Christina Cottiero
ccottiero.bsky.social
Christina Cottiero
@ccottiero.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Utah. International organizations + international influences on autocracy/democracy. https://www.christinacottiero.com/
https://ucigcc.org/research/future-of-democracy/illiberal-regimes-and-glob
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
#polisky doctoral candidates: $10,000 for dissertation research, due December 1

www.horowitz-foundation.org/apply
October 16, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
State Department International Organizations Account, Outlays by Calendar Year Quarter ($m).

International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Civil Aviation Organization doing OK. UN got about half of what it is owed. Other organizations do worse.
September 12, 2025 at 4:32 PM
📣🚨The University of Utah is hiring! 1st line: Assistant Prof in Comparative Politics! For applicants who work on Asia (esp. China) or Africa, will be expected to teach quant methods, grad + undergrad. If you're a good fit and have questions, I can chat at APSA! utah.peopleadmin.com/postings/188...
Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science
utah.peopleadmin.com
September 10, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
Commentators are divided in their appraisals of two Trump-led Ukraine peace summits. But most have missed one thing: how the meetings have taught the president crucial realities about ending the war, argues Branislav Slantchev of
@ucsandiego.bsky.social: ucigcc.org/blog/the-edu...
The Education of Donald J. Trump: Reflections on Two Peace Summits - IGCC
ucigcc.org
August 27, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
Political science can explain the historical factors behind authoritarianism, but has little to say about the actual experience of living under dictatorship. IGCC's Steph Haggard shares five novels that illuminate the realities of autocratic rule: bit.ly/45u6TBO
To Understand Authoritarian Rule, Read These Five Novels - IGCC
bit.ly
August 21, 2025 at 8:58 PM
New post summarizing the takeaways from the new book by @debremaria.bsky.social !
Multilateralism—once a tool for democratization—is now being used to cement authoritarian rule. For the IGCC blog, Maria Debre discusses how autocrats are banding together in “Dictators’ Clubs” to protect themselves from both internal and external threats: bit.ly/41H0f8L
Five Questions on How Dictators’ Clubs are Defending Autocracy - IGCC
Across the world, authoritarian regimes are growing more assertive while democracies grapple with the challenge of backsliding. IGCC’s Stephan Haggard speaks with Maria Debre, professor for internatio...
bit.ly
August 14, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
The U.S. has had a fraught relationship with UNESCO for decades. But, argue Christina Cottiero and Stephan Haggard, the recent decision to withdraw—again—from the organization forms part of a pattern of the U.S. ceding influence in UN bodies to China: bit.ly/4mCmZPu
Here We Go Again: The U.S. Withdrawal from UNESCO - IGCC
bit.ly
August 8, 2025 at 5:49 PM
2 weeks ago, the U.S. announced we're leaving "woke" "pro-China" "pro-Palestine" "DEI" UNESCO. New blog from me & Steph Haggard on U.S. withdrawal from IOs + implications for Trump admin officials who claim countering China is "absolutely critical"+ thoughts on what's next ucigcc.org/blog/here-we...
Here We Go Again: The U.S. Withdrawal from UNESCO - IGCC
ucigcc.org
August 7, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
🧵 When the government announces that it will fire people for producing numbers that the government doesn't like, here is how our institutions should respond. (Whether they do is another story.)

1/
About to get positively Argentinian up in here
Unquestionably the most dangerous and corrupt attack on the independence of US economic data in American history. Trump is firing the head of the BLS, a longtime civil servant confirmed 86-8 by the Senate, simply because the job numbers came in below his expectations today
August 1, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
Hegemonic suicide, example #214. Trump fired all USIP employees (for a second time) in a dead-of-night email; USIP effectively dead once again
US Institute of Peace employees experience another round of mass firings following court ruling | CNN Politics
Employees at the United States Institute of Peace were terminated for a second time by the Trump administration, after a federal court ruling last month paved the way, according to multiple fired empl...
www.cnn.com
July 14, 2025 at 12:04 AM
This is painfully embarrassing.
Trump to the President of Liberia: "Such good English. Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?"

English is the official language of Liberia...
July 9, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
For @lawfaremedia.org, I explained how the Trump administration has destroyed promising policy progress on transnational repression in record time www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trum...
Trump Is Undermining Policies Against Transnational Repression
The Biden administration made policies to protect exiles and diasporas a priority. Trump 2.0 has already undercut these efforts.
www.lawfaremedia.org
July 2, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Utah drought management and water conservation policy is going great. Annual pray for rain day!
June 27, 2025 at 9:53 PM
New 5 Questions piece on the Illiberal Regimes and Global Governance project page! On the super interesting new book by @alexdukalskis.bsky.social & @cooleyoneurasia.bsky.social
ucigcc.org/research/fut... @ucigcc.bsky.social
June 25, 2025 at 7:34 PM
📌The special issue "Illiberal Regimes and International Organizations" is now published as Vol. 20 Issue 2 in RIO! @the-peio.bsky.social
link.springer.com/journal/1155...
Summary thread with each piece-- 🧵
The Review of International Organizations
The Review of International Organizations publishes original scientific contributions in the entire field of international political economy, with a focus on ...
link.springer.com
June 25, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
Why do peaceful protest turn violent?

Today’s #NoKings protests are a case study of why we need to think about both how protesters behave AND how the government and police respond to protest.

Millions of people protested peacefully, LA erupted in violence

This is an analysis of why

A thread
June 15, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
👋 Hello, we're the United States Institute of Peace (USIP)! We are very happy to join @bsky.app, and thrilled to announce that our website, www.usip.org, is back online! We look forward connecting here and bringing you useful content, resources and opportunities for peacebuilders around the world.
June 13, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
As political scientists, we really want to know when, where, and why people mobilize against repressive governments.

Happy to share my latest article is out that helps us understand this in a specific context: intl legal petitions in the UN. How do courageous individuals overcome barriers?
Individual Mobilization by Victims of Human Rights Abuse: Who Files Petitions in the United Nations?
Abstract. Who files petitions against repressive regimes in the United Nations? Victims of human rights abuse face high personal costs of participation, in
academic.oup.com
June 12, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
Excited to share my new piece just out in @foreignpolicy.com:

We keep hearing Trump’s foreign policy abandoned “values” for raw interests. But that’s not quite right.

It still talks about “freedom” and “shared values” - just repurposed to serve a new agenda.

foreignpolicy.com/2025/05/27/u...
🧵 1/
America Still Has a ‘Values-Based’ Foreign Policy
It’s increasingly difficult to understand Trump’s foreign policy without an ideological lens.
foreignpolicy.com
May 27, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
This is quite something on the State Department's Substack: statedept.substack.com/p/the-need-f...
The Need for Civilizational Allies in Europe
Author: Samuel Samson
statedept.substack.com
May 27, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
Not just student data. DOJ apparently requested any email or text where faculty or staff discussed the Trump DEI EOs -- something that would target lots of pure political speech.
May 24, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Reposted by Christina Cottiero
I couldn’t write a more eye-opening lecture on race and white identity politics than what this administration is offering in its differential treatment of Afrikaners versus every other refugee or immigrant group.
Q: There are many people who fit the criteria of fleeing persecution. Afghans for example. But they're being denied refugee status. So why such an exception for the Afrikaners?

TRUMP ADMIN OFFICIAL: One of the criteria is making sure they can be assimilated easily into our country
May 12, 2025 at 11:10 PM