Perspectives on Politics

@poppublicsphere.bsky.social

Peer-reviewed journal of the American Political Science Association, cultivating a political science public sphere.
https://apsanet.org/publications/journals/perspectives-on-politics/

@cambup-polsci.cambridge.org Oct 11, 2026, 1:40 PMReposted by @poppublicsphere.bsky.social

#OpenAccess from the new issue of @poppublicsphere.bsky.social -

The Unitary Executive, the Constitution, and the Trajectory of the Supreme Court’s Approach to the Removal Power - https://cup.org/4qO7cQD

- Joseph Karol Natali

The image features the text "Perspectives on Politics" in bold, blue letters on a white background, with an illustration of a person holding a megaphone in the background. The bottom section reads "#OpenAccess" in white on a blue background.

@nuffieldlibrary.bsky.social Oct 8, 2026, 2:02 PMReposted by @poppublicsphere.bsky.social

This commentary builds on the authors' paper in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social Rethinking the deterrence-disarmament dichotomy: The complex landscape of global nuclear weapons preferences
doi.org/10.1017/S153...

@poppublicsphere.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 7:59 PM

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How Do #Voters Reason about Intraparty Democracy? #Constraints Rather than #Influence

By Ann-Kristin Kölln & Helene Helboe Pedersen

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

@cambup-polsci.cambridge.org Oct 7, 2026, 9:20 AMReposted by @poppublicsphere.bsky.social

#OpenAccess from @poppublicsphere.bsky.social -

How Do Voters Reason about Intraparty Democracy? Constraints Rather than Influence - https://cup.org/4hyGoRK

- @annkristinkolln.bsky.social & Helene Helboe Pedersen

#FirstView

@poppublicsphere.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 2:05 AM

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One Message, Multiple Functions: Local #Propaganda as Bureaucratic Trace Management

By Jianjun Yu

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

@cambup-polsci.cambridge.org Oct 6, 2026, 12:20 PMReposted by @poppublicsphere.bsky.social

#FirstView from @poppublicsphere.bsky.social -

One Message, Multiple Functions: Local Propaganda as Bureaucratic Trace Management - https://cup.org/4ARvgqC

- Jianjun Yu

#FirstView

Banner image featuring the title 'Perspectives on Politics' over a city skyline, with a prominent graffiti quote about free speech and journalism, hashtagged #FirstView.

@cambup-polsci.cambridge.org Oct 2, 2026, 11:40 PMReposted by @poppublicsphere.bsky.social

Perspectives on Politics - Volume 24 - Issue 3 - https://cup.org/4cFOy7V

Where not #OpenAccess, this issue of @poppublicsphere.bsky.social is free to read until the end of October 2026

Cover of "Perspectives on Politics" journal, featuring an illustration of a figure with multiple arms, each holding different weapons and tools. The figure stands on a field of small houses, against a backdrop of soldiers. Text reads: "Special Section: Authoritarian Politics.

@poppublicsphere.bsky.social Oct 3, 2026, 12:08 AM

Thank you, CUP, as always!!

@poppublicsphere.bsky.social Oct 1, 2026, 11:00 PM

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Think #Globally, Act #Locally: The Determinants of Local Policy Makers’ Support for #Climate #Policy

By @sabrinabarias.bsky.social & Joshua A. Schwartz

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

@poppublicsphere.bsky.social Oct 1, 2026, 10:45 PM

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From Courtiers to Courtship: #Tory #Feminism & the Political Dangers of #Flattery

By Geertje Jeanne Bol & @maryjomacdonald.bsky.social

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

@poppublicsphere.bsky.social Oct 1, 2026, 10:15 PM

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The Disappearance of #Political #Moderates Online: How the Privacy Function of #Social #Media Amplifies Observed Political Polarization

By Fuhai Hong, Shouzhi Xia & Chen Zhang

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

@cmist-cmu.bsky.social Sep 30, 2026, 3:36 PMReposted by @poppublicsphere.bsky.social

What kinds of environmental plans do local policymakers support? In Perspectives on Politics, @sabrinabarias.bsky.social and CMIST's @joshschwartz.bsky.social demonstrate that the probability of policy adoption can be increased by strategic design.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

@rgcs-mcgill.bsky.social Sep 29, 2026, 12:50 PMReposted by @poppublicsphere.bsky.social

“From Courtiers to Courtship: Tory Feminism and the Dangers of Flattery,” co-authored with Geertje Bol, in Perspectives on Politics.

doi.org/10.1017/S153...

2/2

Abstract: Flattery appears to be a trivial vice, yet it receives a curious amount of attention in contemporary political analysis. Scholars often view flattery as a symptom of autocratic regimes, an association with a much longer history. In seventeenth-century England, republicans likewise understood the courtier’s flattery as a humiliating sign of slavish dependence on the ruler. This article complicates this position by turning to an understudied perspective in the history of political thought: Tory feminism. We show how two Tory feminists, Mary Astell and Judith Drake, challenged the standard republican narrative by drawing on a broader set of experiences—namely, the dynamics of flattery in courtship. We argue that they used the example of courtship to isolate the true wrong of flattery: its employment to subordinate the flattered. Astell and Drake applied this insight to the political realm, contending that the most morally troubling forms of flattery emerge not in monarchical courts, but in republican political spaces. Recovering the perspectives of Astell and Drake is not merely a matter of diversifying the canon; it also shows how gendered assumptions have shaped our conceptual history of flattery. A more complete account of flattery—its value, dangers, and the political environments in which it flourishes—requires attention to the insights of these Tory women.

@poppublicsphere.bsky.social Oct 1, 2026, 9:59 PM

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Toward Solidarity in #Democratic #Theory & Practice

By John N. Medearis

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

@whpt.bsky.social Sep 29, 2026, 10:33 AMReposted by @poppublicsphere.bsky.social

@maryjomacdonald.bsky.social and Geertje Bol wrote on why flattery of rulers isn't the kind of flattery you should be worried about... Tory feminists show us that flattery is particularly dangerous when it is used to subordinate. 👩‍🏫 First presented at the 2024 WHPT conference in Ghent!

@poppublicsphere.bsky.social Oct 1, 2026, 9:45 PM

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Closing the Gap: #Gender, #Race, & #Welfare-State Knowledge

By Jasmine English

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

@poppublicsphere.bsky.social Oct 1, 2026, 9:38 PM

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American Public Support for #Higher #Education in the Trump Era

By Leonie Huddy & Seden Yilmazturk

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

@kjephd.bsky.social Oct 1, 2026, 8:47 PMReposted by @poppublicsphere.bsky.social

To round these critical perspectives on polarization out, you cannot do better than @pettertornberg.com's essential recent @poppublicsphere.bsky.social article, available here open access: doi.org/10.1017/S153...

It’s Not Polarization; It’s the Radicalization of the Political Right

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 July 2026
Petter Törnberg

Abstract

Polarization has become the master concept for diagnosing contemporary democratic crises. The notion denotes three features: symmetry between parties, politics as an opinion space where positions diverge, and mutual repulsion between opposing camps. Yet none of these capture current realities. Across democracies, the central dynamic is not two poles drifting apart but the transformation of the political right into authoritarianism, norm breaking, and openness to political violence. Social democratic and center-right parties tend to respond in the opposite way from what “polarization” implies: by accommodating rightward. Attempts to salvage the polarization frame with modifiers (“asymmetric,” “affective,” “sectarian,” “pernicious”) concede these realities but risk hollowing out the concept’s definitional core. These limitations reveal a deeper misdiagnosis: when one party turns antidemocratic and illiberal, incivility and conflict are inevitable—but they are symptoms, not the root problem. Misdiagnosing them as the central issue leads to viewing civility and compromise as remedies, thereby risking the legitimation of authoritarian actors. This article proposes an alternative lens: the radicalization of the political right. Developed in the study of extremism, the radicalization framework better captures asymmetric change, identity-driven politics, and the mainstreaming of illiberalism. It foregrounds identity fusion, threat narratives, elite entrepreneurship, and escalation. Concepts are never politically innocent and persisting with “polarization” risks both misdiagnosing and normalizing authoritarian threats.
Keywords
Political polarization
radicalization
democratic backsliding
radical right
authoritarianism
democracy

@campolis.bsky.social Oct 1, 2026, 1:01 PMReposted by @poppublicsphere.bsky.social

📄 New in Perspectives on Politics by POLIS PhD candidate @connorpobrien.bsky.social: ‘Good Governance as Responsible Sovereignty’ 🏛️

Reconstructing Francis Deng’s contributions to conflict management & global governance:

🔗 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

#PolSci #IntRelations #OpenAccess

@joshschwartz.bsky.social Sep 30, 2026, 12:27 PMReposted by @poppublicsphere.bsky.social

It's been 6 years (!) in the making, but I'm happy to share a new piece in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social w/ @sabrinabarias.bsky.social. Since federal efforts to combat climate change have been reversed, we evaluate the kinds of environmental plans *local* policymakers support doi.org/10.1017/S153...

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