Kye
@kyebarker.bsky.social
assistant professor of political theory | wonder in modern political thought | nature stuff | kansan | views my own | often confused | he/him
I'm extremely late on posting this, but it was a huge missed opportunity for Mamdani to appeal to me specifically when he did not lean into idea that his support came from "nowhere" by saying that his election brought "news from nowhere."
January 18, 2026 at 3:52 PM
I'm extremely late on posting this, but it was a huge missed opportunity for Mamdani to appeal to me specifically when he did not lean into idea that his support came from "nowhere" by saying that his election brought "news from nowhere."
Reposted by Kye
January 17, 2026 at 11:56 PM
Reposted by Kye
The introduction for our symposium in honor of Kirstie McClure at Philosophy and Global Affairs is now online. I am grateful to have written this piece and organized the symposium with Arash Davari, Megan Gallagher, and Fred Lee and I hope that many will read it in remembrance of Kirstie.
In Conversation with Kirstie - published on January 17, 2026
As former graduate students of Kirstie McClure (1951–2023), we offer these remembrances of our time with her at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Our hope is to put Kirstie’s contribut...
www.pdcnet.org
January 17, 2026 at 3:56 PM
The introduction for our symposium in honor of Kirstie McClure at Philosophy and Global Affairs is now online. I am grateful to have written this piece and organized the symposium with Arash Davari, Megan Gallagher, and Fred Lee and I hope that many will read it in remembrance of Kirstie.
The introduction for our symposium in honor of Kirstie McClure at Philosophy and Global Affairs is now online. I am grateful to have written this piece and organized the symposium with Arash Davari, Megan Gallagher, and Fred Lee and I hope that many will read it in remembrance of Kirstie.
In Conversation with Kirstie - published on January 17, 2026
As former graduate students of Kirstie McClure (1951–2023), we offer these remembrances of our time with her at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Our hope is to put Kirstie’s contribut...
www.pdcnet.org
January 17, 2026 at 3:56 PM
The introduction for our symposium in honor of Kirstie McClure at Philosophy and Global Affairs is now online. I am grateful to have written this piece and organized the symposium with Arash Davari, Megan Gallagher, and Fred Lee and I hope that many will read it in remembrance of Kirstie.
Reposted by Kye
A postdoc is available at @sotonpolitics.bsky.social in a Horizon project on 'the emotional expressions of grievance politics and implications for democratic governance':
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQD118/r...
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQD118/r...
Research Fellow in Emotions and Grievance Politics at University of Southampton
Looking for a new job opportunity in academia? Check out this job opening for a Research Fellow in Emotions and Grievance Politics on jobs.ac.uk!
www.jobs.ac.uk
January 14, 2026 at 12:59 PM
A postdoc is available at @sotonpolitics.bsky.social in a Horizon project on 'the emotional expressions of grievance politics and implications for democratic governance':
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQD118/r...
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQD118/r...
Reposted by Kye
January 13, 2026 at 10:17 PM
Reposted by Kye
If there's one empirical insight I'd want everyone to understand about American politics, it's this:
America's problems are solved problems. Just not here.
What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
America's problems are solved problems. Just not here.
What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
January 12, 2026 at 9:36 PM
If there's one empirical insight I'd want everyone to understand about American politics, it's this:
America's problems are solved problems. Just not here.
What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
America's problems are solved problems. Just not here.
What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
I feel like James Cameron found out about Ursula K Le Guin’s offhand remark that Avatar rips off The Word for World is Forest but erases the tragic account of mass violence and then he created the whale plot line to double down.
January 11, 2026 at 4:28 PM
I feel like James Cameron found out about Ursula K Le Guin’s offhand remark that Avatar rips off The Word for World is Forest but erases the tragic account of mass violence and then he created the whale plot line to double down.
Reposted by Kye
Wendy Brown's comments at a memorial for Kirstie McClure, organized by Davide Panagia back in 2024, are now available. #poltheory www.pdcnet.org/pga/content/...
Kirstie McClure - published on January 9, 2026
I offered these remarks about Kirstie McClure on September 6, 2024, at an informal memorial for her at the American Political Science Association’s Annual Conference. The venue was the Bank and Bourbo...
www.pdcnet.org
January 9, 2026 at 12:21 PM
Wendy Brown's comments at a memorial for Kirstie McClure, organized by Davide Panagia back in 2024, are now available. #poltheory www.pdcnet.org/pga/content/...
Asked what gives him the personal right to “run” a foreign nation, Mr. Trump responded, “whiteness is the ownership of the earth forever and ever, Amen!”
Q: How long do you think you'll be running Venezuela? A year? Longer?
TRUMP: I would say much longer. We have to rebuild. We have to rebuild the country and we will rebuild it in a very profitable way.
TRUMP: I would say much longer. We have to rebuild. We have to rebuild the country and we will rebuild it in a very profitable way.
January 9, 2026 at 5:45 PM
Asked what gives him the personal right to “run” a foreign nation, Mr. Trump responded, “whiteness is the ownership of the earth forever and ever, Amen!”
Reposted by Kye
The first piece of our symposium in honor of Kirstie McClure is available from Philosophy and Global Affairs. Thank you to Patchen Markell for his lovely essay and to Jane Anna Gordon for shepherding it through the publication process. #poltheory
Kirstie McClure and the Textures of Political Thought - published on January 8, 2026
Drawing on one of Kirstie McClure’s unpublished essays on John Locke’s use of language in his letters from exile in Holland, and recalling her fondness for an intriguing image from the frontispiece of...
www.pdcnet.org
January 8, 2026 at 11:29 PM
The first piece of our symposium in honor of Kirstie McClure is available from Philosophy and Global Affairs. Thank you to Patchen Markell for his lovely essay and to Jane Anna Gordon for shepherding it through the publication process. #poltheory
Reposted by Kye
“John seemed an extreme version of a kind of intellectual ideal. Wasn’t the freedom to read for much of the day one of the draws of graduate school, after all?” www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
The Last Intellectual | Michael Casper
Years after defending his dissertation, perhaps unable to adapt or evolve, he appeared stuck in an eternal limbo that would give any student the night sweats. On the other hand, John seemed an extreme...
www.nplusonemag.com
January 8, 2026 at 5:38 PM
“John seemed an extreme version of a kind of intellectual ideal. Wasn’t the freedom to read for much of the day one of the draws of graduate school, after all?” www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
Reposted by Kye
Minnesota Public Radio says today marks the first and only shooting and homicide in Minneapolis in the year 2026
January 7, 2026 at 10:31 PM
Minnesota Public Radio says today marks the first and only shooting and homicide in Minneapolis in the year 2026
Reposted by Kye
Worried about increased surveillance of syllabi & course curricula at your institution?
Check out these resources from the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom to integrate in your course, such as language for academic freedom to put in your syllabus, a teaching module, and a reading list.
Check out these resources from the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom to integrate in your course, such as language for academic freedom to put in your syllabus, a teaching module, and a reading list.
Your Syllabus and Academic Freedom
Making an affirmative case for the values that underpin our work.
academicfreedomontheline.substack.com
January 7, 2026 at 8:50 PM
Worried about increased surveillance of syllabi & course curricula at your institution?
Check out these resources from the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom to integrate in your course, such as language for academic freedom to put in your syllabus, a teaching module, and a reading list.
Check out these resources from the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom to integrate in your course, such as language for academic freedom to put in your syllabus, a teaching module, and a reading list.
Reposted by Kye
masked, unidentified goons who assault and murder with impunity. a literal gestapo.
This is the ICE agent who murdered a woman by shooting her multiple times in the face.
January 7, 2026 at 7:36 PM
masked, unidentified goons who assault and murder with impunity. a literal gestapo.
Reposted by Kye
From an email to one of our faculty members....
Not even Plato can escape censorship at Texas A&M!
Not even Plato can escape censorship at Texas A&M!
January 6, 2026 at 8:15 PM
From an email to one of our faculty members....
Not even Plato can escape censorship at Texas A&M!
Not even Plato can escape censorship at Texas A&M!
reading my students' work has been a bright spot these last few days
January 5, 2026 at 6:14 PM
reading my students' work has been a bright spot these last few days
Reposted by Kye
Democracy rarely emerges from external deposition of leaders or sudden power vacuums.
It emerges from negotiated exits with guarantees and credible domestic opposition to corrupt or repressive regimes.
This intervention actively undermines both.
It emerges from negotiated exits with guarantees and credible domestic opposition to corrupt or repressive regimes.
This intervention actively undermines both.
January 5, 2026 at 1:18 AM
Democracy rarely emerges from external deposition of leaders or sudden power vacuums.
It emerges from negotiated exits with guarantees and credible domestic opposition to corrupt or repressive regimes.
This intervention actively undermines both.
It emerges from negotiated exits with guarantees and credible domestic opposition to corrupt or repressive regimes.
This intervention actively undermines both.
War as an act of domestic law enforcement and militarized domestic law enforcement are both manifestations of lawless tyranny.
January 3, 2026 at 4:03 PM
War as an act of domestic law enforcement and militarized domestic law enforcement are both manifestations of lawless tyranny.
Reposted by Kye
Still hasn’t been a year. None of how Trump is running the country is sustainable. He will be removed or the country will collapse.
January 3, 2026 at 1:09 PM
Still hasn’t been a year. None of how Trump is running the country is sustainable. He will be removed or the country will collapse.
The U.S. constitution is not in effect
January 3, 2026 at 12:51 PM
The U.S. constitution is not in effect
Reposted by Kye
Anyone who conflates "academic" with "elite" hasn't seen the academics' apartments I have
January 3, 2026 at 1:11 AM
Anyone who conflates "academic" with "elite" hasn't seen the academics' apartments I have
Twitter/X these days sounds like a manifestation of the waking nightmare of the tyrant's soul from Republic IX. No thank you.
January 2, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Twitter/X these days sounds like a manifestation of the waking nightmare of the tyrant's soul from Republic IX. No thank you.