Nick Bernards
@nickbernards.bsky.social
Critical Political Economist -- Author: A critical history of poverty finance (http://bit.ly/3pEV7Cf); Fictions of financialization (http://bit.ly/3PUWzdR) -- Reader in Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick.
Views mine.
Views mine.
This kind of half-hopeful take hoping that some imminent Chinese hegemony will save us from climate breakdown is grimly fascinating.
November 11, 2025 at 10:36 AM
This kind of half-hopeful take hoping that some imminent Chinese hegemony will save us from climate breakdown is grimly fascinating.
Okay so my main takeaway from this exercise is that ‘technofeudalism’ only makes sense 1) if you have an overly rigid, ahistorical and abstract understanding of ‘capitalism’ to begin with, and 2) you assume an analysis of big tech is an analysis of actually-existing capitalism as a whole.
Giving up my principled refusal to take ideas about ‘neo-/techno-feudalism’ seriously and giving this a (skeptical) read:
November 7, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Okay so my main takeaway from this exercise is that ‘technofeudalism’ only makes sense 1) if you have an overly rigid, ahistorical and abstract understanding of ‘capitalism’ to begin with, and 2) you assume an analysis of big tech is an analysis of actually-existing capitalism as a whole.
Worth reading - really captures the dilemmas facing states, especially peripheral states, as vehicles for decarbonization.
on.ft.com/43eCwxD
on.ft.com/43eCwxD
Why Latin America can’t quit oil
As COP30 approaches, Brazil and Colombia offer competing visions of a ‘just energy transition’ for developing countries
on.ft.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Worth reading - really captures the dilemmas facing states, especially peripheral states, as vehicles for decarbonization.
on.ft.com/43eCwxD
on.ft.com/43eCwxD
Reposted by Nick Bernards
My new article with @econsocjournal.bsky.social on Gary Becker's analyses on suicide is out! I use Becker's assertion that ‘Most (if not all!) deaths are to some extent suicides’ to reflect on how the late Chicago School framed death and mortality as a choice, thus normalising mortality inequality
‘Most (if not all!) deaths are to some extent suicides’: Human capital and endogenous mortality in Gary Becker’s work
Chicago School economist and Nobel Memorial Prize winner Gary Becker writes that ‘most (if not all!) deaths are to some extent “suicides” in the sense that they could have been postponed if more re...
www.tandfonline.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:23 PM
My new article with @econsocjournal.bsky.social on Gary Becker's analyses on suicide is out! I use Becker's assertion that ‘Most (if not all!) deaths are to some extent suicides’ to reflect on how the late Chicago School framed death and mortality as a choice, thus normalising mortality inequality
Reposted by Nick Bernards
At my new working group on International Relations and Political Economy @Universität Bielefeld, I have a full postdoc position for 3 years (plus x) to offer. Do apply and ask if you have any questions: uni-bielefeld.hr4you.org/job/view/459... in German here: uni-bielefeld.hr4you.org/job/view/459...
Research Position in the working group “Internat...
<div style="text-align: justify;">We are looking for an engaged and socially aware social scientist with a PhD or very close to comple...
uni-bielefeld.hr4you.org
November 6, 2025 at 9:56 AM
At my new working group on International Relations and Political Economy @Universität Bielefeld, I have a full postdoc position for 3 years (plus x) to offer. Do apply and ask if you have any questions: uni-bielefeld.hr4you.org/job/view/459... in German here: uni-bielefeld.hr4you.org/job/view/459...
Reposted by Nick Bernards
New article, no paywall tks to @scripts-berlin.eu
Seabed #mining may well cheapen #EV *production* in Europe/US, but who will buy all these cars?
This is the question "loaded with dynamite" that a close reading of Rosa Luxemburg's economic writings suggests.
academic.oup.com/lril/advance...
Seabed #mining may well cheapen #EV *production* in Europe/US, but who will buy all these cars?
This is the question "loaded with dynamite" that a close reading of Rosa Luxemburg's economic writings suggests.
academic.oup.com/lril/advance...
More than a glance at the ocean: international law, seabed mining, and the monetary nature of capitalism
Abstract. The article draws on Rosa Luxemburg to examine current legal developments concerning seabed mining. Building on the macro-monetary reading of cap
academic.oup.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:58 PM
New article, no paywall tks to @scripts-berlin.eu
Seabed #mining may well cheapen #EV *production* in Europe/US, but who will buy all these cars?
This is the question "loaded with dynamite" that a close reading of Rosa Luxemburg's economic writings suggests.
academic.oup.com/lril/advance...
Seabed #mining may well cheapen #EV *production* in Europe/US, but who will buy all these cars?
This is the question "loaded with dynamite" that a close reading of Rosa Luxemburg's economic writings suggests.
academic.oup.com/lril/advance...
Important to keep this in perspective -- the specific techniques by which the Trump administration has undermined global climate action here are new, and more belligerent. But the US state has, for a very long time, been a major obstacle to even bare minimum measures...
www.ft.com/content/4e0a...
www.ft.com/content/4e0a...
US accused of ‘bully-boy’ tactics to sink climate deal
Officials say ‘threats’ used to derail net zero deal for shipping industry ripped up rules of global diplomacy
www.ft.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Important to keep this in perspective -- the specific techniques by which the Trump administration has undermined global climate action here are new, and more belligerent. But the US state has, for a very long time, been a major obstacle to even bare minimum measures...
www.ft.com/content/4e0a...
www.ft.com/content/4e0a...
Reposted by Nick Bernards
Brilliant book @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social
November 1, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Brilliant book @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social
Giving up my principled refusal to take ideas about ‘neo-/techno-feudalism’ seriously and giving this a (skeptical) read:
October 30, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Giving up my principled refusal to take ideas about ‘neo-/techno-feudalism’ seriously and giving this a (skeptical) read:
Reposted by Nick Bernards
🚨New publication with Kristijan Kotarski:
Enduring Structural Power? Assessing the Dominance of the Anglosphere in Global Finance Before the Trump Turn
Includes novel visualizations of global finance (banking, portfolio inv & FDI) showing persistent US centrality
hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/487488
Enduring Structural Power? Assessing the Dominance of the Anglosphere in Global Finance Before the Trump Turn
Includes novel visualizations of global finance (banking, portfolio inv & FDI) showing persistent US centrality
hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/487488
October 30, 2025 at 1:15 PM
🚨New publication with Kristijan Kotarski:
Enduring Structural Power? Assessing the Dominance of the Anglosphere in Global Finance Before the Trump Turn
Includes novel visualizations of global finance (banking, portfolio inv & FDI) showing persistent US centrality
hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/487488
Enduring Structural Power? Assessing the Dominance of the Anglosphere in Global Finance Before the Trump Turn
Includes novel visualizations of global finance (banking, portfolio inv & FDI) showing persistent US centrality
hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/487488
This is the kind of enraging that only a piece that *very nearly* gets it before veering off in a stupid direction.
Yes, AI is deskilling. But also deskilling is a specific form of control over the labour process, not just... making things simpler.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Yes, AI is deskilling. But also deskilling is a specific form of control over the labour process, not just... making things simpler.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The Age of De-Skilling
Will AI stretch our minds—or stunt them?
www.theatlantic.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:43 AM
This is the kind of enraging that only a piece that *very nearly* gets it before veering off in a stupid direction.
Yes, AI is deskilling. But also deskilling is a specific form of control over the labour process, not just... making things simpler.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Yes, AI is deskilling. But also deskilling is a specific form of control over the labour process, not just... making things simpler.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Reposted by Nick Bernards
As an alumni of Syracuse University, it's appalling that they are capitulating against a right-wing campaign against Professor Farhana Sultana for exercising her first amendment rights. Do consider signing this letter calling on Syracuse University to reinstate her docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Letter of Support for Professor Farhana Sultana
As scholars within and beyond academia, we write in solidarity with academic freedom of expression with our colleague, Dr. Farhana Sultana, an internationally recognized scholar and tenured Full Profe...
docs.google.com
October 29, 2025 at 9:08 PM
As an alumni of Syracuse University, it's appalling that they are capitulating against a right-wing campaign against Professor Farhana Sultana for exercising her first amendment rights. Do consider signing this letter calling on Syracuse University to reinstate her docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Nick Bernards
New post!
Matt Wynyard situates increasing tensions about the social and ecological costs of dairying in Aotearoa NZ. The sector, whose evolution is firmly entangled with the history of settler colonialism, has seen rapid transformations since the 1980s.
institutionallandscapes.org/contribution...
Matt Wynyard situates increasing tensions about the social and ecological costs of dairying in Aotearoa NZ. The sector, whose evolution is firmly entangled with the history of settler colonialism, has seen rapid transformations since the 1980s.
institutionallandscapes.org/contribution...
October 27, 2025 at 8:23 PM
New post!
Matt Wynyard situates increasing tensions about the social and ecological costs of dairying in Aotearoa NZ. The sector, whose evolution is firmly entangled with the history of settler colonialism, has seen rapid transformations since the 1980s.
institutionallandscapes.org/contribution...
Matt Wynyard situates increasing tensions about the social and ecological costs of dairying in Aotearoa NZ. The sector, whose evolution is firmly entangled with the history of settler colonialism, has seen rapid transformations since the 1980s.
institutionallandscapes.org/contribution...
Tomorrow!
Interested about financialisation and why states foster policies that lead to the dominance of financial capital? Come to CLaSP's seminar:
Event: Financial Capital, the State, and Politics
When: 30th October, 2025; 4-530 PM
Where: Graduate Centre, QMUL Mile End Campus
Speaker: Dr. Nicholas Bernards
Event: Financial Capital, the State, and Politics
When: 30th October, 2025; 4-530 PM
Where: Graduate Centre, QMUL Mile End Campus
Speaker: Dr. Nicholas Bernards
October 29, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Tomorrow!
Reposted by Nick Bernards
With Caroline Ahler Christesen and @jhasselbalch.bsky.social, we asked: what can the environmental state actually do?
The answer is out now with @gepjournal.bsky.social 👇
If you ever wondered about this, check our paper and let us know what you think: direct.mit.edu/glep/article...
The answer is out now with @gepjournal.bsky.social 👇
If you ever wondered about this, check our paper and let us know what you think: direct.mit.edu/glep/article...
What Can the Environmental State Actually Do? Three Critiques and Their Limits
Abstract. Three critiques of the environmental state shape the discussion of its possibilities and limits. First, states are deemed structurally unable to mitigate climate change due to the “glass cei...
direct.mit.edu
October 29, 2025 at 1:25 PM
With Caroline Ahler Christesen and @jhasselbalch.bsky.social, we asked: what can the environmental state actually do?
The answer is out now with @gepjournal.bsky.social 👇
If you ever wondered about this, check our paper and let us know what you think: direct.mit.edu/glep/article...
The answer is out now with @gepjournal.bsky.social 👇
If you ever wondered about this, check our paper and let us know what you think: direct.mit.edu/glep/article...
Reposted by Nick Bernards
We are organizing another mini-conference on international financial subordination for SASE Bordeaux. Join us! sase.org/events/2026-...
2026 Bordeaux - SASE
sase.org
October 23, 2025 at 10:06 AM
We are organizing another mini-conference on international financial subordination for SASE Bordeaux. Join us! sase.org/events/2026-...
Reposted by Nick Bernards
Check out my new piece -> A New Age of Crypto-Authoritarianism in Current History.
It is now open access!
online.ucpress.edu/currenthisto...
It is now open access!
online.ucpress.edu/currenthisto...
October 28, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Check out my new piece -> A New Age of Crypto-Authoritarianism in Current History.
It is now open access!
online.ucpress.edu/currenthisto...
It is now open access!
online.ucpress.edu/currenthisto...
As someone who is the first listed author on most of my co-authored articles (because my last name starts with 'B'), I personally welcome this new ridiculous metric and will be citing it enthusiastically each time I need to convince my employer to let me keep my job.
Google Scholar has introduced a 'Sh-index' metric that scores papers higher if you are first or last author. Apart from the fact metrics are generally bad, this one explicitly punishes PIs who often collaborate, publishing with 2 or 3 equal PIs at the end of the list.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Google Scholar tool gives extra credit to first and last authors
Researchers welcome the initiative, but say it doesn’t go far enough to capture the nuance of researcher productivity and impact.
www.nature.com
October 28, 2025 at 12:13 PM
As someone who is the first listed author on most of my co-authored articles (because my last name starts with 'B'), I personally welcome this new ridiculous metric and will be citing it enthusiastically each time I need to convince my employer to let me keep my job.
This afternoon!
I'm speaking at Warwick and online next week about Fictions of Financialization with brilliant discussants in Chris Clarke and Marieke Beck, who will hopefully mostly talk about their own work.
warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/sch...
warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/sch...
Research Seminar: 'Fictions of Financialization: Rethinking Speculation, Exploitation and Twenty-First-Century Capitalism'
warwick.ac.uk
October 28, 2025 at 9:29 AM
This afternoon!
Reposted by Nick Bernards
New in Finance & Space! 📢
Why does financialisation happen — and who benefits?
Hannah Hasenberger digs into the politics behind state financialisation
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Why does financialisation happen — and who benefits?
Hannah Hasenberger digs into the politics behind state financialisation
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Challenging the ‘fictions of financialisation’: a commentary on explanation in financial geography
Financialisation is a key concept in financial geography, used to explain various phenomena. But have we sufficiently explained financialisation? Nick Bernards’ recent book, Fictions of Financializ...
www.tandfonline.com
October 27, 2025 at 4:52 PM
New in Finance & Space! 📢
Why does financialisation happen — and who benefits?
Hannah Hasenberger digs into the politics behind state financialisation
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Why does financialisation happen — and who benefits?
Hannah Hasenberger digs into the politics behind state financialisation
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Nick Bernards
Very happy to share that my article "Infinitely recyclable? Scraps and disarticulations in the steelmaking green transition" was just published in Environment and Planning A.
This is truly made in @europeanisa.bsky.social, written in 2024 for EWIS and then revised for PEC!
doi.org/10.1177/0308...
This is truly made in @europeanisa.bsky.social, written in 2024 for EWIS and then revised for PEC!
doi.org/10.1177/0308...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
doi.org
October 27, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Very happy to share that my article "Infinitely recyclable? Scraps and disarticulations in the steelmaking green transition" was just published in Environment and Planning A.
This is truly made in @europeanisa.bsky.social, written in 2024 for EWIS and then revised for PEC!
doi.org/10.1177/0308...
This is truly made in @europeanisa.bsky.social, written in 2024 for EWIS and then revised for PEC!
doi.org/10.1177/0308...
Reposted by Nick Bernards
Our article with @hulya-dagdeviren.bsky.social and Ben Tippet is out in Socio-Economic Review!
We examine pension financialisation and pension wealth inequality in the UK — focusing on how the rise of Defined Contribution (DC).
academic.oup.com/ser/advance-...
We examine pension financialisation and pension wealth inequality in the UK — focusing on how the rise of Defined Contribution (DC).
academic.oup.com/ser/advance-...
Pension financialization and workplace pension wealth inequality: evidence from Britain
Abstract. The growth of Defined Contribution (DC) pensions, in which retirement depends on individual savings and financial market investments, has been a
academic.oup.com
October 27, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Our article with @hulya-dagdeviren.bsky.social and Ben Tippet is out in Socio-Economic Review!
We examine pension financialisation and pension wealth inequality in the UK — focusing on how the rise of Defined Contribution (DC).
academic.oup.com/ser/advance-...
We examine pension financialisation and pension wealth inequality in the UK — focusing on how the rise of Defined Contribution (DC).
academic.oup.com/ser/advance-...
Reposted by Nick Bernards
New book forum published in the @geographers.bsky.social Review of Books,
with great contributions by Rachel Bok, @jeromeroos.bsky.social, Juvaria Jafri together with Nassar Alnassar, Henry Wai-chung Yeung, Angus McNelly, and @proufos.bsky.social
@campolis.bsky.social
Link below👇:
with great contributions by Rachel Bok, @jeromeroos.bsky.social, Juvaria Jafri together with Nassar Alnassar, Henry Wai-chung Yeung, Angus McNelly, and @proufos.bsky.social
@campolis.bsky.social
Link below👇:
October 22, 2025 at 5:57 AM
New book forum published in the @geographers.bsky.social Review of Books,
with great contributions by Rachel Bok, @jeromeroos.bsky.social, Juvaria Jafri together with Nassar Alnassar, Henry Wai-chung Yeung, Angus McNelly, and @proufos.bsky.social
@campolis.bsky.social
Link below👇:
with great contributions by Rachel Bok, @jeromeroos.bsky.social, Juvaria Jafri together with Nassar Alnassar, Henry Wai-chung Yeung, Angus McNelly, and @proufos.bsky.social
@campolis.bsky.social
Link below👇:
The really horrifying thing about geoengineering, especially solar radiation management, is that it is super-cheap and straightforward. Its whole appeal is that it holds out the possibility of an end-run around the messy politics of actually reducing CO2.
heatmap.news/climate-tech...
heatmap.news/climate-tech...
Exclusive: Stardust Solutions Raises $60 Million to Build a Solar Geoengineering System by 2030
A U.S. firm led by former Israeli government physicists, Stardust seeks to patent its proprietary sunlight-scattering particle — but it won’t deploy its technology until global governments authorize s...
heatmap.news
October 24, 2025 at 12:04 PM
The really horrifying thing about geoengineering, especially solar radiation management, is that it is super-cheap and straightforward. Its whole appeal is that it holds out the possibility of an end-run around the messy politics of actually reducing CO2.
heatmap.news/climate-tech...
heatmap.news/climate-tech...