Alex Dukalskis

What an engaging interview- Mark brings out the best in his speakers and engages with the nuances and uncomfortable implications of their arguments.

What is any of this even supposed to mean?

Imagine that.

Big Camel Milk strikes again.

Strikes Batter Iran’s Storied Azadi Stadium Complex

Strikes Batter Iran’s Storied Azadi Stadium Complex

Several sports centres have been hit in Tehran since the U.S. and Israel began their attacks, the authorities say, but none with the resonance of the Azadi.

From Erika Solomon - @nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/w...

Hang in there Paul.

Trump urges Kurds in Iraq to attack Iran as war widens US President Donald Trump encouraged Iranian Kurdish forces in Iraq to launch attacks against Iran as the Middle East conflict widened, with Azerbaijan warning it would retaliate for being targeted by...

Why would they trust that U.S. would have their back?

—-

Trump urges Kurds in Iraq to attack Iran as war widens www.rte.ie/news/middle-...

Markwayne Mullin: Who is Trump's pick for Homeland Security secretary? The first-term senator, who was once a mixed martial arts fighter, has been a supporter of Trump's policies.

oh cool

Befitting his status, Fufu has his own page:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fufu_(d...

Such a great line in the Wikipedia entry for "Air Chief Marshal"

"In November 2007 it became known that Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn (now king of Thailand) had granted the title of Air Chief Marshal to his pet poodle Fufu. The dog died in 2015."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_chi...

Dr Laura K. Taylor receives ERC Consolidator Award to explore how identity can influence peacebuilding

Now hiring at @ucddublin.bsky.social in #psychology

✅ Postdoc: search job ref 019423 here: my.corehr.com/pls/ucdrecru...

✅ 4-year fully funded PhD, details: www.ucd.ie/graduatestud...

Part of @helpingkidslab.bsky.social

Funded by @erc.europa.eu ERC Consolidator Award
www.ucd.ie/research/new...

Benno Weiner, a historian of modern China, Tibet and Inner Asia at Carnegie Mellon University:
“such policies, if enforced, meant there was ‘no way’ that non-Han people would be able to safely express ‘any type of discontent without being accused of being essentially separatists or terrorists’.”

Coming soon!

A sequel to Outsourcing Repression (and Everyday State Power in China).

Abstract here: www.cambridge.org/core/element...

@uoft-poli-sci.bsky.social

Thanks that’s too kind.

Congratulations!

We are pleased to present a review written by our graduate fellow, Alireza Nouri, featuring a very timely book "Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics" by Alexander Cooley and @alexdukalskis.bsky.social

Read full review here: shorturl.at/01m2J

Dictating Reality | Columbia University Press From the United States to China and from Brazil to India, an authoritarian approach to news is spreading across the world. Increasingly, the media is no long... | CUP

Dictating Reality: The Global Battle to Control the News

by @martinjemoore.bsky.social & Thomas Colley via @columbiaup.bsky.social (2025)

#SpringReading

Please understand that China is an actual place with its own structures and problems and not some pendulum that swings only in reaction to US actions.

Donald the Dove.

It's also a perverse tactic to signal virtue without blame

Strikes --> successful domestic uprising: US is white knight, takes all the credit for paving the way

Strikes --> no/failed domestic uprising: US is white knight, not its fault people didn't take advantage and fight for freedom

Every accusation is a confession etc etc etc

The theory of the case seems to be that an air campaign will lead to uprisings will lead to dislodging the government will lead to its replacement by something better. A lot of assumptions and uncertainty built in to that equation with a high likelihood that innocent people will be killed.

Ethnography and Ethnographic Sensibility in Political Science In an era when artificial intelligence and chatbots make it enticing to interface with an entirely digital field site, immersive ethnographic practices and an ethnographic sensibility remain indispens...

Diana Fu, Rich Nielson, and I argue that ethnography and an ethnographic sensibility remain essential to understanding the political world, even (or maybe especially) in an era of digitization and AI.

Think we're Luddites? Have a look bsky.app/profile/annu....

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

My job is to write academic articles & books that can withstand peer review but these last few days I’ve put as much or more effort into researching whether to keep dylan crews or cam smith in a dynasty league than I have for any one of those projects.

How authoritarianism went from defense to offense on the world stage Quickly and easily listen to The Rhodes Center Podcast with Mark Blyth for free!

New Rhodes Center Pod just up. Great conversation with Alex Cooley and Alex Dukalskis about their new book Dictating the Agenda.
AKA - How authoritarians go from playing defense other than offense.
Great book. Read it. But listen here first: player.captivate.fm/episode/5e16...

Author consults a Cyberspace Administration official they know, trying to work out what happened. Once a topic reaches a certain level of sensitivity, “the platform doesn’t read the content, it just scans it for sensitive words? LOL”

“Right, they don’t read it, they’re only interested in keywords.”

Book Review: Dictating the Agenda — China Governance Lab

In a nutshell, Alex Cooley and @alexdukalskis.bsky.social examine why "liberal triumphalism" of the post-Cold War era has ended, and autocratic states like #China and Russia are increasingly on the offensive.

Full review here: shorturl.at/01m2J

Rare snail cited in approval for Trump Doonbeg ballroom Clare County Council has given the green light for a new ballroom at the US President Donald Trump-owned Trump Doonbeg golf resort in west Clare.

Clare County Council is doing more to protect Irish snails from Trump than the Republican-controlled Congress is doing to protect American people from Trump.

Thanks for having us Mark!