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Reposted by Ben Francis

Perry World House @perryworldhouse.bsky.social · 9d

Check out PWH postdoc @shanascogin.bsky.social's insight on Nepal's youth uprising here ⬇️

Penn Arts & Sciences @sas.upenn.edu · 12d

In the aftermath of the deadly anti-government youth uprising in Nepal that led to the fall of the country’s government, Shana Scogin, a political scientist and Perry World House fellow, weighs in on the roots of unrest, the interim government, and what to expect next.  @perryworldhouse.bsky.social

Three things to know: Postdoc Shana Scogin on Nepal’s youth uprising | Penn Today

In the aftermath of the deadly anti-government uprising that led to the fall of the country’s government, Penn Today spoke with the Perry World House fellow for insights.

buff.ly

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Reposted by Ben Francis

𝕰𝔦𝖑𝔢𝖊𝔫 𝔐. 𝕳𝔲𝖓𝔱 @eileenmhunt.bsky.social · 7d

Super interesting new paper by Ben Francis, one of my graduate co-authors, who is writing excellent theoretical studies and doing important empirical work on gender, the ethics of positionality statements, and the environmental movement. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Peace positionalities: exploring the use of reflexive positionality statements in peace research

The field of peace studies is necessarily concerned with issues of equity, justice, and inclusion. Notions of violence that define the field and a normative commitment to positive, sustainable peac...

www.tandfonline.com

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · 9d

New article out! 🚨 I analyze how peace scholars are using reflexivity & positionality statements. Their use is climbing, but approaches are varied. Our field is still shaping best practices. Open access in Peacebuilding.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Peace positionalities: exploring the use of reflexive positionality statements in peace research

The field of peace studies is necessarily concerned with issues of equity, justice, and inclusion. Notions of violence that define the field and a normative commitment to positive, sustainable peac...

www.tandfonline.com

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · 20d

Excited to be at LeHigh University today to do a guest lecture. Climate change is a gendered phenomenon, let's talk about it!

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Sep 8

Be cautious of the white dude academic opining on distant events but I've worked in and cared about Nepal for many years and have spent today refreshing horrific social media updates from friends & former colleagues there. Sending solidarity to young Nepalis taking on a corrupt & violent government.

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Sep 5

Novel. Innovative. Wordplay du jour.

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Sep 5

Interpreting submission guidelines and upload structures required for (some) journals is significantly more difficult a feat of problem-solving than any other part of academia. I feel I deserve two PhDs; one for my research and one for successfully navigating the Kafkaesque task of submitting it.

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Sep 1

I continue to be a Labour member begrudgingly because I still believe the party is the best vehicle for representing working class rights in the contemporary British political arena but I consider that membership on a daily basis. I could be won back to enthusiasm under a Rayner leadership, I think.

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Aug 29

So almost a 30% reduction in jobs from last year's market which many people told me was a bad year itself.

Not to worry, I'm going to take this PhD and deliver insightful lectures on climate politics while doing minimum wage service industry work. Destroy higher ed, but you can't stop me lecturing!

Elizabeth (Bit) Meehan, PhD @elizabethbitmeehan.com · Aug 29

May-August total job number comparison is fucking brutal:

May-August 2024: 310 total positions (212 open to assistant TT)

May-August 2025: 226 total positions (138 open to assistant TT)

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Aug 29

An election where Iowa flips and Maine doesn't would cement Susan Collins middle name as "fucking" in a lot of casual conversations.

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Aug 29

The absolute worst part about living 750 miles away from campus during the 5th year of your PhD is still getting the emails about the free food that's available after events. My grad student instincts are still strong. I still want the freebies!

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Reposted by Ben Francis

APSA @apsa.bsky.social · Aug 26

The Fossil-Fueled Roots of Climate Inaction in Authoritarian Regimes

The Fossil-Fueled Roots of Climate Inaction in Authoritarian Regimes By William Kakenmaster, University of Notre Dame Why do some authoritarian regimes contribute more to climate change than others? I suggest that climate…

The Fossil-Fueled Roots of Climate Inaction in Authoritarian Regimes

The Fossil-Fueled Roots of Climate Inaction in Authoritarian Regimes By William Kakenmaster, University of Notre Dame Why do some authoritarian regimes contribute more to climate change than others? I suggest that climate inaction in nondemocracies is shaped by a combination of fossil fuel wealth and executive constraints. Fossil fuel wealth undermines climate action by giving leaders of authoritarian regimes incentives to capture oil and gas rents that help them maintain power.

politicalsciencenow.com

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Aug 26

Swearing repeatedly is a legitimate research technique and an effective coping mechanism

The "Old man yells at cloud" meme but with the word "Data" over the word cloud

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Reposted by Ben Francis

Saad Gulzar سعد گلزار @saadgulzar.bsky.social · Aug 24

TIL that @rizahmed.bsky.social is pro-sortition (random selection of citizens to become politicians) 😱

youtube.com/shorts/M7oTO...

We need to stop having all election and elect leaders through a random lottery!! Feat Riz Ahmed

YouTube video by SubwayTakes with Kareem Rahma

youtube.com

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Jul 31

As an inexperienced grad student I'm going through only my 2nd ever R&R process at the moment and wondering - is it normal, at a certain point of making revisions, to decide that actually the whole paper is (and always has been) bad?

It's happened to me both times. Is this just a me thing?

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Jul 27

Took my wife to her first Man Utd game yesterday. I took care to explain that being a United fan would this season would almost certainly mean enduring frequent disappointment but that it was good practice for being married to me.

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Jul 21

The sentence "How can you have progressive politics without any sense of progress" efficiently captures a huge chunk of the problem. It's 11 words doing the same job as I do over 3 or 4 pints and a tipsy monologue to whoever will listen.

Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · Jul 21

"The truly unnerving thing about the fall of Rome (yes, I’m going there again, sorry) was that most Romans probably didn’t notice it had happened."

Morning all!

The decline and fall of Great Britain

From the graffiti to the economy, a sense of terminal rot has set in.

www.newstatesman.com

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Jul 14

My co-author only puts one space after a full stop. I type properly. I have begrudgingly agreed to her standard for our collaborative manuscript, though I did state for the record that one space was "woke nonsense" and I think this might be my descent into right wing politics origin story.

Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Jul 7

This morning while out with my research team collecting survey responses I was handed two fresh and delicious mangos by one of our survey respondents and fieldwork has never tasted so good!

Two orange mangoes being held in someones hand

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Jun 18

Went to the @fifaclubworldcup.bsky.social in Philly today and, well, after spending ages trying to get near the stadium and then seeing lines of thousands trying to get in well after kick off, I gave up and came home.

FIFA messing up the organisation of a soulless commercial exercise? I'm shocked!

Lines of fans waiting to get inside a stadium at the FIFA Club World Cup

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Jun 17

Also not religious, but from what I can glean, Jesus would have been down to party. Think this is OK.

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Reposted by Ben Francis

Hadley Wickham @hadley.nz · Jun 10

Happy 18th birthday ggplot2! #rstats

Balloon wall art inspired by the ggplot2 hex sticker. The display features a hexagonal frame made of black balloons, filled with white balloons inside and surrounded by a background of light and dark blue balloons. A line graph with black balloon segments and round coloured nodes runs across the centre, and the word “ggplot2” is spelled out in black balloon letters below the chart.

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Jun 3

It was a real pleasure to present at the @politicsgenderj.bsky.social conference at Rutgers last week & to catch up with a great group of friends from IQMR. Even as the current state and future of academia seems depressing, it's the wonderful community and scholarship that makes me want to do this.

Four scholars pose in front of a banner at a conference

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · Jun 2

If anything the "skills of the future" argument gets more ridiculous the faster the pace of technological innovation. A school leaver has a ~50 year career ahead. You might plausibly have been able to argue in 1940 you kinda knew what the economy would be like in 1990. But predicting 2075 from here?

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Ben Francis @benfrancis.bsky.social · May 27

Vive le roi?

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