New Books in Political Science

Egor Lazarev, "State-Building as Lawfare: Custom, Sharia, and State Law in Postwar Chechnya" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

13 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

State-Building as Lawfare: Custom, Sharia, and State Law in Postwar Chechnya (Cambridge University Press, 2023) by Dr. Egor Lazarev explores the use ...

Maria Snegovaya, "When Left Moves Right: The Decline of the Left and the Rise of the Populist Right in Postcommunist Europe" (Oxford UP, 2024)

13 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In her new book, When Left Moves Right: The Decline of the Left and the Rise of the Populist Right in Postcommunist Europe (Oxford University Press,...

Robert D. Kaplan, "The Loom of Time: Between Empire and Anarchy, from the Mediterranean to China" (Random House, 2023)

11 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Middle East remains one of the world’s most complicated, thorny—and, uncharitably, unstable—parts of the world, as countless headlines make ...

Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements" (1951)

10 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A stevedore on the San Francisco docks in the 1940s, who eventually taught at the University of California at Berkeley, Eric Hoffer wrote philosophica...

Hume, the Epicureans, and the Origins of Liberalism

10 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Enlightenment philosopher David Hume enjoyed a tremendous influence on intellectual history. What did Hume believe, why was it so controversial at the...

Sumita Pahwa, "Politics as Worship: Righteous Activism and the Egyptian Muslim Brothers" (Syracuse UP, 2023)

09 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Despite expectations that the deeply held political and religious organizing principles at the heart of the Muslim Brotherhood would prove incompatibl...

Christopher Michael Blakley, "Empire of Brutality: Enslaved People and Animals in the British Atlantic World" (Louisiana State UP, 2023)

08 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Historians of early America, slavery, early African American history, the history of science, and environmental history have interrogated the complex ...

Jonathan W. Hackett, "Theory of Irregular War" (McFarland, 2024)

07 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From Afghanistan to Angola, Indonesia to Iran, and Colombia to Congo, violent reactions erupt, states collapse, and militaries relentlessly pursue ope...

Annika Schmeding, "Sufi Civilities: Religious Authority and Political Change in Afghanistan" (Stanford UP, 2023)

07 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Annika Schmeding’s new book Sufi Civilities: Religious Authority and Political Change in Afghanistan (Stanford UP, 2023) is a deeply sensitive and...

Marc Edelman, "Peasant Politics of the Twenty-First Century: Transnational Social Movements and Agrarian Change" (Cornell UP, 2024)

06 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Peasant Politics of the Twenty-First Century: Transnational Social Movements and Agrarian Change (Cornell University Press, 2024) by Dr. Marc Edelman...

Matthieu Grandpierron, "Nostalgic Virility as a Cause of War: How Leaders of Great Powers Cope with Status Decline" (McGill-Queen's Press, 2024)

02 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why do great powers go to war? Why are non-violent, diplomatic options not prioritised? Nostalgic Virility as a Cause of War: How Leaders of Great Po...

Rina Verma Williams, "Marginalized, Mobilized, Incorporated: Women and Religious Nationalism in Indian Democracy" (Oxford UP, 2023)

02 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How has the participation of women in Hindu nationalist politics in India changed over time? More broadly, what has their changing participation meant...

Diane Winston, "Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan's Evangelical Vision" (U Chicago Press, 2023)

01 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After two years in the White House, an aging and increasingly unpopular Ronald Reagan looked like a one-term president, but in 1983 something changed....

Yuliya Zabyelina, "Between Immunity and Impunity: External Accountability of Political Elites for Transnational Crime" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

31 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How do top-level public officials take advantage of immunity from foreign jurisdiction afforded to them by international law? How does the immunity en...

W. B. Allen, "Montesquieu's 'The Spirit of the Laws': A Critical Edition" (Anthem Press, 2023)

31 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Spirit of the Laws not only systematizes the foundational ideas of “separation of powers” and “balances and checks,” it provides the deci...

Ya-Wen Lei, "The Gilded Cage: Technology, Development, and State Capitalism in China" (Princeton UP, 2023)

30 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Since the mid-2000s, the Chinese state has increasingly shifted away from labor-intensive, export-oriented manufacturing to a process of socioeconomic...

Paul Carter, "Richard Nixon: California's Native Son" (U Nebraska Press, 2023)

29 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Born in Yorba Linda and raised in Whittier, California, Nixon succeeded early in life, excelling in academics while enjoying athletics through high sc...

Citizenship Across Time and Space with David Jacobson

28 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of International Horizons, RBI director John Torpey discusses the past and future of citizenship with David Jacobson, Professor of Soc...

Michael Davis, "Freedom Undone: The Assault on Liberal Values in Hong Kong" (Association for Asian Studies, 2023)

27 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"What happened in Hong Kong is not an anomaly but a warning" - Hong Kong Human Rights defender Chow Hang Tung, speech written from prison upon receivi...

Party People: Candidates and Party Evolution

27 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Contemporary politics is characterized by the rise (and fall) of many new parties. But what tools do political scientists have to map and measure elec...

Kevin P. Reihle, "The Russian FSB: A Concise History of the Federal Security Service" (Georgetown UP, 2024)

26 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Since its founding in 1995, the FSB, Russia's Federal Security Service, has regained the majority of the domestic security functions of the Soviet-era...

William Bain, "Political Theology of International Order" (Oxford UP, 2020)

26 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Is contemporary international order truly a secular arrangement? Theorists of international relations typically adhere to a narrative that portrays th...

Anita R. Gohdes, "Repression in the Digital Age: Surveillance, Censorship, and the Dynamics of State Violence" (Oxford UP, 2023)

26 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Global adoption of the Internet has exploded, yet we are only beginning to understand the Internet's profound political consequences. Authoritarian st...

William W. Parsons and Regina M. Matheson, "The Pink Wave: Women Running for Office After Trump" (NYU Press, 2023)

26 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How and why the election of Donald Trump inspired more women to enter politics. Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential e...

Lisa A. Baglione, "Understanding Comparative Politics: An Inclusive Approach" (CQ Press, 2024)

25 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Research in political science shows that collections and textbooks often mention race, gender, ethnicity, and religion – but they don’t consiste...

George S. Takach, "Cold War 2.0: Artificial Intelligence in the New Battle between China, Russia, and America" (Pegasus Book, 2024)

24 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A vivid, thoughtful examination of how technological innovation—especially AI—is shaping the tensions between democracy and autocracy during the n...

Jeffrey A. Javed, "Righteous Revolutionaries: Morality, Mobilization, and Violence in the Making of the Chinese State" (U Michigan Press, 2022)

23 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In an era where states and politicians regularly weaponize moral emotions to foment intergroup conflict and violence, understanding the dynamics of vi...

Karl Widerquist, "Universal Basic Income" (MIT Press, 2024)

22 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Karl Widerquist's Universal Basic Income (MIT Press, 2024) is an accessible introduction to the simple (yet radical) premise that a small cash inco...

Patryk I. Labuda, "International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability" (Oxford UP, 2023)

22 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1990s, the promise of justice for atrocity crimes was associated with the revival of international criminal tribunals (ICTs). More recently, ho...

Kalika Mehta, "Strategic Litigation and Corporate Complicity in Crimes Under International Law: A TWAIL Analysis" (Routledge, 2023)

20 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kalika Mehta's book Strategic Litigation and Corporate Complicity in Crimes Under International Law: A TWAIL Analysis (Routledge, 2023) provides a ...

How to Be a Good Statesman: Johnny Burtka on Political Leadership from Xenophon to Churchill

19 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We have a preponderance of books on leadership in business; yet, despite broad dissatisfaction with our political leaders, almost none on how to be a ...

Alke Jenss, "Selective Security in the War on Drugs: The Coloniality of State Power in Colombia and Mexico" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023)

18 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Paramilitaries, crime, and tens of thousands of disappeared persons—the so-called war on drugs has perpetuated violence in Latin America, at times p...

Alina Nychyk, "Ukraine Vis-à-Vis Russia and the EU: Misperceptions of Foreign Challenges in Times of War, 2014-2015" (Ibidem Press, 2023)

16 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ukraine Vis-à-Vis Russia and the EU: Misperceptions of Foreign Challenges in Times of War, 2014-2015 (Ibidem Press, 2023) investigates the making of...

Andrew J. Kirkendall, "Hemispheric Alliances: Liberal Democrats and Cold War Latin America" (UNC Press, 2022)

16 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hemispheric foreign policy has waxed and waned since the Mexican War, and the Cold War presented both extraordinary promises and dangerous threats to ...

Ali Bhagat, "Governing the Displaced: Race and Ambivalence in Global Capitalism" (Cornell UP, 2024)

14 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Governing the Displaced: Race and Ambivalence in Global Capitalism (Cornell UP, 2024) answers a straightforward question: how are refugees governed ...

Authoritarian Practices Go Well Beyond Authoritarian Regimes

13 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Authoritarianism is not something that happens only within the borders of authoritarian regimes. In this episode, Marlies Glasius talks with host Lici...

Sharon D. Wright Austin, "Political Black Girl Magic: The Elections and Governance of Black Female Mayors" (Temple UP, 2023)

11 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Political Black Girl Magic: The Elections and Governance of Black Female Mayors (Temple UP, 2023) explores black women's experiences as mayors in Am...

Samantha Majic, "Lights, Camera, Feminism?: Celebrities and Anti-Trafficking Politics" (U California Press, 2023)

10 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Recent years have brought an upsurge in celebrity activism. Not a day goes by without an actor or musician taking to a stage, a podium or the internet...

Jacqueline Kennelly, "Burnt by Democracy: Youth, Inequality, and the Erosion of Civic Life" (U Toronto Press, 2023)

09 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Burnt by Democracy: Youth, Inequality, and the Erosion of Civic Life (University of Toronto Press, 2023) by Dr. Jacqueline Kennelly traces the politi...

On America’s Blind Spot Towards the Palestinians

09 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In their handling of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process over the decades, U.S. officials have displayed a “systemic blind spot” by alleviating ...

Matthew Longo, "The Picnic: A Dream of Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain" (Norton, 2024)

08 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Picnic: A Dream of Freedom and The Collapse of the Iron Curtain (Norton, 2024) is a truly fascinating narrative—exploring a little-known event...

Michael Poulshock, "Power Structures in International Politics" (Low 8, 2023)

05 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Power Structures in International Politics (Low 8, 2023) presents an original perspective on the dynamics underlying world events, approaching inter...

Adam Dean, "Opening Up by Cracking Down: Labor Repression and Trade Liberalization in Democratic Developing Countries" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

04 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How did democratic developing countries open their economies during the late-twentieth century? Since labor unions opposed free trade, democratic gove...

Noah L. Nathan, "The Scarce State: Inequality and Political Power in the Hinterland" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

03 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

States are often minimally present in the rural periphery. Yet a limited presence does not mean a limited impact. Isolated state actions in regions wh...

Alvita Akiboh, "Imperial Material: National Symbols in the US Colonial Empire" (U Chicago Press, 2023)

03 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is an ambitious history of flags, stamps, and currency—and the role they played in US imperialism over the 20th century. In Imperial Material:...

Thomas J. Barfield, "Shadow Empires: An Alternative Imperial History" (Princeton UP, 2023)

01 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Empires are one of the most common forms of political structure in history—yet no empire is alike. We have our “standard” view of empire: perhap...

Philip Giurlando and Daniel F. Wajner, "Populist Foreign Policy: Regional Perspectives of Populism in the International Scene" (Palgrave MacMillan, 2023)

01 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The focus of the research on populism as a category of political analysis has mostly been on domestic politics and can be traced back to the 1960s. On...

Ryan Wolfson-Ford, "Forsaken Causes: Liberal Democracy and Anticommunism in Cold War Laos" (U Wisconsin Press, 2024)

01 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan Wolfson-Ford’s provocative new book, Forsaken Causes: Liberal Democracy and Anticommunism in Cold War Laos (U Wisconsin Press, 2024), is an i...

Leadership in Business, Leadership Abroad: A Conversation with Dave McCormick *96

28 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dave McCormick *96 has enjoyed incredible success in a wide variety of arenas: after graduating from West Point, where he competed as a varsity wrest...

Airports, Buses, Internet Cables, and the Local and National Politics in the Philippines

28 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What can airports, busses, and submarine internet cables tell us about the local and national politics in the Philippines? And how do they position th...

How Democracies Die . . . and How They May Survive with Daniel Ziblatt

27 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of International Horizons, RBI director John Torpey interviews Daniel Ziblatt, Eaton Professor of the Science of Government at Harvard...

Calla Hummel, "Why Informal Workers Organize: Contentious Politics, Enforcement, and the State" (Oxford UP, 2022)

25 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Informal workers make up over two billion workers or about 50 percent of the global workforce, and yet scholarly understandings of informal workers’...

Paul Scharre, "Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" (Norton, 2023)

24 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

An award-winning defense expert tells the story of today’s great power rivalry―the struggle to control artificial intelligence. A new industrial r...

Christopher J. Devine, "I’m Here to Ask for Your Vote: How Presidential Campaign Visits Influence Voters" (Columbia UP, 2023)

24 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

During presidential campaigns, candidates crisscross the country nonstop—visiting swing states, their home turf, and enemy territory. But do all tho...

The Future of the Chinese Military: A Discussion with James A. Siebens

23 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For all the talk of China being a peaceful country with no aggressive intentions, it has behaved like most other rising powers – spending lots of mo...

Michael Kimmage, "Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability" (Oxford UP, 2024)

23 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

One war, three collisions: Russia with Ukraine, Europe, and the US. On the second anniversary of the full-scale invasion, Michael Kimmage analyses th...

Daniel Skinner et al., "The City and the Hospital: The Paradox of Medically Overserved Communities" (U Chicago Press, 2023)

21 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

An enduring paradox of urban public health is that many communities around hospitals are economically distressed and, counterintuitively, medically un...

Kunal Purohit, "H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars" (HarperCollins, 2023)

20 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Can a song trigger a murder? Can a poem spark a riot? Can a book divide a people? Away from the gaze of mainstream urban media, across India's dusty, ...

Robert Louis Wilken, "Liberty in the Things of God: The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom" (Yale UP, 2019)

20 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Robert Louis Wilken, the William R. Kenan Professor Emeritus of the History of Christianity at the University of Virginia, has written an intellectual...

Why is Right-Wing Extremism so Widespread in Italy?

19 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of International Horizons, RBI director John Torpey interviews Marla Stone, a historian of Italian fascism at Occidental College, on ...

Can We Ever Unthink Linguistic Nationalism?

19 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ingrid Piller speaks with Aneta Pavlenko about multilingualism through the ages. We start from the question whether the world today is more multili...

Vytautas Jankauskas and Steffen Eckhard, "The Politics of Evaluation in International Organizations" (Oxford UP, 2023)

19 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Evaluation has become a key tool in assessing the performance of international organisations, in fostering learning, and in demonstrating accountabili...

Jane Burbank and Frederick Cooper, "Post-Imperial Possibilities: Eurasia, Eurafrica, Afroasia" (Princeton UP, 2023)

18 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How can territory and peoples be organized? After the dissolution of empires, was the nation-state the only way to unite people politically, culturall...

The Future of Afghanistan: A Discussion with Kate Clark

17 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ever since the Taliban victory in 2021 there has been very little prospect of significant change in Afghanistan. There is no rival to the Taliban and ...

Risks of US-China Geoeconomic Rivalry

16 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What happens if the geoeconomic risks of great power rivalry materialise? What can be done to prevent these potential dangers from unfolding in small ...

Richard L. Hasen, "A Real Right to Vote: How a Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy" (Princeton UP, 2024)

15 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Throughout history, too many Americans have been disenfranchised or faced needless barriers to voting. Part of the blame falls on the Constitution, wh...

Sarah El-Kazaz, "Politics in the Crevices: Urban Design and the Making of Property Markets in Cairo and Istanbul" (Duke UP, 2023)

15 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Politics in the Crevices: Urban Design and the Making of Property Markets in Cairo and Istanbul (Duke UP, 2023), Sarah El-Kazaz takes readers i...

"War is what you make of it" with Neta Crawford of Oxford University and the Costs of War Project

13 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We begin this new season of International Horizons with an interview by RBI Director John Torpey with Neta Crawford from Oxford University and the Co...

James L. Gibson and Michael J. Nelson, "Judging Inequality: State Supreme Courts and the Inequality Crisis" (Russell Sage, 2021)

12 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Soaring levels of political, legal, economic, and social inequality have been documented by social scientists – but the public conversation and scho...

Andrius Gališanka, "John Rawls: The Path to a Theory of Justice" (Harvard UP, 2019)

12 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It is hard to overestimate the influence of John Rawls on political philosophy and theory over the last half-century. His books have sold millions of ...

Daniel Immerwahr, "How to Hide an Empire: The History of the Greater United States" (FSG, 2019)

11 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

“Is America an Empire?” is a popular question for pundits and historians, likely because it sets off such a provocative debate. All too often, how...

Daniel Druckman, "Negotiation, Identity and Justice: Pathways to Agreement" (Routledge, 2023)

11 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Containing research conducted and published over a half century, Negotiation, Identity and Justice: Pathways to Agreement (Routledge, 2023) by Dr. D...

Kerstin Bree Carlson, "The Justice Laboratory: International Law in Africa" (Brookings Institution Press, 2022)

09 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ever since World War II, the United Nations and other international actors have created laws, treaties, and institutions to punish perpetrators of gen...

David C. Young et al., "Policy Matters: Perspectives, Procedures, and Processes" (Emerald Publishing, 2023)

09 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Never have policy initiatives been so important than in today’s society. Neoliberal manifestations, climate change, civil rights movements, and gove...

The Future of the Future: A Discussion with Jonathan White

07 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"An air of finality pervades today’s world." That is the opening sentence of Jonathan White’s book In the Long Run: The Future as a Political Ide...

Matthew D. Lassiter, "The Suburban Crisis: White America and the War on Drugs" (Princeton UP, 2023)

02 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Most accounts of post-1950s political history tell the story of of the war on drugs as part of a racial system of social control of urban minority pop...

Shibani Mahtani and Timothy McLaughlin, "Among the Braves: Hope, Struggle, and Exile in the Battle for Hong Kong and the Future of Global Democracy" (Hachette, 2023)

02 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Among the Braves Hope, Struggle, and Exile in the Battles for Hong Kong and the Future of Global Democracy (Hachette, 2023) Shibani Mahtani and T...

Petra Alderman, "Branding Authoritarian Nations: Political Legitimation and Strategic National Myths in Military-Ruled Thailand" (Routledge, 2023)

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What does nation-branding mean to you? For many listeners, the term probably conjures up ideas of catchy slogans and international tourism or trade p...

Lisa Herzog, "Citizen Knowledge: Markets, Experts, and the Infrastructure of Democracy" (Oxford UP, 2023)

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For better or worse, democracy and epistemology are intertwined. For one thing, politics is partly a matter of gathering, assessing, and applying inf...

The Conflict in Sudan

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Nisrin Elamin is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto whose work investigates the connections between land, race, belon...

Ismar Volić, "Making Democracy Count: How Mathematics Improves Voting, Electoral Maps, and Representation" (Princeton UP, 2024)

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What's the best way to determine what most voters want when multiple candidates are running? What's the fairest way to allocate legislative seats to d...

Democracy in Malawai

31 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Ufahamu Africa, cohost Kim Yi Dionne presents on the state of democracy in Malawi as part of a panel at the 2023 African Studies As...

Alberto Toscano, "Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis" (Verso, 2023)

31 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a world shaken by ecological, economic and political crises, the forces of authoritarianism and reaction seem to have the upper hand. How should we...

Eviane Leidig, "The Women of the Far Right: Social Media Influencers and Online Radicalization" (Columbia UP, 2023)

31 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On mainstream social media platforms, far-right women make extremism relatable. They share Instagram stories about organic foods that help pregnant wo...

Erin R. Graham, "Transforming International Institutions: How Money Quietly Sidelined Multilateralism at the United Nations" (Oxford UP, 2023)

30 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Drawing on historical institutionalism and interpretive tools of international law, Transforming International Institutions: How Money Quietly Sideli...

Caitlin Killian, "Failing Moms: Social Condemnation and Criminalization of Mothers" (Polity Press, 2023)

29 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The role of mother is often celebrated in the United States as the most important job in the world but Dr. Caitlin Killian argues that American mother...

On Authoritarianism: A Discussion with Author and Political Scientist Matthew C. MacWilliams

29 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Nearly half of Americans “are inconsistent supporters of democracy and democratic institutions,” Matthew C. MacWilliams writes at the start of his...

Sarah Diefendorf, "The Holy Vote: Inequality and Anxiety Among White Evangelicals" (U California Press, 2023)

29 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Through two years of ethnographic fieldwork at a megachurch, sociologist Dr. Sarah Diefendorf investigates the ways in which the evangelical church is...

Sandro Galea, "Within Reason: A Liberal Public Health for an Illiberal Time" (U Chicago Press, 2023)

28 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A provocative chronicle of how US public health has strayed from its liberal roots. The Covid-19 response was a crucible of politics and public health...

Elliot Short, "Building a Multiethnic Military in Post-Yugoslav Bosnia and Herzegovina" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

27 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On 1 January 2006, soldiers from across Bosnia and Herzegovina gathered to mark the official formation of a unified army; and yet, little over a decad...

Gregor Gall, "Mick Lynch: The Making of a Working-Class Hero " (Manchester UP, 2024)

27 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the summer of 2022, the little-known leader of a small union became a ‘working-class hero’. Facing down media pundits who thought they could wa...

Caleb Wellum, "Energizing Neoliberalism: The 1970s Energy Crisis and the Making of Modern America" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2023)

26 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How the 1970s energy crisis facilitated a neoliberal shift in US political culture. In Energizing Neoliberalism: The 1970s Energy Crisis and the Maki...

Bruce Wardhaugh, "Competition Law in Crisis: The Antitrust Response to Economic Shocks" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

26 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In recent years, government agencies around the world have been forced to consider the role of competition law and policy in addressing various crise...

Mark Zachary Taylor, "Presidential Leadership in Feeble Times: Explaining Executive Power in the Gilded Age" (Oxford UP, 2023)

25 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Mark “Zak” Taylor, a political scientist at Georgia Tech University, has a new book that explores the presidents of the Gilded Age, from Ulysses G...

Cornelia Woll, "Corporate Crime and Punishment: The Politics of Negotiated Justice in Global Markets" (Princeton UP, 2023)

23 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past decade, many of the world’s biggest companies have found themselves embroiled in legal disputes over corruption, fraud, environmental ...

Kareem R. Muhammad, "The Fight for Black Empowerment in the USA: America’s Last Hope" (Routledge, 2023)

22 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Kareem Muhammad has a new book that focuses on the role of Black voters in the United States – specifically in their power as participants in de...

On Zionism and the Left: A Discussion with Author and Cultural Critic Susie Linfield

22 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

“How has it come to this? How has ‘Zionist’…become the dirtiest word to the international Left?” Susie Linfield poses that ripe question at ...

Guido Parietti, "On the Concept of Power: Possibility, Necessity, Politics" (Oxford UP, 2022)

22 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In On the Concept of Power: Possibility, Necessity, Politics (Oxford UP, 2022), Guido Parietti proposes a more proper definition of power--as the ...

Patricia Strach and Kathleen S. Sullivan, "The Politics of Trash: How Governments Used Corruption to Clean Cities, 1890–1929" (Cornell UP, 2023)

18 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Political Scientists Patricia Strach (The University at Albany, State University of New York) and Kathleen S. Sullivan (Ohio University) have written ...

Democracy, Great Powers, and the Russia-Ukraine War. A Discussion with Stefan Wolff

17 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How helpful is the democracy-authoritarianism binary when it comes to our understanding of contemporary conflict? What is the state of the Russia-Ukra...