Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

@isadesisto.bsky.social

My latest - some interesting insights from new survey data from 🇰🇿

Good Authority @goodauth.bsky.social · 10d

Kazakhstan’s new anti-LGBT legislation sparks controversy.

Opponents fear that the Russia-inspired amendments are just an excuse for more censorship.

Read the latest: goodauthority.org/news/kazakhs...

Kazakhstan’s new anti-LGBT legislation sparks controversy

Kazakhstan’s new anti-LGBT legislation sparks controversy. Opponents fear that the Russia-inspired amendments are just an excuse for more censorship.

goodauthority.org

January 27, 2026 at 5:58 PM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

Aleks Turobov, PhD

@alturobov.bsky.social

Digital sovereignty is a strategically flexible concept, and if you are interested in its development and evolution, check our new article in @govjournal.bsky.social: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

1/8

Opening the Black Box of EU Digital Sovereignty: A Macro‐Level Analysis of the Concept's Development

Digital sovereignty has emerged as a central organizing principle in European Union governance, yet systematic understanding of its conceptual evolution remains limited. This article provides the fir....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

January 22, 2026 at 7:01 AM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

V-Dem Institute

@vdeminstitute.bsky.social

🥉“Conceptual and Measurement Issues in Assessing Democratic Backsliding”.
Working Paper 140 from 2023 is the third most viewed (4,080 times). v-dem.net/media/public...

@chknutsen.bsky.social @kailmarkvart.bsky.social @silindberg.bsky.social ‪@medzihorsky.bsky.social
@danpemstein.com
4(6)

v-dem.net

January 27, 2026 at 3:47 PM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

Adam Serwer

@adamserwer.bsky.social

Last week in Minnesota, I watched ordinary people risk their lives to protect their neighbors. In the process, they not only won a significant—though not final—victory against authoritarianism, they proved virtually every MAGA social theory wrong. (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Every social theory undergirding Trumpism has been broken on the steel of Minnesotan resolve. The multiracial community in Minneapolis was supposed to shatter. It did not. It held until Bovino was forced out of the Twin Cities with his long coat between his legs.

The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone. In Minnesota, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once. Minnesotans, not the armed thugs of ICE and the Border Patrol, are brave. Minnesotans have shown that their community is socially cohesive—because of its diversity and not in spite of it. Minnesotans have found and loved one another in a world atomized by social media, where empty men have tried to fill their lonely soul with lies about their own inherent superiority. Minnesotans have preserved everything worthwhile about “Western civilization,” while armed brutes try to tear it down by force.

January 27, 2026 at 1:06 PM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

Sarah Parkinson

@separkinson.bsky.social

@schumer.senate.gov & @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social would fail a basic org sociology course, which is a problem for all of us, not to mention the country.

Here's the deal:

1. ICE has a known organizational culture
2. That culture centers on violence, racism, personalistic loyalty, & impunity

1/

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 11d

Dems coalescing around 5 restrictions on ICE, I'm told:

DHS required to cooperate with state probes (big)
CBP stays at border
warrants for arrests
IDs, bodycams
ICE out of churches, schools

"That package unites a lot of Dems," Sen Chris Murphy tells me on the pod:
newrepublic.com/article/2057...

A Dem Senator’s Harsh Takedown of Trump Hits Home: “Breaking Point”

As Trump scrambles to contain the damage from the latest ICE horrors, Senator Chris Murphy offers a sharp indictment of Trump-ICE lawlessness—and explains how Dems can meet the urgency of the moment.

newrepublic.com

January 27, 2026 at 2:14 PM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

Scott Gehlbach

@sgehlbach.bsky.social

Amid everything else, a brief note to announce the CFP for the 2026 Summer Workshop in the Economic History and Historical Political Economy of Eurasia.

If you are an economist, historian, or political scientist working on Imperial Russia or the USSR, please consider applying.

July 17–18, Paris.

Scott Gehlbach - 2026 Summer Workshop in the Economic History and

Call for papers We invite submissions to a workshop on the economic history and historical political economy of Eurasia. The workshop will take place at th...

scottgehlbach.net

January 25, 2026 at 6:57 PM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉

@jpolga.bsky.social

I wrote about what political science research suggests about democracy building in Venezuela after the way Nicolás Maduro was removed:
blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...

We'll see what comes of María Corina Machado's meeting today with Trump-

In Venezuela, the US has removed a dictator, but shows little sign of building a democracy | USAPP

While Maduro has been removed, Venezuela remains a dictatorship, and one that is unlikely to transition to a democracy without specific US interventions.

blogs.lse.ac.uk

January 15, 2026 at 4:09 PM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

Alexei Zakharov

@alexeizakharov.bsky.social

[2/3] In this paper I use a model to explain why propaganda can be obviously false and still work - even a clearly false claim can be effective not because it persuades, but because it undermines trust in all news.

January 9, 2026 at 1:20 AM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

Department of Comparative Politics UiB

@sampol.bsky.social

📣 New article
👥 @allansikk.bsky.social @sonagolder.bsky.social @ibenskasr.bsky.social @paulinasl.bsky.social
👉 Does switching pay off? The impact of parliamentary party instability on individual electoral performance
📗 Open access in Electoral Studies
🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.el...

January 8, 2026 at 12:03 PM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

Brian Taylor

@bdtaylor-su.bsky.social

I don't think we should over index Trump's "Donroe Doctrine" comments & infer that he favors a great-power-spheres-of-influence world. He's not that consistent. A few months ago he claimed to have brokered an Armenia-Azerbaijan deal, cutting out Russia. 1/2

January 4, 2026 at 4:30 PM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

Leiv Marsteintredet

@leivm.bsky.social

With Maduro gone, Venezuela must decide on the status of his absence. According to the Venezuelan constitution the National Assembly can declare the presidency abandoned, but if it does new presidential elections must be held within thirty days (art 233). Don’t expect such a declaration anytime soon

January 4, 2026 at 12:13 AM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

Seán Hanley

@drseanhanley.bsky.social

Putin did full scale invasion and presented as special military operation, Trump has done special military operation and presented as if it was full scale invasion. Both seem deluded.

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · Jan 3

The United States plans to administer Venezuela for an extended period of time as it rebuilds the country’s oil industry, President Donald Trump said Saturday, holding open the door to an extended occupation of a nearby nation.

🧵 Here’s the latest: wapo.st/3NsHBx5

What we know about the large scale strike in Venezuela
President Trump announced that U.S. forces have captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife

January 3, 2026 at 10:08 PM

Kyle Marquardt

@kailmarkvart.bsky.social

Upward and onward to 2026.

December 31, 2025 at 4:08 PM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

The Moscow Times

@themoscowtimes.com

Resistance in Altai, environmental protests in Bashkortostan and the shadowy influence of an occult healer espousing reptilian conspiracy theories.

In the final Regions Calling newsletter of 2025, we wrap up the year in Russia's regions:

Regions Calling: 2025 Wrapped - The Moscow Times

Merry Christmas and welcome to Regions Calling, a newsletter by The Moscow Times shedding light on life beyond the Russian capital. For this final newsletter of the year, we asked our special corresp...

www.themoscowtimes.com

December 26, 2025 at 11:00 AM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

Eugene Finkel

@efinkel.bsky.social

Christmas came early to the Russia scholars with Santa declassifying the Bush-Putin meeting transcripts.

That's 2001. Ukraine is Russian land, simply given away for no reason, as if USSR had not collapsed and there was no Ukraine independence referendum. And, long before the 2008 Bucharest Summit

December 25, 2025 at 11:41 AM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

S. Erdem Aytaç

@seaytac.bsky.social

Why do citizens who say they support democracy tolerate leaders who dismantle it? Delighted to share my paper “Framing Democracy: How Elite Discourse Shapes Citizens' Understandings of Democracy and Enables Backsliding” is forthcoming in World Politics...(1/5, link at the end)

December 19, 2025 at 8:11 AM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

Sergiu Lipcean

@sergiulipcean.bsky.social

For those interested in the effects of direct public funding of political parties on various dimensions of political activity, a brief review.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Blessing or curse? A critical review of the paradoxical consequences of direct public funding for political parties | European Political Science Review | Cambridge Core

Blessing or curse? A critical review of the paradoxical consequences of direct public funding for political parties

www.cambridge.org

December 18, 2025 at 11:46 AM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

tim frye

@timfrye.bsky.social

Come work with us. A two-year postdoctoral fellowship in Ukrainian Studies and another for an open position at the Harriman Institute. Deadline January 5. harriman.columbia.edu/postdoctoral...

Postdoctoral Scholars

harriman.columbia.edu

December 16, 2025 at 2:39 PM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

Elizabeth N. Saunders

@profsaunders.bsky.social

🧵Here's a research-backed answer: No.
1/
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

December 15, 2025 at 12:50 PM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

David Szakonyi

@szakonyi.bsky.social

And just in time for the holidays! The perfect present for all your criminal and kleptocrat loved ones living abroad.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Trump launches $1 million ‘gold card’ visa program that’s drawn skepticism

Critics have pointed out that such programs create a two-tier immigration system, disproportionately benefiting wealthy individuals.

www.washingtonpost.com

December 11, 2025 at 5:02 PM

Reposted by Kyle Marquardt

Rachel Schwartz

@raschwartz.bsky.social

🇭🇳 🗳️ Wondering what's going on with Honduras' election chaos? Me too! In any case, I've tried to make sense of how the country arrived at the current moment and what might be in store in this essay for @jodemocracy.bsky.social 👇

Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · Dec 4

Days after the election and still no one knows who the next president will be. Even worse, none of the likely winners offer much hope for the country’s democracy. Read "Why Honduras Is Facing Election Chaos":