Scott Gehlbach

@sgehlbach.bsky.social

3.7K followers 500 following 400 posts

University of Chicago, Political Science and Harris School. Director, PhD Program in Political Economy. Autocracy/Eurasia/HPE. Blogging at scottgehlbach.bearblog.dev. Cards fan but o/w Chicago patriot. 🇺🇦

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Political science 43%

Economics 15%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 2d

Yes, I have implicitly assumed that reviewers are following editors’ instructions.

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 2d

so I spent yesterday getting up to speed on Claude Code and my main reaction is that we all have about six months to really take advantage of this before we settle into a new equilibrium in which we spend substantially more of our time reviewing

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 3d

Took a break from the world to see the glorious Julia Keefe Indigenous Jazz Ensemble in concert. I have thoughts—on the genre, on university campuses, and on the group itself.

All That Jazz

Reflections upon seeing the Julia Keefe Indigenous Jazz Ensemble in concert.

scottgehlbach.bearblog.dev

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 5d

💯

Yuriy Gorodnichenko @ygorodnichenko.bsky.social · 5d

"2000 Meters to Andriivka" is a great film

‘Frontline journalism and filmmaking as we know it is dead’ — documenting the war in Ukraine

Mstyslav Chernov embedded with troops to make the Bafta-nominated ‘2000 Meters to Adriivka’ — and show the conflict in all its horror

www.ft.com

Reposted by Scott Gehlbach, Alexandra Cirone

Tom Pepinsky @tompepinsky.com · 5d

You should vote, even if your vote won't change the outcome, because this is how we uphold the democratic principles that underlie our republican ideals.

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

Democratic theorists hold that voting contributes to some political good: individual and collective autonomy, equality, justice, pluralism, stability, better policies, and many others. But elections are common under authoritarianism, and empirical research finds that holding elections can stabilize authoritarian regimes. This creates what we term the democrat’s dilemma, where citizens who vote in authoritarian elections may bolster the regimes they wish to unseat, even when they cast a vote for the opposition. We identify three major ways of thinking about the democratic value of electoral participation—justice-based, epistemic, and proceduralist approaches—and use them to examine the complex moral considerations that confront voters in authoritarian regimes. We contend that authoritarian elections’ residual democratic value can justify voting, even when doing so could further entrench the autocrat. Our argument also implies that the democratic principles that justify voting in authoritarian elections oblige citizens to choose the most democratic alternative.

Reposted by Scott Gehlbach

Yuriy Gorodnichenko @ygorodnichenko.bsky.social · 5d

"2000 Meters to Andriivka" is a great film

‘Frontline journalism and filmmaking as we know it is dead’ — documenting the war in Ukraine

Mstyslav Chernov embedded with troops to make the Bafta-nominated ‘2000 Meters to Adriivka’ — and show the conflict in all its horror

www.ft.com

Reposted by Scott Gehlbach, Calvin Jones

Eugene Finkel @efinkel.bsky.social · 7d

Years ago I did a liberation of Auschwitz thread on the other platform. Time to redo

Jan. 27, 1945 Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz. What happened? How? The Western Front is studied minute by minute, the East a black hole. The strange thing, though is that many documents are declassified and online

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 8d

Tom’s post encouraged me to reflect on environments in which schoolyard bullies appear long after we thought they were gone.

TL;DR Moscow 1990s = Minneapolis today

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 9d

My reaction since November 2016. A healthy society directs grade school bullies into harmless occupations. We have somehow wound up with them in the White House.

Shades of Russia in the 90s.

Reposted by Scott Gehlbach, Fabián Muniesa, Robert C. Richards

Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 9d

We just published our full analysis of the ICE killing of Alex Pretti on Bellingcat
www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/01...

Alex Pretti: Analysing Footage of Minneapolis CBP Shooting - bellingcat

Bellingcat has analysed video of the shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. The footage appears to contradict statements made by the Department of Homeland Security.

www.bellingcat.com

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 9d

Keynote speakers @rickhornbeck.bsky.social and @k-pravilova.bsky.social.

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 9d

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

Reposted by Guy Grossman, Valerie Mueller

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 9d

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

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 10d

Arrived at Logan Square just as today’s emergency action was breaking up.

Find a protest. Call your senators. Create pressure, however you can.

Reposted by Scott Gehlbach

Pavithra Suryanarayan @pavisuri.bsky.social · 10d

My best answer to this is that the democratic party’s leadership reflects its organizational structure and the selection effects of a prior era. These people just don’t understand. watch the difference between the urgency of Dem senators elected after Trump (Arizona/gerogia) and those before.

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Scott Gehlbach, Nathan P. Kalmoe

🦃 Seth Masket 🦃 @smotus.bsky.social · 10d

Abolishing ICE is not nearly sufficient. State and local officials need to start arresting and prosecuting these kidnappers and murderers.

Governor Tim Walz @governorwalz.mn.gov · 10d

I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. Minnesota has had it. This is sickening.

The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.

Reposted by Thomas Backhaus, Scott Gehlbach, Robert Wolfe

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 10d

Everyone freezing on the East Coast or in the Midwest remember: Kyiv has the same weather, except that hundreds of thousands of people don't have electricity, heating or running water

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 10d

The advantages of just repeating over and over that the president is a sick old man include:

1. It is true.
2. It wears at his popularity.
3. It forces the media to focus on the underlying issue.
4. It says to the rest of the world, This is not America. (Spare me: I know the response.)

Reposted by John Mullahy

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 11d

Back to up 255 Kelvin here in Chicago.

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 13d

A partial list of reasons to find Denmark highly relevant:

- Contributions to global security
- Resistance to the Holocaust
- Copenhagen
- Architecture and design
- Rule of law
- Helping to feed the world
- Environmental leadership
- Inclusive prosperity
- Bicycles

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 15d

I am going to decorate my office in the UN palette.

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 15d

One thing I learned from my Russian friends after 2022 is to take responsibility, even if you didn't support the madman in charge. So I get that. To me, "mad king" is intentionally ironic—that we elected a man who behaves like the proverbial mad king.

My further thoughts:

Keys to the Kingdom

Whose support needs to soften to depose America’s mad king.

scottgehlbach.bearblog.dev

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 15d

On Idi Amin and our own mad king, Trump’s inevitable impeachment, and whose support would need to soften for 67 Senators to vote to convict.

Keys to the Kingdom

Whose support needs to soften to depose America’s mad king.

scottgehlbach.bearblog.dev

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 16d

Public Hotel, Manhattan.

Reposted by Scott Gehlbach

Tymofiy Mylovanov @mylovanov.bsky.social · 17d

These days are the most surreal of my life.

Daryna, KSE student: Lately, I’ve been spending more and more time thinking about whether I will even be able to wake up, because the cold is unbearable and I do wake up — but from shivering, not from the alarm clock. 1/

Reposted by Scott Gehlbach, Michael Gentile

Dr. Ian Garner @irgarner.bsky.social · 17d

The fun thing about the States is they’ve skipped right over virulent charismatic authoritarian in favour of deranged old man. Fast dictator culture.

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 17d

One of ~5 reasons I gave up on Twitter/X was the loss of third-party apps. I’ve been waiting for a good one for Bluesky; I think @boostblue.bsky.social is it. Syncing of timeline position is great, of course. And then there are customizations such as this 👇

Reposted by Sascha O. Becker, Scott Gehlbach

Jared Rubin @jaredcrubin.com · 18d

Our paper is now published at QJE ... it is open access!!!

academic.oup.com/qje/article/...

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 18d

By way of analogy, Moscow’s ring roads provide layers of defense that, together with the quartering of troops in different locations, provide security against events like the Prigozhin mutiny.

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 18d

It’s too bad that Machado felt like she had to do this, especially after Trump said that he would be happy with the Noble Peace Prize.

Scott Gehlbach @sgehlbach.bsky.social · 18d

Sirus, point taken, especially wrt (1). But surely urban design also plays a role in coup-proofing?

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