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Reposted by Carl Müller-Crepon

tom westland @tomwestland.bsky.social · 22h

CALL FOR PAPERS
A workshop at LSE next April on 'Uses and Abuses of the Murdock Atlas in Social Science Research'. We're looking for cross-disciplinary engagement to think critically about what this widely used source means, what it can & can't tell us. Submit by Nov 14
www.lse.ac.uk/economic-his...

Uses and abuses of the Murdock Atlas in social science research

www.lse.ac.uk

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Jacques Delors Centre @delorsberlin.bsky.social · 1d

We have two new Acting Co-Directors! Since October, Thu Nguyen (@onethuthree.bsky.social) & Nils Redeker (@nilsredeker.bsky.social) are leading the Jacques Delors Centre think tank, working closely with Mark Dawson, Co-Director of the research arm. Find out more 👉 www.delorscentre.eu/en/about/new...

Thu Nguyen and Nils Redeker take over the JDC think tank as Acting Co-Directors

The two former Deputy Directors succeed Johannes Lindner and join Mark Dawson in co-directing the Jacques Delors Centre as of October 2025.

www.delorscentre.eu

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Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 5d

This sets me thinking if the current pattern concentration of wealth is a key contributor to authoritarianism because it means there are monopolies that are very sensitive to political pressure and few enough of them that you can blackmail them one by one

404 Media @404media.co · 6d

New: Apple just removed ICEBlock, the app for reporting sightings of ICE, from its App Store after DOJ pressure. ICEBlock's developer tells 404 Media "we are determined to fight this."

"Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move."

www.404media.co/iceblock-own...

ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: ‘We Are Determined to Fight This’

Apple removed ICEBlock reportedly after direct pressure from Department of Justice officials. “I am incredibly disappointed by Apple's actions today. Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never t...

www.404media.co

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Pavithra Suryanarayan @pavisuri.bsky.social · 7d

I hope Starmer doesn’t retreat from the tone he struck yesterday. Lesson from the U.S.: the far right will accuse you of everything they already do. The shamelessness IS a tactic. Biden simply retreated from engaging. But people need to keep hearing a version of what starmer said. Every Single Day.

Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 7d

People often claim it's a mistake to call far-right figures racist. But it's extremely telling how much they hate being called racist. Farage doesn't welcome it. He is afraid of it. And he has benefited from people's reticence about using it to describe his policies.

Twlldun @twlldun.bsky.social · 7d

Harry Cole here, suggesting that because someone in Utah shot Charlie Kirk 3 weeks ago, Keir Starmer shouldn’t be nasty about Nigel Farage in the U.K.

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Risa Brooks @risabrooks12.bsky.social · 8d

It's easy to see this speech as just weirdly performative, but there's a lot more—and a lot worse—going on here.

The meeting & speeches are part of a larger project aimed at promoting the military leadership’s partisan alignment with the administration.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Hegseth: "If the words I'm speaking today are making your heart sink, they you should do the honorable thing and resign."

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Carl Müller-Crepon @carlmc.bsky.social · 10d

Even more than set of beliefs, they might even strive for a set of *aspirations*

Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 10d

My general belief is that Dems need to spend more time thinking about what they believe and less about what they think some imaginary swing voters want them to believe.

Political strategy will stem from an authentic set of beliefs.

Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 10d

This was revealing. Worth reading. The basic demand is that Coates spend less time thinking/writing his true feelings and more time playing political strategist. Klein asks him over and over him to do Dem strategy; he says no, over and over. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/o...

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Florian Foos @florianfoos.bsky.social · 10d

Looks like a big win for Maia Sandu‘s PAS in Moldova today, probably on course for an absolute majority of seats, similar to 2021. Good news for Moldova‘s EU accession. 🇲🇩🗳️

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 10d

An outstanding interview. Patrick Iber of Dissent Magazine has interviewed the legendary Polish political scientist Adam Przeworski about de-democratisation in the USA, and what lessons he’s gleaned from Chile, Peru & beyond.

Iber’s questions are stellar. Przeworski’s answers, chillingly candid.

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Luqman Abu El Foul | لقمان أبو الفول @luqmanabuelfoul.bsky.social · 13d

The lineup for this term's @lsegovernment.bsky.social Contentious Politics Workshop has been finalised! Join us in-person or via Zoom on Wednesdays to discuss mobilisation, repression, protest framing, memory and more. DM for Zoom links and our mailing list!

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Volha Charnysh @vcharnysh.bsky.social · 16d

We will be updating this post, so reach out if you study HPE and are on the market this year.

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Volha Charnysh @vcharnysh.bsky.social · 16d

Looking for rising stars in Historical Political Economy? 🌍📚
Check out this year’s job market candidates: www.broadstreet.blog/p/hpe-candid...

HPE candidates on the job market

Job market season is here.

www.broadstreet.blog

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Tom Pepinsky @tompepinsky.com · 17d

The mainstream news environment.

Page 1: arguments at a suburban Miami town council

Page 24: Ted Cruz calling the FCC a mafioso, US attorney forced out, Pentagon demands no investigative journalism

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Sumitra Badrinathan @sumitra.bsky.social · 18d

i don’t think people on bluesky understand the severity of this situation.

i woke up to literally hundreds of texts from friends and family thinking about either moving back home to india or applying to other countries for jobs. this includes me.

Gergely Orosz @gergely.pragmaticengineer.com · 19d

Those on an H1B cannot return to the US from tomorrow (Sunday) unless paying $100K. This is an out-of-the blue presidential action. We’ll see software engineers stranded abroad.

One easy to predict outcome: those on US visas will travel less… for work, for conferences etc.

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Laura Sell @laurasell.bsky.social · 19d

"More professors in the United States have been fired for controversial views in the past week than any other week in all of American history."
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Censorship Is the Authoritarian’s Dream

The right to free expression must include the right to say horrible and evil things.

www.insidehighered.com

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The Serfs (youtube.com/theserfstv) @theserfstv.bsky.social · 20d

From Feb 4th 1939

Goebbels Ends Careers of Five 'Aryan' Actors Who Made Witticisms About the Nazi Regime Feb 4th 1939

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Charlotte Cavaille @ccavaille.bsky.social · 20d

It is the time of the year when I tell you about my favorite post-doc ever 👇 Unless you are allergic to the French, this one sits up there with the Nuffield postdoc (life style, productivity, interdisciplinary stimulation). Share widely! Apply! #poliscky

www.iast.fr/research-fel...

Research Fellowships

Each year, IAST invites applications for post-doctoral Research Fellowships, which offer candidates an opportunity to devote themselves full-time to their research at the start of their careers. Fello...

www.iast.fr

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Carl Müller-Crepon @carlmc.bsky.social · 20d

Huge congrats to @sarahbrierley.bsky.social for being awarded the Future Leaders Award from @ukri.org !! So well earned 🎉

LSE Department of Government @lsegovernment.bsky.social · 20d

Congratulations to Dr Sarah Brierley who was awarded a
@ukri.org Future Leaders Fellowship for her project, #Political #Finance in #Africa.

The fellowship provides long-term support which enables fellows to tackle ambitious multidisciplinary questions.

www.lse.ac.uk/news/latest-...

The scheme aims to develop the next wave of world-class research.

Under this fellowship, Dr Brierley will launch a project on the financing of politics within democracies in Sub-Saharan Africa, investigating pressures for legislative reform

www.lse.ac.uk

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Janina Dill @janinadill.bsky.social · 22d

Politically the most important para is the one reaffirming third states' duty to prevent genocide. It was triggered by the ICJ provisional measures orders on 26.01.2024. The "serious risk of genocide" was clear then. States should have acted then, they must act now.

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Janina Dill @janinadill.bsky.social · 22d

The three most damning paras in the UN Report alleging that Israel is perpetrating genocide in Gaza: Siege starvation, attacks on health care, direct targeting of children as patterns that cannot be explained except if group destruction is one animating purpose.

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Lotem Halevy @lotemhalevy.bsky.social · 22d

This year at APSA, several mentors and friends reminded me of something worth sharing: some work just takes longer.

It doesn't matter how much you work. The discipline doesn't always reward it, but it doesn't mean it's not important. In a career with so much randomness, ask the questions you want.

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Carl Müller-Crepon @carlmc.bsky.social · 22d

😮

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Alexander Wuttke @kunkakom.bsky.social · 28d

All of us—including myself—should publish fewer but better papers.
And we should spend more of our time on scrutinizing existing work, so we know which claims can be trusted. But that's hard work with little recognition.
Thanks @sophieehill.bsky.social for doing it. Impressive 🕵️‍♀️ work. Fun to read.

Sophie E. Hill @sophieehill.bsky.social · Sep 8

Blog post: github.com/sophieehill/...

TL;DR: There are a LOT of errors/inconsistencies in the results reported in this paper (estimates outside CIs, sign errors, duplicates, asymmetric CIs). Even in the abstract itself!

This suggests manual editing of results tables.

Which is not good...

🧵

Summary
Unfortunately, this example is not an isolated issue.

Across 9 appendix tables with 256 regression coefficients, I find:

5 cases of estimates outside their reported confidence interval
46 duplicates (i.e. estimate/CI combinations with an identical match in the same table)
At least 20 cases of asymmetric confidence intervals, which cannot be explained as rounding errors
17 values rounded to 4 decimal places (all others to 3 decimal places), indicating manual editing of tables
Over 50% of all estimates and confidence intervals are multiples of 0.008
It is difficult to diagnose exactly what is going on without access to the underlying data and code.

However, two broad conclusions can be drawn:

There are many errors and inconsistencies in the results which appear to be the result of manual editing.
There are strange patterns in the results which, if genuine, should have been noted and explained by the authors.

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Carl Müller-Crepon @carlmc.bsky.social · 29d

Thank you so much Giacomo!!!

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Florian Foos @florianfoos.bsky.social · 29d

Abysmal idea:In times of increasing extremism in Germany & abroad, we need to strengthen the study of politics, not weaken it beyond recognition. Cologne is one of the best departments in Germany with colleagues doing world-class research on relevant topics. Hope the NRW government will think again!

Stefan Müller @stefanmueller.bsky.social · Sep 8

The University of Cologne plans drastic cuts to its Political Science department, potentially abolishing the MSc in Political Science and eliminating the professorships in IR and Comparative Politics. This would severely weaken the social sciences at @unicologne.bsky.social.
Petition (de/en) ⤵️

Petition unterschreiben

Keine WiSo ohne PoWi! Für eine starke Politikwissenschaft im Bachelor & Master

https://www.change.org/p/keine-wiso-ohne-powi-für-eine-starke-politikwissenschaft-im-bachelor-master

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Sophie E. Hill @sophieehill.bsky.social · Sep 5

My thread on the Neurology paper on sweeteners & cognitive health: skywriter.blue/pages/did:pl...

And a follow-up thread on some weird patterns in the Appendix tables: skywriter.blue/pages/did:pl...

Collated by Skywriter onto a web page for easier reading!

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