Jonathan Caverley
@jcaverley.bsky.social
Political scientist who is a visiting senior fellow at IISS and professor (on leave) at the US Naval War College. Sure it works in practice, but how does it work in theory? Opinions are mine.
War is not the answer is often styled by hawks as a hippie slogan but it’s just the plain truth most of the time.
ljconrad@ljconrad.bsky.social · 2mo ago🎁🔗: The U.S. Had No Choice but Diplomacy—Yet Again www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
“Right now, we’re doing a pause in order to make sure we have the munitions we need for Epic Fury – which we have plenty”
US pausing $14bn arms sale to Taiwan due to Iran war, navy chief says
Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao's remarks come as US President Donald Trump gives mixed signals on the sale.
www-aljazeera-com.cdn.ampproject.org
One of the field's most interesting scholars in civi-military relations writing on a very important and timely target.
Christoph Harig@charig.bsky.social · 4mo agoCan civil-military relations scholarship provide prescriptive normative guidance for military leaders' appropriate behaviour in democratic backsliding? My new article in @journalofgss.bsky.social debates this civil-military conundrum academic.oup.com/jogss/articl... #CivMilSKy
Can civil-military relations scholarship provide prescriptive normative guidance for military leaders' appropriate behaviour in democratic backsliding? My new article in @journalofgss.bsky.social debates this civil-military conundrum academic.oup.com/jogss/articl... #CivMilSKy
I would spend foolishly on trucks and air lift. They will not go out of trend. (And if an ICE truck, make the body and works modular so electrics can be adapted when it is robust enough for military use.)
Gulf chaos further compounds European states' incentives to arm selfishly & wastefully now versus collectively & cost-effectively later. Germany/Poland generate most new capability; France/UK nuclear deterrence & mild power projection. It's probably enough. www.foreignaffairs.com/europe/europ...
Europe’s New Defense Core
As America steps back, four countries will shape the continent’s security.
foreignaffairs.com
chat i'm going to ask a somewhat prickly question: what do you (fellow political scientists) want out of your professional association right now (knowing that this is a sample of Very Online People and folks with wildly differing opinions)
Adam Smith observed that there’s a lot of ruin in a nation, I continue to be surprised by how much ruin there is in a hegemon. www.ft.com/content/a6d0... America keeps bailing out Trump
America keeps bailing out Trump
The country’s underlying strengths are absorbing his erratic choices, including the war on Iran
ft.com
Secretary Hegseth's public comments reveal a key shift in US civil-military relations that hasn't gotten enough attention. NYT recently described his view of war as without "moral purpose" but more accurately he assigns war *no* political or strategic purpose. 1/7 www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/u...
How Hegseth Came to See Moral Purpose in War as Weakness
nytimes.com
Secretary Hegseth's public comments reveal a key shift in US civil-military relations that hasn't gotten enough attention. NYT recently described his view of war as without "moral purpose" but more accurately he assigns war *no* political or strategic purpose. 1/7 www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/u...
How Hegseth Came to See Moral Purpose in War as Weakness
nytimes.com
It is remarkable how little industry knows about the Navy and vice versa.
Shoe@shoe.bsky.social · 5mo agoThere goes that. It had a good 2 hour run.
Back in 2020, Lindsay Cohn, Dani Lupton and I wrote about the danger of domestic law enforcement making itself indistinguishable from the military www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Analysis | What’s happening in Portland could hurt civilian control of the military. Here’s how.
Blurring the line between police and military could create an internal security force accountable to only one political branch or official.
washingtonpost.com
VoteVets@votevets.org · 7mo agoKNOW THE DIFFERENCE: Minnesota National Guard under Gov Walz's command will not be wearing facemasks and will have reflective vests on. This will distinguish them from the people cosplaying for ICE/CBP/DHS.
“Even if a regime change operation succeeds at first, history again shows that long-term outcomes are often disappointing,” write Alexander Downes and Lindsey O’Rourke.
The Regime Change Temptation in Venezuela
If past is prologue, a U.S. attempt to overthrow Maduro would not end well.
foreignaffairs.com
hey fellow authors, I received my Anthropic copyright settlement materials in the mail today. I thought I'd filed a claim already, but it turns out I needed to do so again. Might be worth double-checking or filing a new claim, just to be sure You can do so here: www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com
Returning today from some European events on transatlantic relations. No doubt the colleagues I met are revising their priors further. All such documents are tools of domestic as much as international politics. This one seems almost entirely aimed at the former. www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
whitehouse.gov
This is dead right. Elites in China, India, the US and elsewhere took Huntington’s naive essentialism and turned it into an instruction manual for mobilization. academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
The Domestic Sources of Grand Strategy
AbstractOver the past decades of American-dominated International Relations, research on domestic sources of grand strategy has largely coalesced around th
academic.oup.com
Tom Pepinsky@tompepinsky.com · 8mo agoIndeed: Huntington was an early warning sign of how, amidst skyrocketing inequality, a small coterie of unpatriotic super elites would seek to tear down state structures while shouting racist narratives of blood and soil into the media that they control
Indeed: Huntington was an early warning sign of how, amidst skyrocketing inequality, a small coterie of unpatriotic super elites would seek to tear down state structures while shouting racist narratives of blood and soil into the media that they control
Foreign Policy@foreignpolicy.com · 8mo agoAmid the liberal internationalist optimism of the late 1990s, Samuel Huntington foresaw a world marked by continued conflict.
In our new (open access!) Survival article, Ethan Kapstein and I argue Europe’s rapid rearmament and US focus elsewhere are enabling a more effective and sustainable transatlantic partnership...if its members are willing to acknowledge and maintain it. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The Atlantic Alliance: Diverging Interests, Converging Policies
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and US President Donald Trump’s re-election have prompted fears about the health and durability of the NATO alliance. Such fears appear excessive. Alliance members are ...
tandfonline.com
would be bonkers if a bunch of rocket scientists had to leave the US for Europe because of fascism.
Brad Johnson@climatebrad.hillheat.com · 9mo agoJared Isaacman, the billionaire Space X fanboy picked to take over NASA, plans to eviscerate the agency
“No more foreign wars,” as the monkey’s paw curls shut.
The black box of academic publishing is dark inside indeed - and I've not even mentioned Manucript Central yet - but it also contains other academics doing their best as editors to steward your work with care and respect.
My short overview for @navalnews.com on the major news broken overnight in Japanese media that Australia now wants to acquire Upgraded Mogami aka 06FFM for the RAN under SEA 3000. As noted, no official statement by Canberra yet. www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2...
Upgraded Mogami Set To Win SEA 3000
Japanese media has broken the story that the Upgraded Mogami is set to be the preferred design for a major Australian frigate purchase.
navalnews.com
This. The political economy of American higher education is deeply misunderstood even by most of the people within it. This is shocking considering the stakes involved as well as US elites' obsession with it.
Joseph Howley@illdottore.bsky.social · last yr.Most reporting is just not up to the task of registering both that 1) the White House is *attacking* universities *as institutions* 2) the White House is working *with* universities’ boards to achieve *common goals* for remaking and weakening those institutions
People: World Cup can't happen now FIFA will pull out football fans: FIFA will just do corruption People: who even understands how to be corrupt well enough to navigate this situation? FIFA: www.insideworldfootball.com/2025/07/08/f...
FIFA opens office at Trump Tower, New York - Inside World Football
July 8 – FIFA has opened an office at Trump Tower in New York City, deepening its already close ties with the much-criticised US administration. US President Donald Trump and FIFA supremo Gianni Infa...
insideworldfootball.com
Great footage, highly recommended watch for naval infrastructure enthusiasts. Note also the completely stripped down and cut open Type 209 boat. Something you don't see often in such footage.
Naval News@navalnews.com · last yr.[VIDEO] Exclusive tour of SIMA Peru shipyard 🇵🇪 We take you on an exclusive tour of the SIMA PERU shipyard. The facility has been building ships & boats since the mid-1800s. Today, SIMA Peru plays a key role in the renewal of the Peruvian Navy fleet 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=40J0...