New Books in Political Science

Emma Ashford, a foreign policy scholar and author of First Among Equals, presents a fresh perspective on U.S. grand strategy in today's multipolar world. She critiques the failures of past U.S. approaches, advocating for a realist internationalism that prioritizes pragmatic interests. Ashford explores how shifting political dynamics influence foreign policy decisions and argues for a phased U.S. withdrawal from Europe to focus resources on the Indo-Pacific, while still emphasizing strong relations with key allies like Europe and Latin America.

Madison Schramm, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, delves into the intriguing dynamics of why democracies often engage militarily with personalist dictators. She argues that cognitive biases and social narratives lead democratic leaders to perceive these dictators as significant threats, driving them towards aggressive actions. Schramm also explores the historical evolution of anti-dictator identity and how media personalization of leaders influences perceptions of threat. This insightful discussion sheds light on the complexities of international relations.

Raymond J. McKoski, a retired Illinois circuit judge and adjunct professor, shares insights from his new book on David Davis, one of Abraham Lincoln's key allies. They discuss the crucial role Davis played in Lincoln's 1860 presidential nomination and his close personal relationship with the future president. McKoski highlights Davis's remarkable impartiality as a judge, his bipartisan reputation, and the strategic decisions that influenced important Civil War-era rulings. Their deep friendship and shared commitment to integrity shaped both their careers in extraordinary ways.

Luis L. Schenoni, an associate professor at University College London and expert on Latin American political history, dives into how wars shaped state formation in 19th-century Latin America. He discusses the coercion-extraction cycle, illustrating how taxation and conscription strengthened bureaucratic capacity. Schenoni critiques the anti-Bellicist tradition and presents a nuanced view of how individual battles influenced legitimacy and tax morale. He draws compelling comparisons between Argentina's rise and Paraguay's collapse, revealing the profound long-term impacts of warfare on state development.

Sasha Davis, a Professor of environmental studies and author, dives deep into activism with her book discussing how to effect social change when traditional methods fall short. She explores the limitations of current institutions and the power of grassroots movements. Notably, she shares strategies from Indigenous resistance against environmental degradation and military occupations. Davis emphasizes the importance of direct governance, offering practical steps for local organizing and fostering a sense of community empowerment. This insightful conversation is a rallying cry for activism.

Researching Street-level Bureaucracy: Bringing Out the Interpretive Dimensions (Routledge, 2024) is the first among a number of new titles in the Routledge Series on Interpretive Methods that we’ll be featuring on New Books in Interpretive Political and Social Science. In it, Mike Rowe discusses the continued relevance of the idea of street level bureaucracy, and the merits of adopting interpretive methodologies for studying frontline discretionary workers. He reflects on his own ethnographic and interview-based research among social welfare officers and police culture in the United Kingdom, and comparatively, in places where bureaucracy may be noteworthy more for its absence than its presence.  Like this episode? You might also be interested in Sarah Ball talking about Behavioural Public Policy in Australia Looking for something to read? Mike recommends In Praise of Floods by James C. Scott, and Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris.  This interview summary was not synthesised by a machine. Unlike the makers and owners of those machines, the author accepts responsibility for its contents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

In Ordinary Rebels: Rank-And-File Militants Between War and Peace (Oxford University Press, 2025), Kolby Hanson argues that these periods of state toleration do not simply change armed groups' behavior, but fundamentally transform the organizations themselves by shaping who takes up arms and which leaders they follow. This book draws on a set of innovative experimental surveys and 75 in-depth interviews tracing four armed movements over time in Northeast India and Sri Lanka. A powerful new theory of how conditions shape the trajectory of non-state armed groups, this book reshapes our understanding of why such organizations become more moderate over time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Delegating Responsibility: International Cooperation on Migration in the European Union (U Michigan Press, 2022) explores the politics of migration in the European Union and explains how the EU responded to the 2015–17 refugee crisis. Based on 86 interviews and fieldwork in Greece and Italy, Nicholas R. Micinski proposes a new theory of international cooperation on international migration. States approach migration policies in many ways—such as coordination, collaboration, subcontracting, and unilateralism—but which policy they choose is based on capacity and on credible partners on the ground. Micinski traces the fifty-year evolution of EU migration management, like border security and asylum policies, and shows how EU officials used “crises” as political leverage to further Europeanize migration governance. In two in-depth case studies, he explains how Italy and Greece responded to the most recent refugee crisis. He concludes with a discussion of policy recommendations regarding contemporary as well as long-term aspirations for migration management in the EU.Nicholas R. Micinski is Libra Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the University of Maine. His research focuses on global governance, particularly how states and international organizations respond to refugees, migration, climate change, and peacebuilding. Micinski is the author of two books: Delegating Responsibility: International Cooperation on Migration in the European Union (University of Michigan Press, 2022) and UN Global Compacts: Governing Migrants and Refugees (Routledge, 2021). Previously, Micinski was postdoctoral fellow at Université Laval, ISA James N. Rosenau Postdoctoral Fellow, and visiting researcher at the Center for the Study of Europe, Boston University. Before academia, he worked in the NGO sector in London for five years on refugee policy and service delivery. Micinski received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York (CUNY).Lamis Abdelaaty is an associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. She is the author of Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees (Oxford University Press, 2021). Email her comments at labdelaa@syr.edu or tweet to @LAbdelaaty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Memory Politics After Mass Violence: Attributing Roles in the Memoryscape (Bristol UP, 2025) explores how political actors draw on memories of violent pasts to generate political power and legitimacy in the present. Drawing on fieldwork in post-violence Cambodia, Rwanda and Indonesia, the book demonstrates in what way power is derived from how roles are assigned, exploring who is deemed a perpetrator, victim or hero, as well as ambivalences in this memory. In the book, Williams interrogates the ways in which these roles are attributed and ambivalences created in each society’s political discourses, transitional justice processes and cultural heritage. The comparative empirical analysis illustrates the importance of memory for political power and legitimacy today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Plato is a key figure from the beginnings of Western philosophy, yet the impact of his lived experience on his thought has rarely been explored. Born during a war that would lead to Athens’ decline, Plato lived in turbulent times. In Plato: A Civic Life (Reaktion, 2025), Carol Atack explores how Plato’s life in Athens influenced his thought, how he developed the Socratic dialogue into a powerful philosophical tool, and how he used the institutions of Athenian society to create a compelling imaginative world. Accessibly written, this book shows how Plato made Athens the place where diverse ideas were integrated into a new way of approaching the big questions about our lives, then and now. Carol Atack teaches classical Greek and ancient philosophy at the University of Cambridge. She is the author and coauthor of two books, most recently Anachronism and Antiquity. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science