Michael Albertus

The FTC Case Is an Executive Power Grab A likely Trump administration win in the case will steal power from Congress and have big implications for civil servants throughout government

If the executive wins authority to intervene in independent agencies like the #FTC simply for partisan reasons, why won't the same logic apply to other government entities and to the civil service more broadly? My post on this power grab & why it matters

michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/the-ftc-ca...

Rural Versus Urban: The Growing Divide That Threatens Democracy My interview with Cornell Professor Suzanne Mettler and Johns Hopkins Fellow Trevor Brown on their new book on America's growing rural-urban split

The recent but growing rural-urban divide in the US is a threat to democracy. My interview with
@cornelluniversity.bsky.social Professor Suzanne Mettler and
Johns Hopkins postdoc Trevor Brown on how it arose and what can be done
@smettler.bsky.social

michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/rural-vers...

Plotting out the Endgame in Venezuela Gauging likely scenarios amid the building American threats to Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro

With the American military buildup in #Venezuela, what is the endgame? Plotting out the most likely scenarios in my latest post.

michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/plotting-o...

Wealthy Democracies With a History of Fair Elections Never Fail – Or Do They? My interview with NYU Politics Professor and leading scholar Adam Przeworski on a career's worth of insight on what makes democracy thrive or fail

Wealthy democracies with a history of fair elections never fail–or do they? My interview w/ @newyorkuniversity.bsky.social Professor Adam Przeworski on a career's worth of insight on what makes democracy thrive, and why he's so puzzled now about the US

michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/wealthy-de...

Maduro Needs a Golden Parachute The only way to avoid war in Venezuela may be if its leader doesn’t fear leaving office.

The Maduro regime is not in a position to design, or even participate in, an institutional framework that could guide Venezuela back to democracy. With no golden parachute in sight, he's digging in. My piece @foreignpolicy.com on off-ramps from dictatorship

foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/19/m...

The Government Shutdown Ends With a Whimper Little came of it, except to embolden Republicans in playing hardball with Democrats

With the government shutdown over, what has shifted politically? Not much. Although it probably emboldened Republicans in playing hardball with Democrats. My latest post 👇

michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/the-govern...

Chile Is Making an Unprecedented Right Turn It’s Latin America’s traditional beacon of stability—and its next country to vote for the far right.

The far right is poised to come out on top in #Chile's watershed election this weekend. Here's why, and what it means for the region. My piece in @foreignpolicy.com

foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/12/c...

What Democracy in Venezuela Would Require Toppling a dictatorship is easier than building a functional state to take its place.

As the US builds military forces on Venezuela's coast to pressure Maduro, it should heed this lesson: toppling a dictatorship is easier than building a functional democracy to take its place. My piece in today's @theatlantic.com

www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Immigration, Crime, and the Lurch Right A dispatch from Chile prior to elections, with eerie parallels to the US

Immigration and crime are roiling the upcoming presidential election in #Chile much as they did in the US. It's poised to join the rightward shift in Latin America.

michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/immigratio...

The Birth of Democracy in South America My interview with University of Texas Professor Raúl Madrid on his new book on the origins of democracy

My interview with @utaustin.bsky.social professor Raul Madrid on how democracy arose in South America, and what that tells us about democracy today.

@raullorcamadrid.bsky.social @universitypress.cambridge.org

michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/the-birth-...

Amid a Global Democratic Recession, There Are Reasons for Hope My interview with University of Michigan Professor Dan Slater on the current landscape of democracy and authoritarianism

My interview with @umich.edu professor Dan Slater on the current landscape of democracy and authoritarianism in the US & abroad. "Short-term extremely pessimistic and long-term at least somewhat optimistic"; watch out for weak authoritarians; fire up the non-cooperation & more
@dnsltr.bsky.social

‘Devil’s ideology’: President Donald Trump’s darkening rhetoric escalates attacks and often targets Illinois President Donald Trump’s language to discredit opponents has included Illinois and the Chicago area where protesters have been compared to domestic terrorists and the president has called for…

Happy to have shared my thoughts in this piece in @chicagotribune.com on Trump's escalating attacks on democracy, and his targeting of Chicago

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/19/t...

Q&A with Directors of the Democratic Erosion Consortium How their work helps us understand democracy & democratic erosion in the US and globally

My interview with Democratic Erosion Consortium Directors @robertblair.bsky.social, Laura Paler, Jessica Gottlieb, and Julie Anne Weaver on their *new global dataset* on democracy! And on how to measure and understand democracy today, in the US & abroad

michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/q-and-a-wi...

Chicago is Now a Military "Training Ground" National Guard troops are deploying to the city to support ICE agents, creating a combustible situation

A federal judge is currently hearing whether #Trump can turn #Chicago into the latest military "training ground". On the back of last week's ICE raid in South Shore, it's a combustible (and unnecessary) situation. And it hits close to home

michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/chicago-is...

The Government Shutdown Raises Risks for American Democracy The Trump administration is poised to use the shutdown as an opportunity to double down on its attacks on political enemies

The Trump administration is using the government shutdown as an opportunity to double down on its attacks on political enemies. That raises risks for American democracy. More here on where this could go 👇

michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/dangers-of...

The Rise of the Strongman Presidency My interview with Johns Hopkins Professor William Howell and Stanford Professor Terry Moe on their new book on the transformation of presidential power

My interview with @johnshopkinssph.bsky.social Dean Will Howell and @stanforduniversity.bsky.social Prof. Terry Moe, leading experts on the American presidency, on their important new book The Rise of the Strongman Presidency @princetonupress.bsky.social

michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/the-rise-o...

The Rising Tide of Political Violence Charlie Kirk's assassination is part of a disturbing decade-old trend in the US that sets it apart from other advanced democracies

The temperature is rising in American politics. Charlie Kirk's assassination is part of a growing wave of political violence that threatens the stability of our democracy and is very unusual among advanced democracies.

michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/the-rising...

@dryan149.bsky.social

Somebody Should Do Something My interview with the authors of a new book on how to enact social change in troubled times

Interview here

michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/somebody-s...

My interview with social change experts and philosophy professors @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social, Dan Kelly, and Alex Madva on their fantastic new book Somebody Should Do Something. A must read if you’re thinking about big social problems, how they change, and what you can do @mitpress.bsky.social

The Coming Age of Territorial Expansion Climate change will fuel contests—and maybe wars—for land and resources.

The renaming of the Department of Defense as the Department of War signals a deeper geopolitical shift that departs from the postwar global order

www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

The Drug War Moves to…Venezuela? The Trump administration’s brazen airstrike on a suspected drug-smuggling boat from Venezuela signals an increasing reliance on "tough on crime" political branding

#Trump's airstrike on a boat from #Venezuela signals an increasingly reliance on "tough on crime" political branding and advances in the international arena the same sense of unilateral authority that he has been pursuing domestically 👇

michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/the-drug-w...

Indigenous Community Recognition and Identity: Evidence from Peru - Michael Albertus, 2025 Collective recognition of indigenous claims to land and traditional authority has advanced rapidly in recent decades in many countries. How do these processes i...

Just published! 🎉 My paper "Indigenous Community Recognition and Identity: Evidence from Peru" @cpsjournal.bsky.social. It shows how & why indigenous recognition impacts self-identification for those who experience it – and for later generations that don't.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Trump's Attempt To Control the Federal Reserve The politicized firing of Fed Governor Lisa Cook threatens the tradition of central bank independence and could destabilize the American economy

Full piece here: michaelalbertus.substack.com/p/trumps-att...

#Trump's politicized firing of Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook threatens its independence and could destabilize the American economy. It also marks a major departure among advanced democracies of central bank independence, which has tamed inflation and unemployment 👇