Jeffrey Kopstein
@jeffkopstein.bsky.social
Historian, social scientist, low talent fitness fanatic. Dean's Professor of Political Science. UCI Recent book: *The Assault on the State* https://www.amazon.com/Assault-State-Global-Government-Endangers/dp/1509563156/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.U0B_8
My thoughts on the impact of polarization from ancient Alexandria to Charlottesville 2017.
Journal of Democracy@jodemocracy.bsky.social · last mo.Democracies have always sparked conflict, disagreement, and deep ideological divisions. Polarized politics are hardly rare in democratic life. So under what conditions does polarization turn violent, and how can this danger be contained? @jeffkopstein.bsky.social muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...
Trump's World of Fuzzy Borders. A piece i wrote with Steve Hanson www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/o...
Opinion | Trump Is Remaking the World Map. What Could Go Wrong?
nytimes.com
My latest co-scribbling. The new geopolitics of fuzzy borders legrandcontinent.eu/fr/2026/04/2...
L’ère des frontières floues | Le Grand Continent
Si depuis la seconde guerre mondiale la carte du monde n'a jamais semblé aussi instable, c’est qu’une nouvelle forme de pouvoir s’est installée de Moscou à Washington.
legrandcontinent.eu
UKR has the largest, most capable and most experienced armed forces in Europe If the US leaves NATO...which seems inevitable now, they must accept UKR into the alliance NB: I served 4 yrs as a colonel in NATO's highest military command
Looking forward to talking about conspiracy theories on Thursday in Florida (yeah, that's what they want you to think)
Latest article together with a great team on user behavior, dog whistles, and explicit antisemitism on Qanon subreddits. How does antisemitism actually "work." Stay tuned. More to come: www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/17...
mdpi.com
‘China’s gaokao factories and America’s college-industrial complex are not accidents. They are the logical outcome of a global system that has mistaken education for investment and human life for capital.’ @izading.bsky.social on China’s university entrance exam. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Iza Ding · Studying is harmful: China sits the Gaokao
In a country plagued by corruption, China’s national college entrance exam, the gaokao, is remarkably clean. ‘Open...
lrb.co.uk
Can Trump be stopped? Thoughts on one year of America as a family business www.persuasion.community/p/the-patrim...
America Is Now a Family Business
Trump is transforming the constitutional republic into a patrimonial regime before our eyes.
persuasion.community
The U.S. has surpassed 2000 documented measles cases this year, the highest in more than 30 years. This is driven by rampant disinformation about vaccines from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including in his capacity as a government official. We will lose our elimination status shortly.
US measles outbreak tops 2,000 known infections
cidrap.umn.edu
Skocpol on The Assault on the State
Daniel Ziblatt@dziblatt.bsky.social · 7mo agoTheda Skocpol : "I would call it a corrupt patrimonial regime. There’s a book by a couple of political scientists [The Assault on the State (Hanson & Kopstein, 2024)] that I find even more convincing than the analyses of some of my historical-institutional allies" @jeffkopstein.bsky.social
In time for Hanukah/Christmas, Foreign Affairs includes "The Assault on the State," a book I wrote with Steve Hanson, on its list of best books of 2025. www.foreignaffairs.com/lists/best-b...
The Best of Books 2025
The very best of the hundreds of books on international politics, economics, and history that were featured in the magazine this year, selected by Foreign Affairs’ editors and book reviewers.
foreignaffairs.com
A very sensitive reading of "The Assault on the State."
pw-portal@pw-portal.bsky.social · 11mo agoStephen Hanson & @jeffkopstein.bsky.social beobachten weltweit eine Rückkehr vormoderner Herrschaftsformen. Unser Rezensent @lennardgott.bsky.social findet in ihrem Buch das politikwissenschaftliche Vokabular, um die spezifische Staatsfeindlichkeit von Trump & Co. besser zu verstehen. #polisky
We feel it in our bones... "with each concession, autocrats become bolder, defenses grow weaker, and reversal becomes harder. Responses that, early on, can feel pragmatic—waiting it out, remaining silent, cutting a deal—only embolden autocrats, leading ultimately to the demise of democracy itself."
Daniel Ziblatt@dziblatt.bsky.social · 11mo agoA new piece I wrote appearing in FOREIGN AFFAIRS today www.foreignaffairs.com/germany/warn...
Cornell University Press will soon release a well-priced paperback version of "Intimate Violence: Anti-Jewish Pogroms on the Eve of the Holocaust," a book I wrote with Jason Wittenberg. Unfortunately, it still speaks to important questions of our day. (link in first comment)
Looking forward to this.
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies@europeatharvard.bsky.social · last yr.Attacks on the modern state are intensifying globally. Join Stephen Hanson & @jeffkopstein.bsky.social to discuss their book on how to defend modern government against those who seek to destroy it. @dziblatt.bsky.social 🗓️4/8, 4pm 🔗https://ces.fas.harvard.edu/events/2025/04/the-assault-on-the-state
Multi-university study including @ucirvine.bsky.social professor @jeffkopstein.bsky.social maps link between explicit and implicit antisemitic content that circumvents online censorship, social stigma | Findings in @plosone.org highlight hidden ways hate speech spreads @uofcalifornia.bsky.social
Multi-university study maps link between explicit and implicit antisemitic content that circumvents online censorship, social stigma
socsci.uci.edu
@www.bsky.social "Does Military Service Make Individuals Susceptible to Political Violence? Attitudinal and Behavioral Evidence" osf.io/preprints/so...
OSF
osf.io
New article at PLOS (my first with a large team): dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
Hidden in plain sight: antisemitic content in QAnon subreddits
When is online content antisemitic? This matter is highly contested, except in the case of explicit language. Yet implicit antisemitic content and conspiracy narratives about Jews have been on the ris...
dx.plos.org
An interview I did with der Spiegel on Trump's and others' #AssaultOnTheState www.spiegel.de/geschichte/u...
(S+) US-Politologe über die Trump-Regierung: »Wir sind wie Schlafwandler auf den Abgrund zugetaumelt«
Verwandelt Donald Trump die USA in eine Autokratie? Es ist noch schlimmer, sagt der US-Politologe Jeffrey Kopstein. Trump legt die Axt an den modernen Staat. Und damit an das Leben in Sicherheit, Gesu...
spiegel.de
#Trump is attacking the “Deep State” to make the US his own – turn it into a family business, historian @jeffkopstein.bsky.social argues. Society will pay a high price. Highly recommended #interview by @bredow.bsky.social at @spiegel.de. www.spiegel.de/geschichte/u...
(S+) US-Politologe über die Trump-Regierung: »Wir sind wie Schlafwandler auf den Abgrund zugetaumelt«
Verwandelt Donald Trump die USA in eine Autokratie? Es ist noch schlimmer, sagt der US-Politologe Jeffrey Kopstein. Trump legt die Axt an den modernen Staat. Und damit an das Leben in Sicherheit, Gesu...
spiegel.de
Well explained by @jeffkopstein.bsky.social and Steve Hanson in their important new book on patrimonialism www.amazon.com/Assault-Stat...
The Assault on the State: How the Global Attack on Modern Government Endangers Our Future
Amazon.com: The Assault on the State: How the Global Attack on Modern Government Endangers Our Future: 9781509563159: Hanson, Stephen E., Kopstein, Jeffrey S.: Books
amazon.com
Aviel Roshwald@avielroshwald.bsky.social · last yr.The entire Weberian ideal-type of a state functioning on the basis of standardized, rationalistic practices is anathema to them. Wealth and power are finite, and to be wielded exclusively on behalf of one’s own interests and that of one’s clients (which itself is a fluid and unstable set).
What to understand about our patrimonial president. New rules of the game.My latest co-authored piece. www.persuasion.community/p/sins-of-th...
Sins of the Father
The United States is joining the ranks of patrimonial states. It’s nothing short of a revolution.
persuasion.community
In today's Atlantic, Jonathan Rauch uses The Assault on the State to highlight a key source and vulnerability of Trump's power. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
One Word Describes Trump
A century ago, a German sociologist explained precisely how the president thinks about the world.
theatlantic.com
Looking forward to taking part in this lecture series.
