Patrick Heller
Patrick Heller
@pheller.bsky.social

Political Sociologist at Brown university

Patrick Heller is an American sociologist and the director of the development research program at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.

Source: Wikipedia
Political science 46%
Economics 28%

The bulldozed demolition of MGNREGA - www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead... For the best experience read this on The Hindu App. bit.ly/THNewsApp
The bulldozed demolition of MGNREGA
The government of the day has worked to bulldoze MGNREGA’s abolition without any discussion, consultation, or respect for parliamentary processes or Centre-State relations
www.thehindu.com

Rights-based welfare is being replaced by neo-patrimonial patronage.

The repeal of India's "Right to Work" program (the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) which was the world's largest ever anti-poverty program, is just the most recent example of what I called "retrenchment populism" in my 2020 article "The Age of Reaction."

The Indian government wants to repeal its most effective poverty reducing program ever.
Government tables Bill to replace MGNREGA amid protests - www.thehindu.com/news/nationa... For the best experience read this on The Hindu App. bit.ly/THNewsApp
Government tables Bill to replace MGNREGA amid protests
Government introduces VB-G RAM G Bill to replace MGNREGA, facing opposition protests over concerns of weakened employment rights for the poor.
www.thehindu.com
A lot of the “eurosclerosis” discourse is based on comparing GDP in nominal US$ in Europe vs US

Yesterday, the US ambassador to the EU compared Europe’s GDP per capita to that of Mississippi

This makes little sense, because it ignores the higher cost of living in the US
“Everything is gender” theory finds more confirmation
manhattan.institute/article/the-...
Trump dozes while Marco Rubio speaks to him directly next to him. Just insane optics.

A party with an actual theory of contemporary capitalism and what to do: see interview with Fernando Haddad, Brazil's Finance Minister
www.phenomenalworld.org/interviews/b...
Brazil and the World System
An interview with Brazil's Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad
www.phenomenalworld.org

Reposted by Patrick Heller

💡 @timmonsroberts.bsky.social makes 3 points at the @caadcoalition.bsky.social & @ucs.org presser #COP30:

1 Disinformation is everywhere

2 Those w/ structural power deploy disinformation to maintain status quo.

3 Solutions exist & they're urgent.

More info @cssn.org & cssn.org/news-researc...

Mamdani’s rallying cry for civil society: “To get to any of us, you have to go through all of us”

The sweep in election outcomes from public utilities in Georgia to the ref in California, governors, and Mamdani points to 2 clear conclusions: republicans don’t turn out when trump’s not on the card and dems are super angry and mobilized. New wave in the making.

How a Fringe Movement of Gun Nuts, Backwoodsmen and Free Marketers Paved the Way for Autocracy www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/o...
Opinion | How a Fringe Movement of Gun Nuts, Backwoodsmen and Free Marketers Paved the Way for Autocracy
www.nytimes.com

Trump’s patronage machine laid bare and why the taxpayer pays the price.
They’re Small, Yellow and Round — and Show How Trump’s Tariffs Don’t Work www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/o...
Opinion | They’re Small, Yellow and Round — and Show How Trump’s Tariffs Don’t Work
www.nytimes.com

Lula: Brazilian Democracy and Sovereignty Are Non-Negotiable www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/o...
Opinion | Lula: Brazilian Democracy and Sovereignty Are Non-Negotiable
www.nytimes.com

My conversation with Pranab Bardhan in his great substack on the state of democracy in Brazil, India and South Africa

How social media influencers are pushing disinformation on climate change
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Joe Rogan claims study shows Earth cooling – but report’s authors say he’s wrong
Scientists say ‘old-school denier nonsense’ isn’t helpful as podcaster repeatedly airs false claim on his show
www.theguardian.com

My lab's been attacked by an anti-wind group and their lawyers. They threatened the science funding of my whole university, to shut me and my undergraduate research assistants up.

NYT just covered it. 1/n

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/c...
Law Firm Pressures Brown University to Erase Research on Anti-Wind Groups
www.nytimes.com

Juan Crow Is Back With a Vengeance www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/o...
Opinion | Juan Crow Is Back With a Vengeance
www.nytimes.com

Brilliant summary of the democratic crisis in US
When It Comes to Undermining America, We Have a Winner www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/o...
Opinion | When It Comes to Undermining America, We Have a Winner
www.nytimes.com

Bartov has long warned this was heading towards genocide.
I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/o...
Opinion | I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.
www.nytimes.com

3) Agro business: hits the right's most powerful constituency the hardest 4) Democracy: reminding us that that the judiciary should be independent 5) Coups: reminding us that they are illegal and that plotters should be prosecuted

Five reasons why Trump's attack on Brazil is just so mindlessly stupid: 1) Nationalism: it backfired and Lula is now the defender of Brazilian sovereignty2) Treason: exposes Bolsonaro and his gang as agents of a foreign government

The latest rationale for Trump tariffs: propping up would be dictators who organize failed coups.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...
Trump announces 50% tariff on Brazil, citing what he claims is a ‘witch-hunt’ against Bolsonaro – live updates
US president slaps tariff on Brazil and complains about treatment of Brazil’s former president, who is facing trial over an alleged coup attempt
www.theguardian.com

Saying it out loud. Larry Summers on US universities: “98 percent of students are curious and open minded. The problem is much more with faculty in humanities and the less quantitative social sciences and with the noncommercial professions like public health, divinity and education”
Opinion | ‘Are We Past Peak Harvard?’: 3 Writers Mull Higher Education’s Woes
www.nytimes.com

Mamdani won by organizing the working class and winning back low income voters that centrist dems have lost to Trump
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Zohran Mamdani has unleashed a political earthquake | Ben Davis
Mamdani’s popularity represents the total collapse of a Democratic party establishment
www.theguardian.com