Zainab Alam

Scholars Must Recognize the Role of Affect and Emotion in Disinformation | TechPolicy.Press The tactics of digital emotional manipulation are many and varied, but many of the most prominent exploit frustration and rage, writes Calum Matheson.

Propaganda does not rely entirely on unassailable evidence and impeccable logic to discipline its targets. Neither can the response, writes Calum Matheson, an associate professor and chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Pittsburgh.

From Mississippi to Maryland, Black Communities Are Taking On Big Tech There are 1,200 data centers in the South, and $200 billion worth are on the horizon. Black community members said they are fighting a new wave of “extraction.”

There are 1,200 data centers in the South, and $200 billion worth are on the horizon. Black community members said they are fighting a new wave of “extraction.” capitalbnews.org/data-centers...

Screenshot from one of Mamdani’s videos saying to a well wisher “thank you my brother!”

Breaking! Exclusive! I have proof from Zohran Mamdani’s own campaign that he has several times used the term “my brother” to address someone not his actual brother. More at 11.

Our student Mahnoor Omer is featured in @aljazeera.com for her work against period poverty in Pakistan!

➡️ Read more here: www.aljazeera.com/amp/features...

How a ‘Gen-Z protest’ forced this Karachi varsity to roll back its decision on a student’s rustication "The decision was taken to prevent the situation from being aggravated any further," the varsity's spokesperson told *Dawn.com*.

www.dawn.com/news/1951568

The full report brightlinewatch.org/violence-red...

From empowerment to participation: How women’s political empowerment shapes non-institutionalized political participation and reduces gender disparities - Cyrill Otteni, 2025 This study examines how women’s political empowerment influences the gender gap in non-institutionalized political participation (protest, boycott and petition ...

🚨 New article out! 🚨
How societal-level women’s empowerment 📣✊ shapes the gender gap in protest, boycott & petition signing 🗳️
👉 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Censorship Is the Authoritarian’s Dream The right to free expression must include the right to say horrible and evil things.

"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...

UK’s spy agency launches dark web portal, says ‘door open’ to foreign spies Platform to allow people to securely pass on information anywhere in the world, or offer their own services to MI6.

Platform to allow people to securely pass on information anywhere in the world, or offer their own services to MI6.

US right shifts tone on social media censorship after Charlie Kirk’s murder Platforms that loosened moderation in the Trump era are now under scrutiny over online reaction to activist’s killing.

Platforms that loosened moderation in the Trump era are now under scrutiny over online reaction to activist’s killing.

Nepal’s Social Media Ban Backfires as Politics Moves to a Chat Room

The situation in Nepal is incredible. The government tried to ban social media last week which led to violent protests and the prime minister ousted.

Gen Z protesters then met in a 100K strong Discord chat where they elected ex-chief justice Sushila Karki as the interim prime minister.

Ten car chases. Six crashes. Park Police have new rules in Trump’s D.C. U.S. Park Police have initiated at least 10 car chases in the past three weeks as part of President Donald Trump’s D.C. surge, court records show.

U.S. Park Police officers are pursuing vehicles when D.C. police would not.

They have initiated at least 10 car chases in the past three weeks as part of President Trump’s surge in federal law enforcement in D.C., court records show.

Pakistan is tapping into solar power at an 'unprecedented' rate. Here's why Solar experts say there's never been a faster adoption of solar, with panels popping up on rooftops.

Solar power (including storage) is booming in Pakistan www.npr.org/sections/goa...

Yet another example of why tech companies can’t be trusted as primary sources of disaster warnings.

A personal update.

Democracy Without Liberalism? | Journal of Democracy We have long assumed democracy and liberalism went hand in hand. But in truth there have always been tensions between them, and the rise of illiberal democracy cannot be ignored.

How can democracy be illiberal?🤔

"In the phrase 'liberal democracy'... the word liberal is meant to evoke not a particular economic ideology but the broader notion of a regime that is dedicated to human freedom."

www.journalofdemocra...

Being Too Helpful At Work Can Hurt Your Career—Here’s How To Say No Women are more likely to take on behind-the-scenes duties at work—extra tasks like onboarding or event planning—and it's hurting their careers. Here's how to say no.

In a study of professors, women got 378 new work requests over 4 weeks vs 118 for men. Women spent more time on service, advising & teaching; men on research. Orgs should track who is taking extra duties & ensure they are rewarded and distributed fairly. www.forbes.com/sites/kimels...

Abstract: Over the past decade, India has been central to debates on democracy. Many viewed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) underperformance in the 2024 election as a sign of democratic resilience. This essay argues instead that it signaled further backsliding in the country’s most vulnerable dimension of democracy — its liberal democracy. The election reinforced a troubling status quo for India’s largest religious minority: explicit exclusion from one side of the political spectrum and strategic silence from the other. These dual forces leave Indian Muslims in a political bind, further constraining their prospects for political inclusion.

My article just out in @jodemocracy.bsky.social:

India's New Minority Politics

I question the optimism about India's democracy after the 2024 election by providing a perspective on Muslim inclusion and what it means for India's liberal democracy.

www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/ind...

JOB:

Assistant Professor in South Asian Political/ Intellectual History (3-year post) @Cambridge_Uni

www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/50694/

Anti-Western hypermasculinity and Imran Khan’s Pakistan This article analyzes how Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan between 2018 and 2022, mobilized anti-Western hypermasculinity to appeal to his followers, using strongman-style politics to ass...

Did Imran Khan appeal to traditionalists while undermining gender equality and human rights? My latest article explores his strongman politics and nationalist rhetoric during 'Naya Pakistan.' Read more: Anti-Western hypermasculinity and Imran Khan’s Pakistan www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Notes from the Field: "Pop Culture and the Evolving Politics of the Right: The Potential of Interpretive Methods for Studying Gender, Race, and Politics" by Minali Aggarwal and Micah English. Article begins: Scholars of gender have long realized that questions regarding gender, women, and politics require a multi-method, nuanced approach. When a plurality of white women voted for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, social scientists increasingly began to recognize the urgency of undertaking new approaches to understanding gender, race, and voting behavior in the United States.

📣 Out on #FirstView 📣

In "Pop Culture and the Evolving Politics of the Right", @min0p0ly.bsky.social & Micah English demonstrate how interpretive analysis of pop culture and media allow for a deeper understanding of gender and race in right-wing politics.

buff.ly/dRSbrU1
gendersky polisky

In Memoriam

Mala Htun (1969-2025)

Mala Htun made a major impact on the study of women, gender, and politics as a scholar, teacher, mentor, and advocate. To honor her contributions, we have ungated access to her articles until the end of February 2025.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Screenshot of a young person holding up a sign that says “BREAKING: ICE IN KENTUCKY” The algorithm-facing comment says, “Had to share these cute winter boots I just got!”

People on TikTok are reporting ICE raids happening in small cities in various states.

To get past algorithmic censorship, they’re writing down the information on paper and holding up and shuffling through the handwritten signs as they talk about pretend subjects like shopping, food, and animals.

Introduction to the Special Issue: ­Re-Inventing Citizenship Amidst Democratic Backsliding Published in New Political Science (Vol. 46, No. 4, 2024)

Sagnik Dutta and Indrajit Roy introduce the NPS 46.4 Special Issue. The research articles in this issue explore a re-imagination of democratic citizenship that is sweeping the globe, aiming to recategorize “resistance” to authoritarianism as re-invention. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Good Authority fellows program now open for applications! Join the team at Good Authority! Our 2025-2026 fellow program is now accepting applications.

📢 Applications are open! 📢

Are you a political scientist interested in sharing research with a broad audience? Apply to the 2025-2026 Good Authority Fellows Program!

🗓 Deadline: January 3, 2025

More details & application link here: goodauthority.org/news/goodaut...

#polisky

A cover of an Urdu collection of poetry from December 1921, attributed to “Bhatia Brothers & Company, Delhi.” In the sketch, Gandhi and his spinning wheel soar above a a clothes factory, as a displeased manager looks on.

“Mahatma Gandhi ka havai jahaz” (Mahatma Gandhi’s Airplane) ✈️!
A short collection of Urdu poems about Gandhi and his spinning wheel, which apparently allow one to soar over the European-managed clothes factories. Delhi, 1921 👀 .

🗃️

NEW: Where the teens are
YouTube 90%
TikTok 63%
Instagram 61%
Snapchat 55%
Facebook 32% (down from 71%)
WhatsApp 23%
X 17% (down from 33%)
Reddit 14%
Threads 6%
report: www.pewresearch.org/internet/202...

📣FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
NYU Faculty Arrested for Supporting Students in Peaceful Pro-Palestine Protests. Faculty Also Declared Personae Non Grata and Banned from Campus. NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2024 –

Front cover image of Cambridge Element 'Social Media Democracy Mirage: How Social Media News Fuels a Politically Uninformed Participatory Democracy'

'Social Media Democracy Mirage: How Social Media News Fuels a Politically Uninformed Participatory Democracy' by Homero Gil de Zúñiga, Hugo Marcos Marné, Manuel Goyanes & Rebecca Scheffauer.

cup.org/3OFosFK

Free access until the 18th of December 2024.

#cambridgeelements #politics

According to a U.S. Congressional Select Committee findings, discount retailers like Shein and Temu use a labor exploitation model that relies on underpaying and severely mistreating millions of Uyghur Muslims living in China. selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/sites/evo-su...