Charli Carpenter

Lecturer 100% - 3 Full-time Positions - Political Science Department - Amherst, Massachusetts, United States Title: Lecturer 100% - 3 Full-time Positions - Political Science Department Executive Area: Academic Affairs College/School/MBU: Social & Behavioral Sciences Department: Political Science Work Loc...

Academic friends, UMass PoliSci is recruiting teaching faculty in International Relations as well as other fields of political science. Please share widely!

UMass Amherst Experts to Examine Law, Politics of US Intervention in Venezuela | UMass Amherst The public is invited to attend the Jan. 20 webinar which will feature faculty members from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

I'll be speaking today at 4pm on this webinar about international law and the Venezuela raid that captured Maduro. Register here to join and listen: www.umass.edu/news/article...

Whether War or Police Action, the U.S. Strike on Venezuela Was Illegal In claiming its attack on Venezuela was a law enforcement operation, the Trump administration actually raised the bar on harms to civilians.

Some reasons why civilized countries don't do 'law enforcement' missions with high explosives and blackouts www.worldpoliticsreview.com/us-venezuela...

The Nuclear Taboo Is Actually Getting Stronger Far from collapsing, the nuclear taboo remains strong and by some indicators is getting stronger as a result of developments in international law.

At World Politics Review (@wpr.bsky.social) this week, I explain more about how we can know that norms against nuclear non-use are getting stronger rather than weaker in an era of nuclear brinksmanship www.worldpoliticsreview.com/nuclear-weap...

Why the Nuclear Taboo Is Stronger Than Ever Fears of proliferation and the crumbling of an earlier nuclear order could actually be accelerating international norm-building.

In my latest @foreignpolicy.com piece, I trace how the nuclear taboo is increasingly grounded in international humanitarian law rather than the non-proliferation regime. foreignpolicy.com/2025/08/20/n...

4 in 5 US troops surveyed understand duty to disobey illegal orders As National Guard troops head to DC, a new survey reveals service members’ understanding of the distinction between legal and illegal orders.

More positive news from @umassamherst.bsky.social Human Security Lab: www.militarytimes.com/opinion/comm...

Global Outrage Isn’t the Only Thing Driving Israel’s Shift on Aid to Gaza Israel loosened restrictions on aid entering Gaza, suggesting it is more vulnerable to political pressure than it has been in recent months.

One of the most powerful drivers in Israel's shift on food aid is the Israeli military pressuring Netanyahu to stop forcing them to carry out manifestly unlawful orders. International law at work. www.worldpoliticsreview.com/israel-aid-g...

Military-trained Americans’ trust in the president’s nuclear launch authority dropped during Iran Crisis. Here’s why it matters. A recent study discovered something unexpected: The US military's confidence in the president having sole authority to launch a nuclear weapon went down when Trump authorized missile strikes on Iran. ...

Military-trained Americans want much stronger nuclear safeguards, worry about unilateral Presidential launch authority, says new UMass Human Security Lab / You Gov poll
in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

thebulletin.org/2025/07/mili...

U.N. Peacekeeping Can Help Trump Advance His ‘Back to Basics’ Agenda The U.S. under Trump is undercutting U.N. peacekeeping while saying it values those missions. It should step up its involvement instead.

My latest column on why Trump should double down on, not pull out of, UN peacekeeping: www.worldpoliticsreview.com/un-peacekeep...

Trump’s Deportations to El Salvador Are a Case for the ICC The nature of the U.S.-El Salvador deportation scheme means that Trump could be indicted by the International Criminal Court.

The nature of the US-El Salvador deportation scheme means that Trump could be indicted by the International Criminal Court.

@charlicarpenter.bsky.social explains how it could happen:

Non-paywalled version: drive.google.com/file/d/1fgMm...

Bonus - Is the Rules-Based Order Dependent on the US? w/ Charli Carpenter (Preview) American Prestige · Episode

One does not simply break the rules-based international order. On the American Prestige podcast this week, I talk with Danny Bessner and Derek Davison about why.

Subscribe to this excellent podcast and listen here. (Non-paywalled version available in comments.) open.spotify.com/episode/7w6K...

This looks so exciting! Would you be willing to share a pre-print copy? charli@umass.edu

As I head with students to the UN's nuclear ban treaty conference next week, I'm excited at my lab's emerging research findings: this treaty's very existence can and does change minds about the lawfulness of nuclear use. @nuclearban.bsky.social

Blue Helmet: My Year as a UN Peacekeeper in South Sudan Blue Helmet: My Year as a UN Peacekeeper in South Sudan [Carpenter, Edward H., Bardalai, Gen. Apurba Kumar] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Blue Helmet: My Year as a UN Peacekeeper in South Sudan

My brother Lt. Col @ehcarpenter.bsky.social's new book about his time as a peacekeeper in South Sudan is topping the charts at Amazon! A great resource for classrooms, scholars and the general public interested in world affairs… and he's about to start a book tour as well: bit.ly/3QmwT9H

Build The Resistance

Guys! Here is a great new website where you can find lots of ways to get involved in protecting our human rights and fundamental freedoms. Filter by location, issue and type of event and find ways to keep the pressure on Trump to follow the constitution. Happy Monday! www.buildtheresistance.org

Trump Administration Rescinds Freeze on Federal Grants and Loans: Live Updates

an early sign that institutions will hold after all? www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01...

Whew.

The U.S. Military Should Focus More on Protecting Civilians, Not Less A leaked memo suggests the U.S. military’s Civilian Protection Center could be the victim of budget cuts. If anything, the center should be expanded.

Civilian protection may sound like a bleeding heart issue, but the military gets tons of strategic benefits for its civilian harm mitigation dollar. Here’s why the DOD’s Center for Civilian Protrction is a bad candidate for Trump’s chopping block: www.worldpoliticsreview.com/us-military-...

The Rules-Based Order Is Less Dependent on the U.S. Than Biden’s Critics Think Biden often failed to uphold the rules-based order he vowed to protect. But that order doesn’t operate merely at the whim of the great powers.

my latest column in World Politics Review @wpr.bsky.social: the death of the Rules-Based Order is being somewhat exaggerated

so i don't think it was 'genocide or nothing' but the desire to make the most air-tight jurisdictional case may have been the rationale. the ruling itself surprised me. my take on it (as a political scientist not a lawyer) is here, feedback welcome! www.worldpoliticsreview.com/icj-israel-g...

as i understand it, acceptance of compulsory jurisdiction is only one of the avenues through which a state can be subject to jurisdiction by the ICJ. www.icj-cij.org/basis-of-jur...

Israel and South Africa are also both parties to the Fourth Geneva convention, which prohibits forced displacement, collective punishment, and blocking humanitarian access to civilians.

Israel and South Africa are both parties to the Convention Against All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which prohibits apartheid in Article 3 and allows for ICJ jurisdiction in Article 22.

Tweet by @charlicarpenter “THREAD: Over 500 days in, civilian men remain trapped inside #Ukraine's by presidential decree. @ZelenskyyUA should lift the ban when martial law renews in August. @StateDept & @NATO should enc...

@hsecuritylab.bsky.social's new report says Zelensky should lift the ban when martial law renews in August; @StateDept & @NATO should encourage this.

Why? For humanitarian and strategic reasons.

To find out more, read this THREAD (if you're still on Twitter):

Human Security Lab Launches New Report Calling for End to Gender-Selective Travel Ban in Ukraine War... Ukrainian women are particularly opposed to continuing the travel ban, according to the latest Human Security Lab survey.

Over 500 days into the Ukraine war, Zelensky's travel ban on civilian men is not just hard on civilians, but unnecessary and counter-productive. New report out from @hsecuritylab.bsky.social

Survey Shows Continued Opposition to Ukraine’s Travel Ban on Men — HOME Women are particularly unlikely to support continued restrictions on men, and especially likely to suggest alternative policy options.

New @HSecurityLab survey shows majority of Ukrainians continue to oppose @ZelenskyyUa's travel ban on men 18-60. Only 42% are in favor of retaining the ban, 58% split between "Let Men Choose" or a "Different View." http://bit.ly/44uw4AM

The West Can Help Ukraine Keep the Moral High Ground on Human Rights Ukraine’s allies can help ensure Kyiv avoids committing human rights abuses in resisting Russia’s illegal war.

Russia is the predator AND it's important human rights groups look both ways. @hrw.org doing that now on cluster munitions. Perhaps next on (say) the gender-biased ban on civilian men crossing the border... ??https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/zelensky-ukraine-human-rights-putin-russia-war/

ok, yes i too am now one foot in Twitterhell, one in the Twitter exodus. for my inaugural BSky post I'll re-up an early LG&M essay from a whopping thirteen years back... funny how it still fits the current zeitgeist