Thank you @cei-iscte.bsky.social for hosting @europeanisa.bsky.social #PEC2026 #EISA2026 with lots of meaningful conversations and interventions. It was an honor to have been a program co-chair together with Nizar Messari and to engage with so many wonderful scholars!

highlight of my #EISAPEC2026 is discussing Easting the West with these wonderful people! @europeanisa.bsky.social

If I am fired from the biology department for teaching the students that women’s wombs wander, causing hysteria, it is not a threat to academic freedom

Hey, it's (re)-publication day! My book "Everyday Foreign Policy" has come out in paperback with @manchesterup.bsky.social Not only is it way more affordable, it has a whole new chapter. There is also an additional 50% discount in the summer sale: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526197924/

Manchester University Press - Everyday foreign policy

Everyday foreign policy - Browse and buy the Paperback edition of Everyday foreign policy by Elizaveta Gaufman

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk

How Russian economic policy is gender Every year I make my third year Bachelor students read Carol Cohn’s article “Sex and Death in the rational world of defense intellectuals” and they are genuinely surprised by the number of penile metaphors one can use to describe a missile. Except this year:…

How Russian economic policy is gender

Every year I make my third year Bachelor students read Carol Cohn’s article “Sex and Death in the rational world of defense intellectuals” and they are genuinely surprised by the number of penile metaphors one can use to describe a missile. Except this year: current Secretary of Defense (War?) has prepared them for lots more virtual dick-measuing exhibits.  The need to appear masculine has often driven many militaries.

duckofminerva.com

Is that the correct shade for Reflecting Pool these days?

We are saddened to learn of the passing of Duck contributor @raulpachecovega.bsky.social. He was a friend to all on their social science journeys. If anyone would like to write a tribute, please DM us.

harmodio@harmodio.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Buen camino, profe Raúl Pacheco Vega. Fuiste y serás siempre el investigador más chido.

Devastating news. Raúl was a beautiful person and a talented reseacher. Incredibly generous and kind. May his memory be a blessing.

harmodio@harmodio.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Buen camino, profe Raúl Pacheco Vega. Fuiste y serás siempre el investigador más chido.

Dugin, the Ultimate Tradwife Alexander Dugin is one of those figures who hover permanently in the discussions about Russian ideology, Eurasianism, empire, conservatism, and whatever else people project onto modern Russia. Contrary to popular belief, he is not “Putin’s favorite philosopher” (that…

Dugin, the Ultimate Tradwife

Alexander Dugin is one of those figures who hover permanently in the discussions about Russian ideology, Eurasianism, empire, conservatism, and whatever else people project onto modern Russia. Contrary to popular belief, he is not “Putin’s favorite philosopher” (that would be Ivan Il’in). But given that the Russian state has yet to articulate the vision of Russia’s future, I settled for the next best thing: an…

duckofminerva.com

Second time I am getting “invitations” from “book clubs” (aka AI scams) and it’s the second time they can’t get the name of my book right lol. I guess having a long title and subtitle helps!

I am sorry, but even Stalin didn’t try pulling this shit

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 4mo ago

> @bloomberg.com

A similar process happened in the 20th century Soviet Union: people started using prison slang (of Yiddish-Romani origin) and now most don’t even know what was the origin of the words they say.

olive consumer@machete.gay · 5mo ago

an interesting sociological phenomenon of the 21st century is the creation of a new classification profanity alongside the irreligious and anatomical, the use of the language of a detested outgroup see: the use of the incel lexicon in progressive spaces

Did someone say carnival?.. We should have written a foreign policy chapter, @bganesh.bsky.social

Comfortably Numb@numb.comfortab.ly · 5mo ago

Motherfucker remains the carnival barker he has always been. "Exciting cliffhanger, tune in at 8:00 PM to find out what happens next."

That was me and @chenchenzhang.net two years ago when we organized the EWIS workshop! Unfortunately, Schengen visa troubles prevented us from making an actual photo…

BeijingPalmer@beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 5mo ago

the China-Russia friendship posters tell the story of a nice young couple who when they get a bit older have kids

The state of the world is terrible, but on the plus side sloths exist

Contesting Imperialism(s) - Central and East European ISA conference in Sarajevo, BiH, June 17-19, 2026. Deadline for proposals - April 10, 2026. There will be a pre-conference workshop for young scholars. For info, please visit: ceeisa2026.com

Four years ago today, we went to bed only to wake to the sound of explosions the first many of us had ever heard. We woke up to war. ​Since then, the war has been with us every second. No one is truly safe, no one is okay, and the future remains uncertain. Even when we laugh,

When my students enrol into Russian Politics and Society course, they see a photograph of Nikolay Komyagin from a Russian art-punk band Shortparis. Not another picture of St. Basil's cathedral or nesting dolls. You can take a song from Shortparis and literally teach post-Soviet Russian politics 🧵

First seminar on Russian politics and culture of the semester: ended up analysing Ilya's Russian monologue from #heatedrivalry with the students. If that's not something that will get the kids to class I don't know what will!

Bonus: @greenleejw.bsky.social ‘s drawings work really well as embroidery patterns!

Surprised Eel Historian, PhD@greenleejw.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Most days I draw maps. But sometimes people commission me to draw other things. Today I got to draw an axolotl. What fun! If *you* want me to draw you an animal (or something else, even!) I, reach out. Perhaps you need a capybara or some such thing. And I can help with that!

How do Russian political and cultural elites legitimize the war on Ukraine, three years into what was supposed to last only a couple of days? And how do these justifications change over time? Elizaveta Gaufman (@lisares.bsky.social) has a couple of ideas on this: open.spotify.com/episode/36CY...

Legitimizing the War on Ukraine in Russia (with Elizaveta Gaufman)

open.spotify.com

New preprint is out! Focusing on Russia, this paper asks what happens when disinformation awareness itself becomes a tool of authoritarian rule. We often assume that learning about disinformation increases resistance to propaganda. But what if the regime weaponises it? 1/7

Funded collaborative PhD opportunity on contested memory with me in @oupolitics.bsky.social and Arthur Dudney at Arcadia: granduniondtp.web.ox.ac.uk/contested-hi... Deadline 7th Jan, please share!

Contested histories: cultural memory, narratives and archives

granduniondtp.web.ox.ac.uk

Come work with me! 👩🏻‍💻

Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH)@csohate.bsky.social · 9mo ago

📣 CSOH is Hiring! We’re expanding our global research team and hiring three researchers across Europe/North America, Southeast Asia and South Asia to support our work on digital harms, extremism, and influence operations. Applications are now open. More details: www.csohate.org/work-with-us/

You know who else called the EU the fourth reich? People (and trolls) who opposed Ukraine’s signing of Association agreement in 2013. Somebody even wrote a paper about this!

Which is exactly where the article comes into play: rule following is masculine coded *in settings where the superiors issuing orders are expected to be men.* In schools, where most of the teachers are women, it's seen as normal and expected for boys to be unruly or outright defiant.

“If civilization is what counts … the likelihood of violence between Ukrainians and Russians should be low. They are two Slavic, primarily Orthodox peoples who have had close relationships with each other for centuries.”

Foreign Policy@foreignpolicy.com · 9mo ago

Amid the liberal internationalist optimism of the late 1990s, Samuel Huntington foresaw a world marked by continued conflict.

Do you want to know how Trump won? You love reading about the Middle Ages and hate racists? I have an OPEN ACCESS book for you! www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

The Trump Carnival

Donald Trump’s campaign and presidency represented a radical departure from political norms that are often classified by media and researchers as ‘populist’. Instead, this book theorizes Trump’s campa...

degruyterbrill.com

David M. Perry@lollardfish.bsky.social · 9mo ago

PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS! EVERYONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR PUBLISHED BOOKS! Do not ask me how my writing is going.

And if you respond with scientific articles about stochastic parrotry and bullshit, these kinds of people get VERY aggressive…

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 10mo ago

I am by no means a prominent public intellectual, but my inbox is increasingly filled with messages from people who have been convinced by sycophantic chatbots that they have discovered revolutionary theories that entirely upend our scientific understanding of the universe.

I will show this to the next person who says that “AI is unbiased”

Damon Beres@damonberes.com · 10mo ago

Totally smart and reliable AI, very good x.com/grok/status/...