Kevin P. Reihle, "The Russian FSB: A Concise History of the Federal Security Service" (Georgetown UP, 2024)
Since its founding in 1995, the FSB, Russia's Federal Security Service, has regained the majority of the domestic security functions of the Soviet-era KGB. Under Vladimir Putin, who served as FSB dire...
26 Maalis 20241h 35min
Anita R. Gohdes, "Repression in the Digital Age: Surveillance, Censorship, and the Dynamics of State Violence" (Oxford UP, 2023)
Global adoption of the Internet has exploded, yet we are only beginning to understand the Internet's profound political consequences. Authoritarian states are digitally catching up with their democrat...
26 Maalis 202434min
Lisa A. Baglione, "Understanding Comparative Politics: An Inclusive Approach" (CQ Press, 2024)
Research in political science shows that collections and textbooks often mention race, gender, ethnicity, and religion – but they don’t consistently use those lenses to understand politics. In Underst...
25 Maalis 202444min
George S. Takach, "Cold War 2.0: Artificial Intelligence in the New Battle between China, Russia, and America" (Pegasus Book, 2024)
A vivid, thoughtful examination of how technological innovation—especially AI—is shaping the tensions between democracy and autocracy during the new Cold War. So much of what we hear about China and ...
24 Maalis 20241h 8min
Jeffrey A. Javed, "Righteous Revolutionaries: Morality, Mobilization, and Violence in the Making of the Chinese State" (U Michigan Press, 2022)
In an era where states and politicians regularly weaponize moral emotions to foment intergroup conflict and violence, understanding the dynamics of violent mobilization and state authority are more re...
23 Maalis 20241h 15min
Karl Widerquist, "Universal Basic Income" (MIT Press, 2024)
Karl Widerquist's Universal Basic Income (MIT Press, 2024) is an accessible introduction to the simple (yet radical) premise that a small cash income, sufficient for basic needs, ought to be provided ...
22 Maalis 202428min
Patryk I. Labuda, "International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability" (Oxford UP, 2023)
In the 1990s, the promise of justice for atrocity crimes was associated with the revival of international criminal tribunals (ICTs). More recently, however, there has been a renewed emphasis on domest...
22 Maalis 202458min
Kalika Mehta, "Strategic Litigation and Corporate Complicity in Crimes Under International Law: A TWAIL Analysis" (Routledge, 2023)
Kalika Mehta's book Strategic Litigation and Corporate Complicity in Crimes Under International Law: A TWAIL Analysis (Routledge, 2023) provides a comprehensive account of how non-state actors rely on...
20 Maalis 20241h 4min
