Political Reality https://politicalrealitypodcast.com/ en 2026 Political Reality Our daily lives seem increasingly overwhelmed by polarization, misinformation, and dubious culture wars, while we face countless serious problems that require thoughtful and evidence-based solutions. To move forward, we need a shared reality of facts and reason with an equally shared dedication to democracy and fairness. The Political Reality podcast is here to fill that void – diving into how politics and governments work, how to make them work better, how to navigate the dizzying world of political information, and how to better understand and approach the “other side”.  We can find a shared political reality if we are willing. https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/e4fe7336-d23a-11f0-952b-ef1b142be698/image/dc517fc1e67f52de882cfaf2081518cb.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress Political Reality https://politicalrealitypodcast.com/ no episodic Political Reality Our daily lives seem increasingly overwhelmed by polarization, misinformation, and dubious culture wars, while we face countless serious problems that require thoughtful and evidence-based solutions. To move forward, we need a shared reality of facts and reason with an equally shared dedication to democracy and fairness. The Political Reality podcast is here to fill that void – diving into how politics and governments work, how to make them work better, how to navigate the dizzying world of political information, and how to better understand and approach the “other side”.  We can find a shared political reality if we are willing. Our daily lives seem increasingly overwhelmed by polarization, misinformation, and dubious culture wars, while we face countless serious problems that require thoughtful and evidence-based solutions. To move forward, we need a shared reality of facts and reason with an equally shared dedication to democracy and fairness. The Political Reality podcast is here to fill that void – diving into how politics and governments work, how to make them work better, how to navigate the dizzying world of political information, and how to better understand and approach the “other side”.  We can find a shared political reality if we are willing.

]]> Jay Novella info@politicalrealitypodcast.com Damage to Science Under Trump | S01E18 | Political Reality https://www.npr.org/2025/12/22/nx-s1-5642965/what-cuts-to-research-under-trump-have-meant-for-science-in-2025⁠ ⁠https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-026-00088-9/index.html⁠ ⁠https://www.science.org/content/article/how-trump-administration-dismantling-science-u-s⁠ ⁠https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/opinion/doge-hiv-funding.html⁠ ⁠https://scienceimpacts.org⁠ ⁠https://www.cgdev.org/blog/update-lives-lost-usaid-cuts⁠ Thu, 07 May 2026 00:01:00 -0000 Damage to Science Under Trump full 1 18 Political Reality https://www.npr.org/2025/12/22/nx-s1-5642965/what-cuts-to-research-under-trump-have-meant-for-science-in-2025⁠ ⁠https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-026-00088-9/index.html⁠ ⁠https://www.science.org/content/article/how-trump-administration-dismantling-science-u-s⁠ ⁠https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/opinion/doge-hiv-funding.html⁠ ⁠https://scienceimpacts.org⁠ ⁠https://www.cgdev.org/blog/update-lives-lost-usaid-cuts⁠ https://www.npr.org/2025/12/22/nx-s1-5642965/what-cuts-to-research-under-trump-have-meant-for-science-in-2025⁠

⁠https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-026-00088-9/index.html⁠

⁠https://www.science.org/content/article/how-trump-administration-dismantling-science-u-s⁠

⁠https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/opinion/doge-hiv-funding.html⁠

⁠https://scienceimpacts.org⁠

⁠https://www.cgdev.org/blog/update-lives-lost-usaid-cuts⁠

]]> 3940 PREVIEW: Politicization of Science | S01E17 | Political Reality https://www.patreon.com/posts/politicization-156907450 Wed, 29 Apr 2026 21:31:00 -0000 PREVIEW: Politicization of Science trailer 1 17 Political Reality https://www.patreon.com/posts/politicization-156907450 https://www.patreon.com/posts/politicization-156907450

]]> 607 no What would it take to solve homelessness in America? with Andrew Heaton! | S01E16 | Political Reality 1. 🎙️ Check out Andrew Heaton’s podcast and Substack, The Political Orphanagehttps://www.thepoliticalorphanage.com 2. ▶️ You can also find his podcast and other videos on YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/@AndrewHeatonTPO 3. 📚 Here’s one of his many books: Tribalism is Dumbhttps://www.amazon.com/Tribalism-Dumb-Where-Came-about/dp/B0DJKSZP6J 4. 🎧 Here are some of his Political Orphanage episodes that are about homelessness:     🏚️ Homelessness, and our stupid solutions     https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/homelessness-and-our-stupid-solutions/id1439837349?i=1000548447580     🦖 How Godzilla beat the housing crisis     https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-godzilla-beat-the-housing-crisis/id1439837349?i=1000710268550&l=fr-FR     🏘️ The best tiny house village in America (an interview with Alan Graham, the founder of Community First! Village, an organization we discussed in the episode)     https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-best-tiny-house-village-in-america/id1439837349?i=1000549032659     🐶 We’ll watch your dog while you’re in rehab (an interview with Evan Taylor and Cindy Webb, who lead Pause for Paws, one of the organizations we talked about in the episode)     https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/well-watch-your-dog-while-youre-in-rehab/id1439837349?i=1000685060836 5. 🏡 More information about Community First! Villagehttps://mlf.org/community-first/ 6. 🐾 More information about Pause for Pawshttps://www.pause4pawsok.org 7. 🌐 Check out all of Andrew Heaton’s goings on:https://mightyheaton.com/ 8. 😂 You can also watch him in comedy videos about politics, like this one!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1z_xtOmgek Wed, 22 Apr 2026 20:41:00 -0000 What would it take to solve homelessness in America? with Andrew Heaton! full 1 16 Political Reality 1. 🎙️ Check out Andrew Heaton’s podcast and Substack, The Political Orphanagehttps://www.thepoliticalorphanage.com 2. ▶️ You can also find his podcast and other videos on YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/@AndrewHeatonTPO 3. 📚 Here’s one of his many books: Tribalism is Dumbhttps://www.amazon.com/Tribalism-Dumb-Where-Came-about/dp/B0DJKSZP6J 4. 🎧 Here are some of his Political Orphanage episodes that are about homelessness:     🏚️ Homelessness, and our stupid solutions     https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/homelessness-and-our-stupid-solutions/id1439837349?i=1000548447580     🦖 How Godzilla beat the housing crisis     https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-godzilla-beat-the-housing-crisis/id1439837349?i=1000710268550&l=fr-FR     🏘️ The best tiny house village in America (an interview with Alan Graham, the founder of Community First! Village, an organization we discussed in the episode)     https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-best-tiny-house-village-in-america/id1439837349?i=1000549032659     🐶 We’ll watch your dog while you’re in rehab (an interview with Evan Taylor and Cindy Webb, who lead Pause for Paws, one of the organizations we talked about in the episode)     https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/well-watch-your-dog-while-youre-in-rehab/id1439837349?i=1000685060836 5. 🏡 More information about Community First! Villagehttps://mlf.org/community-first/ 6. 🐾 More information about Pause for Pawshttps://www.pause4pawsok.org 7. 🌐 Check out all of Andrew Heaton’s goings on:https://mightyheaton.com/ 8. 😂 You can also watch him in comedy videos about politics, like this one!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1z_xtOmgek 1. 🎙️ Check out Andrew Heaton’s podcast and Substack, The Political Orphanage
https://www.thepoliticalorphanage.com

2. ▶️ You can also find his podcast and other videos on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@AndrewHeatonTPO

3. 📚 Here’s one of his many books: Tribalism is Dumb
https://www.amazon.com/Tribalism-Dumb-Where-Came-about/dp/B0DJKSZP6J

4. 🎧 Here are some of his Political Orphanage episodes that are about homelessness:

    🏚️ Homelessness, and our stupid solutions
    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/homelessness-and-our-stupid-solutions/id1439837349?i=1000548447580

    🦖 How Godzilla beat the housing crisis
    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-godzilla-beat-the-housing-crisis/id1439837349?i=1000710268550&l=fr-FR

    🏘️ The best tiny house village in America (an interview with Alan Graham, the founder of Community First! Village, an organization we discussed in the episode)
    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-best-tiny-house-village-in-america/id1439837349?i=1000549032659

    🐶 We’ll watch your dog while you’re in rehab (an interview with Evan Taylor and Cindy Webb, who lead Pause for Paws, one of the organizations we talked about in the episode)
    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/well-watch-your-dog-while-youre-in-rehab/id1439837349?i=1000685060836

5. 🏡 More information about Community First! Village
https://mlf.org/community-first/

6. 🐾 More information about Pause for Paws
https://www.pause4pawsok.org

7. 🌐 Check out all of Andrew Heaton’s goings on:
https://mightyheaton.com/

8. 😂 You can also watch him in comedy videos about politics, like this one!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1z_xtOmgek


]]> 3880 no PREVIEW: Urban Rural Bias | S01E15 | Political Reality https://www.patreon.com/posts/155715368 Full Episode: https://www.patreon.com/posts/155715368 1. 📚 Katherine J. Cramer, The Politics of Resentmenthttps://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo22879533.html     📝 a. Non-paywalled, non-scientific, but nevertheless helpful and short(!) student summary of a talk by Kathy about this work     https://civic.mit.edu/index.html?p=1891.html 2. 📄 Katherine J. Cramer, “Putting inequality in its place: Rural consciousness and the power of perspective.”https://www.jstor.org/stable/23275431     🔬 a. Somewhat unrelated, and we didn’t actually mention this in the episode, but Katherine Cramer is also involved in a project at the MIT Center for Constructive Communication that might be of interest to our audience :)     https://www.ccc.mit.edu 3. 📄 Nelson & Petsko, “Race and white rural consciousness”https://www.christopherpetsko.com/uploads/1/2/5/8/125868532/race-and-white-rural-consciousness.pdf 4. 📄 Trujillo & Crowley, “Symbolic versus material concerns of rural consciousness in the United States”https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0962629822000725 5. 📄 Brown & Mettler, “Rural politics in the United States”https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-040623-114017 6. 📄 Brown & Mettler, “Sequential polarization: The development of the rural-urban political divide, 1976–2020”https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/sequential-polarization-the-development-of-the-ruralurban-political-divide-19762020/ED2077E0263BC149FED8538CD9B27109 7. 🌐 Quick article summarizing some empirical trends between population density and vote sharehttps://stanfordmag.org/contents/the-urban-rural-divide 8. 📄 Kaufman, “Where are the values voters? Ideological constraint and stability among rural, suburban, and urban populations in the United States”https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0743016721003259     📊 a. Relatedly, here’s a research report that underscores that urban, suburban, and rural areas are by no means monoliths     https://globalaffairs.org/sites/default/files/2021-08/report_urban-rural-divide-us-foreign-policy_170524.pdf     📈 b. And here’s a Pew survey with similar findings     https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/05/22/what-unites-and-divides-urban-suburban-and-rural-communities/ 9. 🤝 Braver Angels is an example of an organization working to increase conversations across political differences, including between urban and rural Americanshttps://braverangels.org 10. 📚 Lorrie Frasure-Yokley, Racial and ethnic politics in American suburbs (we touched on these themes a bit in our discussion of the suburbs, but certainly much more to cover in future episodes about racial and ethnic politics!)https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/racial-and-ethnic-politics-in-american-suburbs/8E23703D5C1E6DDA8D7AB7609C6C0E9F     🎤 a. Separately, here’s an interesting interview with Lorrie about the need for more high-quality data for research on this topic!     https://politicalsciencenow.com/ucla-associate-professor-of-political-science-lorrie-frasure-yokley-shares-her-experiences-as-a-political-scientist-and-apsa-member/     🏙️ b. For more on suburbs if you’re interested: Thomas Vicino is another political scientist whose body of research on the suburbs may be of interest, particularly his recent, “In what sense a post-suburban era?” in The Routledge Companion to the Suburbs     https://thomasjvicino.com/research     https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/89019656/9781315266442-4-libre.pdf Wed, 15 Apr 2026 20:44:00 -0000 PREVIEW: Urban Rural Bias trailer 1 15 Political Reality Full Episode: https://www.patreon.com/posts/155715368 1. 📚 Katherine J. Cramer, The Politics of Resentmenthttps://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo22879533.html     📝 a. Non-paywalled, non-scientific, but nevertheless helpful and short(!) student summary of a talk by Kathy about this work     https://civic.mit.edu/index.html?p=1891.html 2. 📄 Katherine J. Cramer, “Putting inequality in its place: Rural consciousness and the power of perspective.”https://www.jstor.org/stable/23275431     🔬 a. Somewhat unrelated, and we didn’t actually mention this in the episode, but Katherine Cramer is also involved in a project at the MIT Center for Constructive Communication that might be of interest to our audience :)     https://www.ccc.mit.edu 3. 📄 Nelson & Petsko, “Race and white rural consciousness”https://www.christopherpetsko.com/uploads/1/2/5/8/125868532/race-and-white-rural-consciousness.pdf 4. 📄 Trujillo & Crowley, “Symbolic versus material concerns of rural consciousness in the United States”https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0962629822000725 5. 📄 Brown & Mettler, “Rural politics in the United States”https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-040623-114017 6. 📄 Brown & Mettler, “Sequential polarization: The development of the rural-urban political divide, 1976–2020”https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/sequential-polarization-the-development-of-the-ruralurban-political-divide-19762020/ED2077E0263BC149FED8538CD9B27109 7. 🌐 Quick article summarizing some empirical trends between population density and vote sharehttps://stanfordmag.org/contents/the-urban-rural-divide 8. 📄 Kaufman, “Where are the values voters? Ideological constraint and stability among rural, suburban, and urban populations in the United States”https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0743016721003259     📊 a. Relatedly, here’s a research report that underscores that urban, suburban, and rural areas are by no means monoliths     https://globalaffairs.org/sites/default/files/2021-08/report_urban-rural-divide-us-foreign-policy_170524.pdf     📈 b. And here’s a Pew survey with similar findings     https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/05/22/what-unites-and-divides-urban-suburban-and-rural-communities/ 9. 🤝 Braver Angels is an example of an organization working to increase conversations across political differences, including between urban and rural Americanshttps://braverangels.org 10. 📚 Lorrie Frasure-Yokley, Racial and ethnic politics in American suburbs (we touched on these themes a bit in our discussion of the suburbs, but certainly much more to cover in future episodes about racial and ethnic politics!)https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/racial-and-ethnic-politics-in-american-suburbs/8E23703D5C1E6DDA8D7AB7609C6C0E9F     🎤 a. Separately, here’s an interesting interview with Lorrie about the need for more high-quality data for research on this topic!     https://politicalsciencenow.com/ucla-associate-professor-of-political-science-lorrie-frasure-yokley-shares-her-experiences-as-a-political-scientist-and-apsa-member/     🏙️ b. For more on suburbs if you’re interested: Thomas Vicino is another political scientist whose body of research on the suburbs may be of interest, particularly his recent, “In what sense a post-suburban era?” in The Routledge Companion to the Suburbs     https://thomasjvicino.com/research     https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/89019656/9781315266442-4-libre.pdf Full Episode: https://www.patreon.com/posts/155715368

1. 📚 Katherine J. Cramer, The Politics of Resentment
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo22879533.html

    📝 a. Non-paywalled, non-scientific, but nevertheless helpful and short(!) student summary of a talk by Kathy about this work
    https://civic.mit.edu/index.html?p=1891.html

2. 📄 Katherine J. Cramer, “Putting inequality in its place: Rural consciousness and the power of perspective.”
https://www.jstor.org/stable/23275431

    🔬 a. Somewhat unrelated, and we didn’t actually mention this in the episode, but Katherine Cramer is also involved in a project at the MIT Center for Constructive Communication that might be of interest to our audience :)
    https://www.ccc.mit.edu

3. 📄 Nelson & Petsko, “Race and white rural consciousness”
https://www.christopherpetsko.com/uploads/1/2/5/8/125868532/race-and-white-rural-consciousness.pdf

4. 📄 Trujillo & Crowley, “Symbolic versus material concerns of rural consciousness in the United States”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0962629822000725

5. 📄 Brown & Mettler, “Rural politics in the United States”
https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-040623-114017

6. 📄 Brown & Mettler, “Sequential polarization: The development of the rural-urban political divide, 1976–2020”
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/sequential-polarization-the-development-of-the-ruralurban-political-divide-19762020/ED2077E0263BC149FED8538CD9B27109

7. 🌐 Quick article summarizing some empirical trends between population density and vote share
https://stanfordmag.org/contents/the-urban-rural-divide

8. 📄 Kaufman, “Where are the values voters? Ideological constraint and stability among rural, suburban, and urban populations in the United States”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0743016721003259

    📊 a. Relatedly, here’s a research report that underscores that urban, suburban, and rural areas are by no means monoliths
    https://globalaffairs.org/sites/default/files/2021-08/report_urban-rural-divide-us-foreign-policy_170524.pdf

    📈 b. And here’s a Pew survey with similar findings
    https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/05/22/what-unites-and-divides-urban-suburban-and-rural-communities/

9. 🤝 Braver Angels is an example of an organization working to increase conversations across political differences, including between urban and rural Americans
https://braverangels.org

10. 📚 Lorrie Frasure-Yokley, Racial and ethnic politics in American suburbs (we touched on these themes a bit in our discussion of the suburbs, but certainly much more to cover in future episodes about racial and ethnic politics!)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/racial-and-ethnic-politics-in-american-suburbs/8E23703D5C1E6DDA8D7AB7609C6C0E9F

    🎤 a. Separately, here’s an interesting interview with Lorrie about the need for more high-quality data for research on this topic!
    https://politicalsciencenow.com/ucla-associate-professor-of-political-science-lorrie-frasure-yokley-shares-her-experiences-as-a-political-scientist-and-apsa-member/

    🏙️ b. For more on suburbs if you’re interested: Thomas Vicino is another political scientist whose body of research on the suburbs may be of interest, particularly his recent, “In what sense a post-suburban era?” in The Routledge Companion to the Suburbs
    https://thomasjvicino.com/research
    https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/89019656/9781315266442-4-libre.pdf


]]> 610 no Alliances with Prof Paul Poast | S01E14 | Political Reality 1. 📄 Downs et al. (2009), “Is the good news about compliance good news about cooperation?”https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/is-the-good-news-about-compliance-good-news-about-cooperation/636DE333F8E1EC944825DDBFD81BE294 2. 📄 Von Stein (2005), “Do treaties constrain or screen? Selection bias and treaty compliance”https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/do-treaties-constrain-or-screen-selection-bias-and-treaty-compliance/99619F321DE63766D626E19155D69C35 3. 📄 Morrow (2000), “Alliances: Why write them down?”https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.polisci.3.1.63 4. 🌍 Wendt (1992), “Anarchy is what states make of it: the social construction of power politics”https://www.jstor.org/stable/2706858     🧠 a. Brief description of constructivism     https://www.e-ir.info/2020/05/19/a-brief-overview-of-alexander-wendts-constructivism/     🤓 b. What’s that? You wanted even more on constructivism?     https://institutes.abu.edu.ng/idr/public/assets/docs/Constructivism%20and%20International%20Relations%20%20Alexander%20Wendt%20and%20his%20Critics%20(The%20New%20International%20Relations)%20(%20PDFDrive%20).pdf 5. 📊 Major dataset on military alliances by Prof. Brett Ashley Leeds (whose work we also discussed)http://www.atopdata.orghttps://leeds.rice.edu/research/ 6. 📰 Paul’s weekly columns for the World Politics Reviewhttps://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/author/paul-poast-2920/ 7. 📚 One of Paul’s (several, excellent) books, Arguing about Allianceshttps://www.paulpoast.com/arguing-about-alliances 8. 🌐 Recent-ish article in the Atlantic by Paul, “Not a world war but a world at war” (we didn’t talk about this specifically in the episode, but it’s a great writeup)https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/11/conflicts-around-the-world-peak/676029/ 9. 🔗 Paul’s websitehttps://www.paulpoast.com/ 10. 💼 Follow Paul on LinkedIn – he posts regular commentary on international relations events as they unfoldhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-poast-83550b79/https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7446569050081710080/?originTrackingId=bnCSJxFBZsvkuC7Xqvk9nw%3D%3D Wed, 08 Apr 2026 17:48:00 -0000 Alliances with Prof Paul Poast full 1 14 Political Reality 1. 📄 Downs et al. (2009), “Is the good news about compliance good news about cooperation?”https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/is-the-good-news-about-compliance-good-news-about-cooperation/636DE333F8E1EC944825DDBFD81BE294 2. 📄 Von Stein (2005), “Do treaties constrain or screen? Selection bias and treaty compliance”https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/do-treaties-constrain-or-screen-selection-bias-and-treaty-compliance/99619F321DE63766D626E19155D69C35 3. 📄 Morrow (2000), “Alliances: Why write them down?”https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.polisci.3.1.63 4. 🌍 Wendt (1992), “Anarchy is what states make of it: the social construction of power politics”https://www.jstor.org/stable/2706858     🧠 a. Brief description of constructivism     https://www.e-ir.info/2020/05/19/a-brief-overview-of-alexander-wendts-constructivism/     🤓 b. What’s that? You wanted even more on constructivism?     https://institutes.abu.edu.ng/idr/public/assets/docs/Constructivism%20and%20International%20Relations%20%20Alexander%20Wendt%20and%20his%20Critics%20(The%20New%20International%20Relations)%20(%20PDFDrive%20).pdf 5. 📊 Major dataset on military alliances by Prof. Brett Ashley Leeds (whose work we also discussed)http://www.atopdata.orghttps://leeds.rice.edu/research/ 6. 📰 Paul’s weekly columns for the World Politics Reviewhttps://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/author/paul-poast-2920/ 7. 📚 One of Paul’s (several, excellent) books, Arguing about Allianceshttps://www.paulpoast.com/arguing-about-alliances 8. 🌐 Recent-ish article in the Atlantic by Paul, “Not a world war but a world at war” (we didn’t talk about this specifically in the episode, but it’s a great writeup)https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/11/conflicts-around-the-world-peak/676029/ 9. 🔗 Paul’s websitehttps://www.paulpoast.com/ 10. 💼 Follow Paul on LinkedIn – he posts regular commentary on international relations events as they unfoldhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-poast-83550b79/https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7446569050081710080/?originTrackingId=bnCSJxFBZsvkuC7Xqvk9nw%3D%3D 1. 📄 Downs et al. (2009), “Is the good news about compliance good news about cooperation?”
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/is-the-good-news-about-compliance-good-news-about-cooperation/636DE333F8E1EC944825DDBFD81BE294

2. 📄 Von Stein (2005), “Do treaties constrain or screen? Selection bias and treaty compliance”
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/do-treaties-constrain-or-screen-selection-bias-and-treaty-compliance/99619F321DE63766D626E19155D69C35

3. 📄 Morrow (2000), “Alliances: Why write them down?”
https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.polisci.3.1.63

4. 🌍 Wendt (1992), “Anarchy is what states make of it: the social construction of power politics”
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2706858

    🧠 a. Brief description of constructivism
    https://www.e-ir.info/2020/05/19/a-brief-overview-of-alexander-wendts-constructivism/

    🤓 b. What’s that? You wanted even more on constructivism?
    https://institutes.abu.edu.ng/idr/public/assets/docs/Constructivism%20and%20International%20Relations%20%20Alexander%20Wendt%20and%20his%20Critics%20(The%20New%20International%20Relations)%20(%20PDFDrive%20).pdf

5. 📊 Major dataset on military alliances by Prof. Brett Ashley Leeds (whose work we also discussed)
http://www.atopdata.org
https://leeds.rice.edu/research/

6. 📰 Paul’s weekly columns for the World Politics Review
https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/author/paul-poast-2920/

7. 📚 One of Paul’s (several, excellent) books, Arguing about Alliances
https://www.paulpoast.com/arguing-about-alliances

8. 🌐 Recent-ish article in the Atlantic by Paul, “Not a world war but a world at war” (we didn’t talk about this specifically in the episode, but it’s a great writeup)
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/11/conflicts-around-the-world-peak/676029/

9. 🔗 Paul’s website
https://www.paulpoast.com/

10. 💼 Follow Paul on LinkedIn – he posts regular commentary on international relations events as they unfold
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-poast-83550b79/
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7446569050081710080/?originTrackingId=bnCSJxFBZsvkuC7Xqvk9nw%3D%3D


]]> 3273 no PREVIEW: What does it take to change a mind | Political Reality | S01E13 https://www.patreon.com/posts/154543292/ 1. 🚪 Broockman and Kalla, “Durably reducing transphobia: A field experiment on door-to-door canvassing” (the excellent paper that’s a great model for field experiments on this topic)https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aad9713     🧠 a. In general, Joshua Kalla and David Broockman’s work (joint and separate) is worth checking out, both on political persuasion and other topics (mostly connected to political attitudes one way or another).     https://joshuakalla.com/research/     https://polisci.berkeley.edu/people/person/david-edward-broockman     🧪 b. I particularly recommend their work as great examples of using experiments in political science     👂 c. Some of the remaining open questions about the role of listening in political persuasion conversations are discussed thoughtfully here.     https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2421982122 2. ⚠️ The retracted paper we mentioned and a brief article about the retraction. Even more gory details about the retraction.     📄 Paper:     https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1256151     📰 Article:     https://www.science.org/content/article/science-retracts-gay-marriage-paper-without-agreement-lead-author-lacour     🔍 More details:     https://retractionwatch.com/2025/06/06/same-sex-marriage-retraction-political-science-study-lacour-green-broockman-kalla/     📚 a. The more senior coauthor on the retracted paper is quite prolific on persuasion specifically in the context of political campaigns and also recently in the context of AI; his other work has not been retracted as far as we know!     https://donaldgreen.com 3. 📊 A comprehensive recent overview of the state of the research on persuasion, including what we don’t know and why some of the pieces don’t quite fit together stillhttps://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051120-110428 4. 🌱 Broader, more background review paper on where political preferences come from in the first place and what affects them. (We didn’t talk about this specifically, I just think it’s interesting and helpful — and reflects earlier thinking that shaped much of the more recent research.)https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.polisci.3.1.1 5. 💻 Experiment on reducing antisemitism, measured in terms of online browsing behavior after an interventionhttps://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-experimental-political-science/article/combating-hateful-attitudes-and-online-browsing-behavior-the-case-of-antisemitism/05E860416F9D0B7EFEFA0AABDB88C33D 6. 📰 We may have cited him in other episodes, but Adam Berinsky’s work on combatting misinformation is always in the background whenever we talk about media, misinformation, social media, changing minds – anything along that theme – and is always worth a look.https://berinsky.mit.edu/published-papers/#overlay-context=research Thu, 02 Apr 2026 02:30:00 -0000 PREVIEW: What does it take to change a mind trailer 1 13 Political Reality 1. 🚪 Broockman and Kalla, “Durably reducing transphobia: A field experiment on door-to-door canvassing” (the excellent paper that’s a great model for field experiments on this topic)https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aad9713     🧠 a. In general, Joshua Kalla and David Broockman’s work (joint and separate) is worth checking out, both on political persuasion and other topics (mostly connected to political attitudes one way or another).     https://joshuakalla.com/research/     https://polisci.berkeley.edu/people/person/david-edward-broockman     🧪 b. I particularly recommend their work as great examples of using experiments in political science     👂 c. Some of the remaining open questions about the role of listening in political persuasion conversations are discussed thoughtfully here.     https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2421982122 2. ⚠️ The retracted paper we mentioned and a brief article about the retraction. Even more gory details about the retraction.     📄 Paper:     https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1256151     📰 Article:     https://www.science.org/content/article/science-retracts-gay-marriage-paper-without-agreement-lead-author-lacour     🔍 More details:     https://retractionwatch.com/2025/06/06/same-sex-marriage-retraction-political-science-study-lacour-green-broockman-kalla/     📚 a. The more senior coauthor on the retracted paper is quite prolific on persuasion specifically in the context of political campaigns and also recently in the context of AI; his other work has not been retracted as far as we know!     https://donaldgreen.com 3. 📊 A comprehensive recent overview of the state of the research on persuasion, including what we don’t know and why some of the pieces don’t quite fit together stillhttps://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051120-110428 4. 🌱 Broader, more background review paper on where political preferences come from in the first place and what affects them. (We didn’t talk about this specifically, I just think it’s interesting and helpful — and reflects earlier thinking that shaped much of the more recent research.)https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.polisci.3.1.1 5. 💻 Experiment on reducing antisemitism, measured in terms of online browsing behavior after an interventionhttps://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-experimental-political-science/article/combating-hateful-attitudes-and-online-browsing-behavior-the-case-of-antisemitism/05E860416F9D0B7EFEFA0AABDB88C33D 6. 📰 We may have cited him in other episodes, but Adam Berinsky’s work on combatting misinformation is always in the background whenever we talk about media, misinformation, social media, changing minds – anything along that theme – and is always worth a look.https://berinsky.mit.edu/published-papers/#overlay-context=research 1. 🚪 Broockman and Kalla, “Durably reducing transphobia: A field experiment on door-to-door canvassing” (the excellent paper that’s a great model for field experiments on this topic)
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aad9713

    🧠 a. In general, Joshua Kalla and David Broockman’s work (joint and separate) is worth checking out, both on political persuasion and other topics (mostly connected to political attitudes one way or another).
    https://joshuakalla.com/research/
    https://polisci.berkeley.edu/people/person/david-edward-broockman

    🧪 b. I particularly recommend their work as great examples of using experiments in political science

    👂 c. Some of the remaining open questions about the role of listening in political persuasion conversations are discussed thoughtfully here.
    https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2421982122

2. ⚠️ The retracted paper we mentioned and a brief article about the retraction. Even more gory details about the retraction.

    📄 Paper:
    https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1256151

    📰 Article:
    https://www.science.org/content/article/science-retracts-gay-marriage-paper-without-agreement-lead-author-lacour

    🔍 More details:
    https://retractionwatch.com/2025/06/06/same-sex-marriage-retraction-political-science-study-lacour-green-broockman-kalla/

    📚 a. The more senior coauthor on the retracted paper is quite prolific on persuasion specifically in the context of political campaigns and also recently in the context of AI; his other work has not been retracted as far as we know!
    https://donaldgreen.com

3. 📊 A comprehensive recent overview of the state of the research on persuasion, including what we don’t know and why some of the pieces don’t quite fit together still
https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051120-110428

4. 🌱 Broader, more background review paper on where political preferences come from in the first place and what affects them. (We didn’t talk about this specifically, I just think it’s interesting and helpful — and reflects earlier thinking that shaped much of the more recent research.)
https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.polisci.3.1.1

5. 💻 Experiment on reducing antisemitism, measured in terms of online browsing behavior after an intervention
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-experimental-political-science/article/combating-hateful-attitudes-and-online-browsing-behavior-the-case-of-antisemitism/05E860416F9D0B7EFEFA0AABDB88C33D

6. 📰 We may have cited him in other episodes, but Adam Berinsky’s work on combatting misinformation is always in the background whenever we talk about media, misinformation, social media, changing minds – anything along that theme – and is always worth a look.
https://berinsky.mit.edu/published-papers/#overlay-context=research


]]> 610 no The SAVE act, Voter ID laws, and turnout in America | Political Reality | S01E12 https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalReality/comments/1s3osfs/the_save_act_voter_id_laws_and_turnout_in_america/ https://politicalrealitypodcast.com Show Notes for Voter ID Ep. 📄 Riker and Ordeshook, “A Theory of the Calculus of Voting” (paper where the key equation came from):https://www.jstor.org/stable/1953324 ⚡ World’s briefest summary of the above:https://adambrown.info/p/notes/riker_and_ordeshook_a_theory_of_the_calculus_of_voting 📊 Meta-study of papers that built from this earlier work (alas, it’s behind a paywall, I’m sorry):https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261379412001527 📚 “Classic” (2008 lol cry) review of research on convenience voting:https://www.annualreviews.org/docserver/fulltext/pl/11/1/annurev.polisci.11.053006.190912.pdf?expires=1774472398&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=4CCCEB2034EED20DCF150C7F87AD6286 ➕ plus some specific papers (there are lots more out there but this is a decent start):     🧠 People with greater political knowledge are more likely to use convenience voting:     https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17457289.2020.1814308     ⚖️ Convenience voting can exacerbate socioeconomic biases in composition of voters:     https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.mit.edu/dist/9/583/files/2026/01/perverseconsequences_2005.pdf     📬 Voting by mail increases turnout but does so differently across groups:     https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.mit.edu/dist/9/583/files/2026/01/whovotesbymail_2001.pdf 🏛️ Background on the SAVE act:     🔎 https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/five-things-to-know-about-the-save-act/     📰 https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/9-things-to-know-about-the-proposed-save-america-act     ⚠️ https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/new-save-act-bills-would-still-block-millions-americans-voting 📜 The SAVE act itself:https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/22/text 🗺️ Voter ID laws by state:https://ballotpedia.org/Voter_identification_laws_by_state ⚖️ Discussion of the constitutionality and legality of the SAVE act:https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/03/the-supreme-court-and-voting-identification/ 💸 Discussion of the poll tax issue regarding the SAVE act:https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5757040-save-act-voter-id-debate/ Wed, 25 Mar 2026 22:21:00 -0000 The SAVE act, Voter ID laws, and turnout in America full 1 12 Political Reality https://politicalrealitypodcast.com Show Notes for Voter ID Ep. 📄 Riker and Ordeshook, “A Theory of the Calculus of Voting” (paper where the key equation came from):https://www.jstor.org/stable/1953324 ⚡ World’s briefest summary of the above:https://adambrown.info/p/notes/riker_and_ordeshook_a_theory_of_the_calculus_of_voting 📊 Meta-study of papers that built from this earlier work (alas, it’s behind a paywall, I’m sorry):https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261379412001527 📚 “Classic” (2008 lol cry) review of research on convenience voting:https://www.annualreviews.org/docserver/fulltext/pl/11/1/annurev.polisci.11.053006.190912.pdf?expires=1774472398&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=4CCCEB2034EED20DCF150C7F87AD6286 ➕ plus some specific papers (there are lots more out there but this is a decent start):     🧠 People with greater political knowledge are more likely to use convenience voting:     https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17457289.2020.1814308     ⚖️ Convenience voting can exacerbate socioeconomic biases in composition of voters:     https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.mit.edu/dist/9/583/files/2026/01/perverseconsequences_2005.pdf     📬 Voting by mail increases turnout but does so differently across groups:     https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.mit.edu/dist/9/583/files/2026/01/whovotesbymail_2001.pdf 🏛️ Background on the SAVE act:     🔎 https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/five-things-to-know-about-the-save-act/     📰 https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/9-things-to-know-about-the-proposed-save-america-act     ⚠️ https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/new-save-act-bills-would-still-block-millions-americans-voting 📜 The SAVE act itself:https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/22/text 🗺️ Voter ID laws by state:https://ballotpedia.org/Voter_identification_laws_by_state ⚖️ Discussion of the constitutionality and legality of the SAVE act:https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/03/the-supreme-court-and-voting-identification/ 💸 Discussion of the poll tax issue regarding the SAVE act:https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5757040-save-act-voter-id-debate/ https://politicalrealitypodcast.com

Show Notes for Voter ID Ep.

📄 Riker and Ordeshook, “A Theory of the Calculus of Voting” (paper where the key equation came from):
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1953324

⚡ World’s briefest summary of the above:
https://adambrown.info/p/notes/riker_and_ordeshook_a_theory_of_the_calculus_of_voting

📊 Meta-study of papers that built from this earlier work (alas, it’s behind a paywall, I’m sorry):
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261379412001527

📚 “Classic” (2008 lol cry) review of research on convenience voting:
https://www.annualreviews.org/docserver/fulltext/pl/11/1/annurev.polisci.11.053006.190912.pdf?expires=1774472398&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=4CCCEB2034EED20DCF150C7F87AD6286

➕ plus some specific papers (there are lots more out there but this is a decent start):

    🧠 People with greater political knowledge are more likely to use convenience voting:
    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17457289.2020.1814308

    ⚖️ Convenience voting can exacerbate socioeconomic biases in composition of voters:
    https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.mit.edu/dist/9/583/files/2026/01/perverseconsequences_2005.pdf

    📬 Voting by mail increases turnout but does so differently across groups:
    https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.mit.edu/dist/9/583/files/2026/01/whovotesbymail_2001.pdf

🏛️ Background on the SAVE act:

    🔎 https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/five-things-to-know-about-the-save-act/
    📰 https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/9-things-to-know-about-the-proposed-save-america-act
    ⚠️ https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/new-save-act-bills-would-still-block-millions-americans-voting

📜 The SAVE act itself:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/22/text

🗺️ Voter ID laws by state:
https://ballotpedia.org/Voter_identification_laws_by_state

⚖️ Discussion of the constitutionality and legality of the SAVE act:
https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/03/the-supreme-court-and-voting-identification/

💸 Discussion of the poll tax issue regarding the SAVE act:
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5757040-save-act-voter-id-debate/


]]> 2181 no PREVIEW: Gerrymandering: Mutually Artificial Democracy | Political Reality | S01E11 https://www.patreon.com/posts/153378447 Show Notes Coming Soon Wed, 18 Mar 2026 22:02:00 -0000 PREVIEW: Gerrymandering: Mutually Artificial Democracy trailer 1 11 Political Reality Why does gerrymandering exist and what can we do about it? Show Notes Coming Soon Show Notes Coming Soon

]]> 610 no Cutting through the fog of war in Iran | Political Reality | S01E10 https://politicalrealitypodcast.com/ 📰 Reporting on extent to which 2025 US strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckglxwp5x03o ⚛️ Details about Iran’s uranium enriched to 60%: https://www.armscontrol.org/issue-briefs/2026-03/us-war-iran-new-and-lingering-nuclear-risks 📄 March 2026 Congressional report about Iran’s nuclear capabilities: https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IN12665 ☢️ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reporting on Iran’s nuclear activities and uranium stockpiles: https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/iran/iaea-and-iran-iaea-board-reports 🛰️ Satellite imagery of the Feb. 28, 2026, school strike in Iran: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/world/middleeast/iran-school-us-strikes-naval-base.html 🚀 Evidence that the school was struck by a US Tomahawk cruise missile: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/world/middleeast/iran-minab-school-strike.html 📺 Reporter Jeremy Vine correcting himself about the dancing video: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tv/article-15616555/jeremy-vine-alan-partridge-iran-blunder-channel-5.html 🤖 Examples of AI-generated war videos and photos: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg8wvz427vo 🐦 Example of a “shallowfake” posted on X: https://x.com/TehranTimes79/status/2027766149862117731? 🎬 Examples of “hype” videos shared by the US government: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/07/trump-iran-hype-videos 🔍 BBC verify: https://www.bbc.com/news/bbcverify Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:26:00 -0000 Cutting through the fog of war in Iran full 1 10 Political Reality 📰 Reporting on extent to which 2025 US strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckglxwp5x03o ⚛️ Details about Iran’s uranium enriched to 60%: https://www.armscontrol.org/issue-briefs/2026-03/us-war-iran-new-and-lingering-nuclear-risks 📄 March 2026 Congressional report about Iran’s nuclear capabilities: https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IN12665 ☢️ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reporting on Iran’s nuclear activities and uranium stockpiles: https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/iran/iaea-and-iran-iaea-board-reports 🛰️ Satellite imagery of the Feb. 28, 2026, school strike in Iran: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/world/middleeast/iran-school-us-strikes-naval-base.html 🚀 Evidence that the school was struck by a US Tomahawk cruise missile: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/world/middleeast/iran-minab-school-strike.html 📺 Reporter Jeremy Vine correcting himself about the dancing video: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tv/article-15616555/jeremy-vine-alan-partridge-iran-blunder-channel-5.html 🤖 Examples of AI-generated war videos and photos: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg8wvz427vo 🐦 Example of a “shallowfake” posted on X: https://x.com/TehranTimes79/status/2027766149862117731? 🎬 Examples of “hype” videos shared by the US government: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/07/trump-iran-hype-videos 🔍 BBC verify: https://www.bbc.com/news/bbcverify 📰 Reporting on extent to which 2025 US strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckglxwp5x03o

⚛️ Details about Iran’s uranium enriched to 60%: https://www.armscontrol.org/issue-briefs/2026-03/us-war-iran-new-and-lingering-nuclear-risks

📄 March 2026 Congressional report about Iran’s nuclear capabilities: https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IN12665

☢️ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reporting on Iran’s nuclear activities and uranium stockpiles: https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/iran/iaea-and-iran-iaea-board-reports

🛰️ Satellite imagery of the Feb. 28, 2026, school strike in Iran: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/world/middleeast/iran-school-us-strikes-naval-base.html

🚀 Evidence that the school was struck by a US Tomahawk cruise missile: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/world/middleeast/iran-minab-school-strike.html

📺 Reporter Jeremy Vine correcting himself about the dancing video: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tv/article-15616555/jeremy-vine-alan-partridge-iran-blunder-channel-5.html

🤖 Examples of AI-generated war videos and photos: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg8wvz427vo

🐦 Example of a “shallowfake” posted on X: https://x.com/TehranTimes79/status/2027766149862117731?

🎬 Examples of “hype” videos shared by the US government: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/07/trump-iran-hype-videos

🔍 BBC verify: https://www.bbc.com/news/bbcverify

]]> 3175 no PREVIEW: Which came first? The Media or The Message | Media Divides | S01E09 https://www.patreon.com/posts/152180612 Full info on https://www.patreon.com/posts/152180612 Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:00:00 -0000 PREVIEW: Which came first? The Media or The Message trailer 1 9 Political Reality PREVIEW. The full episode is available on patreon Full info on https://www.patreon.com/posts/152180612 Full info on https://www.patreon.com/posts/152180612

]]> 588 no How Parties Learn... if at all with Prof. Seth Masket | Political Reality | S01E08 More about Seth & his work: https://www.sethmasket.com Seth’s book Learning from Loss: The Democrats 2016-2020 Preview of Seth’s new book (coming summer 2026): The Elephants in the Room: How Trump Voters Seized the Party from Republican Leaders Subscribe to his (excellent) Substack, Tusk Follow him on Instagram and Bluesky (he’s @smotus most places) Thu, 26 Feb 2026 01:36:00 -0000 How Parties Learn... if at all full 1 8 Political Reality More about Seth & his work: https://www.sethmasket.com Seth’s book Learning from Loss: The Democrats 2016-2020 Preview of Seth’s new book (coming summer 2026): The Elephants in the Room: How Trump Voters Seized the Party from Republican Leaders Subscribe to his (excellent) Substack, Tusk Follow him on Instagram and Bluesky (he’s @smotus most places)

  • More about Seth & his work: https://www.sethmasket.com

  • Seth’s book Learning from Loss: The Democrats 2016-2020

  • Preview of Seth’s new book (coming summer 2026): The Elephants in the Room: How Trump Voters Seized the Party from Republican Leaders

  • Subscribe to his (excellent) Substack, Tusk

  • Follow him on Instagram and Bluesky (he’s @smotus most places)

    • ]]>     2481 no     PREVIEW: Can we vote our way out of this? | Voting Systems | S01E07 | Political Reality Full Episode https://www.patreon.com/posts/can-we-vote-our-151099132 https://patreon.com/politicalreality Further Reading & Resources on Voting Theory 📘 1. Kenneth Arrow's amazing 1951 book, Social Choice and Individual Values: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300179316/social-choice-and-individual-values/ a. A good writeup of the basics of the math if you don't want to buy a book: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arrows-theorem/ 🧠 2. Arrow's 1950 paper introducing the idea (this paper is magnificent and you simply must read it): https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/256963 a. Non-paywalled version: https://www.stat.uchicago.edu/~lekheng/meetings/mathofranking/ref/arrow.pdf 🔄 3. A nice primer on Condorcet's Paradox: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/14-75-political-economy-and-economic-development-fall-2012/a9fd8e5ab75a325016094e6bbe625b2a_MIT14_75F12_Lec12.pdf a. Even more on the math of voting systems: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voting-methods/ 🗳️ 4. Early work on approval voting by Steve Brams, a leading thinker on it: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/approval-voting/7CE5DEEE235794B0B12F76ADAE621482 a. Video of Brams talking about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZiS3U7EG0M b. Uh oh! It's a video from forever ago of Andrea interviewing Brams about approval voting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAlxoW8WLX4 🏛️ 5. Some prominent advocacy groups on voting system reform: a. Approval voting: https://electionscience.org/ b. Ranked-choice voting: https://fairvote.org/ 🎓 6. Political science professor Lindsey Cormack speaking (admittedly briefly in these clips) about some tradeoffs around Ranked-Choice Voting (sneak preview, she'll be a guest on the show in the not-so-distant future; her instagram @howtoraiseacitizen is also a great resource on civics, politics, and current events (e.g., the SAVE act; more on that soon, too)): a. https://www.instagram.com/p/DLGXzYVMOyX/?hl=en b. https://www.instagram.com/p/DLPkrogss5K/?hl=en Wed, 18 Feb 2026 19:58:00 -0000 PREVIEW: Can we vote our way out of this? trailer 1 7 Political Reality Voting Systems Full Episode https://www.patreon.com/posts/can-we-vote-our-151099132 https://patreon.com/politicalreality Further Reading & Resources on Voting Theory 📘 1. Kenneth Arrow's amazing 1951 book, Social Choice and Individual Values: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300179316/social-choice-and-individual-values/ a. A good writeup of the basics of the math if you don't want to buy a book: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arrows-theorem/ 🧠 2. Arrow's 1950 paper introducing the idea (this paper is magnificent and you simply must read it): https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/256963 a. Non-paywalled version: https://www.stat.uchicago.edu/~lekheng/meetings/mathofranking/ref/arrow.pdf 🔄 3. A nice primer on Condorcet's Paradox: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/14-75-political-economy-and-economic-development-fall-2012/a9fd8e5ab75a325016094e6bbe625b2a_MIT14_75F12_Lec12.pdf a. Even more on the math of voting systems: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voting-methods/ 🗳️ 4. Early work on approval voting by Steve Brams, a leading thinker on it: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/approval-voting/7CE5DEEE235794B0B12F76ADAE621482 a. Video of Brams talking about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZiS3U7EG0M b. Uh oh! It's a video from forever ago of Andrea interviewing Brams about approval voting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAlxoW8WLX4 🏛️ 5. Some prominent advocacy groups on voting system reform: a. Approval voting: https://electionscience.org/ b. Ranked-choice voting: https://fairvote.org/ 🎓 6. Political science professor Lindsey Cormack speaking (admittedly briefly in these clips) about some tradeoffs around Ranked-Choice Voting (sneak preview, she'll be a guest on the show in the not-so-distant future; her instagram @howtoraiseacitizen is also a great resource on civics, politics, and current events (e.g., the SAVE act; more on that soon, too)): a. https://www.instagram.com/p/DLGXzYVMOyX/?hl=en b. https://www.instagram.com/p/DLPkrogss5K/?hl=en Full Episode https://www.patreon.com/posts/can-we-vote-our-151099132

    https://patreon.com/politicalreality


    Further Reading & Resources on Voting Theory 📘 1. Kenneth Arrow's amazing 1951 book, Social Choice and Individual Values: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300179316/social-choice-and-individual-values/ a. A good writeup of the basics of the math if you don't want to buy a book: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arrows-theorem/ 🧠 2. Arrow's 1950 paper introducing the idea (this paper is magnificent and you simply must read it): https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/256963 a. Non-paywalled version: https://www.stat.uchicago.edu/~lekheng/meetings/mathofranking/ref/arrow.pdf 🔄 3. A nice primer on Condorcet's Paradox: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/14-75-political-economy-and-economic-development-fall-2012/a9fd8e5ab75a325016094e6bbe625b2a_MIT14_75F12_Lec12.pdf a. Even more on the math of voting systems: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voting-methods/ 🗳️ 4. Early work on approval voting by Steve Brams, a leading thinker on it: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/approval-voting/7CE5DEEE235794B0B12F76ADAE621482 a. Video of Brams talking about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZiS3U7EG0M b. Uh oh! It's a video from forever ago of Andrea interviewing Brams about approval voting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAlxoW8WLX4 🏛️ 5. Some prominent advocacy groups on voting system reform: a. Approval voting: https://electionscience.org/ b. Ranked-choice voting: https://fairvote.org/ 🎓 6. Political science professor Lindsey Cormack speaking (admittedly briefly in these clips) about some tradeoffs around Ranked-Choice Voting (sneak preview, she'll be a guest on the show in the not-so-distant future; her instagram @howtoraiseacitizen is also a great resource on civics, politics, and current events (e.g., the SAVE act; more on that soon, too)): a. https://www.instagram.com/p/DLGXzYVMOyX/?hl=en b. https://www.instagram.com/p/DLPkrogss5K/?hl=en

    ]]>     588 no     Fascism comes to America, it is wrapped in the flag w/ Prof. Tom Pepinsky | S01E06 https://politicalrealitypodcast.com Follow Tom: Tom Pepinsky’s website with links to his research & books: https://tompepinsky.com Tom’s blog: https://tompepinsky.com/blog His substack: https://tompepinsky.substack.com/ Selected books and peer-reviewed works by Tom relevant to this episode: Recent paper on authoritarianism: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13510347.2020.1775589 Recent paper on voting in authoritarian vs. democratic systems: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/voting-in-authoritarian-elections/1C066CD75F6F070930181135B288F632 Book on global challenges to democracy: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/global-challenges-to-democracy/C50D0AC769FF0AA2C62DA9337F2C03E6 Covid paper we briefly referenced: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0249596 Book based on his research on partisanship and Covid: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691218991/pandemic-politics Selected essays by Tom relevant to this episode: Preventing a slide into authoritarianism in the US: https://www.vox.com/politics/477317/donald-trumps-ego-democracy-authoritarianism Crucial characteristics of fascism: https://tompepinsky.com/2017/01/03/berman-on-fascism/ An absolutely fantastic “mini syllabus” on how to make sense of the Trump administration through a comparative political science lens: https://tompepinsky.com/2016/12/21/comparative-politics-and-the-trump-administration/ US’s lost leadership in East Asia: https://eastasiaforum.org/2025/11/02/a-united-states-that-is-disintegrating-and-no-longer-a-leader-in-asia/ Life in authoritarian states: https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/1/9/14207302/authoritarian-states-boring-tolerable-fascism-trump Working papers by Tom relevant to this episode: Democratic backsliding: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5363315 Biased learning from elections: https://osf.io/preprints/osf/q9zpm_v2 Umberto Eco’s Ur-Fascism: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umberto-eco-ur-fascism Thu, 12 Feb 2026 01:05:00 -0000 Fascism comes to America, it is wrapped in the flag w/ Prof. Tom Pepinsky full 1 6 Political Reality https://politicalrealitypodcast.com Follow Tom: Tom Pepinsky’s website with links to his research & books: https://tompepinsky.com Tom’s blog: https://tompepinsky.com/blog His substack: https://tompepinsky.substack.com/ Selected books and peer-reviewed works by Tom relevant to this episode: Recent paper on authoritarianism: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13510347.2020.1775589 Recent paper on voting in authoritarian vs. democratic systems: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/voting-in-authoritarian-elections/1C066CD75F6F070930181135B288F632 Book on global challenges to democracy: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/global-challenges-to-democracy/C50D0AC769FF0AA2C62DA9337F2C03E6 Covid paper we briefly referenced: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0249596 Book based on his research on partisanship and Covid: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691218991/pandemic-politics Selected essays by Tom relevant to this episode: Preventing a slide into authoritarianism in the US: https://www.vox.com/politics/477317/donald-trumps-ego-democracy-authoritarianism Crucial characteristics of fascism: https://tompepinsky.com/2017/01/03/berman-on-fascism/ An absolutely fantastic “mini syllabus” on how to make sense of the Trump administration through a comparative political science lens: https://tompepinsky.com/2016/12/21/comparative-politics-and-the-trump-administration/ US’s lost leadership in East Asia: https://eastasiaforum.org/2025/11/02/a-united-states-that-is-disintegrating-and-no-longer-a-leader-in-asia/ Life in authoritarian states: https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/1/9/14207302/authoritarian-states-boring-tolerable-fascism-trump Working papers by Tom relevant to this episode: Democratic backsliding: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5363315 Biased learning from elections: https://osf.io/preprints/osf/q9zpm_v2 Umberto Eco’s Ur-Fascism: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umberto-eco-ur-fascism https://politicalrealitypodcast.com


    Follow Tom:

    Selected books and peer-reviewed works by Tom relevant to this episode:

    Selected essays by Tom relevant to this episode:

    Working papers by Tom relevant to this episode:

    Umberto Eco’s Ur-Fascism: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umberto-eco-ur-fascism

    ]]>     4160 no     PREVIEW: Is Polarization actually a problem? | Political Reality | S01E05 Full Audio episode available on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/posts/is-polarization-149962215 Full Video episode available on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/posts/149974348 Many of the empirical trends mentioned come from the (still a favorite!) American National Election Studies dataset: Party identity (including strength of party identity) Affective polarization (specifically shown here as the gap between attitudes towards in-group and out-group ideologies) Trust in government index  Public opinion on LGBTQ laws  Public opinion on abortion Public opinion on government spending The observation of “party sorting” was initially made by political scientists Morris Fiorina. It’s most extensively written about in his book Unstable Majorities, but you can read some other writings here and here. For further reading, see also Matthew Levendusky’s book The Partisan Sort A fantastic overview of the research on affective polarization is in this review article An interesting example of a recent application of using affective polarization to make sense of public opinion during Covid is here (we didn’t reference it; I just think it’s cool — and it’s a preview of our guest for the next episode!). I also wrote about all this in The Daily Beast, though I did not write the headline and would never actually sound that confident about anything. Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:13:00 -0000 PREVIEW: Is Polarization actually a problem? trailer 1 5 Political Reality Steve and Andrea discuss affective polarization. Full Audio episode available on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/posts/is-polarization-149962215 Full Video episode available on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/posts/149974348 Many of the empirical trends mentioned come from the (still a favorite!) American National Election Studies dataset: Party identity (including strength of party identity) Affective polarization (specifically shown here as the gap between attitudes towards in-group and out-group ideologies) Trust in government index  Public opinion on LGBTQ laws  Public opinion on abortion Public opinion on government spending The observation of “party sorting” was initially made by political scientists Morris Fiorina. It’s most extensively written about in his book Unstable Majorities, but you can read some other writings here and here. For further reading, see also Matthew Levendusky’s book The Partisan Sort A fantastic overview of the research on affective polarization is in this review article An interesting example of a recent application of using affective polarization to make sense of public opinion during Covid is here (we didn’t reference it; I just think it’s cool — and it’s a preview of our guest for the next episode!). I also wrote about all this in The Daily Beast, though I did not write the headline and would never actually sound that confident about anything. Full Audio episode available on Patreon

    https://www.patreon.com/posts/is-polarization-149962215


    Full Video episode available on Patreon

    https://www.patreon.com/posts/149974348

    • Many of the empirical trends mentioned come from the (still a favorite!) American National Election Studies dataset:

    • The observation of “party sorting” was initially made by political scientists Morris Fiorina. It’s most extensively written about in his book Unstable Majorities, but you can read some other writings here and here.

    • A fantastic overview of the research on affective polarization is in this review article

    • An interesting example of a recent application of using affective polarization to make sense of public opinion during Covid is here (we didn’t reference it; I just think it’s cool — and it’s a preview of our guest for the next episode!).

    • I also wrote about all this in The Daily Beast, though I did not write the headline and would never actually sound that confident about anything.


    ]]>     588 no     America is a nation of immigration | Political Reality | S01E04 The graph on total immigration numbers vs. percentage of the US population is from the Migration Policy Institute. Evidence that the percentage of immigrants in the US peaked recently, but is in the ballpark of an earlier wave is from Pew Research. (n.b. I may have said in the episode that this was in 2023 or 24, when actually it was January 2025, more recent than I realized. I don't know if that matters!)  In the episode I mentioned the Deportation Data Project.  You can explore their ICE data here.  And read more about the FOIA requests/challenges around getting this data here. I also specifically mentioned my favorite public opinion dataset (which I will likely reference a lot in this show!), which is the American National Election Studies (ANES) dataset. I also recently wrote about some of these trends in an article for The Preamble, a digital magazine about US politics from Sharon McMahon. You’ll see some of the charts we talked about in the episode as well as links to other sources, particularly various additional Pew Research data, in the article. Thu, 29 Jan 2026 13:53:00 -0000 America is a nation of immigration full 1 4 Political Reality The graph on total immigration numbers vs. percentage of the US population is from the Migration Policy Institute. Evidence that the percentage of immigrants in the US peaked recently, but is in the ballpark of an earlier wave is from Pew Research. (n.b. I may have said in the episode that this was in 2023 or 24, when actually it was January 2025, more recent than I realized. I don't know if that matters!)  In the episode I mentioned the Deportation Data Project.  You can explore their ICE data here.  And read more about the FOIA requests/challenges around getting this data here. I also specifically mentioned my favorite public opinion dataset (which I will likely reference a lot in this show!), which is the American National Election Studies (ANES) dataset. I also recently wrote about some of these trends in an article for The Preamble, a digital magazine about US politics from Sharon McMahon. You’ll see some of the charts we talked about in the episode as well as links to other sources, particularly various additional Pew Research data, in the article.

  • The graph on total immigration numbers vs. percentage of the US population is from the Migration Policy Institute.

  • Evidence that the percentage of immigrants in the US peaked recently, but is in the ballpark of an earlier wave is from Pew Research. (n.b. I may have said in the episode that this was in 2023 or 24, when actually it was January 2025, more recent than I realized. I don't know if that matters!) 

  • In the episode I mentioned the Deportation Data Project. 

    • You can explore their ICE data here. 

    • And read more about the FOIA requests/challenges around getting this data here.

  • I also specifically mentioned my favorite public opinion dataset (which I will likely reference a lot in this show!), which is the American National Election Studies (ANES) dataset.

  • I also recently wrote about some of these trends in an article for The Preamble, a digital magazine about US politics from Sharon McMahon. You’ll see some of the charts we talked about in the episode as well as links to other sources, particularly various additional Pew Research data, in the article.

    • ]]>     3508 no     Misinformation is bad, but not for the reasons most of us think with Prof. Joshua A. Tucker | Political Reality | S01E03 https://politicalrealitypodcast.com How do we quantify misinformation? Thank you to Prof. Joshua A. Tucker for joining us on this episode about Misinformation. Wed, 21 Jan 2026 23:20:00 -0000 Misinformation is bad, but not for the reasons most of us think with Prof. Joshua A. Tucker full 1 3 Political Reality How do we quantify misinformation? https://politicalrealitypodcast.com How do we quantify misinformation? Thank you to Prof. Joshua A. Tucker for joining us on this episode about Misinformation. https://politicalrealitypodcast.com


    How do we quantify misinformation?


    Thank you to Prof. Joshua A. Tucker for joining us on this episode about Misinformation.

    ]]>     3630 no     How Democratic is your Democracy? | Political Reality | S01E02 https://politicalrealitypodcast.com How do you measure democracy? Are these standards reasonable, onerous, empirical, propagandistic, unscientific or quantifiable? Wed, 14 Jan 2026 22:04:00 -0000 How Democratic is your Democracy? full 1 2 Political Reality How do you measure democracy? https://politicalrealitypodcast.com How do you measure democracy? Are these standards reasonable, onerous, empirical, propagandistic, unscientific or quantifiable? https://politicalrealitypodcast.com How do you measure democracy? Are these standards reasonable, onerous, empirical, propagandistic, unscientific or quantifiable?

    ]]>     2100 no     We Don't Agree...Now What? S01E01 Our daily lives seem increasingly overwhelmed by polarization, misinformation and dubious culture wars while we face countless serious problems that require thoughtful and evidence-based solutions. To move forward we need a shared reality of facts and reason with an equally shared dedication to democracy and fairness. The Political Reality podcast is here to fill that void, diving into how politics and governments work, how to make them work better, how to navigate the dizzying world of political information, and how to better understand and approach the “other side”.  We can find a shared political reality, if we are willing. Wed, 07 Jan 2026 23:46:00 -0000 We Don't Agree...Now What? full 1 1 Political Reality Our daily lives seem increasingly overwhelmed by polarization, misinformation and dubious culture wars while we face countless serious problems that require thoughtful and evidence-based solutions. To move forward we need a shared reality of facts and reason with an equally shared dedication to democracy and fairness. The Political Reality podcast is here to fill that void, diving into how politics and governments work, how to make them work better, how to navigate the dizzying world of political information, and how to better understand and approach the “other side”.  We can find a shared political reality, if we are willing. Our daily lives seem increasingly overwhelmed by polarization, misinformation and dubious culture wars while we face countless serious problems that require thoughtful and evidence-based solutions. To move forward we need a shared reality of facts and reason with an equally shared dedication to democracy and fairness. The Political Reality podcast is here to fill that void, diving into how politics and governments work, how to make them work better, how to navigate the dizzying world of political information, and how to better understand and approach the “other side”.  We can find a shared political reality, if we are willing.

    ]]>     1263 no