Other Writing

OTHER WRITING

Essays, book reviews, and commentary. For all publications, including peer-reviewed journal articles, see HERE. You can find an overview of my current research and works in progress HERE. For information about my book Aftershocks, see HERE.

Author’s Response. H-Diplo Roundtable Forum 20.22. Jan 2019.

My immense thanks to David Edelstein and Kyle Lascurettes for their extremely thoughtful comments, and to Susan Hyde for chairing the roundtable. Completing a book is both liberating and constraining—constraining because the finished text cannot help but remain mute about its tensions and complications. Continuing this conversation through close critical engagement is the best outcome an author can hope for, and I thank H-Diplo for providing me the opportunity to do so. [PDF]

A Country Illegible Even to Itself. (Review of The Future Is History by Masha Gessen.) Inroads 44. Dec 2018.

There is a sense of cultural essentialism in claiming that Homo Sovieticus never died, in fact cannot be killed, and now trudges golem-like, with the aid of Putin's government, into an illiberal dystopia. But despite its flaws, the book is a serious, honest attempt at national reckoning through individual self-reflection. [PDF]

Democracy’s Future: Riding the Hegemonic Wave. The Washington Quarterly 41.2:115-135. July 2018.

Fears of democratic decline wax and wane; and each time the threats seem unprecedented. The rise of China, the Trump presidency, the use of social media to subvert elections — today these appear to be new challenges with few historical parallels. But the anxieties they evoke find close parallels in the debates over democracy’s fate for over a century. [PDF]

One Word to Improve US Russia Policy. The New Republic, April 27, 2018.

Russia’s drive for regaining regional hegemony runs deeper than the changing qualities of its regime or the motivations of its rulers. Putin is himself a symptom of broader forces that have dominated US-Russian relations since the Soviet collapse — and will continue to do so regardless of who succeeds him.

The False Dawn of International Law. (Review of The Internationalists by Oona Hathaway and Scott Shapiro). War on the Rocks, January 15, 2018.

Is the book an enjoyable and worthwhile read? Yes. Is it convincing in its main argument? Not at all. In the end, the book provides astonishingly thin evidence for an astonishingly strong conclusion.

Defining the State: It’s a Family Affair. In Comparing International Systems in World History, ISQ Online Symposium, November 28, 2017

My response to Butcher and Griffiths (2017) looks at their attempt to provide a universal definition of the state and argues that a family resemblance approach may be the only solution. [PDF]

The Lost Leviathan. (Review of The H-Word by Perry Anderson). The American Interest, August 24, 2017.

In his contempt for hegemony, Anderson sometimes turns the story into a polemical genealogy. In his view, there can be no demand for hegemony. It is something to be imposed from the outside. For those who experience it, hegemony cannot bring relief, only resistance or weary acquiescence. [PDF]

These are the three reasons fascism spread in 1930s America – and might spread again today. The Monkey Cage (Washington Post), August 12, 2017.

The last time fascism was brazenly embraced was in the 1930s. The lessons of that crucial decade have increasing relevance for modern American life. The three big factors that drove the spread of American fascism at that time are still relevant for the US today.

Trump and the Russian Money Trail. Duck of Minerva, July 14, 2017.

In the endless pursuit of the Russia-Trump collusion story, we sometimes forget a key element: this whole mess began with money, not with election interference. To understand the roots of the collusion, set aside Putin and follow the money.

What Monday’s subway bombings mean for Putin’s Russia. The Monkey Cage (Washington Post), April 6, 2017

On Russian social media, residents offered car rides to strangers when the city’s subway came to a halt. But the resilience of the Russian people is unlikely to be matched by the strength of Russian laws that protect civil freedoms in the wake of such attacks.

How to unfreeze Canada’s strategy in Ukraine. The Globe and Mail, March 20, 2017.

Much like the conflict itself, Canadian strategy in Ukraine has become frozen. The best way for Canada to match Russia's influence in the region is by ensuring a stable and democratic Ukraine.

With Tanisha Fazal. How Norms Die. Political Violence @ A Glance, March 13, 2017.

Even accepted global norms can quickly disappear when powerful states no longer find them useful. That doesn't make norms weak, but it does make them brittle.

Review of Expect Us: Online Communities and Political Mobilization by Jessica L. Beyer, Perspectives on Politics 13.3:878-9. Oct 2015.

The book is a voyage into a strange land, with the author acting as an online anthropologist—exploring the true meaning of “lulz,” decamping on dragon raids, and deciphering profanity-laden message boards like ancient hieroglyphics.

How do you measure ‘democracy’? The Monkey Cage (Washington Post), June 24, 2015.

Measures of democracy can mislead as much as they clarify. This is a problem not just for academics, but for policy-makers and anyone who cares about democracy more generally.

Social media helps dictators, not just protestors. The Monkey Cage (Washington Post), March 30, 2015.

Social media is increasingly being used to boost autocratic stability and strength, transforming it from an obstacle to government rule into another potential tool of regime resilience.

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