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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · 10d

We are hiring in US politics!
careers.pageuppeople.com/968/cw/en-us...

Details | Assistant Professor, U.S. Politics & Political Institutions | Careers | Division of Human Resources | Virginia Tech

careers.pageuppeople.com

Reposted by Besnik Pula

Adam Smith @asmith83.bsky.social · 13d

Presidents can go to jail for crimes? www.cnbc.com/2025/09/25/f...

Former French President Sarkozy handed 5-year jail term in stunning downfall

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will soon be imprisoned after he was sentenced to five years in jail on Thursday.

www.cnbc.com

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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · 13d

"Per the ACEA, Tesla EV registrations in Europe fell to just 8,837 units in July, a 40.2% drop compared to a year ago. ... Meanwhile, China's BYD (BYDDY), which sells both full EVs and hybrids, saw registrations surge 225% in July to 13,503"

European buyers now prefer Chinese cars over American autos: Study

President Trump's trade war is doing reputational damage to the US in surprising ways, at least when it comes to the auto sector.

finance.yahoo.com

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Virginia Tech Department of Political Science @vtpsci.bsky.social · 20d

🎓Did you know? In 2024, combined Political Science and International Studies students achieved an impressive 90% law school acceptance rate—well above the national average of 69.4%! 📈

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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · 21d

Helpful reminder that the "average consumer", if it was anything other than a mathematical notion, is an idea from a by-gone era in the US economy now that about half the spending is done by the top 10% of earners

Retail spending is starting to look more and more like the labor market

Spending data shows a resilient consumer powering the economy, but that strength is skewed.

finance.yahoo.com

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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · 23d

Honored to see the review of my book by Eduardo Duran published in @actasociologica.bsky.social Truly appreciate the attention!

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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Todd Tucker @toddntucker.com · Sep 8

NEW from me @newrepublic.com:

If progressives don’t seize this moment to define a democratic, public-minded state capitalism, they will find themselves living in one designed by the Trump administration.
newrepublic.com/article/2000...

Democrats: Don’t Let Trump Define What State Capitalism Can Be

There’s no turning back from Trump’s moves on Intel and U.S. Steel. The challenge is to make public ownership serve the people.

newrepublic.com

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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · Sep 2

My book on phenomenology and interpretive social science is now available in (a much more reasonably priced) paperback edition!
www.routledge.com/Alfred-Schut...

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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · Sep 2

Now available in paperback!
www.routledge.com/Alfred-Schut...

Alfred Schutz, Phenomenology, and the Renewal of Interpretive Social Science

In recent decades, the historical social sciences have moved away from deterministic perspectives and increasingly embraced the interpretive analysis of historical process and social and political cha...

www.routledge.com

Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · Aug 19

Extremely honored to have a chapter included in this forthcoming Handbook of 1989 and the Great Transformation, featuring some of the top scholars working on questions of global transformation anywhere and edited by an outstanding group of researchers
www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...

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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · Aug 6

Factory robots once replaced assembly lines; now AI targets high-level tasks. Will history repeat itself, or can we steer innovation in emancipatory ways? My latest essay explores the legacy and past promises of automation in the era of Big Tech
open.substack.com/pub/indicati...

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · Aug 2

America has lost 116k manufacturing jobs over the last year—that's the fastest pace of job loss since the early COVID era and worse than any period from 2011-2019.

Big drops in the transportation (-49k) & electronics (-32k) industries drive most of the decline

A graph of manufacturing growth broken down by subsector

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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · Jul 30

Did the EU blink first, or was it a strategic play? My new article dissects the US-EU trade deal that left many Europeans frustrated. We also draw surprising lessons from the 15th-century Hanseatic League, which once faced foreign tolls and crumbled under disunity. open.substack.com/pub/indicati...

EU Trade Deal with the US—A Failure of Leverage or Political Resolve?

With some lessons from the Hanseatic League

open.substack.com

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · Jul 30

New survey evidence on university faculty views and teaching practices: "The one-dimensional portrayal of US universities as bastions of the political left filled with 'woke' faculty who impose their views on students is at odds w/the findings of this study" scholarworks.brandeis.edu/esploro/outp...

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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · Jul 30

Did the EU blink first, or was it a strategic play? My new article dissects the US-EU trade deal that left many Europeans frustrated. We also draw surprising lessons from the 15th-century Hanseatic League, which once faced foreign tolls and crumbled under disunity. open.substack.com/pub/indicati...

EU Trade Deal with the US—A Failure of Leverage or Political Resolve?

With some lessons from the Hanseatic League

open.substack.com

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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · Jul 29

My entry in @asaskat.bsky.social's blog discusses the role of hobbyists and computer groups in co-creating modern computing platforms and the lessons they offer for the AI era, building on Alfred Schutz's classic essay on the well-informed citizen

Computing, Co-Creation, and the Well-Informed Citizen

By Besnik Pula, Virginia Tech, [email protected] Drawing from the first issue of the Menlo Park-based group People’s Computer Company Newsletter (October 1972). In its landmark 2021 report on AI ethics,…

asaskat.com

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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · Jul 22

My latest post discusses the recent turmoil faced by the dollar and the potentials for global shifts in world currencies, particularly the challenges faced by the euro indications.substack.com/p/uncertain-...

Uncertain Hegemony: The Dollar’s Turmoil

The Euro’s Opportunity, the Yuan’s Emergence, and the Dollar’s Next Chapter

indications.substack.com

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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · Jul 22

My latest post discusses the recent turmoil faced by the dollar and the potentials for global shifts in world currencies, particularly the challenges faced by the euro indications.substack.com/p/uncertain-...

Uncertain Hegemony: The Dollar’s Turmoil

The Euro’s Opportunity, the Yuan’s Emergence, and the Dollar’s Next Chapter

indications.substack.com

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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · Jul 5

Great read on the historically unprecedented (and exceptionally dangerous) nature of oligarchy in today's U.S.

How the Billionaires Took Over America

Yes, Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. But the far bigger menace is the monstrous growth in wealth concentration over five decades that made a Trump presidency possible—and maybe inevitable. Here...

newrepublic.com

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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · Jul 3

Thanks! Will definitely plan on it!

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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · Jul 3

📣 Thanks to generous support from Fulbright Austria, I am thrilled that I will be spending the Spring 2026 semester as a Visiting Professor of Social Science at the University of Vienna 🇦🇹✨. I look forward to this incredible opportunity to connect with colleagues and fellow scholars across Europe 🌍🤝📚

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Thomas Piketty @thomaspiketty.bsky.social · Jun 9

Different rules of the game would have radically changed history.
Our counterfactual simulations show that without colonial transfers, Europe would have been a debtor — and South Asia or Latin America could have become global creditors.
[5/8]

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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · Jun 1

Someday we'll have to reckon with the fact that not only are billionaires bad for society, having that much money seems to be genuinely bad for their own mental health. This is a problem we need to address--if not for our sakes, then for theirs.

A collage of five news headlines and images about billionaires and their mental states or unusual behaviors:
1. Top left: A headline in bold black font reads, “Elon Musk’s biographer warns the billionaire is ‘going mad’ and could ‘endanger us all’, says he is ‘deeply unwell’”.
2. Middle left: Another headline in black font says, “Taiwan’s Foxconn boss Terry Gou says sea goddess inspired presidential bid”.
3. Bottom left: A headline in serif font reads, “I’m a therapist to the super-rich: they are as miserable as Succession makes out,” attributed to Clay Cockrell. Below it, in smaller text: “Many billionaires I work with have trust issues, lack a sense of purpose and struggle with shame, guilt and fear.”
4. Top right: A headline in bold uppercase letters says, “TRUMP SPREADS BIZARRE CONSPIRACY THEORY THAT BIDEN WAS EXECUTED AND REPLACED BY A ROBOT CLONE.” Below it, a subheadline quotes a Truth Social post: “‘Democrats don’t know the difference,’ claimed a Truth Social post that the president shared.” The byline reads, “By Peter Wade, June 1, 2025.” Beneath this is a photo of Donald Trump with a skeptical expression.
5. Bottom right: A photo of two people indoors. One person is wearing casual clothes and a cap, while the Kanye West wears a grey robe and a tall, pointed hood resembling a dunce cap, gesturing with their hands as if explaining something.

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Besnik Pula @besnikpula.bsky.social · Apr 28

I had a really enjoyable time at the Schutz Circle 2025 conference held at the University of Vienna last week. With 100+ participants from over 25 countries, it was wonderful to see the many ways the work of Alfred Schutz is explored and developed in a truly global fashion #phenomenology #sociology

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WIRED @wired.com · Apr 28

Making iPhones in America? What about mattresses? Keychains?

Yeah... it's impossible for most small businesses to manufacture in the US. And amid the trade war with China, business owners are struggling to plan for the future of their companies.

Why It’s Impossible for Most Small Businesses to Manufacture in the US

American companies that make everything from keychains to mattresses say Chinese manufacturing is superior, and tariffs won’t be enough to shift production to the United States.

www.wired.com

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