Christina Cottiero

Closing the season on May 5, @liviosilva.bsky.social (@weatherheadcenter.bsky.social) and Henrique Sposito (Bern) will present "Does democratic backsliding defund the liberal world order?" Anna M. Meyerrose (Arizona State) and @ccottiero.bsky.social (Utah) will discuss.

US will exit dozens of international organizations as it further retreats from global cooperation The Trump administration will withdraw from dozens of international organizations, including the U.N.’s population agency and the U.N. treaty that establishes international climate negotiations.

The Trump administration will withdraw from dozens of international organizations, including the U.N.'s population agency and the U.N. treaty that establishes international climate negotiations, as the U.S. further retreats from global cooperation.

Benin coup attempt: About 200 soldiers from Nigeria and Ivory Coast deployed for 'clean-up' This is the first time that officials have said how many foreign soldiers were deployed to help thwart the mutiny.

"The West African regional bloc, Ecowas, deployed troops from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast to secure key installations and prevent any resurgence of the violence" www.bbc.com/news/article...

Nigeria says it deployed troops to Benin to ‘dislodge coup plotters’ Nigeria's president says he sent fighter jets, troops to Benin to help quell a coup attempt by mutinous soldiers.

Nigeria's president says he sent fighter jets, troops to Benin to help quell a coup attempt by mutinous soldiers.

How to Write an Academic Article in Political Science - IGCC While each paper may be unique, the process of writing an academic paper is not (or does not have to be). In the hopes of helping to make the process more efficient and the final product more clear, c...

Helpful resource to share with graduate students!
David Lake's guide to writing an academic political science article (I remember reading some version of this in the past)
ucigcc.org/publication/... @ucigcc.bsky.social

Department of Defense Law of War Manual, Sec. 18.3.2.1 states the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders.

What’s its key example? Wait for it . . . It’s "orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."

State Department International Organizations Account, Outlays by Calendar Year Quarter ($m).

International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Civil Aviation Organization doing OK. UN got about half of what it is owed. Other organizations do worse.

We'll also be posting a full professor/chair line, wide open field/research focus, soon 🎉 I can also chat about the full professor line at APSA
Salt Lake City is a growing city right next to the mountains and we have a vibrant, research productive dept! I live 15 minutes from hiking and skiing ⛰️🚵‍♂️

📣🚨The University of Utah is hiring! 1st line: Assistant Prof in Comparative Politics! For applicants who work on Asia (esp. China) or Africa, will be expected to teach quant methods, grad + undergrad. If you're a good fit and have questions, I can chat at APSA! utah.peopleadmin.com/postings/188...

The Education of Donald J. Trump: Reflections on Two Peace Summits - IGCC

Commentators are divided in their appraisals of two Trump-led Ukraine peace summits. But most have missed one thing: how the meetings have taught the president crucial realities about ending the war, argues Branislav Slantchev of
@ucsandiego.bsky.social: ucigcc.org/blog/the-edu...

To Understand Authoritarian Rule, Read These Five Novels - IGCC

Political science can explain the historical factors behind authoritarianism, but has little to say about the actual experience of living under dictatorship. IGCC's Steph Haggard shares five novels that illuminate the realities of autocratic rule: bit.ly/45u6TBO

New post summarizing the takeaways from the new book by @debremaria.bsky.social !

Trump team pushes to oust No. 2 official at world energy body The administration and its Republican allies in Congress say the Paris-based International Energy Agency discourages fossil fuel investments around the world.

www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

Here We Go Again: The U.S. Withdrawal from UNESCO - IGCC

The U.S. has had a fraught relationship with UNESCO for decades. But, argue Christina Cottiero and Stephan Haggard, the recent decision to withdraw—again—from the organization forms part of a pattern of the U.S. ceding influence in UN bodies to China: bit.ly/4mCmZPu

Here We Go Again: The U.S. Withdrawal from UNESCO - IGCC

2 weeks ago, the U.S. announced we're leaving "woke" "pro-China" "pro-Palestine" "DEI" UNESCO. New blog from me & Steph Haggard on U.S. withdrawal from IOs + implications for Trump admin officials who claim countering China is "absolutely critical"+ thoughts on what's next ucigcc.org/blog/here-we...

🧵 When the government announces that it will fire people for producing numbers that the government doesn't like, here is how our institutions should respond. (Whether they do is another story.)

1/

US Institute of Peace employees experience another round of mass firings following court ruling | CNN Politics Employees at the United States Institute of Peace were terminated for a second time by the Trump administration, after a federal court ruling last month paved the way, according to multiple fired empl...

Hegemonic suicide, example #214. Trump fired all USIP employees (for a second time) in a dead-of-night email; USIP effectively dead once again

This is painfully embarrassing.

The End of the Age of NGOs? How Civil Society Lost Its Post–Cold War Power

Insightful piece by @sarahbush.bsky.social and @jenniferhadden.bsky.social (for your fall syllabi): reader.foreignaffairs.com/2025/07/03/t...

For @lawfaremedia.org, I explained how the Trump administration has destroyed promising policy progress on transnational repression in record time www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trum...

Utah drought management and water conservation policy is going great. Annual pray for rain day!

New 5 Questions piece on the Illiberal Regimes and Global Governance project page! On the super interesting new book by @alexdukalskis.bsky.social & @cooleyoneurasia.bsky.social
ucigcc.org/research/fut... @ucigcc.bsky.social

Trojan horses in liberal international organizations? How democratic backsliders undermine the UNHRC - The Review of International Organizations Liberal democracy is facing renewed challenges from a growing group of states undergoing democratic backsliding. While entrenched autocrats have long resented and contested the established liberal ord...

Meyerrose and Nooruddin (accidentally published in prev. RIO issue) show that backsliders undermine liberal norms promotion in the UN HRC, block targeted resolutions, & criticize liberal democracies in the UPR @anna-meyerrose.bsky.social
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

How backsliding governments keep the European Union hospitable for autocracy: Evidence from intergovernmental negotiations - The Review of International Organizations The European Union (EU) is a democratic organization but faces severe cases of democratic backsliding. The literature deems the EU a hospitable environment for and reluctant to reign in backsliding. T...

Winzen shows illiberal leaders take advantage of practice of accommodation in EU decision-making, voting against EU Council proposals that threaten them most: those that would enable EU to inhibit backsliding & prevent executive aggrandizement @twinzen.bsky.social
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Undermining liberal international organizations from within: Evidence from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe - The Review of International Organizations International organizations promoting democratic governance and human rights are increasingly challenged by some of their own member states. To better understand this dynamic, we propose a distinction...

Lipps & Jacob find rising assertiveness of illiberal leaders in roll call votes in Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). They show that illiberal parties from illiberal domestic environments challenge the majority most often @marcjacob.bsky.social
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Good governance in autocratic international organizations - The Review of International Organizations A large and growing number of international organizations (IOs) are made up and governed by illiberal or outright authoritarian regimes. Many of these authoritarian IOs (AIOs) formally adopt good gove...

Hafner-Burton et al show that under pressure, authoritarian IOs strategically, shallowly adopt certain less-threatening good governance mandates. They minimize the threat by directing good governance policy outward toward non-members @cjschneider.bsky.social
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Competing judgments: Multiple election observers and post-election contention - The Review of International Organizations By influencing beliefs about electoral quality, international election observation missions (EOMs) play an important role in shaping post-election contention. As the number and variety of internationa...

Morrison et al show how incumbents benefit from authoritarian IOs' monitors contradicting credible monitors. They find competing IO verdicts on an election raise uncertainty, reduce post-election contention @danieladonno.bsky.social @burcusavun.bsky.social
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Zombies ahead: Explaining the rise of low-quality election monitoring - The Review of International Organizations The international election monitoring regime has become considerably more complex in the twenty-first century. Although the number of organizations engaged in high-quality election monitoring has plat...

With @sarahbush.bsky.social & @laurenrprather.bsky.social we document the rise of low-quality election monitors who legitimate host elections regardless of fraud & show that authoritarian-led regional IOs--esp. those anchored by Russia--have pioneered the tactic
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

In the intro to the SI, we consider how regime type & commitment to illiberal political norms affect states' engagement with global & regional IOs. What do these actors seek, how do IO rules inform their strategies, how are IOs affected?
@laurenrprather.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...