist attitudes, we asked whether people would prefer a more multi-party system or a two-party system. The former blew the latter out of the water. Asked about specific reforms to get there, people are less sure. Also, Trump populists are the most fond of the status quo.

Americans Hate the Two-Party System But Don’t Know What Should Replace It, ISMA Populism Survey Finds

Voters overwhelmingly want something different, but don’t know or understand the reform options on the table

theunpopulist.net

University president is a job I wouldn't want, and I think a tough, relatively thankless one. And, for an academic, it likely means a slightly earlier than usual career-end date. So a higher end salary seems justified. At no university should that number be 7 figures.

Anil Kalhan@akalhan.bsky.social · last wk.

Some impressively obscene grifts here

Ok so this lady says solar panels are getting built on "the most productive farmland" in her area. Which just ain't true at all. It ain't true here in NC either. Where I ALSO hear that talking point over & over again. Smells like astroturf! So let's get the dirt on solar farms & dirt ✨

David Roberts@volts.wtf · 6d ago

I genuinely don't know what to do about this. In our diseased information environment, one MAGA-adjacent "influencer" can do more to shape public opinion than mountains of studies or facts. Where are the pro-clean-energy influencers to counter this shit?

The cost of losing local journalism is more than just a metaphorical one. A group of finance professors found that fewer local reporters are leading to higher municipal borrowing costs for local governments. Thanks to @rebuildlocalnews.bsky.social for chatting - www.kuaf.com/show/ozarks-...

Fewer local reporters may mean higher borrowing costs for local governments

Researchers Dermot Murphy of the University of Illinois Chicago and Matt Baker of Rebuild Local News explain how shrinking local news coverage drives up what local governments pay to borrow.

kuaf.com

This should be 9-0, the claim that the president has any such EO authority is facially absurd. Actual likely result: at least 3 and maybe 4 of the Republican six will go for it. Probably enough defectors to combine with the Dems and get to 5, but it won't be a majority of the Rs getting it right.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · last wk.

Breaking News: President Trump asked the Supreme Court to clear the way for an executive order to restrict voting by mail, as he pushes for more control over voting ahead of the midterms.

And it's 1 percent per infection! With how we now know the disease evolves, that number is likely higher by a substantial margin.

Cheryl Rofer@cherylrofer.bsky.social · last wk.

These men are simply expressing their pique on being told what to do during a time of extreme danger. One percent of the US population is 3 million people.

Peter Navarro providing evidence for his attempted mass murder case.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.

Peter Navarro: "I had a million doses of hydroxychloroquine in warehouses as the defense policy coordinator that I was trying to distribute to hospitals. And Fauci got the FDA stop me from doing that."

🚨NEW WORKING PAPER🚨 w/ @mjstrawbridge.bsky.social and @stephanieternullo.bsky.social. We help explain the puzzle of steadfast Black identification with the Democratic party by providing new theory and evidence on the role of racial residential segregation 1/n

I’m a bit overwhelmed at how this post took off. And I feel very exposed. 😬 That said, there are certainly enough unemployed freelancers on here that we should try to bad together to make something. Slide into my DMs if you feel like trying to figure something out together.

Julie DiCaro@juliedicaro.bsky.social · last wk.

I am 53 and have been essentially forced into retirement. I thought it was just me, until I found an entire community of women in the same situation on Instagram. So many of us have just been told that we simply have nothing to contribute to society anymore.

New jobs in medieval, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, and art history! 🧵 memorients.com/news/washing...

Washington and Lee University - Assistant Professor of Medieval European History | MEMOs

Washington and Lee University (Lexington, VA, USA)

memorients.com

This is a cool dashboard.

Brayden@braydecker.bsky.social · 2w ago

I recently took 2024 CES data and mapped out clusters of the American electorate that may form parties if reform were to happen. You can find the simulation here where you can map out different scenarios in the House and see profiles of the different parties: usmultipartysystem.pages.dev?tab=house

Out today!

Princeton University Press@princetonupress.bsky.social · 2w ago

How goods and people in motion across the ancient world were entangled through consumption. Sea of Treasures by @caeliambulator.bsky.social is now available (15 September UK/EU pub). Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... #AncientWorld #AncientHistory #History

After the Trump administration's announcement last week that they intend to shrink Bear's Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments by up to 90 percent, clearing the way for mining and oil exploration, I joined ~150 folks protesting here in St. George, and thousands across the state

New white paper from myself + colleagues: Implementation of Medicaid Work Requirements: Key Design Considerations and Strategies to Minimize Avoidable Coverage Loss hsph.me/Medicaid-Wor... We synthesize evidence in the peer-reviewed and gray literature to identify key lessons + recommendations

Wrote about PlayStation's decision to end disc production and the bleak future it might be the catalyst to. Thanks to @jaredrusso.bsky.social for lettin' me get some thoughts out. Hopefully more soon! 🙏 videogame.town/2026/07/16/p...

PlayStation Ending Disc Production Paints A Bleak Future For Game Ownership

We need digital rights legislation NOW!

videogame.town

Electoral reform in the US has often pursued an anti-party route, but there's a growing critique of how that impulse has been ineffective or even backfired. Instead, party-strengthening and pro-multiparty reforms like PR are gaining steam. I sat down with @leedrutman.bsky.social to talk about why.

Fixing America's Negative Polarization With Proportional Representation: A Conversation With Lee Drutman

Presidentialism plus single-member districts is a bad combination that incentivizes leaders to consolidate power by fueling division.

theunpopulist.net

This is a really good explainer about the mortality estimates around USAID. One big point is that dismantling USAID also dismantled one of the main sources of mortality data in some of these regions. Early indicators of mortality are very worrying.

The New Yorker@newyorker.com · 3w ago

Elon Musk’s cuts to U.S.A.I.D. led to some 700,000 deaths, Atul Gawande says. www.newyorker.com/news/the-new...

Happy to share that I've (re)joined @aleininger.bsky.social at @uni-hamburg.de as a postdoc! I'll continue my research on party organizations, building on my dissertation @princeton.edu. My first dissertation spin-off examines how far-right parties tap into rural communities. 1/5

I will take back every rude thing I have ever said about England if Count Binface beats Nigel Farage in the by-election

And there is very likely a reverse coattails impact from this kind of spending on downballot races. Those candidates are able to mobilize voters that Talarico maybe cannot.

Asher Elbein@asherelbein.bsky.social · 4w ago

This is a *very* smart thing to do with his fundraising haul. It's not like they let you keep the cash afterward: might as well put it to work while it might do some good

Publishing academic articles is part of the job of being a professor or researcher. Having to pay some of your salary back in order to do your job is wage theft.

Robin Ryder@robinryder.bsky.social · 4w ago

Springer Nature recently announced that for all future articles, authors would have to pay Article Processing Charges of $2990.

A *real* commitment to working class power is not that there's one person who is the avatar of that in some herrenvolk way (whether it's a seemingly shitty person like Platner or a seemingly cool person like AOC) but the idea that most people are better than corporate shills.

A study concluded that the uninhibited pumping of groundwater by farmers, cities and corporations around the world now accounts for 68% of the total loss of fresh water at the latitudes where most people live. (Published July 2025)

“Staggering” Water Loss Driven by Groundwater Mining Poses Global Threat

A new study finds that freshwater resources are rapidly disappearing, creating arid “mega” regions and causing sea levels to rise.

propublica.org

Real idea: As part of the effort to get DC and PR statehood, next Dem president should invent about State Weeks. Each of the 52 states gets its own celebration week every year. A random July week is Montana week. Tourism bonanzas. Televised lottery every year for week placement. We ain't above this.

🚨My Annual Review article "Endogenous State Capacity" is now available online. I am very grateful for the rich conversations with @annagbusse.bsky.social @pberamendi.bsky.social Cathy Boone, David Stasavage, Emily Sellars, Volha Charnysh, Dann Naseemullah, Francesca Jensenius, Mai Hassan & Xiuyu Li.

This story strikes close to home, and the intransigence of the University of Michigan in the face of clear wrongdoing is probably the most frustrating part. What Kame is requesting is modest and well within the university's power to grant.

In one move, the Suns unraveled the goodwill they built back up last year, contradicted their talk about "high character," and alienated a segment of the fanbase. For @sunsafterdark.bsky.social, I wrote about the non-basketball side of trading for Miles Bridges:

Whatever culture and goodwill the Suns built back up, the Miles Bridges trade just demolished it | Suns After Dark: A Phoenix Suns Pod Site

The Phoenix Suns have wanted Miles Bridges for years. In a trade agreement reported Sunday by ESPN's Chams Sharania, they finally got him. A

bit.ly

Do your own research about the efficacy of a vaccine with a 60 year history. However you must defer to the wisdom of a man with a 3 year post grad degree on issues of critical importance based on what he imagines a man 200 years ago was thinking about.