Katy Powers

Wow. A group of top scholars at Harvard just sent a letter to its president, Alan Garber, warning against surrendering to Trump.

Signatories include Steven Levitsky, Dani Rodrik, Ryan Enos, Theda Skocpol, and Steven Walt.

Someone forwarded it to me. Read it here:

That anybody would be treating a "deal" between private institutions and the Trump regime as a "win" shows you just how far down the path to authoritarianism we have already traveled.

The government is imposing ideology on you through extortion. It is not compatible with a free society.

Also, *every* authoritarian goes after universities and the media. These institutions have flaws now - in some cases, very deep ones. But the attacks on those flaws are pretextual. Treating them otherwise normalizes deeply authoritarian acts.

Thanks, too, to the reviewers and editors at @polbehavior.bsky.social - who shepherded us through an incredibly productive review process.

We're grateful to Dartmouth's Ethics Institute for supporting this project, and to the many excellent research assistants who helped us over the past few years. @dartmouthdickey.bsky.social

Moralization and Foreign Policy Attitudes - Political Behavior How do core beliefs about right and wrong shape American attitudes about foreign policy? Political psychologists increasingly recognize that moral conviction constitutes an important and consequential...

"Moralization and Foreign Policy Attitudes" (with the esteemed Sarah Maxey) is out today in Political Behavior: doi.org/10.1007/s111.... We examine who moralizes what foreign policies - and what consequences follow from moral conviction about foreign policy.

Harvard is Probably Going to Cave …Unless Honor Saves Us

This is my grim assessment of where things stand:

Harvard is Probably Going to Cave
…Unless Honor Saves Us

open.substack.com/pub/ryandeno...

Stop Looking for Red Lines. You no Longer Live in a Full Democracy It's going to be up to us to bring it back to life

Stop Looking for Red Lines. You no Longer Live in a Full Democracy

It's going to be up to us to bring it back to life
open.substack.com/pub/ryandeno...

Universities quietly negotiating with White House aide to try to avoid Harvard’s fate, source says | CNN Politics College and university leaders have been privately negotiating with a deputy to top Trump aide Stephen Miller in hopes of avoiding the same aggressive targeting of Harvard University, a person familia...

Any university leader doing this deserves all the shame that history will bestow upon them.
www.cnn.com/2025/05/31/p...

The Right to Be Hostile - Boston Review Crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protest force a reckoning with inflated definitions of harm and harassment.

This - about universities, protest, and democracy - is one of the most valuable things I have read recently. I hope you will read it too.
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...

how to succeed in business without really trying?

Our paper now published in the April issue of @pnasnexus.org - and perhaps getting a real-world test of its propositions... @yusakuhoriuchi.bsky.social, @kmatush.bsky.social , @kepowers.bsky.social (I don't necessarily like Trump's research design, though - how did he get that past the IRB?). :^(

Dartmouth removes main diversity and inclusion web page A College spokesperson said the webpage will be republished soon after the College makes “a few small changes."

Dartmouth removes main diversity and inclusion web page

Apparently the website will be back shortly, after a "few small changes" are made to ensure that Dartmouth isn't practicing "illegal DEI."

My friend @casmudde.bsky.social offers a wise take, as usual. A key point re: agenda-setting: "...politics is largely about defining problems, not just solving them."

Thanks to @dartmouthdickey.bsky.social for supporting studies 2 and 3 in this project!

Teamed up with the brilliant trio of @yusakuhoriuchi.bsky.social, @kmatush.bsky.social, and @begoldsmith.bsky.social for this paper about the effect of US democratic backsliding (at pre-2025 levels) on foreign public opinion. Open access link below!

Stop pretending that the authoritarian repression is BECAUSE of the problems in {higher education, the media, the law, government, immigration policy, etc.}. This is what authoritarians do. If they didn't focus on these justifications, they'd come up with other ones.

Hey academic friends — universities need to stand together in the face of this onslaught. Please help mobilize your faculties, boards of trustees, etc to get your university’s leadership to stand with those already getting hit. Hiding won’t work. They are coming for you next.

Not exaggerating when I say I would like a personal, handwritten apology from every pundit who barfed out a dozen "the left wants to change the way you talk!" op-eds based on non-mandatory guidelines in obscure PDFs.

And here's the thing: institutional neutrality, even in its most robust version (Kalven/ Chicago) specifically calls for universities to speak out vociferously on *matters that directly impact their institutional mission*.

If research funding ain't it, then what is??

Now *this* is a free speech crisis . . . in contrast to statistically small and periodic controversies over speakers on college campuses.

Job market students, consider doing an awesome postdoc with us at Dartmouth! Position could be filled by development, trade, applied.

Because we don't have a PhD program, you can get a lot of time with faculty here.

Also it's in New Hampshire ⛷️🚵‍♂️🏔️🛶

Link below, deadline is in 2 weeks, please share!

New article with @briantfinch.bsky.social is now available online with OA at @risjnl.bsky.social

We argue for broadening the scope of audience agency theorized in securitization by bringing in the ontological security lens, centering the importance of routines. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

In tenure decisions, context matters.

New research from Lauren Rivera et al uses an experiment to show that including Covid impact statements in tenure files leads to more favorable decisions, because it helps evaluators recognize structural constraints.

sociologicalscience.com/articles-v11...

Job alert: A little late to the game, but we're searching for a tenure-track assistant prof in comparative politics. We're particularly interested in scholars who study East Asia, Southeast Asia, and/or South Asia.

Details: apply.interfolio.com/151639

Pretty stunned and honored to have won the Best Book Award by APSA’s Conflict Processes Section for my work, Governing for Revolution.

Thanks very much to the committee @jaylyall.bsky.social, @oliverkaplan.bsky.social, @ladyprofessor.bsky.social for giving so much of their time and consideration.

What do we know about the relationship between nationalism and international conflict?@jiyoungko.bsky.social and I answer this burning question in our new State of Nationalism review: stateofnationalism.eu/article/nati...

polisky | nationalisky

Comparing Two Types of Online Survey Samples Pew Research Center conducted a study to compare the accuracy of six online surveys of U.S. adults – three from probability-based panels and three from opt-in sources. On average, the absolute error o...

We also have some amazing datasets for folks interested in doing methods research! E.g. the data from our recent report comparing six online samples with ~30k cases and 28 benchmark variables is freely available to anyone who wants it.

Hey #polisky check out my new article w/ Brandon Yoder @ajpseditor.bsky.social

It's open access thanks to the Big10 Academic Alliance. Thread for anyone interested in the security dilemma, signaling, reassurance, or rationalist/constructivist theory. 1/4

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...