Glad you think so!

Finally, I chart the prominence of competitive status language in how the Biden administration continually talked about their efforts on the climate, and deal with the thornier normative implications of bringing status competition into the climate space.

Rather than have to totally redefine what counts for status in world politics, in order to fit aggressive climate action in, I argue that certain forms of climate action—those which are incredibly costly, and technologically intensive—can already graft onto the existing paradigm

Second, I apply this approach to the climate crisis in arguing that the material-symbolic logic of decarbonization through so-called “green growth” is well suited to map onto the existing rules of the status game.

I approach this in two ways—first, by developing a theory on how new ideas can be smuggled into the status order through a “grafting technique”, which borrows from norms scholarship.

Looking forward to it!

Finally, to Caroline who knows most of all that la reconnaissance est importante, and to Eliza, who will scribble all over this book but who I also think might actually read it one day.

Look for it in summer 2026

thanks to Jennifer Mitzen, Brent Steele, Lina Benabdallah, Andrew Ross, and Benjamin Meiches, who thoughtfully engaged with the manuscript at the exact moment I most needed motivation and outside eyes...

thanks to Cornell and Jackie Teoh for taking a chance on the project, to Oberlin for providing a vibrant intellectual home and crucially the time for me to write this book, to Ian Hurd, Karen Alter, and Elizabeth Shakman Hurd at NU who encouraged all of these ideas from the very first moments...