Abandoned Footnotes

In my corner of Twitter, I recently became obliquely aware of a kerfuffle about Michael Bloomberg saying that “Xi Jinping is not a dictator”...

Happy solstice, everyone! I have not been very consistent this year about writing in this blog, despite my resolution last year . After a ...

(Of mostly local interest. I speak only for myself, not for my colleagues or anyone else associated with Victoria University of Wellington, ...

(Reflections on the nature of charisma and charismatic authority. Applications to current events and people are left as an exercise for the ...

(Of interest mostly to political scientists or other users of country-year democracy data) Quick announcement: I’ve just updated my democr...

(Of historical interest mostly, though I think it’s a good story). Most people reading this blog probably know about Trofim Lysenko , who,...

I have piece at the Monkey Cage on what flattery in authoritarian regimes might say about flattery in the Trump administration . There is pr...