New Books in Political Science

“Plato and the Tyrant” with author James Romm

13 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 388 BCE, Plato, at the age of about forty and in the midst of writing The Republic, visited for the first time the then-Greek city state of Syrac...

Vera Michlin-Shapir, "Fluid Russia: Between the Global and the National in the Post-Soviet Era" (Cornell UP, 2021)

12 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Fluid Russia: Between the Global and the National in the Post-Soviet Era (Cornell UP, 2021) offers a new framework for understanding Russian nationa...

Thomas Graham, "Getting Russia Right" (Polity Press, 2023)

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

“I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia,” Winston Churchill once said. “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” That s...

Andrea Louise Campbell, "Taxation and Resentment: Race, Party, and Class in American Tax Attitudes" (Princeton UP, 2025)

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Why Americans favor progressive taxation in principle but not in practice Most Americans support progressive taxation in principle, and want the rich...

Ariel Colonomos, "Pricing Lives: The Political Art of Measurement" (Oxford UP, 2023)

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Pricing Lives: The Political Art of Measurement (Oxford UP, 2023) discusses how human lives are equated with the material, and argues that pricing l...

Is the U.S. helping speed up its own decline? with Damon Linker

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We begin the new season of International Horizons by asking a crucial question: is the U.S. helping speed up its own decline? RBI Deputy Director, Eli...

Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley, "Good Change: The Rise and Fall of Poland's Illiberal Revolution" (Stanford UP, 2025)

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In Poland between 2015 and 2023, Jarosław Kaczyński and his Law and Justice Party (PiS) attempted a novel experiment. Could a governing party sustai...

Sarah McLaughlin, "Authoritarians in the Academy: How the Internationalization of Higher Education and Borderless Censorship Threaten Free Speech" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2025)

07 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In an era of globalized education, where ideals of freedom and inquiry should thrive, an alarming trend has emerged: foreign authoritarian regimes inf...

Molly Worthen, "Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Donald Trump" (Random House, 2025)

06 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone feels it. Cultural and political life in America has become unrecognizable and strange. Firebrands and would-be sages have taken the place of...

Lyndsey Stonebridge on Hannah Arendt's Lessons on Love and Disobedience (JP)

05 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

An Arendt expert has arrived at Arendt-obsessed Recall This Book. Lyndsey Stonebridge discusses her widely praised 2024 We Are Free to Change the...

Matthew Bowser, "Containing Decolonization: British Imperialism and the Politics of Race in Late Colonial Burma" (Manchester UP, 2025)

04 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In Containing Decolonization: British Imperialism and the Politics of Race in Late Colonial Burma (Manchester University Press, 2025), historian Mat...

Maddalena Cerrato, "Michel Foucault's Practical Philosophy: A Critique of Subjectivation Processes" (SUNY Press, 2025)

02 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Michel Foucault's thought, Maddalena Cerrato writes, may be understood as practical philosophy. In this perspective, political analysis, philosophy of...

Brendan A. Shanahan, "Disparate Regimes: Nativist Politics, Alienage Law, and Citizenship Rights in the United States, 1865-1965" (Oxford UP, 2025)

01 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Historians have well described how US immigration policy increasingly fell under the purview of federal law and national politics in the mid-to-late n...

Margaret E. Roberts, "Censored: Distraction and Diversion Inside China’s Great Firewall" (Princeton UP, 2020)

31 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We often think of censorship as governments removing material or harshly punishing people who spread or access information. But Margaret E. Roberts’...

Thane Gustafson, "Perfect Storm: Russia's Failed Economic Opening, the Hurricane of War and Sanctions, and the Uncertain Future" (Oxford UP, 2025)

29 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 brought a tragic close to a thirty-year period of history that began with the collapse of the Soviet Union and th...

Syria After Assad

29 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What are the prospects for democracy in Syria? Is this the right question to ask? What do we need to better understand about Syria’s new leader, its...

Lindsey N. Kingston, "Fully Human: Personhood, Citizenship, and Rights" (Oxford UP, 2019)

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Lindsey N. Kingston’s new book, Fully Human: Personhood, Citizenship, and Rights (Oxford UP, 2019) interrogates the idea of citizenship itself, what...

Victoria Basualdo et al., "Big Business and Dictatorships in Latin America: A Transnational History of Profits and Repression" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020)

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of the Economic and Business History channel, I spoke with Dr. Victoria Basualdo and Dr. Marcelo Bucheli about their new edited book. ...

Mark L. Haas, "The Geriatric Peace: Population Aging and the Decline of War" (Oxford UP, 2025)

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The vast majority of the world's countries are experiencing a demographic revolution: dramatic, sustained, and likely irreversible population aging. S...

Gregory A. Daddis, "Faith and Fear: America's Relationship with War Since 1945" (Oxford UP, 2025)

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In a groundbreaking reassessment of the long Cold War era, historian Gregory A. Daddis argues that ever since the Second World War's fateful conclusio...

Donald G. Nieman, "The Path to Paralysis: How American Politics Became Nasty, Dysfunctional, and a Threat to the Republic" (Anthem Press, 2024)

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Much has been written about political polarisation in the United States, but no one has examined it through the lens of recent U.S. history. There is ...

Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way, "Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism" (Princeton UP, 2022)

24 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism (Princeton UP, 2022) explores why dictatorships born of social revolutio...

Stephan Kieninger, "Securing Peace in Europe: Strobe Talbott, NATO, and Russia After the Cold War" (Columbia UP, 2025)

24 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This deeply researched book offers new perspective on the NATO-Russia relationship through the eyes of Strobe Talbott, a deputy secretary of state for...

Darren W. Davis and David C. Wilson, "Racial Resentment in the Political Mind" (U Chicago Press, 2021)

22 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In Racial Resentment in the Political Mind, Darren W. Davis and David C. Wilson challenge the commonly held notion that all racial negativity, disag...

Citizenship Stripping: You Are Not American

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Over the last two centuries, the US government has revoked citizenship to cast out its unwanted, suppress dissent, and deny civil rights to all consid...

Vinay Lal, "Gandhi, Truth, and Nonviolence: The Politics of Engagement in Post-Truth Times" (Oxford UP, 2025)

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The anthology presents a diverse array of essays delving into Gandhi's political activities, ethical beliefs, and philosophical stance. Distinguished ...

Reid B. C. Pauly, "The Art of Coercion: Credible Threats and the Assurance Dilemma" (Cornell UP, 2025)

20 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Strong states are surprisingly bad at coercion. History shows they prevail only a third of the time. Dr. Pauly argues that coercion often fails becaus...

Catherine Malabou, "Stop Thief!: Anarchism and Philosophy" (Polity Books, 2023)

20 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Why do so many philosophers value anarchy but refuse to call themselves anarchists? Why don’t philosophers draw on the classical anarchist tradition...

Georgiy Kasianov et al., "From 'the Ukraine' to Ukraine: A Contemporary History, 1991-2021" (Ibidem Press, 2021)

19 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2021, Ukraine celebrates its thirty-year independence anniversary. During this relatively short period of time—when considered in historical term...

Steve L. Monroe, "Mirages of Reform: The Politics of Elite Protectionism in the Arab World" (Cornell UP, 2025)

19 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In Mirages of Reform: The Politics of Elite Protectionism in the Arab World (Cornell UP, 2025), Steve L. Monroe argues that geopolitics and socia...

Rob Goodman, "Words on Fire: Eloquence and Its Conditions" (Cambridge UP, 2021)

19 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Why is political rhetoric broken – and how can it be fixed? Words on Fire: Eloquence and Its Conditions (Cambridge University Press, 2022) returns ...

What Makes for Successful Civil Resistance?

18 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As authoritarian leaders attack democracy from all sides, and the rights of women, ethnic minorities and the LGTBQI+ community are increasingly threat...

Georgiy Kasianov et al., "From 'the Ukraine' to Ukraine: A Contemporary History, 1991-2021" (Ibidem Press, 2021)

17 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2021, Ukraine celebrates its thirty-year independence anniversary. During this relatively short period of time—when considered in historical term...

Enrique Dussel, "The Theological Metaphors of Marx" (Duke UP, 2024)–A Conversation with Camilo Pérez-Bustillo and Eduardo Mendieta

15 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Theological Metaphors of Marx (Duke UP, 2024) by Enrique Dussel – A Conversation with Camilo Pérez-Bustillo and Eduardo Mendieta In The Th...

Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman, "Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century" (Princeton UP, 2022)

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hitler, Stalin, and Mao ruled through violence, fear, and ideology. But in recent decades a new breed of media-savvy strongmen has been redesigning au...

Kevin P. Donovan, "Money, Value, and the State: Sovereignty and Citizenship in East Africa" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

13 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In his book, Money, Value, and the State: Sovereignty and Citizenship in East Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2024), Kevin Donovan argues that E...

Federico Marcon, "Fascism: The History of a Word" (U Chicago Press, 2025)

12 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The rise and popular support for authoritarianism around the world and within traditional democracies have spurred debates over the meaning of the ter...

Jacob F. H. Smith, "Waves of Discontent: Electoral Volatility, Public Policymaking, and the Health of American Democracy" (U Michigan Press, 2025)

11 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After a period of relative calm in congressional elections prior to 2006, America has experienced a series of highly competitive, volatile national el...

Rita Kiki Edozie and Moses Khisa, "Africa's New Global Politics: Regionalism in International Relations" (Lynne Rienner, 2022)

10 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The African Union's threat to lead African states' mass withdrawal from the International Criminal Court in 2008 marked just one of many encounters th...

Jonathan Fisher and Nina Wilén, "African Peacekeeping" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In African Peacekeeping (Cambridge University Press, 2022), Dr. Jonathan Fisher and Dr. Nina Wilén explore the story of Africa's contemporary histo...

Neil Roberts, “A Political Companion to Frederick Douglass” (UP of Kentucky, 2018)

06 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The year 2018 marks the 200th anniversary of Frederick Douglass’ birth. It can hardly be said that scholars have neglected Douglass; indeed, he is o...

Jean-Marc Coicaud, "The Law and Politics of International Legitimacy" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

05 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Law and Politics of International Legitimacy (Cambridge University Press, 2025) examines the significance of the issue of political legitimacy a...

Timothy W. Kneeland, "Declaring Disaster: Buffalo's Blizzard of '77 and the Creation of FEMA" (Syracuse UP, 2021)

05 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Join me for an insightful and timely conversation with historian Timothy Kneeland about his book Declaring Disaster: Buffalo's Blizzard of '77 and the...

Benjamin Francis-Fallon, "The Rise of the Latino Vote: A History" (Harvard UP, 2019)

04 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

While media pundits continually speculate over the future leanings of the so-called “Latino vote,” Benjamin Francis-Fallon historicizes how Latino...

Dan Reiter, "Untied Hands: How States Avoid the Wrong Wars" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

03 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How do states advance their national security interests? Conventional wisdom holds that states must court the risk of catastrophic war by “tying the...

Philip Cunliffe, "The National Interest: Politics After Globalization" (Polity Press, 2025)

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Globalization is over. With US president Donald Trump pursuing an 'America First' agenda in trade and foreign policy, everyone now recognises the urge...

Suruchi Mazumdar, "Divided Media: Politics and Mediated Movements in India" (Routledge, 2025)

01 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Suruchi Mazumdar’s book addresses the complex relationship between India’s evolving, emerging media landscape, the political and economic interest...

How Late-Stage Neoliberal Capitalism is Breaking Democracy

31 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For a long time many (although by no means all) scholars saw the relationship between capitalism and democracy as mutually reinforcing: economic compe...

Murad Idris, "War for Peace: Genealogies of a Violent Ideal in Western and Islamic Thought" (Oxford UP, 2019)

30 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Murad Idris, a political theorist in the Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics at the University of Virginia, explores the concept of peace, the term ...

Hanno Sauer, "The Invention of Good and Evil: A World History of Morality " (Oxford UP, 2024)

28 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this sweeping new history of humanity, told through the prism of our ever-changing moral norms and values, Hanno Sauer shows how modern society is ...

Joseph Gfroerer, "War Stories from the Drug Survey: How Culture, Politics, and Statistics Shaped the National Survey on Drug Use and Health" (Cambridge UP, 2018)

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Joseph Gfroerer spent nearly 40 years working as a statistician for the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Hea...

Teo Ballvé, "The Frontier Effect: State Formation and Violence in Colombia" (Cornell UP, 2020)

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In The Frontier Effect: State Formation and Violence in Colombia (Cornell UP, 2020), Teo Ballvé challenges the notion that in Urabá, Colombia, the...

Agathe Demarais, "Backfire: How Sanctions Reshape the World Against U.S. Interests" (Columbia UP, 2022)

25 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sanctions have become the go-to foreign policy tool for the United States. Coercive economic measures such as trade tariffs, financial penalties, and ...

Luke A. Nichter, "The Year That Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election Of 1968" (Yale UP, 2024)

22 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A sitting Democratic president who chooses not to run for re-election, a vice president running out of the president’s shadow, and a Republican nomi...

Ketian Zhang, "China's Gambit: The Calculus of Coercion" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

21 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Emerging from an award-winning article in International Security, China's Gambit examines when, why, and how China attempts to coerce states over pe...

Frank L. Jones, "Sam Nunn: Statesman of the Nuclear Age" (UP Kansas, 2020)

20 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In a 2012 opinion piece bemoaning the state of the US Senate, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank cited a “leading theory: There are no giants in...

Carol Nackenoff and Julie Novkov, "American by Birth: Wong Kim Ark and the Battle for Citizenship" (UP of Kansas, 2021)

20 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

All nations make rules -- through their constitutions, legislatures, bureaucratic practices – about who counts as a citizen. American by Birth exa...

Dayna Bowen Matthew, "Just Health: Treating Structural Racism to Heal America" (NYU Press, 2022)

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the United States, systemic racism is embedded in policies and practices, thereby structuring American society to perpetuate inequality and all of ...

David E. Campbell and Christina Wolbrecht, "See Jane Run: How Women Politicians Matter for Young People" (U of Chicago Press, 2025)

17 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Notre Dame University Political Scientists Dave Campbell and Christina Wolbrecht have a new book that focuses on the impression that female candidates...

Lily Hamourtziadou, "Body Count: The War on Terror and Civilian Deaths in Iraq" (Bristol UP, 2021)

16 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Body Count: The War on Terror and Civilian Deaths in Iraq (Bristol University Press, 2021), Lily Hamourtziadou’s investigation into civilian victi...

Simon Butt, "Judicial Dysfunction in Indonesia" (Melbourne UP, 2023)

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Indonesia's judicial system has long been described as dysfunctional. Many of its problems developed out of decades of authoritarian rule, which began...

Kampung Activism in Indonesia

14 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

My village, my kampung. The term kampung is a Malay word, referring to a "village hamlet" or "urban informal settlement." As rapid urbanization takes ...

Elizabeth Popp Berman, "Thinking like an Economist: How Efficiency Replaced Equality in U.S. Public Policy" (Princeton UP, 2022)

14 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For decades, Democratic politicians have frustrated progressives by tinkering around the margins of policy while shying away from truly ambitious chan...

Aggie Hirst, "Politics of Play: Wargaming with the US Military" (Oxford UP, 2024)

13 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A wargaming renaissance has been underway in the US military. Having proven to be the most effective recruitment tool of the 21st century, games have ...

On Bullshit in Politics

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today we’re continuing our series on philosopher Harry Frankfurt’s seminal work, On Bullshit. Our guest is Michael Patrick Lynch, Provost Professo...

Ignacio G. Galán, "Furnishing Fascism: Modernist Design and Politics in Italy" (U Minnesota Press, 2025)

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Along with the rise of Mussolini’s fascist regime, the interwar years in Italy also saw the widespread development of its modernist interior design ...

Noëlle McAfee, "Fear of Breakdown: Psychoanalysis and Politics" (Columbia UP, 2019)

11 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In his classic essay on the fear of breakdown, Donald Winnicott famously conveys to a patient that the disaster powerfully feared has, in fact, alread...

Ali Aslam, David W. McIvor, and Joel Alden Schlosser, "Earthborn Democracy: A Political Theory of Entangled Life" (Columbia UP, 2024)

10 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ecological crises threaten all forms of life on earth. Democracy too is endangered, as popular discontent, elite malfeasance, and unresponsive institu...

Siri Schwabe, "Moving Memory: Remembering Palestine in Postdictatorship Chile" (Cornell UP, 2023)

09 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Two juxtaposed years frame the subject matter of Moving Memory: Remembering Palestine in Postdictatorship Chile. In one, 1973, General Augusto Pinoch...

Genocide Studies International Partners with New Books Network

08 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today I’m thrilled to announce a new partnership with Genocide Studies International. GSI is one of the preeminent journals in the field of Genocid...

Chinese Conceptualisation of the Rule of Law – a Conversation with Dr. Martin Lavicka

08 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What does the 'rule of law' really mean in China? How does it shape the country’s politics, both at home and on the world stage? And why should it m...

Foreign Aid and State Building in Interwar Romania

04 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the CEU Review of Books Podcast I sat down with Dr Doina Anca Cretu to talk about her first book, Foreign Aid and State Building i...

Didi Kuo, "The Great Retreat: How Political Parties Should Behave and Why They Don't" (Oxford UP, 2025)

04 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As the crisis of democratic capitalism sweeps the globe, The Great Retreat: How Political Parties Should Behave and Why They Don't (Oxford Universi...

Angela Katrina Lewis-Maddox ed., "Disrupting Political Science: Black Women Reimagining the Discipline" (SUNY Press, 2025)

03 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Political Scientist Angela K. Lewis-Maddox has pulled together an important and useful edited volume focusing on black women political scientists and ...

Robert Chernomas and Ian Hudson, "Why America Didn't Become Great Again" (Routledge, 2025)

02 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Examining the conditions that not only blocked attempts to make America great again, but actively made the country worse, Why America Didn't Become G...

Timothy Stacey, "Saving Liberalism from Itself: The Spirit of Political Participation" (Bristol UP, 2022)

02 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Saving Liberalism from Itself: The Spirit of Political Participation Bristol UP, 2022) By Timothy Stacey In the wake of populism, Timothy Sta...

Minxin Pei, "The Sentinel State: Surveillance and the Survival of Dictatorship in China" (Harvard UP, 2024)

01 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Rising prosperity was supposed to bring democracy to China, yet the Communist Party’s political monopoly endures. How? Minxin Pei looks to the surve...

Jack Snyder, "Human Rights for Pragmatists: Social Power in Modern Times" (Princeton UP, 2024)

30 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Human rights are among our most pressing issues today. But rights promoters have reached an impasse in their effort to achieve rights for all. Human ...

Amogh Dhar Sharma, "The Backstage of Democracy: India's Election Campaigns and the People Who Manage Them" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

29 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

About the Book Over the last decade, election campaigns in India have undergone a dramatic shift. Political parties increasingly rely on political co...

Bryan D. Jones, The Southern Fault Line: How Race, Class, and Region Shaped One Family's History" (Oxford UP, 2025)

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Southern Fault Line: How Race, Class, and Region Shaped One Family's History (Oxford University Press, 2025) explores the under-appreciated div...

How do Small States Navigate and Shape the Liberal World Order? A conversation with Dylan Loh

26 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Globally, the liberal international order has been under pressure for quite some time, but we often tend to discuss this in relation to big internatio...

Yaroslav Hrytsak, "Ukraine: The Forging of a Nation" (PublicAffairs, 2024)

25 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the world witnessed the “creative, freewheeling, darkly humorous, and deeply resilient society” that is conte...

The May 2025 Mid-Term Elections in the Philippines

25 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode focuses on the mid-term elections in the Philippines which were held in May of this year, including all local elected positions, all...

Nicole Watts, "Republic of Dreams: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Struggles, and the Future of Iraqi Kurdistan" (NYU Press, 2025)

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nicole F. Watts's Republic of Dreams: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Struggles, and the Future of Iraqi Kurdistan (NYU Press, 2025) is a harrowin...

The Truth About Bullshit: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary Edition of On Bullshit with Pamela Hieronymi

23 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today I’m thrilled to launch a brand new series for the Princeton UP Ideas Podcast. 20 years ago, Princeton University Press published a short volum...

Lieba Faier, "The Banality of Good: The UN's Global Fight Against Human Trafficking" (Duke UP, 2024)

22 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In The Banality of Good: The UN’s Global Fight against Human Trafficking (Duke University Press, 2024), Dr. Lieba Faier examines why contemporary ...

NIAS Podcast from the University of Tartu Asia Centre Kashmir Crisis: The India-Pakistan Blame Game?

22 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This podcast episode, hosted by Kikee Doma Bhutia from the University of Tartu, features Nitasha Kaul, Professor of Politics, International Relations,...

Claire Pierson, "Women's Troubles: Gender and Feminist Politics in Post-Agreement Northern Ireland" (Manchester University Press, 2025)

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How do feminist movements develop and organise in ethno-nationally divided societies? How does this challenge our understandings of contemporary fourt...

Emmanuel Akyeampong, "Independent Africa: The First Generation of Nation Builders" (Indiana UP, 2023)

19 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Independent Africa: The First Generation of Nation Builders (Indiana UP, 2023)explores Africa's political economy in the first two full decades of in...

Ioana Emy Matesan, "The Violence Pendulum: Tactical Change in Islamist Groups in Egypt and Indonesia" (Oxford UP, 2020)

15 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Research shows that repression can lead to both radicalization and deradicalization. When does it drive groups to pick up arms, and under what conditi...

Marlene Laruelle, "Ideology and Meaning-Making Under the Putin Regime" (Stanford UP, 2025)

12 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Much has been written to try to understand the ideological characteristics of the current Russian government, as well as what is happening inside the ...

Ethnic minorities are good for democracy – Here is why

12 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Democracy scholars often assume that ethnic homogeneity is good for democracy. Politically mobilised ethnic minorities, the assumption goes, stoke div...

Elizabeth N. Saunders, "The Insiders' Game: How Elites Make War and Peace" (Princeton UP, 2024)

09 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most widely held views of democratic leaders is that they are cautious about using military force because voters can hold them accountable,...

Ulf Laessing, "Understanding Libya Since Gaddafi" (Hurst, 2020)

08 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Why has Libya fallen apart since 2011? The world has largely given up trying to understand how the revolution that toppled Muammar Gaddafi has left th...

NATO, the Indo-Pacific, and the Future of Burden-Sharing: A Conversation with Brian Blankenship

07 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Brian Blankenship comes back to the New Books Network to talk about what his book, The Burden-Sharing Dilemma: Coercive Diplomacy in US Al...

James Graham Wilson, "America's Cold Warrior: Paul Nitze and National Security from Roosevelt to Reagan" (Cornell UP, 2024)

05 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In America's Cold Warrior, James Graham Wilson traces Paul Nitze's career path in national security after World War II, a time when many of his mento...

NIAS Podcast from the University of Tartu Asia Centre China's Psychological Power

04 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This podcast episode is hosted by Toomas Hanso International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) who is talking to Urmas Hõbepappel. Urmas is an...

Sarah Nagaty, "The Collective Dream: Egyptians Longing For A Better Life" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023)

04 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Collective Dream: Egyptians Longing For A Better Life (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023) links two seminal moments in Egypt’s history – the Revolutio...

Jeremy Morris, "Everyday Politics in Russia: From Resentment to Resistance" (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025)

03 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What do Russians really want? Do they want authoritarianism and are they prepared to go along with a war of conquest and destruction? Or do they want ...

How Do Autocrats Stay in Power: A Discussion with Johannes Gerschewski

02 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode Licia Cianetti talks to Johannes Gerschewski about his book The Two Logics of Autocratic Rule (Cambridge UP, 2023). We discuss how...