Excellent closing plenary to the ISUS 2026 conference by Melissa Schwartzberg (Princeton). She argued that Bentham sees utilitarianism and democracy as compatible ‘with respect to the value associated with being treated as the best judge of one’s own interests.’

ISUS Home - Faculty of Law | University of Macau

ISUS 2026 Macau, 23-25 July 2026 The 18th Conference of the International Society for Utilitarian Studies will take place on 23–25 July 2026 at the Faculty of Law of the University of

fll.um.edu.mo

some news: uchv.princeton.edu/news/uchv-we...

UCHV welcomes Melissa Schwartzberg as the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Values

The University Center for Human Values is pleased to welcome Melissa Schwartzberg as the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Values, effective July 1, 202...

uchv.princeton.edu

I have an article forthcoming in the Annual Review of Political Science called, "Participatory Democracy & Its Limits." It focuses on limited citizen attention & how participation can backfire, w/ land use as an example. Abstract below; here's a preprint: kevinjelliott.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

NYU Politics is hiring two visiting assistant professors, preferably in political theory, in support of civic education courses for the 2026-27 academic year. Feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions. apply.interfolio.com/179756

Pleased to see the enduring influence of my late NYU colleague and teacher Russell Hardin - from Ezra Klein's column in today's NYTimes. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/o...

Delighted to announce that Democratic Deals is the co-recipient of the David Easton Award from APSA’s Foundation of Political Theory section!

Grateful to Brook Manville for a terrific conversation about Democratic Deals: civicbargain.substack.com/p/can-better...

Can Better Political Bargaining Make Better Democracy?

A new book explains why and how.

civicbargain.substack.com

Faculty fellow position at NYU in XE: Experimental Humanities and Social Engagement, open to political theorists: apply.interfolio.com/165002

@maschwar.bsky.social has much to say on the crucial democratic role of juries melissaschwartzberg.com

Melissa Schwartzberg

melissaschwartzberg.com

Miriam Elder@miriamelder.bsky.social · last yr.

Just wrapped nearly two weeks of jury duty in an intense and difficult criminal trial. Hearing the judge talk about our role and responsibility, and how seriously everyone on the jury took it, was a balm in these times. Every day felt like an exercise in anti-authoritarianism.

Looking for restaurant recommendations in Athens and Istanbul - taking the teenagers, who prefer less elegant (e.g., no tasting menus), but otherwise very flexible.

Call for papers: political theory in/ and/ as political science junior scholars' workshop. Please circulate. #polisky @rgcs-mcgill.bsky.social www.mcgill.ca/rgcs/ptps/20...

2025 PTPS Junior Scholars Workshop

We seek paper proposals for the sixth Political Theory In/And/As Political Science (PTPS) Junior Scholars Workshop, which will take place at McGill April 25-26, 2025. An ongoing collaboration among fa...

mcgill.ca

When you're ready to look this up, Democratic Deals is waiting for you: www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

Democratic Deals — Harvard University Press

Two leading scholars of democracy make the case for political bargaining and define its proper limits.Bargains—grand and prosaic—are a central fact of political life. The distribution of bargaining po...

hup.harvard.edu

Alexandra Petri@petridishes.bsky.social · 2y ago

while we wait here’s my column on compromise wapo.st/40h75BM

I believed we as a culture had transcended the reply-all storm, but a student managed to email the *entire NYU faculty* across schools. Guesses as to how many people have already responded to tell others to stop replying all, while acknowledging the irony of having done so?

“And lo, did a cry of anguish rise from a stretch of Broadway between West 107th and 108th.” www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/n...

A Bagel Shop Closes, and the Upper West Side Is Absolutely Losing It

The neighborhood reaction to the sudden, mysterious closure of a Manhattan bagel shop was intense: “No no no no no no no no no no no!!”

nytimes.com

I think there is a good argument that Juror #59 is the greatest juror the justice system has ever produced “And he disrespected the Wu-Tang Clan” what a line to go out on, what a legend

Aja Romano@bookshop.bsky.social · 2y ago

For some random reason I can't put my finger on, I've been thinking a lot lately about the jurors in the Martin Shkreli trial harpers.org/archive/2017...

Watching the National Dog Show - next year's ancients class will definitely have a week called: "Is this chihuahua the highest expression of chihuahuaness?"

The Tocqueville Review has published on its website an English version of the tribute to Bernard Manin originally published in Le Monde (with Philippe Urfalino and @maschwar.bsky.social). tocqueville21.com/blog-info/be...

Bernard Manin: A Tribute - Tocqueville21

Bernard Manin (1951-2024) Political theory has just lost one of its towering figures: Bernard Manin passed away on Friday November 1, 2024. Director of Studies at the École des Hautes Études en Scienc...

tocqueville21.com

Sharing a paper that may hold interest/mild amusement value (for an *extremely* specific niche of political theorist), deploying Bentham in "Anarchical Fallacies" mode against epistemic democracy's incursion into constitutionalism: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/II32Y...

Constitutional Fallacies

Defenders of epistemic democracy propose that the “wisdom of the many” will result in superior outcomes: in this context, they hold that widespread participation will yield better constitutional no...

tandfonline.com

leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2024/11...

Reposting here: I am sorry to share the news that my beloved friend, teacher, and colleague Bernard Manin has died. He was an exceptional scholar, but even more remarkable was the care with which he treated literally every person he encountered - in the academy, or in a grocery store.

I reviewed Richard Tuck (and namechecked @maschwar.bsky.social) in the new “Commonweal” issue www.commonwealmagazine.org/counsels-hum...

Counsels of Humility

The dream of rescuing democracy from the people has been dreamed—and smashed.

commonwealmagazine.org

People, it is extremely important for me to share with you that in Love Is Blind 7, ep. 7, a couple has a deep and thoughtful discussion of the ethics of military service, in which the man invokes James Baldwin on patriotism and dissent. I SWEAR.

12-year-old devastated because we were scammed on StubHub for Gracie Abrams: our tickets were canceled without notice (presumably to be resold at a higher price). Stubhub will not provide alternative tickets because of price disparity, just a refund. No words.

<political scientists stroke out>

Melissa Schwartzberg @maschwar.bsky.social joins our podcast to talk about her amazing new book on democratic deals podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

Melissa Schwartzberg

Good news, listeners! Our rational and responsive representations in Washington have agreed to keep the federal government running through December 20. (As far

podcasts.apple.com

congrats to ancient Athens on finally beating ancient Sparta today.yougov.com/entertainmen...

After a decade's labor, it is finally book-release day for "The Greatest of All Plagues: How Economic Inequality Shaped Political Thought from Plato to Marx." I'm both relieved and excited to see this day arrive. press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

The Greatest of All Plagues

How the great political thinkers have persistently warned against the dangers of economic inequality

press.princeton.edu

NYU's Politics Department is seeking outstanding and innovative scholars for two positions at the assistant professor level: International Relations and US Politics. For full descriptions and to apply visit apply.interfolio.com/152515 (IR) and apply.interfolio.com/152513 (US).

americanaffairsjournal.org/2024/08/no-e... What went wrong with the Silicon Valley right - my new article for American Affairs.

No Exit Opportunities: Business Models and Political Thought in Silicon Valley - American Affairs Journal

It’s a rare buccaneer who runs a book club. But in October 2012, the chief administrator of the Silk Road drug market, under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts,” was on the dark web assigning reading...

americanaffairsjournal.org

Oddly, re Vance meme, an actual quote from the Vanity Fair article on RFK Jr: "Riffing on Nora Ephron’s famous quote about her ex-husband Carl Bernstein (he was “capable of having sex with a Venetian blind”), Kennedy’s friends would joke: 'It’s safe to say he would sleep with an Ottoman.'"