Peter Radcliffe
LightNews LightNews
banner
pmradcliffe.bsky.social
Peter Radcliffe
@pmradcliffe.bsky.social
140 followers 200 following 50 posts
Political scientist turned institutional researcher. Democracy, science, education, equality, and cats. Come for the Minnesota boosterism, stay because I don't post much and you've forgotten you're following me.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
brucespringsteen.net
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
January 28, 2026 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
kevinmkruse.bsky.social
On this MLK Day, one particular passage from his address at the March on Washington seems especially relevant.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
January 19, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
snackeru.bsky.social
The delicious Shuang Cheng restaurant in Dinkytown, Minneapolis. Did you know that "Shuang Cheng" means Twin Cities in Chinese?
Storefront of Shuang Chang restaurant in Dinkytown, Minneapolis.
January 18, 2026 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
douglasmack.bsky.social
I keep thinking about the toxic, pervasive mythology of "rugged individualism" as a driving force in American culture, and how the collective efforts in the Twin Cities right now are proof that the only way through hard times is together, as a community.
January 17, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
davekarpf.bsky.social
The AI evangelists have gotten excited about the revolutionary potential of Claude Code.

Even if they're right about the capabilities, they really haven't thought through what comes next.

open.substack.com/pub/davekarp...
What comes next, if Claude Code is as good as people say.
We know how this turns out. First comes the novelty, then comes the corrosion.
open.substack.com
January 15, 2026 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
donmoyn.bsky.social
Which types of welfare fraud are politely litigated between white collar lawyers, and which types of welfare fraud are used to justify an immigration purge and shutting off resources to the poor?
January 15, 2026 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
aaronsojourner.org
Fact check: True!
www.yahoo.com/news/article...
January 13, 2026 at 3:20 AM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
heatherrandell.bsky.social
I just love this. The University of Minnesota Library has launched book club kits! Students can take out six copies of the same book to read with friends. College kids need this sort of stuff now more than ever. 📚📖💙

libguides.umn.edu/bookclubkits...
University of Minnesota Libraries announcement: Read with friends! Cozy Book Club Kits are here! Read with your friends! University Libraries first collection of book club and buddy reading kits are now available.
November 19, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
ckrafftc.bsky.social
📣 I am recruiting PhD student(s) in Public Affairs (Fall '26) at the Humphrey School, University of Minnesota! Come join me to work on Development/ Labor/ Education/ Gender/ ECD/ Inequality - in a top-ranked, fully-funded PhD program! Details: www.hhh.umn.edu/doctor-philo... #EconSky #PoliSky
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Public Affairs
The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Public Affairs offers rigorous, advanced study that prepares researchers to enter academia or join highly respected institutions involved in cutting edge research in ...
www.hhh.umn.edu
October 1, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
daviddarmofal.bsky.social
Another survey that shows a rebound in support for higher education. @cbwlezien.bsky.social
www.insidehighered.com/news/student...
Americans Recognize Nuances of Higher Ed’s Value
New data shows that confidence in higher education is on the rise and most Americans, regardless of party affiliation, share a similar vision for what colleges should prioritize.
www.insidehighered.com
July 17, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
carebear620.bsky.social
June 22, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
dithomps.bsky.social
Delighted to see my article, "The Bureaucratic Origins of Political Theory," in print in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social. It is my favorite thing I've written, and I hope you'll read it.

Like most people, I learned in school that political theory began in Athens in the 5th c. BCE. This is wrong. (1/)
The abstract for the article titled "The Bureaucratic Origins of Political Theory: Administrative Labor in the 'Other Half' of the History of Political Thought," which reads: The earliest works of political theory precede Athenian democracy—the traditional starting point of Anglophone histories of political thought—by over two millennia. More time passed between the first written accounts of government in Mesopotamia and the birth of Plato than has passed between Plato’s life and ours. And yet this “other half” of the history of political thought has barely registered in the academic field of political theory. This article seeks to “reset” the starting point of the field back to its earliest origins in ancient Sumer. In doing so, the article expands political theory’s recent “rediscovery” of bureaucracy by calling for a new research agenda that will recover questions of public administration as a major thematic throughline in the 5,000-year global history of human political ideas. For while the ancient Athenians enslaved their public administrators and wrote almost nothing about them, the analogous actors were free and highly valued in ancient Mesopotamian political culture. It was these scribal administrators who invented the world’s first literature and written political thought. In their writings, they valorized their own administrative labor and the public goods that it alone could produce as objects of enchantment and wonder. Revealing public administration to be an integral part of large-scale human societies from the very beginning may help to counter oligarchic rhetorical claims in contemporary democracies that the “administrative state” is a recent alien imposition.
June 19, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
fridaghitis.bsky.social
The neighborhood is getting ready for tomorrow
June 13, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
kenmartin.bsky.social
My full statement on the targeted murder of Minnesota Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and the shooting of Senator John Hoffman:
Statement from DNC Chair Ken Martin on the targeted murder of Minnesota Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and the shooting of Senator John Hoffman, which includes the following: 'This morning, like so many Minnesotans, my heart is broken. My family—and our entire DFL community—are devastated to learn of the targeted, senseless murders of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, along with the attack on Senator John Hoffman and Yvette Hoffman. Melissa, Mark, John, and Yvette—these are not just names, and this is not just politics. These are people. They’re longtime friends to me and Jenn and so many others in Minnesota. They have children, loved ones, neighbors, and friends. Speaker Hortman was a leader in every sense of the word—from ushering in free lunch for our kids, to protecting women’s rights and reproductive care, to standing up for Minnesota families.' Continuation of the statement from DNC Chair Ken Martin on the targeted murder of Minnesota Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and the shooting of Senator John Hoffman, which includes the following: 'Jenn and I also pray for the swift recoveries of Senator John Hoffman and Yvette Hoffman, and thank the medical personnel who operated quickly and tended to their injuries. For the Hortmans’ family, friends, loved ones, for the DFL community, and for all Minnesotans, our souls ache today. This senseless violence must end. These heinous murders are a reflection of the extremism and political violence that have been fomented in our country. Lawmakers should be able to do their job without fear for their lives. I thank the law enforcement officers and first responders for their ongoing efforts to catch the perpetrator who committed this heinous act.'
June 14, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
niais.bsky.social
Immigration is good, actually.
June 10, 2025 at 1:58 AM
pmradcliffe.bsky.social
Excellent short thread on the importance of science communication in the social sciences, as well as a reference to an also excellent example of that work regarding the civil service.
himself.bsky.social Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · Jun 1
this @adambonica.bsky.social piece deserves to be read beside the yeoman work that @donmoyn.bsky.social and @pamherd.bsky.social have been doing. The dismantling of administrative expertise is one of those stories that is so big that pro journalists with beats find it hard to focus on or explain .
How to Dismantle a Democracy, One Job Posting at a Time
OPM’s new hiring memo imports the authoritarian playbook—quietly, bureaucratically, and by design.
data4democracy.substack.com
June 1, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
sifill.bsky.social
This is absolutely essential reading in case you’re wondering what the wholesale dismantling of civil service work has to do with you. data4democracy.substack.com/p/how-to-dis...
How to Dismantle a Democracy, One Job Posting at a Time
OPM’s new hiring memo imports the authoritarian playbook—quietly, bureaucratically, and by design.
data4democracy.substack.com
June 1, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
jayapal.house.gov
Work requirements hurt poor people AND are a waste of money.

Arkansas spent $26 million on administrative costs for work requirements — and saw no increase in employment.

Georgia’s program cost $40 million in one year — 80% of that went to administrative and consulting costs.
May 25, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
bassisjeremy.bsky.social
Everyone needs to understand that dismantling NSF will have devastating long term consequences in our competitiveness and innovation in science, technology and beyond. 1/
Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions
Changes seen as a response to presidential directives on what research to fund
www.science.org
May 9, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
volts.wtf
"Woke" -- changing norms through social pressure -- is not, contra the reactionary centrists, another form of tyranny. It's the *alternative* to tyranny. It's new norms winning through the marketplace of ideas. The alternative is what we see now: enforcing norms via the threat of state violence.
May 7, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
juliaazari.bsky.social
in addition to the writing and the thinking, this is your chance to go to the library (you can go virtually from your computer) and read some reliable sources about a topic that interests you. (this is the real "do your own research"). you will learn things about the world we live in
alexanderchee.bsky.social Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · May 5
This will sound weird but love yourself enough to write your own term papers.
May 5, 2025 at 4:44 PM
pmradcliffe.bsky.social
"If there are recurring attributes that do come up, pointing to a broadly distinct occupational culture, they are an earnest sense of service mission and a reflexive aversion to attention and credit." - This rings true for the public sector staff I interact with every day. Hug a civil servant.
newrepublic.com The New Republic @newrepublic.com · May 4
"The sheer scale and careening recklessness of what the Trump administration has already executed are generating public blowback that only promises to swell as the rolling effects of service disruptions, benefit interruptions, and job terminations are felt in every congressional district."
Michael Lewis’s Paean to Federal Workers Hits Differently Under DOGE
While Elon Musk paints federal bureaucrats as inefficient or worse, Lewis and other literary essayists shine a light on the quiet heroes of the civil service.
newrepublic.com
May 4, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
crampell.bsky.social
It’s rarely comforting to appear on a government “list”
It was alarming in the ‘40s, for Japanese-Americans. Likewise in ‘50s, for suspected communists. Just as troubling today, as Trump admin assembles registries of Jewish intelligentsia & people with developmental disabilities.
wapo.st/3YO5amY
Opinion | No, thank you. I don’t want to appear on one of Trump’s ‘lists.’
The administration keeps coming up with ways to misuse federal data.
wapo.st
April 29, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Peter Radcliffe
pamherd.bsky.social
The trope that universities are "dependent" on the federal government fundamentally misunderstands how vital this partnership has been for the US. The private sector can't replace it. If we kill it, we're all worse off. From @donmoyn.bsky.social and me: donmoynihan.substack.com/p/are-univer...
Moreover, these funds serve the public interest. Universities do things private companies with research capacities cannot: train research talent, conduct basic research with uncertain payoffs, and distribute knowledge as a public good. And the rewards have been enormous. Everything from the internet to pharmaceutical and health care innovations evolved from such investments. We are richer and healthier for the investment.
April 23, 2025 at 1:53 PM