Henry Farrell
LightNews LightNews
banner
himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell
@himself.bsky.social
35K followers 600 following 5.4K posts

Professor of democracy and international affairs. http://www.henryfarrell.net and newsletter at http://www.programmablemutter.com. Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy (Holt, Penguin). https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781250840554. .. more

Videos

Henry Farrell is an Irish-born political scientist at Johns Hopkins University. He previously taught at the University of Toronto and earned his PhD from Georgetown University. His research interests include trust and co-operation; e-commerce; the European Union; and institutional theory. He is an elected member of the Council on Foreign Relations. .. more

Political science 57%
Economics 15%
Posts Replies Media Videos

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 4h
"I love genre! I love it so much I like to rub all of the genres over each other all the time. Which I suppose is less to say fuck genre and more that genre fucks."

Reposted by Henry Farrell

vajra.me
Vajra Chandrasekera @vajra.me · 5h
I have a new interview about RAKESFALL up at Reactor! In which I am quite verbose reactormag.com/author-inter...
A Conversation With Vajra Chandrasekera, Author of Rakesfall - Reactor
"I think writers, like all artists, have a responsibility to act as human cultural workers in an actual society"
reactormag.com

Reposted by Jonathan M. Gilligan, Silvia Secchi, Henry Farrell

beijingpalmer.bsky.social
BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 6h
an underrated part of this turducken of garbage is Elon posting an image of the Odyssey while discussing the Iliad, but it's all so terribly, terribly pathetic
freydalpishti.bsky.social 𝔎𝔯𝔦𝔰 𝔉𝔯𝔢𝔶𝔡𝔞𝔩 🇺🇦🇵🇸 @freydalpishti.bsky.social · 7h
*maximum alpha at 1.25x speed* continuously lives on in my head, unfortunately.

Reposted by David Rothschild, Silvia Secchi, Henry Farrell

freydalpishti.bsky.social
𝔎𝔯𝔦𝔰 𝔉𝔯𝔢𝔶𝔡𝔞𝔩 🇺🇦🇵🇸 @freydalpishti.bsky.social · 7h
*maximum alpha at 1.25x speed* continuously lives on in my head, unfortunately.

Reposted by Henry Farrell

resnikoff.bsky.social
Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 9h
I wrote about what I see as the real lesson of Mamdani's victory: not that Democrats needs to move left (or right, for that matter), but that they should try to build real-world relationships with normal voters. publiccomment.blog/p/mamdani-th...
Mamdani the Party Builder
Partyism in action
publiccomment.blog

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 13h
I am very much looking forward to this book.
adapalmer.bsky.social Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 16h
Advanced read giveaway of the essay collection on the history & craft of science fiction & fantasy that Jo & I have coming out in spring! Pacing, plot, What Is Genre?, flying grapefruit, evolution of printing tech, impact of international translation, and much more!
(This giveaway is US only, alas)
bluejo.bsky.social Jo Walton @bluejo.bsky.social · 17h
Goodreads giveaway for Trace Elements!

@adapalmer.bsky.social is very interesting, science fiction is very interesting, sometimes when it isn't a Monday morning even I can be a bit interesting -- if you use Goodreads, sign up in the hope of a free copy of our book

www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 13h
The massacre of the ethics/safety teams and the internal reorientation away from anything that hinted at broader purpose (with exception for the more profitable bits of natsec) is a story that has yet to be properly told.
theophite.bsky.social rev. howard arson @theophite.bsky.social · 1d
there was an incredibly stark change at my job between 2023 and 2025. just absolutely day and night.
tiredgenerally.bsky.social Matt @tiredgenerally.bsky.social · 1d
i dont think there’s ever been a point where corporate america has had a sincere sense of morality but it is probably a sign of the times that the culture at most major firms does not even pretend to encourage ethical behavior anymore. the transformation is really stark in tech.

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 13h
The Council on Foreign Relations online system - which requires you to re-register every month via _phone call_ (no other option available) is truly the most special of all. I suspect it is because (a) age demographic of average member, (b) lack of tech resources to guide confused members through.
yvonnezlam.bsky.social Yvonne Lam @yvonnezlam.bsky.social · 14h
To add insult to injury, this is my bank's service that sends out 2FA codes via SMS. Which I don't want to use in the first place, because I have a 2FA app that my bank's website won't let me use.

Reposted by Henry Farrell

yvonnezlam.bsky.social
Yvonne Lam @yvonnezlam.bsky.social · 14h
To add insult to injury, this is my bank's service that sends out 2FA codes via SMS. Which I don't want to use in the first place, because I have a 2FA app that my bank's website won't let me use.

Reposted by Henry Farrell

adapalmer.bsky.social
Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 16h
Advanced read giveaway of the essay collection on the history & craft of science fiction & fantasy that Jo & I have coming out in spring! Pacing, plot, What Is Genre?, flying grapefruit, evolution of printing tech, impact of international translation, and much more!
(This giveaway is US only, alas)

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 16h
You should really write this up! I don't think even the obsessives have much sense of what setter model implies for legislative bargaining etc.

Reposted by Henry Farrell

rajakorman.bsky.social
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 18h
The combination of Cass invoking fortress USMCA as an example of sovereignty prevailing over efficiency & Miran getting excited about $ stablecoin expansion pushing down US rates is a reminder of a (bipartisan) view that US sovereignty requires asymmetric interventions in the sovereignty of others.

Reposted by Henry Farrell

mariafarrell.bsky.social
Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 1d
Well, it's happened. Burning Men is a physical artefact, out in the world.

On Saturday I went to John Sandoe Books in Chelsea to see it and get my author copies. Was not prepared for all the FEELINGS

If you're in London, pop in and get a free copy with your Christmas haul. It's ... smoking..!
Colour photo of books on a bookshop display table with a grey chapbook on top. It is titled "Burning Men", by Maria Farrell, and has a picture of a hand with smoke coming from it. Beneath it are copies of Thomas Pynchon's Shadow Ticket and other assorted books, including A People's History of Afghanistan, and Kiran Desais's current novel.

Reposted by Henry Farrell

theophite.bsky.social
rev. howard arson @theophite.bsky.social · 1d
there was an incredibly stark change at my job between 2023 and 2025. just absolutely day and night.
tiredgenerally.bsky.social Matt @tiredgenerally.bsky.social · 1d
i dont think there’s ever been a point where corporate america has had a sincere sense of morality but it is probably a sign of the times that the culture at most major firms does not even pretend to encourage ethical behavior anymore. the transformation is really stark in tech.
tiredgenerally.bsky.social Matt @tiredgenerally.bsky.social · 1d
i honestly do not know what major company in america isnt involved in some ghastly shit at this point? i just would not *do* the ghastly shit yourself.

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 1d
One of my mates had to stick 50p coins in a slot for lighting in his bedsit in Dublin (1992-1993).

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 1d
One of the great things about Judith Kerr's The Tiger Who Came for Tea is that it really shows how materially impoverished 1960s middle class London flat living was by modern standards.

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 1d
I doubt it is deliberate but who knows? Some accidental by-product of optimizing for good coding?

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 1d
A side-comment in email that deserves to be grown out, but you can infer the argument from this bactra.org/weblog/feral... (which links to The Singer of Tales in passing).
On Feral Library Card Catalogs, or, Aware of All Internet Traditions
bactra.org

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 1d
Playing around with a notion of Cosma's regarding LLMs and The Singer of Tales, it is notable that GPT5 still has no grasp of meter, while Claude Opus not only groks iambic pentameter, but produces some genuinely striking lines. (prompt: Schelling's deterrence theory in sonnet+iambics)

Reposted by Robert C. Richards, Henry Farrell

mcbridetd.bsky.social
Timothy McBride @mcbridetd.bsky.social · 1d
Israeli Academics Find Themselves Isolated Despite Gaza Cease-Fire www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/w...
Israeli Academics Find Themselves Isolated Despite Gaza Cease-Fire
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Joe R. Feagin, Will Jennings, Justin Wolfers , and 7 more

sahilkapur.bsky.social
Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur.bsky.social · 1d
With a “WOW!,” President Trump posts a claim about DOGE and “royalties linked to Obamacare” that originated on a satirical website. That site’s own About section reads: “Everything on this website is fiction… If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined.”

Reposted by Henry Farrell

cwarzel.bsky.social
Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 2d
wrote this a week ago and feel very strongly that there is just going to be a lot of pain any way you slice this. and i feel like the societal backlash might be genuinely surprising

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 2d
This is really good (and the linked collection is as good a way to spend $3 as you're likely to find - I'd also add shoutouts to "A Spanish Lesson" and "Mengele" as capturing a different aspect of where we are now, but that would be a different piece)

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 2d
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB2d...

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 2d
"Any path forward will ultimately rest on public discontent with the president, and beyond that, Democrats are less in need of new messaging than they are in the social and political infrastructure needed to reach voters where they’re at." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/o...
Opinion | We Can’t Pretend to Know the Future of the Democratic Party
www.nytimes.com

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 2d
www.economist.com/by-invitatio...
Large language models will upend human rituals
The results could be disturbing, argue Marion Fourcade and Henry Farrell
www.economist.com

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 2d
www.thebanner.com/community/ho... One of those articles that (a) has clearly been vetted very carefully by lawyers, (b) where a plausible story of what has going on is obvious if you read carefully, and (c) you worry both for people involved and because maybe indicative of _much_ bigger problems.
The housing hustle igniting a foreclosure crisis in Baltimore
The foreclosures could send neighborhoods spiraling and make Baltimore America’s next great housing crisis.
www.thebanner.com

Reposted by Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 2d
One underappreciated aspect of the Sicilian mafia is how wildly hard it was for mafiosi to work together and trust each other, especially after the Corleonesi began their takeover bid. The relevant bits from my first book on trust (also the only bits non-specialists might want to read)

Reposted by Henry Farrell

jamellebouie.net
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 3d
criterion 50% off sale at barnes and noble btw

Reposted by Henry Farrell

beijingpalmer.bsky.social
BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 3d
A piece by me on Lucius Shepard's stories of brutal, hallucinatory war in Latin America.

foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/07/l...
The Forgotten Visionary of U.S. War in Latin America
Lucius Shepard’s hallucinogenic stories anticipated Trump’s war fantasies.
foreignpolicy.com