Nick Bernards
@nickbernards.bsky.social
Critical Political Economist -- Author: A critical history of poverty finance (http://bit.ly/3pEV7Cf); Fictions of financialization (http://bit.ly/3PUWzdR) -- Reader in Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick.
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Views mine.
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Nick Bernards
@nickbernards.bsky.social
· Jul 12
New article!
In this extended introduction to an imminent SI, I argue for renewed engagement with key Marxist debates about exploitation as a way of understanding the mutations of contemporary global capitalism.
Now out in @NPEjournal! (Open Access)
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
In this extended introduction to an imminent SI, I argue for renewed engagement with key Marxist debates about exploitation as a way of understanding the mutations of contemporary global capitalism.
Now out in @NPEjournal! (Open Access)
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Really enjoying this!
November 25, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Really enjoying this!
It feels likely that, alongside redundancies, at least some UK universities respond to a tax on international student fees by raising international recruitment targets to try to make up the shortfall per student…
November 25, 2025 at 10:52 AM
It feels likely that, alongside redundancies, at least some UK universities respond to a tax on international student fees by raising international recruitment targets to try to make up the shortfall per student…
Reposted by Nick Bernards
OUT NOW "Remittances as translocal collateral: How microfinance profitably sustains precarity in Cambodia"
@vincentguermond.bsky.social as lead, bringing together !5! studies on the relationship between migration, remittances, and microfinance debt.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
@vincentguermond.bsky.social as lead, bringing together !5! studies on the relationship between migration, remittances, and microfinance debt.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
November 24, 2025 at 10:27 AM
OUT NOW "Remittances as translocal collateral: How microfinance profitably sustains precarity in Cambodia"
@vincentguermond.bsky.social as lead, bringing together !5! studies on the relationship between migration, remittances, and microfinance debt.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
@vincentguermond.bsky.social as lead, bringing together !5! studies on the relationship between migration, remittances, and microfinance debt.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Reposted by Nick Bernards
Important new report out on precarious working conditions in Geography in UK HE. Sadly the nature and scale of the findings are grim but unsurprising. www.rgs.org/research/hig...
States of precarity in UK Higher Education geography
Findings from a discipline-focused research project exploring the lived realities of precarious academic work within UK Higher Education geography.
www.rgs.org
November 21, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Important new report out on precarious working conditions in Geography in UK HE. Sadly the nature and scale of the findings are grim but unsurprising. www.rgs.org/research/hig...
Probably as good a time as any for Sivanandan on the British state's contortions around immigration.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10....
journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10....
November 21, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Probably as good a time as any for Sivanandan on the British state's contortions around immigration.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10....
journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10....
New commentary!
I’ve been doing some work on World Bank experiments with trust funds for conservation in the 1990s.
It looks like, having run out of other ways to private finance our way out of climate crisis, they’re back at COP 30 with the TFFF.
theconversation.com/the-worlds-n...
I’ve been doing some work on World Bank experiments with trust funds for conservation in the 1990s.
It looks like, having run out of other ways to private finance our way out of climate crisis, they’re back at COP 30 with the TFFF.
theconversation.com/the-worlds-n...
The world’s new US$125 billion rainforest trust fund revives a 1990s idea – and shows its limits
Cop30’s flagship Tropical Forests Forever announcement puts investors before rainforests.
theconversation.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:24 AM
New commentary!
I’ve been doing some work on World Bank experiments with trust funds for conservation in the 1990s.
It looks like, having run out of other ways to private finance our way out of climate crisis, they’re back at COP 30 with the TFFF.
theconversation.com/the-worlds-n...
I’ve been doing some work on World Bank experiments with trust funds for conservation in the 1990s.
It looks like, having run out of other ways to private finance our way out of climate crisis, they’re back at COP 30 with the TFFF.
theconversation.com/the-worlds-n...
Reposted by Nick Bernards
Lise Vogel’s The Contested Domain (edited by me) is officially released today!!! I hope it will be a resource for people interested in Lise’s rigorous approach to social thought (spanning 5 decades) that creates theoretical openings for an inclusive Marxist Feminism.
November 20, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Lise Vogel’s The Contested Domain (edited by me) is officially released today!!! I hope it will be a resource for people interested in Lise’s rigorous approach to social thought (spanning 5 decades) that creates theoretical openings for an inclusive Marxist Feminism.
Reposted by Nick Bernards
New essay, written for the excellent @transitionsec.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 8:36 AM
New essay, written for the excellent @transitionsec.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
Reposted by Nick Bernards
Why do global environmental institutions multiply and persist even when they seem unable to address biodiversity loss and environmental governance failures effectively?
Our new OA article with @jacquelinebest.bsky.social in @risjnl.bsky.social tries to answer this question. 1/7
cup.org/4hZNlcX
Our new OA article with @jacquelinebest.bsky.social in @risjnl.bsky.social tries to answer this question. 1/7
cup.org/4hZNlcX
Failure-proof or failure-prone? The paradoxes of global biodiversity institutions | Review of International Studies | Cambridge Core
Failure-proof or failure-prone? The paradoxes of global biodiversity institutions
cup.org
November 19, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Why do global environmental institutions multiply and persist even when they seem unable to address biodiversity loss and environmental governance failures effectively?
Our new OA article with @jacquelinebest.bsky.social in @risjnl.bsky.social tries to answer this question. 1/7
cup.org/4hZNlcX
Our new OA article with @jacquelinebest.bsky.social in @risjnl.bsky.social tries to answer this question. 1/7
cup.org/4hZNlcX
Reposted by Nick Bernards
I wrote for @lpeblog.bsky.social about @alybatt.bsky.social's new book—which, I argue, shows how the critique of political economy can allow us to clearly name the social cause of climate catastrophe: capital. lpeproject.org/blog/when-na...
When Nature is Worthless
Under capitalism, the social domination of nature occurs through and is mediated by the commodity form. Certain portions of non-human nature can be valued, but only when they are transformed into…
lpeproject.org
November 18, 2025 at 11:51 AM
I wrote for @lpeblog.bsky.social about @alybatt.bsky.social's new book—which, I argue, shows how the critique of political economy can allow us to clearly name the social cause of climate catastrophe: capital. lpeproject.org/blog/when-na...
Reposted by Nick Bernards
Another absolute banger in our war/climate/geopolitics series
Our tech and energy systems being transformed. But how & in whose interests?
Read @iliasalami.bsky.social's Imperial State Capitalism to understand how the development of AI & the energy transition are being shaped by profiteering & geopolitical competition.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
Read @iliasalami.bsky.social's Imperial State Capitalism to understand how the development of AI & the energy transition are being shaped by profiteering & geopolitical competition.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
Imperial State Capitalism
A new geopolitics is shaping the development of AI and the energy transition.
transitionsecurity.org
November 18, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Another absolute banger in our war/climate/geopolitics series
Real hot take: Having a series of emails with a famous pedophile where you strategize about how to coerce a student into sex should specifically disqualify you from teaching or being around students...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘Deeply ashamed’ Larry Summers steps back from public life over Epstein links
Former treasury secretary steps away to ‘rebuild trust’ after severe backlash but will continue teaching Harvard classes
www.theguardian.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Real hot take: Having a series of emails with a famous pedophile where you strategize about how to coerce a student into sex should specifically disqualify you from teaching or being around students...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Nick Bernards
Happy to have written about plastic for @thepolycrisis.bsky.social. Thanks to @70sbachchan.bsky.social for sourcing the excellent graphics. And thanks to @rebecca-altman.bsky.social and @anjakrieger.bsky.social for being my go-to's on all-things plastic.
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/pla...
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/pla...
Plastic Planet | Venus Bivar
Stalled negotiations and accelerating accumulation in the global petrochemicals industry
www.phenomenalworld.org
November 17, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Happy to have written about plastic for @thepolycrisis.bsky.social. Thanks to @70sbachchan.bsky.social for sourcing the excellent graphics. And thanks to @rebecca-altman.bsky.social and @anjakrieger.bsky.social for being my go-to's on all-things plastic.
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/pla...
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/pla...
Reposted by Nick Bernards
Coming soon in RIPE Series in Global Political Economy - War Economy: Gendered Circuits of Violence and Capital, co-edited with Jacqui True. More at: www.routledge.com/War-Economy-...
November 16, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Coming soon in RIPE Series in Global Political Economy - War Economy: Gendered Circuits of Violence and Capital, co-edited with Jacqui True. More at: www.routledge.com/War-Economy-...
Reposted by Nick Bernards
Reposted by Nick Bernards
We are hiring! Please share!
Canadian Excellence Research Chair in Comparative Democratic Resilience in the Global South
careers.mun.ca/hss/api/care...
@memorialu.bsky.social
Note we are working with a very tight deadline
Canadian Excellence Research Chair in Comparative Democratic Resilience in the Global South
careers.mun.ca/hss/api/care...
@memorialu.bsky.social
Note we are working with a very tight deadline
careers.mun.ca
November 14, 2025 at 3:20 PM
We are hiring! Please share!
Canadian Excellence Research Chair in Comparative Democratic Resilience in the Global South
careers.mun.ca/hss/api/care...
@memorialu.bsky.social
Note we are working with a very tight deadline
Canadian Excellence Research Chair in Comparative Democratic Resilience in the Global South
careers.mun.ca/hss/api/care...
@memorialu.bsky.social
Note we are working with a very tight deadline
Reposted by Nick Bernards
I'm reading the World Bank's 2024 International Debt Report, and what a blunt way to kick-off such a document! Not long ago, so many people in development policy circles were indeed repeating the "from billions to trillions" phrase as a silver bullet for development financing and global development.
November 14, 2025 at 7:47 AM
I'm reading the World Bank's 2024 International Debt Report, and what a blunt way to kick-off such a document! Not long ago, so many people in development policy circles were indeed repeating the "from billions to trillions" phrase as a silver bullet for development financing and global development.
Reposted by Nick Bernards
🚨You always wondered about how to make sense of the many accounts on Green Finance? We got you covered:
@nataschavanderzwan.bsky.social @danmertens.bsky.social ky.social Julius Kob and I critically review existing accounts and argue for an integrated analytical approach👇
doi.org/10.1017/fas....
@nataschavanderzwan.bsky.social @danmertens.bsky.social ky.social Julius Kob and I critically review existing accounts and argue for an integrated analytical approach👇
doi.org/10.1017/fas....
Constructions, cleavages, and complementarities: Macro- and micro-approaches in the study of green finance | Finance and Society | Cambridge Core
Constructions, cleavages, and complementarities: Macro- and micro-approaches in the study of green finance
doi.org
November 13, 2025 at 1:04 PM
🚨You always wondered about how to make sense of the many accounts on Green Finance? We got you covered:
@nataschavanderzwan.bsky.social @danmertens.bsky.social ky.social Julius Kob and I critically review existing accounts and argue for an integrated analytical approach👇
doi.org/10.1017/fas....
@nataschavanderzwan.bsky.social @danmertens.bsky.social ky.social Julius Kob and I critically review existing accounts and argue for an integrated analytical approach👇
doi.org/10.1017/fas....
Reposted by Nick Bernards
Recommended reading and timely, too, as the British Chancellor continues to falsely assume that pandering to financial fractions in the City will result in the investment which is so desperately needed across economy and society
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Subordinating ‘alt-finance’: How British venture capital became dependent on the US | Finance and Society | Cambridge Core
Subordinating ‘alt-finance’: How British venture capital became dependent on the US
www.cambridge.org
November 13, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Recommended reading and timely, too, as the British Chancellor continues to falsely assume that pandering to financial fractions in the City will result in the investment which is so desperately needed across economy and society
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Successive Labour and Tory governments in this country absolutely deserve lots of blame for the state of universities in this country.
But they’ve got nothing on university managers.
But they’ve got nothing on university managers.
My employer has announced a voluntary redundancy scheme. By the standards of what’s happening elsewhere in the UK it’s really not that bad…
But the fact that the University insists on describing this as an ‘investment’ is mind-boggling.
But the fact that the University insists on describing this as an ‘investment’ is mind-boggling.
November 13, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Successive Labour and Tory governments in this country absolutely deserve lots of blame for the state of universities in this country.
But they’ve got nothing on university managers.
But they’ve got nothing on university managers.
My employer has announced a voluntary redundancy scheme. By the standards of what’s happening elsewhere in the UK it’s really not that bad…
But the fact that the University insists on describing this as an ‘investment’ is mind-boggling.
But the fact that the University insists on describing this as an ‘investment’ is mind-boggling.
November 13, 2025 at 11:07 AM
My employer has announced a voluntary redundancy scheme. By the standards of what’s happening elsewhere in the UK it’s really not that bad…
But the fact that the University insists on describing this as an ‘investment’ is mind-boggling.
But the fact that the University insists on describing this as an ‘investment’ is mind-boggling.
Reposted by Nick Bernards
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... our piece on Germany and the question of imperialism is out. An attempt at wrapping our heads around the political economy of Germany in times of genocide.
Walking a fine line: Germany and the question of imperialism
In a world of increased warfare and unstable accumulation regimes, German investments into large-scale weapons production and its support to the Gaza genocide have brought the question of imperiali...
www.tandfonline.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:56 PM
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... our piece on Germany and the question of imperialism is out. An attempt at wrapping our heads around the political economy of Germany in times of genocide.
Really enjoyed this book! Raises a whole bunch of really vital questions about power and transition, and does so much to get us beyond a rote insistence on state action in climate politics.
November 11, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Really enjoyed this book! Raises a whole bunch of really vital questions about power and transition, and does so much to get us beyond a rote insistence on state action in climate politics.
This kind of half-hopeful take hoping that some imminent Chinese hegemony will save us from climate breakdown is grimly fascinating.
November 11, 2025 at 10:36 AM
This kind of half-hopeful take hoping that some imminent Chinese hegemony will save us from climate breakdown is grimly fascinating.