Elizabeth N. Saunders
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profsaunders.bsky.social
Elizabeth N. Saunders
@profsaunders.bsky.social
Professor of Political Science & Director of the Saltzman Institute of War & Peace Studies, Columbia. New Book: The Insiders' Game: How Elites Make War and Peace https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691215808/the-insiders-game
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Everything is terrible, but the kids are alright. Something new is coming this week from @siwpscolumbia.bsky.social via @goodauth.bsky.social. Stay tuned!
January 19, 2026 at 1:56 PM
There is also a huge body of excellent work on the dual internal and external threats dictators face (links below). But my favorite source on this is a letter to President Kennedy from John Kenneth Galbraith, then Amb. to India, on South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem, in Nov 1961. 4/
January 5, 2026 at 1:50 PM
🧵Day 3 and we have a new meaning for "running Venezuela," courtesy of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the nation's top diplomat, who is in charge of Venezuela as well as the National Archives. We're going to insist they do what's in the US national interest. Time for some principal-agent theory. 1/
January 5, 2026 at 1:50 PM
The Party of National Security in 2 headlines
December 23, 2025 at 3:19 PM
The Party of National Security
December 22, 2025 at 9:11 PM
In fairness, the article is more nuanced than this headline, especially the end, which acknowledges that hollow peace deals won't last and few are left at Rubio's State Dept to implement them. 2/
December 15, 2025 at 12:50 PM
When 2-factor authentication is just too much of a pain
November 29, 2025 at 5:22 PM
I mean…
November 29, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Aside from all the current damage Trump is raining down on the country and the world, the long-term implications are bleak. Even if a future president wanted to return the US to a leadership role, the economic and political foundations are structurally weakened. 7/
November 25, 2025 at 3:05 PM
What does it mean? Well, if you take all the findings on democratic advantages since the end of the Cold War and invert them, that's a good guide to the new world we're in. 6/
November 25, 2025 at 3:05 PM
It is not just global retrenchment, it's the ability to provide public goods at home that have spillovers abroad. Science & tech, defense, state capacity, credible commitments -- the things that we thought democracies had advantages in, gone. 3/
November 25, 2025 at 3:05 PM
And here's Rubio, in December 2018 calling for punishing Saudi Arabia with more than a "diplomatic slap on the wrist." He's now the nation's top diplomat, maybe he could do something about that? A reporter should ask him.

www.cnn.com/2018/10/16/p...
November 18, 2025 at 8:17 PM
And here's Graham threatening to hold up legislative business until CIA director Gina Haspel testified.

www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/u...
November 18, 2025 at 8:17 PM
There’s a lot of evidence that diversionary war is not really a thing. But if I were Venezuela right now…

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/u...
November 15, 2025 at 9:38 PM
The quotes in this story...this is not a video game.
October 31, 2025 at 12:56 PM
October 18, 2025 at 5:35 PM
October 18, 2025 at 5:27 PM
The masterstroke was to force Netanyahu to apologize to the Qataris. Not just the call, but releasing news of the apology, with a photo. Kudos to whoever thought of that. It was a costly signal from Bibi and showed Trump was seriously pressuring Israel. 5/
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
October 15, 2025 at 3:35 PM
So much for the foreign policy justification of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the nation's top diplomat, whose interviews are extensive quoted in the opinion:
September 30, 2025 at 6:35 PM
This does not mince words about how Rubio and Noem misused the powers of their office to chill free speech. Undiplomatic and now, ruled unconstitutional.
September 30, 2025 at 6:16 PM
🧵So this Trump post gives it away. Whatever this mysterious "Article 5-like" security guarantee Wittkoff mentioned, it'll be worth the paper it's printed on (and left on a hotel printer. 1/
August 18, 2025 at 1:07 PM
News from the Federal Register: the State Department Historical Advisory Committee’s functions, including oversight of the Foreign Relations of the United States series, transferred to the Assistant Secretary of Administration.
August 6, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Essential paragraph:
August 4, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Public wants moderate policies (secure border & path to citizenship, no dumb wars but fight necessary wars). But moderate policies will miss some calls, and hawkish turn won't help with the very sticky reputation on this issue. Don't believe me? Look at D reputation on natsec despite many D wars. 7/
July 8, 2025 at 4:22 PM
What is time anyway
July 7, 2025 at 11:47 PM