"As both sides build up their arsenals and collude in defrauding the state, they are inexorably pushing Libya toward crisis. Boulos, seeking to cement the status quo by entrenching the rule of the two families, may turn out to be the harbinger of its collapse." My latest, in @nybooks.com

Libya: The Dangerous Gamble | Wolfram Lacher

On my last visit to Tripoli, this past June, the city often felt as if it had left the protracted conflicts of Libya’s post-Qaddafi era behind. At night,

nybooks.com

My reading on my way to Manchester for #POLNET. We need more exhaustive single-country books like this.

New post: those wanting Jason Arday to face 'justice' of some kind are not going to get what they want willd10.substack.com/p/how-the-ja...

How the Jason Arday affair will fizzle out

Truth is a social system. Sorry.

willd10.substack.com

I'm developing a taste for small conferences. After @wzb.bsky.social's #MoPED in Berlin last month, I'm getting ready for @politicalnetworks.bsky.social's #POLNET2026, next week in Manchester, to present this paper on "Gendered Informational Inequality in Elite Networks" (available upon request).

‼️With my @giga-hamburg.de colleagues, David Kühn and Thomas Richter, I had the pleasure of co-editing this #JustPublished Special Issue. Several articles—including our introduction and our own research contribution—are #OpenAccess. Check them out!‼️1/2 www.tandfonline.com/toc/fdem20/c...

Democratization

The Personalization of Political Power Revisited; Guest Editors: David Kuehn, Mariana Llanos and Thomas Richter. Volume 33, Issue 5 of Democratization

tandfonline.com

In a similar vein, by the marvellous @mooseallain.bsky.social

If you get the chance, go and see "My father and Qaddafi". A story that is personal and political and very well told! Thanks to @lpoolarabartsfest.bsky.social for showing it to Liverpool & to colleagues @liverpooluni.bsky.social for the conversation with the director. www.myfatherandqaddafi.com

My Father and Qaddafi

A daughter unravels the disappearance of her father, the peaceful opposition leader to Qaddafi, and pieces together her mother’s 19-year search to find him. Without any memory of her father, she tries...

myfatherandqaddafi.com

"Kuwait has been targeted by nearly 1,400 missile and drone attacks, according to INSS, second only to the United Arab Emirates — and has borne the brunt of renewed strikes since a fragile weeks-long ceasefire between Washington and Tehran broke down this month."

The Gulf nation that became Iran’s softest target

Kuwait, still scarred by the 1990 Iraqi invasion, has been repeatedly attacked by Tehran and its allies

giftarticle.ft.com

The anatomy of an AI-supported academic article is becoming more apparent. I desk reviewed ~70 manuscripts this week for our journal. Reckon 20ish had significant AI assistance. On top of hundreds of others recently I'm starting to see patterns. Are other editors are seeing the same or similar? 1/

Useful overview of North Africa's multiple vulnerabilities to the US-Iran war: Energy prices, fertiliser, remittances. And the impact is uneven across countries.

ECFR MENA@ecfrmena.bsky.social · 3w ago

📑 NEW @ecfr.eu commentary by @tmegrisi.bsky.social: the war between the US & Iran is destabilising North African economies, putting an already fragile region at the very edge of polycrisis. Read the piece here 👇 ecfr.eu/article/down...

🚨 Call for papers for the annual IPEG-BISA workshop 🚨 'Things fall apart? Towards an anticipatory international political economy in an age of global disorder' 🌍 Held on 15-16 October this year at The University of Manchesterr 💵 Submit before 15 August 👉 https://ow.ly/zftV50ZmQWx

I don’t know if people elsewhere realise how bad this is but I’m in Liverpool and I can’t open my windows because the air is so smoky outside.

Sky News@news.sky.com · 3w ago

Drone footage captures wildfire in Wales

If students are simply uninterested in the core bargain of a class like this, it’s hard to know what to do. You teach the material because you think it’s important they know it; they don’t give a shit, but want the credential; and the university wants their money. Your main option is “pretend”.

Andrew Heiss@andrew.heiss.phd · 4w ago

woof ≈80% of assignments this summer term have essentially been just raw chatgpt/claude output, including assignments that required designing stuff in illustrator/affinity/canva. The battle is lost for asynchronous online courses.

This is fascinating reporting from @wsj.com - what pretends to be a story about Mark Carney, Europe and NATO, is really a story about the world of high finance, which benefitted from the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, now regrouping to outlive the Trump crisis. www.wsj.com/world/europe...

The Canadian Who Steered Europe Away From the U.S.

Facing threats from Trump, Carney emerged as a central figure in a project to reshape the Western alliance.

wsj.com

Overturn this! 😎

Fordham's political science department is hiring two tenure-line assistant professors, one in Judicial Politics & one in Comparative Urban Politics. Deadlines for both are 15 September. More here: Judicial politics: apply.interfolio.com/189030 Comparative Urban politics: apply.interfolio.com/189029

This is up there with an (early) interview in Arablish where the guy was annoyed they didn’t teach me enough (as I wrote down) Carol Marquez. He was right. I didn’t learn enough Marx.

Ian M Hartshorn@ianmhartshorn.com · last mo.

When I was writing my first book a key part was understanding relations between Egypt and IGOs focused on labor. Notable among these was the ILO which for many years had a massive campaign called “red card to child labor” In an interview in Geneva I asked why the marketing had so many soccer puns.

A reminder - because the deadline is Tuesday! - that my great team and I at Staffs are looking for a lecturer/SL in Intelligence Studies, who can also teach Security Studies. 2-year, full-time position.

Tony Craig@tonycraig.bsky.social · last mo.

Just advertised, a job as Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Intelligence Studies and International Security. jobs.staffs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx... Exciting job, in a great team, but with a short turnaround. Applications close 7 July.

Gerade sitze ich in Erfurt in einer Kirche - und was soll ich sagen: sie ist voll bis auf den letzten Platz von Menschen, die sich morgen gegen die AfD friedlich #widersetzen wollen. Die Pfarrerin spricht über Würde, jung und alt sitzen zusammen, von bieder bis sehr bunt - wirklich erbaulich.

I am very glad to see how widely covered the insanity at Exeter is, but please I beg everyone, understand this is happening EVERYWHERE in UK universities. If people care about anything valuable that this sector does or contributes too, they need to get loud, now.

George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social · last mo.

Something deeply troubling & shocking is happening at Exeter University*, where a mass cull of staff is planned, even though it's in surplus. No good justifications given. @jamesgdyke.info provides the details: www.technosphere.earth/the-bonfire-... *Disclosure: I have a Visiting Fellowship here. +🧵

'Teaching-focused academics across the UK are increasingly evaluated on their capacity for “innovation” and “creation”. Yet within many promotion frameworks, these terms remain conceptually unclear, unevenly applied, and difficult to evidence consistently.'

Create or crumble is no way to run a promotion system

Tom Lewis unpacks the vague innovation criteria driving promotion for teaching-focused academics – and makes the case for collaboration over individual reinvention

wonkhe.com

Who are the crypto bros? The amazing Izaura Solipa crunched the data. Short answer: Crypto bros share the same privileged traits, educational credentials, and institutional access that characterize elites in 'traditional' Wall Street segments. Just out in SER: academic.oup.com/ser/advance-...

Linekers Lachen…

Die Geisteswissenschaften sind auf der Abschussliste: ein schockierender Bericht über die massenhaften Streichungen von Stellen und Fächern an britischen Universitäten zeitung.faz.net/data/863/rea...

An excellent opportunity for early career researchers and policy/advocacy people working on arms trade and related issues, including humanitarian disarmament, civilian harm, etc., to develop knowledge and skills as part of a community of peers, supported and mentored by experienced experts.

Forum on the Arms Trade@forumarmstrade.bsky.social · last mo.

📣 We are now accepting applications for the 2026-2027 Emerging Experts Program. Learn more and register for our information session below! www.forumarmstrade.org/emerging_faq...

Folks looking to expand their Lebanon (not to mention Middle East and beyond) library should take advantage of @stanfordpress.bsky.social 4-day sale (53% discount on all in-stock print and ebook titles June 23-26). User code SGermain at checkout for 53% off.

What is happening to the humanities at British universities? Here is my report, published in today's FAZ:

New review paper from Matt Zook and I on Cryptocurrencies in Geography. We use the idea of Monetary Interregnum to situate new spaces of crypto in the present conjuncture. Open access for now at this link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Universities don't currently have a 'business model'. Home UGs do not provide it, and overseas PGs are viewed as too (geo)politically volatile to be relied on. Hence, we're in the situation where the highest-ranking 30 universities live off the other 100, aka 'accumulation by dispossession'