Jessica Weeks
@jlpweeks.bsky.social
Professor of Political Science at University of Wisconsin-Madison
Step 1: Use the attached imagery to recruit a certain kind of ICE officer. Step 2: Unleash them on US cities w/few restrictions. Step 3: Call in the national guard to "protect" them from the resulting "insurrections". Having read some things about dictatorships, pretty sure I know what Steps 4+ are.
October 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Step 1: Use the attached imagery to recruit a certain kind of ICE officer. Step 2: Unleash them on US cities w/few restrictions. Step 3: Call in the national guard to "protect" them from the resulting "insurrections". Having read some things about dictatorships, pretty sure I know what Steps 4+ are.
Reposted by Jessica Weeks
Sign here!: forms.gle/pwB8bG7AjgJ8...
Journeys in World Politics NSF Grant Revocation Appeal
The purpose of this form is to collect signatures for the Journeys in World Politics NSF grant revocation appeal letter. By sharing your contact information below, you indicate that you wish to be inc...
forms.gle
May 9, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Sign here!: forms.gle/pwB8bG7AjgJ8...
Alumae: please help us appeal the Journeys termination! Thank you @christinaboyes.bsky.social @sbmitche.bsky.social
The NSF grant funding the Journeys in World Politics program was terminated last week. We are working on an appeal. If you are an alumnae of the program, and are willing to join a support letter, please contact @christinaboyes.bsky.social within the next week (our appeal window is short). Thanks!
May 2, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Alumae: please help us appeal the Journeys termination! Thank you @christinaboyes.bsky.social @sbmitche.bsky.social
Reposted by Jessica Weeks
BREAKING: NSF has frozen all grant funding, as of yesterday. It's unclear when they will resume funding awards, or why the pause has been put in place. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones
US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.
www.nature.com
May 1, 2025 at 10:58 PM
BREAKING: NSF has frozen all grant funding, as of yesterday. It's unclear when they will resume funding awards, or why the pause has been put in place. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Jessica Weeks
Finally, they’re getting rid of the woke scholars that populate the field of … diplomatic history?
Unhappy to confirm that the entire Historical Advisory Committee at the State Department received termination notices this afternoon (myself included). The HAC, set up by Congress, oversees the office that produces the FRUS series. history.state.gov/about/hac/in... 1/
April 30, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Finally, they’re getting rid of the woke scholars that populate the field of … diplomatic history?
Excellent article, w/ cause for both fear and hope. Fear: Things "may feel basically normal...but...this is the way it often feels, even after things have already spun out of control." Hope: Under competitive authoritarianism, "an autocrat, even one who has already stacked the deck, can still lose."
Nothing in politics is permanent, nor inevitable. “We spent centuries, as a society, building up democratic muscle, and we still have a lot of that muscle left,” the political scientist Steven Levitsky said. “I just keep waiting for someone to use it.”
Is the U.S. Becoming an Autocracy?
Other countries have watched their democracies slip away gradually, without tanks in the streets. That may be where we’re headed—or where we already are.
www.newyorker.com
April 30, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Excellent article, w/ cause for both fear and hope. Fear: Things "may feel basically normal...but...this is the way it often feels, even after things have already spun out of control." Hope: Under competitive authoritarianism, "an autocrat, even one who has already stacked the deck, can still lose."
Reposted by Jessica Weeks
Research universities have propelled innovation and bolstered American power since World War II, writes Sarah Kreps. The Trump administration’s assault on academia is not a principled move—it is a self-defeating one.
An Attack on America’s Universities Is an Attack on American Power
How academia bolsters national security.
www.foreignaffairs.com
April 29, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Research universities have propelled innovation and bolstered American power since World War II, writes Sarah Kreps. The Trump administration’s assault on academia is not a principled move—it is a self-defeating one.
I tend not to be too alarmist - but it is *extremely* alarming that decisions about U.S. national security are being made in a decisionmaking structure that is starting to look more like a personalist dictatorship than a democracy.
Decades of building an informational universe in which loyalty and loudness are the central virtues has resulted in a president and a senior team unprepared for reality. Gift link: wapo.st/44ce0i3
Opinion | The bubble that created Trump is the reason he’s stumbling
The White House is now a bubble where loyalty, not ability, defines success.
wapo.st
April 28, 2025 at 3:03 PM
I tend not to be too alarmist - but it is *extremely* alarming that decisions about U.S. national security are being made in a decisionmaking structure that is starting to look more like a personalist dictatorship than a democracy.
It's hard to find the words. NSF just terminated the grant for Journeys, a mentoring workshop that tried to tackle underrepresentation of women in international relations. Future scholarship will be the worse for it. But this photo from our last gathering will motivate me to keep fighting.
April 25, 2025 at 9:22 PM
It's hard to find the words. NSF just terminated the grant for Journeys, a mentoring workshop that tried to tackle underrepresentation of women in international relations. Future scholarship will be the worse for it. But this photo from our last gathering will motivate me to keep fighting.
Poli sci peeps - I'm finalizing an undergrad class session @ the current state of U.S. democracy. What readings would you assign? I'm thinking, a few scholarly writings on backsliding/defending democ, plus some commentary on current events. I have ideas but... the stakes are high and I'd love input.
April 23, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Poli sci peeps - I'm finalizing an undergrad class session @ the current state of U.S. democracy. What readings would you assign? I'm thinking, a few scholarly writings on backsliding/defending democ, plus some commentary on current events. I have ideas but... the stakes are high and I'd love input.
Reposted by Jessica Weeks
The trope that universities are "dependent" on the federal government fundamentally misunderstands how vital this partnership has been for the US. The private sector can't replace it. If we kill it, we're all worse off. From @donmoyn.bsky.social and me: donmoynihan.substack.com/p/are-univer...
April 23, 2025 at 1:53 PM
The trope that universities are "dependent" on the federal government fundamentally misunderstands how vital this partnership has been for the US. The private sector can't replace it. If we kill it, we're all worse off. From @donmoyn.bsky.social and me: donmoynihan.substack.com/p/are-univer...
Reposted by Jessica Weeks
This is not a drill. Existential threats to both higher education & 🇺🇸 democracy. And already devastating for my colleagues, their students, & research on our campus.
‘This is not a drill’: UW-Madison scholars warn of long-term, unprecedented threats to higher education
A panel of University of Wisconsin-Madison professors and academic experts discussed significant challenges facing higher education Wednesday in the wake of the Trump administration’s sweeping budget ...
www.dailycardinal.com
April 18, 2025 at 1:58 PM
This is not a drill. Existential threats to both higher education & 🇺🇸 democracy. And already devastating for my colleagues, their students, & research on our campus.
Reposted by Jessica Weeks
Just a reminder how classic what we're seeing is:
1. redefine a group as a threat to civilization
2. reduce legal protections that they enjoy
3. abuse, threaten, harm, and/or relocate them
4. dismiss/ignore concerns about abuses and harms from the process
5. repeat steps 2-4, escalating each time
1. redefine a group as a threat to civilization
2. reduce legal protections that they enjoy
3. abuse, threaten, harm, and/or relocate them
4. dismiss/ignore concerns about abuses and harms from the process
5. repeat steps 2-4, escalating each time
Confession that due process is or should be optional according to the vice president
April 16, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Just a reminder how classic what we're seeing is:
1. redefine a group as a threat to civilization
2. reduce legal protections that they enjoy
3. abuse, threaten, harm, and/or relocate them
4. dismiss/ignore concerns about abuses and harms from the process
5. repeat steps 2-4, escalating each time
1. redefine a group as a threat to civilization
2. reduce legal protections that they enjoy
3. abuse, threaten, harm, and/or relocate them
4. dismiss/ignore concerns about abuses and harms from the process
5. repeat steps 2-4, escalating each time
Please spread to your poli sci / IR networks!
Information for the 2025 Journeys in World Politics workshop: www.saramitchell.org/journeysflye...
Applications due on 5/30 for the workshop held at the U of Iowa on 8/24-8/26. Our senior mentors are Kathleen Cunningham & Leah Windsor, along with Kelly Kadera, Jessica Weeks, Christina Schneider.
Applications due on 5/30 for the workshop held at the U of Iowa on 8/24-8/26. Our senior mentors are Kathleen Cunningham & Leah Windsor, along with Kelly Kadera, Jessica Weeks, Christina Schneider.
www.saramitchell.org
April 14, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Please spread to your poli sci / IR networks!
Reposted by Jessica Weeks
Information for the 2025 Journeys in World Politics workshop: www.saramitchell.org/journeysflye...
Applications due on 5/30 for the workshop held at the U of Iowa on 8/24-8/26. Our senior mentors are Kathleen Cunningham & Leah Windsor, along with Kelly Kadera, Jessica Weeks, Christina Schneider.
Applications due on 5/30 for the workshop held at the U of Iowa on 8/24-8/26. Our senior mentors are Kathleen Cunningham & Leah Windsor, along with Kelly Kadera, Jessica Weeks, Christina Schneider.
www.saramitchell.org
April 14, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Information for the 2025 Journeys in World Politics workshop: www.saramitchell.org/journeysflye...
Applications due on 5/30 for the workshop held at the U of Iowa on 8/24-8/26. Our senior mentors are Kathleen Cunningham & Leah Windsor, along with Kelly Kadera, Jessica Weeks, Christina Schneider.
Applications due on 5/30 for the workshop held at the U of Iowa on 8/24-8/26. Our senior mentors are Kathleen Cunningham & Leah Windsor, along with Kelly Kadera, Jessica Weeks, Christina Schneider.
Reposted by Jessica Weeks
I had been doubtful that we were going to have a "this is the crisis moment" with Trump, as opposed to "everything about this is a destructive catastrophe."
But the Abrego Garcia case is the crisis moment.
1/
But the Abrego Garcia case is the crisis moment.
1/
April 14, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I had been doubtful that we were going to have a "this is the crisis moment" with Trump, as opposed to "everything about this is a destructive catastrophe."
But the Abrego Garcia case is the crisis moment.
1/
But the Abrego Garcia case is the crisis moment.
1/
Reposted by Jessica Weeks
Absolutely not an exaggeration. High crimes and misdemeanors committed and endorsed in the Oval Office on live television.
The president is conducting a press event with the primary purpose of flouting the decisions of the courts and the letter and spirit of U.S. law. It is a press event to celebrate the Constitutional crisis and serial violation of human rights he has set in motion.
COLLINS: Can President Bukele weigh in on this? Do you plan to return Garcia?
BUKELE: How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course I'm not going to do it. The question is preposterous
TRUMP: These are sick people
BUKELE: How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course I'm not going to do it. The question is preposterous
TRUMP: These are sick people
April 14, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Absolutely not an exaggeration. High crimes and misdemeanors committed and endorsed in the Oval Office on live television.
Reposted by Jessica Weeks
No one has worked harder to protect & restore democracy in Wisconsin these last years than my dear friend @jeffmandell.bsky.social. We are very lucky to have him on the front lines.
"When things feel most shocking and unstable at the federal level, we can show our institutions still work and provide some reassurance.
Building a stronger, more resilient democracy in Wisconsin is its own form of resistance." - @jeffmandell.bsky.social
wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/04/10/l...
Building a stronger, more resilient democracy in Wisconsin is its own form of resistance." - @jeffmandell.bsky.social
wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/04/10/l...
Law Forward’s Jeff Mandell says Wisconsin can save democracy • Wisconsin Examiner
Wisconsin is moving in the opposite direction from the rest of the country, reclaiming democracy and rebuilding civil society
wisconsinexaminer.com
April 11, 2025 at 1:24 PM
No one has worked harder to protect & restore democracy in Wisconsin these last years than my dear friend @jeffmandell.bsky.social. We are very lucky to have him on the front lines.
Reposted by Jessica Weeks
One sign that we are living under an authoritarian regime is that a lot of people are acting like they are living under an authoritarian regime.
The fear among academics and lawyers now talking on the record on just about any topic that involves the federal government or the White House is really extraordinary and worrisome, and getting worse, it seems to me, every week. Dissent by an establishment figures becoming verboten in the US
April 10, 2025 at 10:39 PM
One sign that we are living under an authoritarian regime is that a lot of people are acting like they are living under an authoritarian regime.
"...I was looking for guidance about inflation and instead found the telltale signs of an incipient financial crisis. Others, looking at other indicators, from the basis trade to junk bonds to struggles to refinance private loans, are seeing the same thing." I'm no economist but this sounds bad.
The Cost of Chaos: This is Getting Scary
And it’s all on Donald Trump
paulkrugman.substack.com
April 9, 2025 at 2:57 PM
"...I was looking for guidance about inflation and instead found the telltale signs of an incipient financial crisis. Others, looking at other indicators, from the basis trade to junk bonds to struggles to refinance private loans, are seeing the same thing." I'm no economist but this sounds bad.
Reposted by Jessica Weeks
Today’s episode of The Ezra Klein Show.
The political scientist Erica Frantz describes the regime change the second Trump Administration represents.
open.spotify.com/episode/3TPI...
youtu.be/fP77tAIkRvA?...
The political scientist Erica Frantz describes the regime change the second Trump Administration represents.
open.spotify.com/episode/3TPI...
youtu.be/fP77tAIkRvA?...
Trump 2.0 and the Return of ‘Court Politics’
YouTube video by New York Times Podcasts
youtu.be
January 10, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Today’s episode of The Ezra Klein Show.
The political scientist Erica Frantz describes the regime change the second Trump Administration represents.
open.spotify.com/episode/3TPI...
youtu.be/fP77tAIkRvA?...
The political scientist Erica Frantz describes the regime change the second Trump Administration represents.
open.spotify.com/episode/3TPI...
youtu.be/fP77tAIkRvA?...