abbey steele
@abbeyst.bsky.social
I research & teach about displacement, civil wars, state-building and Colombia at the University of Amsterdam. AMS / CLE / BOG
abbeysteele.net
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1126-9235
abbeysteele.net
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1126-9235
Is it a civil war?
No - and:
"[...] when the power of the state is being used to kill and kidnap and deport without any due process, so very capriciously and so much by one ethnic group aimed at others, it is very, very serious indeed."
saideman.blogspot.com/2026/01/is-i...
No - and:
"[...] when the power of the state is being used to kill and kidnap and deport without any due process, so very capriciously and so much by one ethnic group aimed at others, it is very, very serious indeed."
saideman.blogspot.com/2026/01/is-i...
Is It a Civil War? Not Yet
Things are truly awful in the US, so is this the time to get pedantic? Well, maybe. I posted on bluesky that I was more worried about e...
saideman.blogspot.com
January 26, 2026 at 7:18 AM
Is it a civil war?
No - and:
"[...] when the power of the state is being used to kill and kidnap and deport without any due process, so very capriciously and so much by one ethnic group aimed at others, it is very, very serious indeed."
saideman.blogspot.com/2026/01/is-i...
No - and:
"[...] when the power of the state is being used to kill and kidnap and deport without any due process, so very capriciously and so much by one ethnic group aimed at others, it is very, very serious indeed."
saideman.blogspot.com/2026/01/is-i...
Reposted by abbey steele
I would argue that the case for dismantling ICE has, at this point, virtually nothing to do with larger questions of immigration enforcement and reform, it's just clearly incompatible with a free and democratic society to maintain a secret police force with sweeping and arbitrary authority.
Senator Gallego weighs in as well. Note that at the start of 2025 he was considered a *moderate* on immigration and co-sponsored the Laken Riley Act. Him and many other Dems have been increasingly horrified at what ICE is doing and shifted away from a "more enforcement" focus.
January 21, 2026 at 11:09 PM
I would argue that the case for dismantling ICE has, at this point, virtually nothing to do with larger questions of immigration enforcement and reform, it's just clearly incompatible with a free and democratic society to maintain a secret police force with sweeping and arbitrary authority.
Reposted by abbey steele
NEW: We @immcouncil.org just published a big new report on the growth of ICE detention in Trump's first year back in office. Not only do we track the rising scale of the detention infrastructure, we explain how changing enforcement tactics have shifted the profile of who is locked up by ICE.
January 14, 2026 at 4:33 PM
NEW: We @immcouncil.org just published a big new report on the growth of ICE detention in Trump's first year back in office. Not only do we track the rising scale of the detention infrastructure, we explain how changing enforcement tactics have shifted the profile of who is locked up by ICE.
Reposted by abbey steele
I see this take around from time to time and totally disagree. ICE just murdered a woman standing up to them. No Kings is among the largest protests in history.
The complacency is coming from elites in media, business, universities, and the Democratic leadership
The complacency is coming from elites in media, business, universities, and the Democratic leadership
January 11, 2026 at 8:00 PM
I see this take around from time to time and totally disagree. ICE just murdered a woman standing up to them. No Kings is among the largest protests in history.
The complacency is coming from elites in media, business, universities, and the Democratic leadership
The complacency is coming from elites in media, business, universities, and the Democratic leadership
"A big reason to worry that this could be messy is that Maduro was able to govern, or co-govern, by sitting atop a byzantine network of patronage, corruption, criminal governance, and shared sovereignty that, for now, remains in place."
adamisacson.com/possible-vio...
adamisacson.com/possible-vio...
Possible Violent Actors in Post-Maduro Venezuela - Adam Isacson
Groups that can generate violence and insecurity in post-Maduro Venezuela include elements of the armed forces and intelligence services, colectivos and militias, and Colombian and Venezuelan armed an...
adamisacson.com
January 7, 2026 at 10:20 AM
"A big reason to worry that this could be messy is that Maduro was able to govern, or co-govern, by sitting atop a byzantine network of patronage, corruption, criminal governance, and shared sovereignty that, for now, remains in place."
adamisacson.com/possible-vio...
adamisacson.com/possible-vio...
I'm thrilled & grateful to have been awarded an @erc.europa.eu Consolidator Grant. #ERCCoG
My project, GRID, will study how & why governments respond to internal displacement with protection or repression.
www.uva.nl/en/content/n...
My project, GRID, will study how & why governments respond to internal displacement with protection or repression.
www.uva.nl/en/content/n...
Nine UvA researchers receive ERC Consolidator Grants
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded Consolidator Grants to nine UvA researchers. The laureates are: Thijs Bol, Jaron Harambam, Eirini Karyotaki, Patty Leijten, Dora Matzke, Matthijs Roodui...
www.uva.nl
December 9, 2025 at 2:22 PM
I'm thrilled & grateful to have been awarded an @erc.europa.eu Consolidator Grant. #ERCCoG
My project, GRID, will study how & why governments respond to internal displacement with protection or repression.
www.uva.nl/en/content/n...
My project, GRID, will study how & why governments respond to internal displacement with protection or repression.
www.uva.nl/en/content/n...
Reposted by abbey steele
News from a robust democracy
The South Korean Ministry of Defense has awarded medals of merit to 11 officers for disobeying direct orders of superiors during the martial law fiasco, orders that they deemed to be contrary to the constitution and endangerment to democracy.
www.chosun.com/english/nati...
www.chosun.com/english/nati...
National Defense Ministry Honors 11 Soldiers for Refusing Illegal Orders
National Defense Ministry Honors 11 Soldiers for Refusing Illegal Orders Honored for rejecting illegal orders during martial law, Marine death probe
www.chosun.com
December 2, 2025 at 6:41 AM
News from a robust democracy
Reposted by abbey steele
@brendannyhan.bsky.social is right: young people are reluctant to come to the defense of institutions that have excluded them, ignored them, and crushed their movements
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...
November 25, 2025 at 3:37 AM
@brendannyhan.bsky.social is right: young people are reluctant to come to the defense of institutions that have excluded them, ignored them, and crushed their movements
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...
Reposted by abbey steele
Wait till the president finds out that his administration _already cut_ something like 3/4 of US aid to "Columbia," along with most aid worldwide, earlier this year. Most of the aid that remains goes to Colombia's military and police—to support counter-drug operations.
October 19, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Wait till the president finds out that his administration _already cut_ something like 3/4 of US aid to "Columbia," along with most aid worldwide, earlier this year. Most of the aid that remains goes to Colombia's military and police—to support counter-drug operations.
Reposted by abbey steele
To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, and to support emerging scholars, I'd like to buy and mail copies to ten graduate students.
If you’re a grad student who’d like a copy, reply or DM me!
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
If you’re a grad student who’d like a copy, reply or DM me!
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
Civilizing Contention by Rana B. Khoury | Paperback | Cornell University Press
In Civilizing Contention, Rana B. Khoury asserts that to understand civilian and refugee activism in war, we must regard the international actors and organizations that enter the scene to help. When.....
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu
October 17, 2025 at 1:55 PM
To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, and to support emerging scholars, I'd like to buy and mail copies to ten graduate students.
If you’re a grad student who’d like a copy, reply or DM me!
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
If you’re a grad student who’d like a copy, reply or DM me!
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
Reposted by abbey steele
The National Guard troopers confirming what everyone suspected; they don't want to be there.
July 17, 2025 at 3:38 PM
The National Guard troopers confirming what everyone suspected; they don't want to be there.
Reposted by abbey steele
Juan Masullo and I wrote a piece on the recent assassination attempt on Senator Uribe in Bogotá, its connections to the drug war, how it echoes the past, and why it is only the most visible form of how the drug war undermines democracy. 1/2
"On June 7...Colombian senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot multiple times," write Juan Masullo and Abbey Steele. "The attempted assassination...has rocked Colombia, a country where such political violence feels all too familiar."
www.journalofdemocra...
www.journalofdemocra...
How Drug Wars Destroy Democracy | Journal of Democracy
Colombia’s drug war has ravaged the country — leaving tens of thousands dead, disappeared, or displaced and entire communities broken. Democracy is among the casualties.
www.journalofdemocracy.org
July 15, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Juan Masullo and I wrote a piece on the recent assassination attempt on Senator Uribe in Bogotá, its connections to the drug war, how it echoes the past, and why it is only the most visible form of how the drug war undermines democracy. 1/2
Juan Masullo and I wrote a piece on the recent assassination attempt on Senator Uribe in Bogotá, its connections to the drug war, how it echoes the past, and why it is only the most visible form of how the drug war undermines democracy. 1/2
"On June 7...Colombian senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot multiple times," write Juan Masullo and Abbey Steele. "The attempted assassination...has rocked Colombia, a country where such political violence feels all too familiar."
www.journalofdemocra...
www.journalofdemocra...
How Drug Wars Destroy Democracy | Journal of Democracy
Colombia’s drug war has ravaged the country — leaving tens of thousands dead, disappeared, or displaced and entire communities broken. Democracy is among the casualties.
www.journalofdemocracy.org
July 15, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Juan Masullo and I wrote a piece on the recent assassination attempt on Senator Uribe in Bogotá, its connections to the drug war, how it echoes the past, and why it is only the most visible form of how the drug war undermines democracy. 1/2
Reposted by abbey steele
The proposed Dutch law criminalising assistance to migrants
A critical analysis, by Huub Verbaten - eulawanalysis.blogspot.com/2025/07/a-du...
A critical analysis, by Huub Verbaten - eulawanalysis.blogspot.com/2025/07/a-du...
A Dutch dangerous experiment in criminalizing compassion: How a parliamentary "slip-up" could create Europe's harshest migration law
Huub Verbaten , Research Fellow at the Clingendael Institute Photo credit : Markus Bernet, via Wikimedia commons On the evening of Jul...
eulawanalysis.blogspot.com
July 12, 2025 at 12:02 PM
The proposed Dutch law criminalising assistance to migrants
A critical analysis, by Huub Verbaten - eulawanalysis.blogspot.com/2025/07/a-du...
A critical analysis, by Huub Verbaten - eulawanalysis.blogspot.com/2025/07/a-du...
Reposted by abbey steele
BCG helped set up a militarised aid scheme in Gaza, widely condemned by the humanitarian sector, and worked on cost models for relocating Palestinians out of the territory.
July 10, 2025 at 5:00 AM
BCG helped set up a militarised aid scheme in Gaza, widely condemned by the humanitarian sector, and worked on cost models for relocating Palestinians out of the territory.
Reposted by abbey steele
Russia’s entire military budget is only $145 billion. Stephen Miller got even more than that to expel people who don’t pass his racial standards—including naturalized citizens. And when they’re done with that, they’ll come after critics. When they create a gulag economy that big, it doesn’t go away.
$171 billion: That’s the sum the Republican megabill pours into President Trump's immigration agenda. “This money is going to ingrain immigration enforcement in all aspects of local law enforcement,” says an analyst at the American Immigration Council. boltsmag.org/how-the...
How the GOP Megabill Would Turbocharge Local Immigration Enforcement
Congress is pouring tens of billions of dollars into more immigration detention, private jails, and border operations, plus new ICE partnerships with local police and sheriffs.
boltsmag.org
July 5, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Russia’s entire military budget is only $145 billion. Stephen Miller got even more than that to expel people who don’t pass his racial standards—including naturalized citizens. And when they’re done with that, they’ll come after critics. When they create a gulag economy that big, it doesn’t go away.
It also makes ICE better funded than most national militaries -- by a wide margin. This is the expansion of a secret police force.
With this vote, Congress makes ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in history, with more money per year at its disposal over the next four years than the budgets of the FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals, and Bureau of Prisons combined.
🚨🚨 NEW: House passes sprawling domestic policy bill, sending it to Trump's desk
Final House vote is 218-214, with TWO Rs voting no (Massie & Fitzpatrick).
Senate passed it 51-50.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
Final House vote is 218-214, with TWO Rs voting no (Massie & Fitzpatrick).
Senate passed it 51-50.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
July 4, 2025 at 3:23 PM
It also makes ICE better funded than most national militaries -- by a wide margin. This is the expansion of a secret police force.
Reposted by abbey steele
🚨 Big News for European Political Science 🚨
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the European Political Science Society (EPSS): a new, member-led, not-for-profit association built to support our scholarly community.
🔗 epssnet.org
Here’s a thread with everything you need to know.
🧵
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the European Political Science Society (EPSS): a new, member-led, not-for-profit association built to support our scholarly community.
🔗 epssnet.org
Here’s a thread with everything you need to know.
🧵
June 26, 2025 at 5:07 PM
🚨 Big News for European Political Science 🚨
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the European Political Science Society (EPSS): a new, member-led, not-for-profit association built to support our scholarly community.
🔗 epssnet.org
Here’s a thread with everything you need to know.
🧵
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the European Political Science Society (EPSS): a new, member-led, not-for-profit association built to support our scholarly community.
🔗 epssnet.org
Here’s a thread with everything you need to know.
🧵
Reposted by abbey steele
Laughing in front of cages designed to hold migrants and refugees, many of whom came to this country fleeing extreme violence and poverty, and hoping to raise their children in a more compassionate country. And many of whom followed all the legal procedures to enter the country.
July 2, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Laughing in front of cages designed to hold migrants and refugees, many of whom came to this country fleeing extreme violence and poverty, and hoping to raise their children in a more compassionate country. And many of whom followed all the legal procedures to enter the country.
"From what I can tell, ICE is a secret police when acting in a public space...The comparativist in me wants to think about other police forces in history which had such broad and ill-defined powers. But such comparisons are too frightening."
adamprzeworski.substack.com/p/week-19
adamprzeworski.substack.com/p/week-19
WEEK 19
WEEK 19
adamprzeworski.substack.com
July 2, 2025 at 8:46 AM
"From what I can tell, ICE is a secret police when acting in a public space...The comparativist in me wants to think about other police forces in history which had such broad and ill-defined powers. But such comparisons are too frightening."
adamprzeworski.substack.com/p/week-19
adamprzeworski.substack.com/p/week-19
"...the only ideas offered by Democrats come from its left wing. The rest of the party is just catatonic. Its leadership is patiently waiting for Trump to fail, generously granting them electoral victory while attending weddings of billionaries."
July 2, 2025 at 8:37 AM
"...the only ideas offered by Democrats come from its left wing. The rest of the party is just catatonic. Its leadership is patiently waiting for Trump to fail, generously granting them electoral victory while attending weddings of billionaries."
Reposted by abbey steele
Rep. Andy Ogles, a Republican from Tennessee, has sent a letter to Pam Bondi calling for Zohran Mamdani to be stripped of his citizenship and deported.
June 26, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Rep. Andy Ogles, a Republican from Tennessee, has sent a letter to Pam Bondi calling for Zohran Mamdani to be stripped of his citizenship and deported.
Reposted by abbey steele
@adamprz.bsky.social on ICE's authorities & operating procedures: "The comparativist in me wants to think about other police forces in history which had such broad and ill-defined powers. But such comparisons are too frightening."
WEEK 19
WEEK 19
adamprzeworski.substack.com
June 25, 2025 at 11:51 AM
@adamprz.bsky.social on ICE's authorities & operating procedures: "The comparativist in me wants to think about other police forces in history which had such broad and ill-defined powers. But such comparisons are too frightening."