Dov H. Levin
@dovlevin.bsky.social
Asso. Professor of IR, HKU. Foreign election interference (& interventions)|Strategic Public Diplomacy| FP preferences| US Foreign Policy| War & Peace. Book on foreign election interference "Meddling in the Ballot Box" at OUP. Opinions are mine only
Pinned
Dov H. Levin
@dovlevin.bsky.social
· Nov 25
www.amazon.com
Welcome new followers! Introductory🧵- I am a IR scholar who focuses these days on two key topics. 1. The causes & effects of partisan electoral int/foreign election interference. Recent award winning book on topic "Meddling in the Ballot Box" at OUP examines 🧵 www.amazon.com/Meddling-Bal...
In other bad news, it seems that the US is beginning some actual efforts to annex Canada (or parts of it). 😢
www.ft.com/content/11dc...
www.ft.com/content/11dc...
Trump officials met group pushing Alberta independence from Canada
Separatists from oil-rich province try to capitalise on friction between White House and Mark Carney
www.ft.com
January 29, 2026 at 2:23 PM
In other bad news, it seems that the US is beginning some actual efforts to annex Canada (or parts of it). 😢
www.ft.com/content/11dc...
www.ft.com/content/11dc...
Reposted by Dov H. Levin
this operation will cause to the international system in a way little discussed thus far. /2
January 5, 2026 at 1:41 PM
this operation will cause to the international system in a way little discussed thus far. /2
Reposted by Dov H. Levin
My immediate take on Substack on the American regime change operation in Venezuela. It discusses among other things how such a FIRC is a predictable result of US FP towards Venezuela since the start of the 21st Century , to the likely wider long term damage /1
open.substack.com/pub/dovhlevi...
open.substack.com/pub/dovhlevi...
Four immediate points about the 2026 Regime Change Operation in Venezuela
From why this isn’t (mostly) because of Trump's whims, to the likely wider long term damage this operation will cause to the international system
open.substack.com
January 5, 2026 at 1:41 PM
My immediate take on Substack on the American regime change operation in Venezuela. It discusses among other things how such a FIRC is a predictable result of US FP towards Venezuela since the start of the 21st Century , to the likely wider long term damage /1
open.substack.com/pub/dovhlevi...
open.substack.com/pub/dovhlevi...
Reposted by Dov H. Levin
And the 4th I think is really insightful:
That this operation will undermine international diplomacy and trust in diplomatic immunity.
World leaders — especially of weaker rivals and opponents — will be more leary of setting foot on U.S. soil, and even attending the UN
That this operation will undermine international diplomacy and trust in diplomatic immunity.
World leaders — especially of weaker rivals and opponents — will be more leary of setting foot on U.S. soil, and even attending the UN
January 6, 2026 at 3:30 AM
And the 4th I think is really insightful:
That this operation will undermine international diplomacy and trust in diplomatic immunity.
World leaders — especially of weaker rivals and opponents — will be more leary of setting foot on U.S. soil, and even attending the UN
That this operation will undermine international diplomacy and trust in diplomatic immunity.
World leaders — especially of weaker rivals and opponents — will be more leary of setting foot on U.S. soil, and even attending the UN
Reposted by Dov H. Levin
This is an interesting read as always from Dov Levin on the IR fallout from Venezuela
My immediate take on Substack on the American regime change operation in Venezuela. It discusses among other things how such a FIRC is a predictable result of US FP towards Venezuela since the start of the 21st Century , to the likely wider long term damage /1
open.substack.com/pub/dovhlevi...
open.substack.com/pub/dovhlevi...
Four immediate points about the 2026 Regime Change Operation in Venezuela
From why this isn’t (mostly) because of Trump's whims, to the likely wider long term damage this operation will cause to the international system
open.substack.com
January 6, 2026 at 3:19 AM
This is an interesting read as always from Dov Levin on the IR fallout from Venezuela
My immediate take on Substack on the American regime change operation in Venezuela. It discusses among other things how such a FIRC is a predictable result of US FP towards Venezuela since the start of the 21st Century , to the likely wider long term damage /1
open.substack.com/pub/dovhlevi...
open.substack.com/pub/dovhlevi...
Four immediate points about the 2026 Regime Change Operation in Venezuela
From why this isn’t (mostly) because of Trump's whims, to the likely wider long term damage this operation will cause to the international system
open.substack.com
January 5, 2026 at 1:41 PM
My immediate take on Substack on the American regime change operation in Venezuela. It discusses among other things how such a FIRC is a predictable result of US FP towards Venezuela since the start of the 21st Century , to the likely wider long term damage /1
open.substack.com/pub/dovhlevi...
open.substack.com/pub/dovhlevi...
Reposted by Dov H. Levin
Trumps new FIRC attempt in Venezuela his feels like throwback to early 20 Century US behavior in Latin America. Teddy Roosevelt declared in 1905 the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine- "Chronic wrongdoing...may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention /1
January 3, 2026 at 10:48 AM
Trumps new FIRC attempt in Venezuela his feels like throwback to early 20 Century US behavior in Latin America. Teddy Roosevelt declared in 1905 the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine- "Chronic wrongdoing...may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention /1
Trumps new FIRC attempt in Venezuela his feels like throwback to early 20 Century US behavior in Latin America. Teddy Roosevelt declared in 1905 the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine- "Chronic wrongdoing...may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention /1
January 3, 2026 at 10:48 AM
Trumps new FIRC attempt in Venezuela his feels like throwback to early 20 Century US behavior in Latin America. Teddy Roosevelt declared in 1905 the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine- "Chronic wrongdoing...may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention /1
Trump's regime change operation in Venezuela is bad idea. However ppl shouldn't assume a US invasion is coming next- he may be able by such a blockade alone to bring down Maduro w/out boots on ground. US in this way removed some regimes in L.America (Mexico 1914 etc.)
edition.cnn.com/2025/12/16/p...
edition.cnn.com/2025/12/16/p...
Trump orders ‘total and complete blockade’ of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and leaving Venezuela | CNN Politics
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he was ordering a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and leaving from Venezuela, ratcheting up pressure against leader Nicolás Maduro...
edition.cnn.com
December 17, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Trump's regime change operation in Venezuela is bad idea. However ppl shouldn't assume a US invasion is coming next- he may be able by such a blockade alone to bring down Maduro w/out boots on ground. US in this way removed some regimes in L.America (Mexico 1914 etc.)
edition.cnn.com/2025/12/16/p...
edition.cnn.com/2025/12/16/p...
One of my BA majors was in ancient history- so I'm now sure that archeologists in 5th millennium will be able to identify & date in the archeological record, the second Trump Administration's great global & domestic disruption (of the Atomic age I).
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
So long, penny. The Treasury has officially stopped producing one-cent coins.
The U.S. Mint struck its final run of one-cent coins Wednesday, ending almost 230 years of near-continuous penny production.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:45 PM
One of my BA majors was in ancient history- so I'm now sure that archeologists in 5th millennium will be able to identify & date in the archeological record, the second Trump Administration's great global & domestic disruption (of the Atomic age I).
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Reposted by Dov H. Levin
In other news, during Afghan war CIA secretly airdropped modified poppy seeds with low opium/morphine production in order to combat the Taliban use of heroin drug trade to subsidize its insurgency. Effects seem limited at best.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Inside the CIA’s secret mission to sabotage Afghanistan’s opium
In a decade-long operation, the CIA modified poppy seeds and dropped them by the billions from aircraft over Afghanistan in an attempt to weaken the potency of the country’s opium crop.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:20 PM
In other news, during Afghan war CIA secretly airdropped modified poppy seeds with low opium/morphine production in order to combat the Taliban use of heroin drug trade to subsidize its insurgency. Effects seem limited at best.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
In other news, during Afghan war CIA secretly airdropped modified poppy seeds with low opium/morphine production in order to combat the Taliban use of heroin drug trade to subsidize its insurgency. Effects seem limited at best.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Inside the CIA’s secret mission to sabotage Afghanistan’s opium
In a decade-long operation, the CIA modified poppy seeds and dropped them by the billions from aircraft over Afghanistan in an attempt to weaken the potency of the country’s opium crop.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:20 PM
In other news, during Afghan war CIA secretly airdropped modified poppy seeds with low opium/morphine production in order to combat the Taliban use of heroin drug trade to subsidize its insurgency. Effects seem limited at best.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
In other news it looks like the US is intervening in Iraqi elections in order to stop Iranian (& Iranian back militias) affiliated parties
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/w...
As Iraqis Vote for a Parliament, U.S. Presses to Rid Country of Iran’s Influence
www.nytimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:31 PM
In other news it looks like the US is intervening in Iraqi elections in order to stop Iranian (& Iranian back militias) affiliated parties
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/w...
Norm of diplomats having immunity from punishment for doing job goes back centuries- so Trump Admin personally threatening EU diplomats of suffering personal punishments if they promote treaty Trump dislikes is a new low even for Trump's norm breaking tendencies. www.politico.eu/article/us-a...
US accused of threatening EU diplomats during bid to kill green shipping rules
Negotiators at shipping talks in London were told both they and their countries could be punished unless they voted with the U.S.
www.politico.eu
November 4, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Norm of diplomats having immunity from punishment for doing job goes back centuries- so Trump Admin personally threatening EU diplomats of suffering personal punishments if they promote treaty Trump dislikes is a new low even for Trump's norm breaking tendencies. www.politico.eu/article/us-a...
Reposted by Dov H. Levin
I was quoted in this new article in
@nytimes.com about Trump's interference in the recent Argentine midterm election. To summarize what Trump did in this case wasn't new -but identity of aided side was unusual. Also it probably helped Milei's party.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/w...
@nytimes.com about Trump's interference in the recent Argentine midterm election. To summarize what Trump did in this case wasn't new -but identity of aided side was unusual. Also it probably helped Milei's party.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/w...
Trump’s Hand in Argentina
www.nytimes.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:32 PM
I was quoted in this new article in
@nytimes.com about Trump's interference in the recent Argentine midterm election. To summarize what Trump did in this case wasn't new -but identity of aided side was unusual. Also it probably helped Milei's party.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/w...
@nytimes.com about Trump's interference in the recent Argentine midterm election. To summarize what Trump did in this case wasn't new -but identity of aided side was unusual. Also it probably helped Milei's party.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/w...
I was quoted in this new article in
@nytimes.com about Trump's interference in the recent Argentine midterm election. To summarize what Trump did in this case wasn't new -but identity of aided side was unusual. Also it probably helped Milei's party.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/w...
@nytimes.com about Trump's interference in the recent Argentine midterm election. To summarize what Trump did in this case wasn't new -but identity of aided side was unusual. Also it probably helped Milei's party.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/w...
Trump’s Hand in Argentina
www.nytimes.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:32 PM
I was quoted in this new article in
@nytimes.com about Trump's interference in the recent Argentine midterm election. To summarize what Trump did in this case wasn't new -but identity of aided side was unusual. Also it probably helped Milei's party.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/w...
@nytimes.com about Trump's interference in the recent Argentine midterm election. To summarize what Trump did in this case wasn't new -but identity of aided side was unusual. Also it probably helped Milei's party.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/w...
In other news, US successfully intervenes in Argentine midterm elections saving Milei's party from a serious defeat.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Argentina elections: Javier Milei and his 'chainsaw' austerity win big
Milei's radical spending cuts have won favour with Donald Trump, but also attracted widespread criticism.
www.bbc.com
October 27, 2025 at 1:10 PM
In other news, US successfully intervenes in Argentine midterm elections saving Milei's party from a serious defeat.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
In other news Sarkozy is going to jail for accepting covert campaign funding from Kaddafi in the 2009 French Prez. election- French court rejected appeal. Yet another illustration of potential costs for assisted side from agreeing to an electoral intervention.
www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/crime-n...
www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/crime-n...
France's Sarkozy sentenced to jail in Gaddafi case
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to jail on a charge in his trial for alleged illegal campaign financing by Libya.
www.thenewdaily.com.au
September 26, 2025 at 12:50 PM
In other news Sarkozy is going to jail for accepting covert campaign funding from Kaddafi in the 2009 French Prez. election- French court rejected appeal. Yet another illustration of potential costs for assisted side from agreeing to an electoral intervention.
www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/crime-n...
www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/crime-n...
Reposted by Dov H. Levin
In other news, in order to aid the Argentine president Milei in the forthcoming Argentine midterm elections the US is bailing out the Argentine economy w/a swap line. "America First" is quite meddlesome abroad as well
www.reuters.com/world/americ...
www.reuters.com/world/americ...
US ready to support Argentina as needed, Bessent says
The United States stands ready to do what is needed to support Argentina and is currently in negotiations for a $20 billion swap line with the country's central bank, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday in a post on X.
www.reuters.com
September 25, 2025 at 12:26 PM
In other news, in order to aid the Argentine president Milei in the forthcoming Argentine midterm elections the US is bailing out the Argentine economy w/a swap line. "America First" is quite meddlesome abroad as well
www.reuters.com/world/americ...
www.reuters.com/world/americ...
In other news, in order to aid the Argentine president Milei in the forthcoming Argentine midterm elections the US is bailing out the Argentine economy w/a swap line. "America First" is quite meddlesome abroad as well
www.reuters.com/world/americ...
www.reuters.com/world/americ...
US ready to support Argentina as needed, Bessent says
The United States stands ready to do what is needed to support Argentina and is currently in negotiations for a $20 billion swap line with the country's central bank, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday in a post on X.
www.reuters.com
September 25, 2025 at 12:26 PM
In other news, in order to aid the Argentine president Milei in the forthcoming Argentine midterm elections the US is bailing out the Argentine economy w/a swap line. "America First" is quite meddlesome abroad as well
www.reuters.com/world/americ...
www.reuters.com/world/americ...
In other news GOP finds a new excuse to try to harm US universities- sigh.
www.scmp.com/news/china/d...
www.scmp.com/news/china/d...
Dozens of US-China education programmes ‘must end’, says House Republican report
NYU - East China Normal University physics institute among partnerships targeted in broadside against tie-ups seen helping country modernise.
www.scmp.com
September 16, 2025 at 1:12 PM
In other news GOP finds a new excuse to try to harm US universities- sigh.
www.scmp.com/news/china/d...
www.scmp.com/news/china/d...
The panel with my piece on symbolic public gift diplomacy is today at 12 noon!
Attending APSA 2025? Looking for interesting panels to attend on Friday and Saturday afternoon? Interested in public diplomacy? I will be presenting two papers on this topic at APSA (1 on whataboutism vs. shaming & 1 on symbolic public gift diplomacy) that may interest you!
September 13, 2025 at 3:12 PM
The panel with my piece on symbolic public gift diplomacy is today at 12 noon!
Reposted by Dov H. Levin
Attending APSA 2025? Looking for interesting panels to attend on Friday and Saturday afternoon? Interested in public diplomacy? I will be presenting two papers on this topic at APSA (1 on whataboutism vs. shaming & 1 on symbolic public gift diplomacy) that may interest you!
September 11, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Attending APSA 2025? Looking for interesting panels to attend on Friday and Saturday afternoon? Interested in public diplomacy? I will be presenting two papers on this topic at APSA (1 on whataboutism vs. shaming & 1 on symbolic public gift diplomacy) that may interest you!
Attending APSA 2025? Looking for interesting panels to attend on Friday and Saturday afternoon? Interested in public diplomacy? I will be presenting two papers on this topic at APSA (1 on whataboutism vs. shaming & 1 on symbolic public gift diplomacy) that may interest you!
September 11, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Attending APSA 2025? Looking for interesting panels to attend on Friday and Saturday afternoon? Interested in public diplomacy? I will be presenting two papers on this topic at APSA (1 on whataboutism vs. shaming & 1 on symbolic public gift diplomacy) that may interest you!
Reposted by Dov H. Levin
Finally, in this issue’s data feature, @dovlevin.bsky.social introduces PEIG 2.0, an expanded dataset on #ElectionIntervention. This adds 25.5% more years and 37.4% more cases, mapping interventions from 1946–2014.
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September 8, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Finally, in this issue’s data feature, @dovlevin.bsky.social introduces PEIG 2.0, an expanded dataset on #ElectionIntervention. This adds 25.5% more years and 37.4% more cases, mapping interventions from 1946–2014.