On this day, take a look back at a 1997 article from World Politics in which Sheri Berman argues "absent strong and responsive national government and political parties" a robust civil society actually helped to bring the Nazis to power. jstor.org/stable/25054008

How can support for democracy coexist with lack of punishment for backsliding initiatives? Vicente Valentim shows that social norms incentivize citizens to pretend opposition to illiberal actors. New Online: …ls-sagepub-com.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/doi/full/10.11…

As we witness the extraordinary events in Syria, I recommend reading work by Shelley Liu on what happens when rebels take power after civil war. She highlights how wartime experiences shape post-war patterns of governance 👇🏽 dukespace.lib.duke.edu/server/api/cor…

Twitter/X users co-share mainstream news alongside "fake" news to promote misleading narratives, finds Goel Jon Green 🇺🇦 [email protected] Philip Resnik, highlighting how factual info can be weaponized to boost misinformation credibility doi.org/10.1038/s41562…

Trump’s lasting impact on American 🇺🇸 courts

Nice model of combining qualitative research and an RCT. I know many papers will do the qual research and not report it, but writing about it really enhances the credibility of mechanisms and the narrative, esp for contexts unfamiliar for many readers.

Big news — I'm launching a Substack on immigration policies that work! Whether you see immigration as an opportunity or a problem, the truth is it can be better. Popular by Design will feature new ideas for making immigration both more functional and sustainable. If you care

Research has shown that Uber drivers are 2x more likely to cancel a ride if the passenger’s name is one used predominantly by African Americans. But this new preprint shows that type of discrimination can be eliminated fairly easily! Within the standard Uber app, drivers see

We are pleased to announce the 2025 Editors’ Choice Award for the paper “How Much Should We Trust Instrumental Variable Estimates in Political Science? Practical Advice Based on 67 Replicated Studies” by apoorva.lal, Mackenzie Lockhart, Yiqing Xu, and Gary ziwen_Zu.

New publication alert! My first article is out in Political Behavior! In it, I ask: Are politicians more influenced by personal stories than by statistical facts? I try answering this question with a series of preregistered survey experiments among Chilean elected officials.

New paper at Research & Politics: Fundraising on the fringe: Do ideologically extreme candidates solicit small donations? TL;DR the answer is no. doi.org/10.1177/205316…

What happened when Brazil passed right-to-work legislation in 2017--banning mandatory union dues? Workers' wages fell notably as a direct result.

A longish thread on how I've adapted my teaching at the University of Toronto in the age of artificial intelligence, changes I've made to my Munk School "Munk One" honors seminar. Feedback welcome - be kind, however, as we're all figuring this out. Munk One Alex Usher #AI #highered 1/

Welcome to the new normal

Climate models since the 1970s nailed it—most predicted global warming almost exactly as it happened.

This preprint (R&R at REStud) argues that slavery accelerated Britain’s industrial revolution.

I feel like monetizing Tweets + Substack's growth has made this issue so much worse. Now all the pundits/wonks get paid to spout off their opinions on anything and everything--expertise be damned--to get those precious clicks. I don't have a solution.

Some folks have asked: if voters across the spectrum support skilled immigration, why isn't it happening? My new piece unpacks the possible answers, and what it all means for making other immigration popular.

Mastodon We all mourn the passing of Brent Hinds May he Rest in Peace 🪦 Metal 🎸🤘🏻 lost a giant this week. atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/08/21/for…