Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
LightNews LightNews
banner
alichtenheld.bsky.social
Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
@alichtenheld.bsky.social
260 followers 280 following 16 posts
Political Scientist | Professor @unileiden.bsky.social | Author, "Guilt by Location."

Expert on forced displacement, conflict, peacebuilding. Consultant for USAID, World Bank, State Dept., others. @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social PhD. Crossfit enthusiast.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
alichtenheld.bsky.social
Adam Lichtenheld, PhD @alichtenheld.bsky.social · Jan 8
Excited to announce my book is out with @cambridgeuppolisci.bsky.social! It provides a primer on wartime displacement (an issue that is, sadly, urgent and timely) and examines how, when, and why armed groups strategically displace civilians, drawing on fieldwork in Uganda, Syria, and elsewhere. 1/
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
adamserwer.bsky.social
Not that it will but the willingness of Americans to obey is a very funny contrast with our self-image and should probably prompt some reflection bsky.app/profile/jonf...
December 19, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
sethcotlar.bsky.social
No one who has ever witnessed a single faculty meeting could ever again claim that college professors are part of some sort of coordinated conspiracy to accomplish anything, let alone turn the entire US into a Marxist utopia/dystopia with an assist from their great pals in corporate boardrooms.
December 25, 2024 at 9:43 PM
alichtenheld.bsky.social
"Efficiencies are easy to promise, but difficult to realize in the stubbornly human-centered endeavor of education. And that is because education is, by necessity, inefficient." Preach! www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
Four Frictions: or, How to Resist AI in Education - Public Books
We are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.
www.publicbooks.org
December 18, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
epicciuto.bsky.social
Another way to restart the world’s idea machine is to restore funding and grants to universities, researchers, and artists.
vox.com Vox @vox.com · 5d
America, you have spoken loud and clear: You do not like AI. But what if AI is the way to restart the world’s idea machine?
We’re running out of good ideas. AI might be how we find new ones.
What if the best use of AI is restarting the world’s idea machine?
www.vox.com
December 16, 2025 at 3:35 AM
alichtenheld.bsky.social
Yup.
egojunk.bsky.social eric gonzalez juenke @egojunk.bsky.social · 6d
Nothing will make you an education AI skeptic faster than grading some college take home assignments. Admins who haven’t been in a classroom in years push it as a learning tool. Students are laughing at them as they use it as a cheating tool. It’s all instructors are texting about with each other.
December 14, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
abbeyst.bsky.social
I am indebted to colleagues & friends, esp @stephrschwartz.bsky.social, @alichtenheld.bsky.social & the staff @aissr.bsky.social
@uva-fmg.bsky.social
December 9, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
mclem.org
This fetid landmark, this historical stain on humanity is primarily due to the stunningly reckless obliteration of America's foreign assistance agency earlier this year.

Led by the richest man on earth. In secret, on a weekend. With zero analysis or discussion of its catastrophic impacts.
For First Time in Decades, Child Deaths Will Rise This Year
Almost a quarter of a million more children around the world are projected to die in 2025 than in 2024.
www.wsj.com
December 4, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
eladn.bsky.social
This is always the plan with authoritarians wielding militaristic power. They create their own enemies to justify their power grabs.

Netanyahu loved October 7th for this exact reason. His failures led to it, and instead of being held accountable, he got more power than ever.
stevenbeschloss.bsky.social Steven Beschloss @stevenbeschloss.bsky.social · 24d
Place National Guard in harm’s way for no good reason. Two members are tragically and unnecessarily shot. The reckless regime’s response: We’re sending 500 more National Guard troops! What a disgrace.
November 27, 2025 at 5:37 AM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply."

me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually

www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...
How Can We Live Together? - Boston Review
Ezra Klein is wrong: shame is essential.
www.bostonreview.net
September 23, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
jakemgrumbach.bsky.social
the research is clear: get yourself exposed to female peers

nber semigated version: www.nber.org/papers/w34269
September 26, 2025 at 4:03 PM
alichtenheld.bsky.social
It was an honor to discuss my book at the @thecrs.bsky.social's annual conference, and I am grateful for "Guilt by Location" receiving this year's CRS book award. If you missed the keynote, don't worry, you can still order the book today!
cup.org/4gOE8Cy
www.amzn.com/1009523473
thecrs.bsky.social Conflict Research Society @thecrs.bsky.social · Sep 18
Live at #CRS2025 🎤 Adam Lichtenheld, winner of the CRS Book of the Year, is presenting his groundbreaking research on strategic displacement as part of military & political tactics.

Grateful to our judges — and especially Corinne Bara for guiding the award process.
September 19, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
kwcollins.bsky.social
I would especially recommend the political science article referenced in the piece. Accommodation by mainstream parties of far right immigration policies does not win votes by taking the issue off the table, it loses votes for the mainstream parties
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
July 10, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
rbkhoury.bsky.social
The proofs are in. It has a website. It has blurbs from amazing scholars. So I guess my book is real, and @cornellupress.bsky.social must agree!

Civilizing Contention: International Aid in Syria's War is coming out later this year 🤓

www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
Civilizing Contention by Rana B. Khoury | Paperback | Cornell University Press
In Civilizing Contention, Rana B. Khoury asserts that to understand civilian and refugee activism in war, we must regard the international actors and organizations that enter the scene to help. When.....
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu
July 9, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
janecoaston.bsky.social
one of the stranger phenomena in American life is that hate is supposed to flow in one direction (rural people get to hate urban people, Republicans get to hate Democrats) and if the hate goes the other way people pretend as if this is very upsetting.
mmasnick.bsky.social Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · Jul 4
The media made a HUGE deal out of "basket of deplorables" and "cling to their guns or religion."

But, of course, it will totally ignore Trump saying he hates Democrats: "I hate them. I believe they hate their country."
yedois.bsky.social yedois @yedois.bsky.social · Jul 4
in addition to his "shylocks" comment, i can't imagine the media backlash if Biden said anything like from this screenshot - that he "hates Republicans" - and i'm also tired of having this "IMAGINE IF BIDEN!" thought experiment but it's just a constant reminder of the double standards
July 4, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
gbbranstetter.bsky.social
July 1, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
mclem.org
The White House has ordered the US Dept. of Justice to prioritize denaturalization: voiding the citizenship of US citizens.

Who will it denaturalize? "Any" case that it "determines to be sufficiently important".

Point 10 leaves the criteria opaque and arbitrary.

substack.com/redirect/169...
June 30, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
radosh.bsky.social
I feel like I'm losing my mind. Here is the transcript of what Zohran Mamdani actually said about the phrase "globalize the intifada." This is his "refusal to disavow it." This is what has people terrified. Just fucking read it.

Source: podscripts.co/podcasts/the...
Q: So I wonder what you think about that, about the phrase “globalize the intifada” and what we've seen as some anti-semitism coming from the left-wing protesters. A: The first thing as you were saying is anti-semitism is a real issue in our city and it's one that can be captured in statistics, the ones that you're citing. It's also one that you will feel in conversations you have with Jewish New Yorkers across the city. And I remember one conversation I had with a friend of mine after the horrific war crime of October 7th. He was telling me that he went for Shabbat services at his temple and he was facing forward when he heard the door open. And he turned back with a chill going up his spine because he didn't know who was coming in. And that's more than a year ago. And then just a few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a Jewish man in Williamsburg who told me that the same door he would keep unlocked for decades is one that he now locks out of a fear of what could happen in his own neighborhood. And I think that this is something that has to be the focus of the next mayoral administration, is not just talking about it, but tackling it. And these are the conversations that have informed our commitment around increasing funding for anti-hate crime programming by 800% in our Department of Community Safety. To the question of language that's being used. I am someone who I would say am less comfortable with the idea of banning the use of certain words and that I think it is more evocative of a Trump style approach to how to lead a country. And- Q: Does that just make you uncomfortable? Like the phrase globalizing intifada. And like the phrase from the river to the sea, does that make you uncomfortable? Or do you think- A: Okay, those are different. Those are super different. Q: They're not really. A: Those are like different genres. Q: I'm sorry, I'm asking so wrong. Then they're not really different to me. And to some people they are not different. A: I know people for whom those things mean very different things. And to me, ultimately, what I hear in so many is a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights. And I think what's difficult also is that the very word has been used by the Holocaust Museum when translating the Warsaw ghetto uprising into Arabic because it's a word that means struggle. And as a Muslim man who grew up post-911, I'm all too familiar in the way in which Arabic words can be twisted, can be distorted, can be used to justify any kind of meaning. And I think that's where it leaves me with a sense that what we need to do is focus on keeping Jewish New Yorkers safe. And the question of the permissibility of language is something that I haven't ventured.
June 26, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
jaylyall.bsky.social
What remains of USAID? Practically nothing ("a shell") and millions will die because of Trump and Musk
What Remains of U.S.A.I.D. After DOGE’s Budget Cuts? (Gift Article)
The few hundred programs that survived DOGE’s purge reveal the future of foreign aid.
www.nytimes.com
June 22, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
scottjshapiro.bsky.social
Great job everyone
June 21, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
mollyknight.bsky.social
Job Garcia’s kidnapping by the Trump administration is the top story on the LA Times website right now.

www.latimes.com/california/s...
A 37-year-old U.S. citizen who was tackled to the ground and arrested after filming federal agents at Home Depot on Thursday said he was held for more than an hour near Dodger Stadium, where agents boasted about how many immigrants they arrested. "How many bodies did you guys grab today?" he said one agent asked. "Oh, we grabbed 31," the other replied. "That was a good day today," the first agent responded. The two high-fived, as Job Garcia sat on the asphalt under the sun, he said. Garcia was released on Friday from a downtown federal detention center. No apparent criminal charges have yet to be filed. He is one of several U.S citizens arrested during enforcement operations in recent days. Department of Homeland Security officias sav some trave ilegaly 11:04 C •ll 5G+ 824) latimes.com "You wanted it, you got it," the man yelled. An agent handcuffed him so hard "that there was no circulation running to my fingers," Garcia said. Pinned down, Garcia had difficulty breathing. "That moment, I thought I could probably die here," he said. The agent put Garcia's phone back in his pocket. The recording kept running. As Garcia was put into a vehicle, his video captured an agent twice saying: "I've got one back here." "You got one what?" Garcia shot back. "You got one what?" He said an agent told him in broken Spanish to "wait here,' though it could not be heard on the video. - 11:04 € • 5G+ 824) latimes.com "I f- speak English, you f- dumbass," he clearly shouts back. No agent asked if he was an American citizen, he said. Nobody asked for identification. "They assumed that I was undocumented," he said later in an interview. The video ends after about four minutes, while he is waiting in the van. CALIFORNIA Raid at a Home Depot in Hollywood shatters an immigrant refuge June 20, 2025 Garcia asked an agent to get his wallet from his car, so he could prove he was a U.S. citizen. Another agent retrieved his ID, but he remained handcuffed. They were so tight, his hands hegan to swell. Garcia asked an agent to get his wallet from his car, so he could prove he was a U.S. citizen. Another agent retrieved his ID, but he remained handcuffed. They were so tight, his hands began to swell. The agents switched him to handcuffs that looked like shoelaces. They took off around a corner, stopped to shuffle him into another van and sped off down the 101 Freeway. "I smeared my blood in their seat," he said. And he thought, "They're going to remember me."
June 21, 2025 at 6:08 AM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
kwcollins.bsky.social
Every time that Elon Musk makes a claim about a near future technological capability, remember he promised people would be on Mars by now but instead his rockets keep exploding
jacobtlevy.bsky.social Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · Jun 21
It’s time for a major shift toward thinking about preserving knowledge in hard copy for the Canticle For Leibowitz -scale long term, before this guy turns all our accounts digital information into self-reinforcing White Genocide propaganda.

Buy books, is what I’m saying.
Elon Musk @ X @elonm... We will use Grok 3.5 (maybe we should call it 4), which has advanced reasoning, to rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge, adding missing information and deleting errors. Then retrain on that. Far too much garbage in any foundation model trained on uncorrected data.
June 21, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Reposted by Adam Lichtenheld, PhD
astrokatie.com
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
June 19, 2025 at 11:21 AM
alichtenheld.bsky.social
My book, "Guilt by Location," has been selected as the 2025 Book of the Year by the Conflict Research Society.

I struggle to muster much delight, given how we're turning our backs on the millions of people affected by displacement. But I am grateful to CRS & everyone who made the project possible.
June 3, 2025 at 7:15 PM
alichtenheld.bsky.social
What do citizens think about refugee integration? In a new op-ed w/ Mae MacDonald & Tolossa Asrat for @newhumanitarian.bsky.social, we share findings from a nationally representative survey of 3,300 Kenyans on attitudes toward the country's new refugee policy (refugee.go.ke/kenya-shirik...)
The Kenya Shirika Plan: Overview and Action Plan | Department of Refugee Services
The Kenya Shirika Plan: Overview and Action Plan
refugee.go.ke
April 22, 2025 at 1:20 PM
alichtenheld.bsky.social
Come work with us!
March 31, 2025 at 7:28 PM