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nickbernards.bsky.social
Critical Political Economist -- Author: A critical history of poverty finance (http://bit.ly/3pEV7Cf); Fictions of financialization (http://bit.ly/3PUWzdR) -- Associate Prof. in Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick. Views mine.
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Updated blog post on 'What is this thing called passive revolution?' with a link to my article in Latin American Perspectives (2024) on that theme, which seems to be getting some traction.

submitted 49 minutes ago • 0 comments

New article out📑 "The end of economic hegemony? Studying economic ideas in a post-neoliberal world" In the 20th century, debates on economic policy were closely tied to academic economics. From Keynesianism to neoliberalism, economic schools of thought have shaped historical epochs.

submitted 1 day ago • 7 comments

A few loose things about this: 1) I really hate the way these articles talk about 'AI' itself -- as this inevitable outside force that's going to irretrievably reshape society, 'AI is here to stay', etc. Is the tiniest bit of political economy too much to ask? www.theguardian.com/education/20...

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

In this I draw attention to the Justice Is Not Seasonal protest which highlighted the mistreatment of farm workers on British farms. I argue that better working conditions is about more than just what we pay at the checkout. theconversation.com/the-uk-farme...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

All around us institutions built on/sustained by our own labour are hollowed out by a lethal mix of mismanagement, moral decrepitude, and political inertia. No time to sit silent—Organise and mobilise whenever/wherever you can.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Eros and Empire is out today! Yikes! 20% discount code - for US and Canada: STOFFEL20 - for international orders: FFF24 www.sup.org/books/politi...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

It feels to me like the common mistake with both ‘we’ve transitioned to neo-feudalism’ and ‘neoliberalism is over’ is to compare the present to an ahistorical ideal-typical description of ‘capitalism’ and/or ‘neoliberalism’ which has never existed in practice.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

“Apparently the university will decimate itself in Cardiff and rebuild itself in Astana.”

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

The headline is disturbing if not surprising, but also slightly horrified on a deeper level to learn 1) that there’s an ‘Association of University Chief Security Officers’ and 2) that they’re attending security conferences in the US… www.theguardian.com/education/20...

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

In 2021, the president of El Salvador Nayib Bukele announced that the country would adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. This was justified to promote financial inclusion, increasing remittance flows, and enhancing development. How did this turn out? 🧵 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

submitted 6 days ago • 4 comments

Today in niche problems with trying to build AI tools into everything: autocorrect in Word is now insistently changing ‘Banaji’ to ‘banjo’.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

This genre of piece is always fascinating. The answer, of course, is that relations of financial subordination mean that bond market reaction to anything Trump does is vastly more likely, if anything, to 'rein in' social spending in the global south... www.ft.com/content/0259...

submitted 7 days ago • 2 comments

Out now in RIPE: The ‘ethical recruitment’ of international nurses: Germany’s liberal health worker extractivism www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Today is publication day! I explain how agricultural inputs - which weren't even widely traded market goods 200 years ago - have become giant industries dominated by just a handful of transnational firms today. mitpress.mit.edu/978026255170... Many thanks to those who helped me along the way!

submitted 9 days ago • 19 comments

For all the hoopla about (cheap) renewables growth, 2024 saw yet another annual increase in global power generation from fossil fuels (coal and gas both up) and associated CO2 emissions. Europe the only major region where emissions from power generation fell. Just awful.

submitted 9 days ago • 2 comments

This is a great interview about one of the best books I’ve read recently.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Europe being restored to its normal world historical place: doing late development by blatantly ripping off Chinese technology

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Excited to share some of my views tomorrow on Nick Bernards' Fictions of Financialisation. See you at Soas.

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

This is an excellent paper, must read for people interested in the shortcomings of private finance for development/climate. rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

The Pentagon & its budget doesn't support real security, but it is driving the climate crisis- as our new short briefing with Grassroots Global Justice explains. It's going to be a long, tough fight to cut Pentagon spending and invest in care & community, but it won't happen if we don't start now.

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

The fact that the vast majority of the world’s renewable energy capacity is being built alongside the majority of the world’s coal burning probably needs to be reckoned with more.

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

Bumping this again as it's in one week. Should be fun! Please do come by if you're around London.

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

You know, I’m not sure I buy that the discourse on here is more civil and constructive than on Twitter or whatever, but I will say that it’s nice that the app here has not (yet) been so relentlessly enshittified…

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

I've got a new paper out with the brilliant @savannahcox.bsky.social & Emma Colven! We took a social studies of finance lens to explore the practices of 'framing, standardization & classification' that 'center' private finance at the core of urban climate action. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

submitted 17 days ago • 1 comment

The funding model, no doubt, is broken, but the real crisis in UK HE is without question managers and managerialism. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

Also, this is exactly why exceptionalising Trump is dangerous and misleading. He’s louder, more gleeful and less occasionally conflicted about the settler colonialism-white supremacy-private property nexus, but he stands comfortably within the same tradition as most liberal thought on Palestine.

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

The word ‘voluntarily’ is not meant to take this kind of strain.

submitted 21 days ago • 5 comments

Progress report 'Financial geography II - Green finance and climate transition' is now online (open access): journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... With thanks to Sabine Dörry, @saraheknuth.bsky.social and Felicia Liu for useful discussion and suggestions.

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments