Aleksandra Spalińska
Many leftists have been reluctant to support Ukraine against the Russian invasion. They might take an ‘anti-imperialist’ position against the US; or they may have ties to Russia through political sponsorship. Aleksandra Spalińska believes the Marxist/leftist position has deeper roots. She argues that leftists' perspective on world politics is determined by a phenomenon she calls 'methodological externalism' Read more
Reginald Oduor
Reginald M.J. Oduor encourages more political theorists to disentangle themselves from the idea that democracy and elections are inextricably bound. Through this he seeks to promote the pursuit of genuine citizen participation in post-colonial states in Africa and elsewhere Read more
Francesca Melhuish
We often consider nostalgia – the emotional sense that things were better in the past – as the opposite of future orientation. But nostalgia’s relationship with time is more complicated. Francesca Melhuish explores this relationship as it relates to Brexit, and how it helps us to understand the emotional appeal of temporal narratives of the nation Read more
Anna Khakee
As long as the EU continues to silence European colonial crimes when promoting democracy and human rights in the Global South, it cannot live up to its moral promise. Instead, warns Anna Khakee, it risks perpetuating – inadvertently or otherwise – colonial-era hierarchies between civilisations and a sense of European moral superiority Read more
Hager Ali
When democracies’ most basic features lose their distinctive edge, differentiating regime types becomes a problem for scholars of democracy and autocracy alike. Hager Ali wants to redraw demarcations between regimes across the political spectrum. To do so, she argues that civilian control over militaries is just as fundamental as suffrage Read more
Gabriella Gricius
States face not just threats to their physical security, but also to their sense of self and biographical continuity. This is what we call securitisation. Understanding the process of securitisation can uncover taken-for-granted colonial and imperial influences that would otherwise remain hidden, writes Gabriella Gricius Read more
Joan Ricart-Huguet
ways: by repressing their subjects, or conceding to their demands. Yet, write Joan Ricart-Huguet and Richard McAlexander, there is a third option. Weak states may use a strategy of state disengagement Read more
The Loop
Cutting-edge analysis showcasing the work of the political science discipline at its best.
