Colin Brown

"The Khans, Ghengis and Imran" is a phrase that just secured a nice rent-free spot in my head

Photo of a printed tweet, penned by Paul Musgrave. Paul Musgrave @profmusgrave Around the department: Americanists: how bad can it be really? Comparativists: dictatorship, purges International relations: nuclear war Americanists: haha but seriously IR and comparative: who is joking

And I'm glad there are backup resources being figured out from somewhere! But this is...really odd with any level of abstraction

It is, but this kind of shutdown itself bleeds into questions of state capacity -- not just does it have the money but can it actually carry out actions, and is obviously pretty unusual for a wealthy state

A wooden donation box at PDX airport with a blue sign reading: "Supporting PDX Federal Workers — Federal coworkers are still here, keeping things moving — let's return the kindness. Donate nonperishable food, gift cards, or household items here. No cash, checks, or cash cards, please."

While state capacity is hard to assess, I feel like the food donation bin they've set up at the airport for government employees is not a great sign.

Bands don't play (like that) no more

Which the Metropolitan Opera commissioned last season BTW!

You Can't Always Get What You Want: Why Foreign-Imposed Regime Change Seldom Improves Interstate Relations In recent decades, the United States has attempted to overthrow the regimes of several other countries in the hopes that the new regimes will be friendly toward Washington. Does foreign-imposed regime...

So why FIRC?

The logic is cold: intervening states believe the current leader won't serve their interests.

So they install someone who they think will.

But the imposed leader immediately faces a structural trap because they have TWO constituencies.

5/

belfercenter.org/publication/...

Just your friendly, wet-blanket reminder that bombing Iran might be aggression, the International Criminal Court has no jurisdiction as Iran is not a member.

Even if Iran was, the ICC cannot charge non-member state nationals with aggression.

Trump and Bibi aren't going to The Hague for this.

“He’s joking” “he misspoke”
You do not get to do that when you have power. You get more responsibility, not less!!

An Unpopular, Doomed, Bloody War People will die and nothing will be accomplished

My thoughts

open.substack.com/pub/musgrave...

This is actually genuinely very much not good for stability and not-killing

Not to mention how many faculty have family, children, and/or close friends in the military and care deeply about them. And might be very concerned for them right now.

And so it goes

As you well know, this is also true at the micro level: jerks get fewer service assignments. Capable women get more.

What does a restorative justice framework look like for this? (Jerks have to endlessly prosecute AI cheating cases?)

Annual Review of Political Science Participatory Democracy and Its Limits Kevin J. Elliott Program on Ethics, Politics and Economics and Department of Political Science, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA; email: k.elliott@yale.edu

Annu. Rev. Political Sci. 2026. 29:17.1–17.19 The Annual Review of Political Science is online at polisci.annualreviews.org https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-032724- 125408 Copyright © 2026 by the author(s). All rights reserved Keywords participation, participatory democracy, deliberative democracy, lottocracy, political attention, representation Abstract This review surveys the limits of participatory democracy and reconsiders its merits, with particular emphasis on the limited attention of citizens. I trace the development of participatory democracy within political science and democratic theory and suggest that participation has fallen out of its previously central role as a criterion of democratic quality. What remains is a set of functions and pitfalls, which I explore in a series of inquiries into participation: (a) in lottocracy and electoral democracy, (b) in its relationship to representation, and (c) in local land use planning. I conclude with thoughts for future research informed by the discussion.

Forthcoming from me in the Annual Review of Political Science: "Participatory Democracy and Its Limits."

Download a complete preprint here: kevinjelliott.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

Maar ja dit klopt. Volgens mij is het nog moeilijk soms het verschil tussen sarcastisch en constructieve 'nee hoor' te bemerken, maar dat zou ook wel een "me problem"...

Jawel... :)

Navigating an Academic Career after a Significant Health Change: An APSA Status Committee Virtual Workshop | Monday, March 2, 2026 Have you recently experienced a major health change? From long-Covid to pregnancy to perimenopause/menopause to breaking a leg, any one of us can experience a change in our health status that makes part (or all) of our job a whole lot more challenging. Join us for a discussion of how to navigate university resources and accommodations, as well as figuring out research and teaching, after acquiring a new disability. 

Join our virtual conversation on Monday at 1:00 PM (ET), about navigating university resources and accommodations after acquiring a new #health change, co-sponsored by the Status Committee on #Disability in the Profession.

Register now to join! buff.ly/yeKT6mU#poli...

Please register & attend our workshop on Monday ! Perfect for chairs who are often in a pickle when these types of things come up …

Of misschien nee hoor, ja hoor? Ik ben nog wel nooit zeker

Ja, hoor

Bridge and Bridgertonality

The Great 19th Century English Novels

-Pride and Prejudice
-Sense and Sensibility
-Persuasion and Persuadability
-Emma and Eminence
-Wuther and Wuthering
-Man and Mansfield Park
-Wave and Waverly
-Van Fair and Vanity Fair
-Bleak House and Bleak Hospitality

Sounds like something the Wuther Underground would have said, tbh

My copy of @leannecpowner.bsky.social ‘s book just arrived.

Oh, and do you by any chance recognise that scholar who blurbed her book? ;)

Happy publication day to @uobrishistory.bsky.social’s Professor Sumita Mukherjee!