Regius Professor of Political Science, University of Essex & Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), https://xitter.cf/t.co/O2M4zvdxr8
Joined August 2021
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Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
In 1774, a Scottish mountain was used to weigh the entire planet. And pretty much as a by-product, the people doing it helped invent something you'll find on every single walking map you've ever owned.
This is the story of the ‘fairy hill of the Caledonians’: Schiehallion.
1/5
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
Looking for all the world like a Namibian desert from some angles, this remarkable landscape is actually in France. The Dune de Pilat is Europe's largest sand dune, at 110 metres (340 feet) tall.
The dune shifts inland by 5 metres every year, swallowing trees it as it goes.
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
A century ago, Britain and France drew a line through German 'Kamerun' in Africa. The line itself disappeared from the map decades ago.
Yet it still divides Cameroon by language, law, education, and increasingly, by armed conflict.
This is Cameroon’s “Anglophone Problem”.
1/n
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
Amused to learn from this old Guardian article that the Gramsci quote so common now--"The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters"--is actually another terrible mistranslation by Slavoj Žižek. The real Gramsci quote is duller but...
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
For those interested in seeing the second term Trump and second term George W. Bush net approval ratings in one figure:
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
"Faculty have too many damn meetings and committees, so there's no time for actual RESEARCH!"
- The chancellor of the University of Paris literally 800 years ago
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
This looks like a great paper, but what a commentary on the academy that we need people to argue for — brace for it — “privileging evidence in empirical social science” instead of identity and politics.
Recent prescriptions and policies would have us judge research by non-evidentiary standards, e.g. presumed political impact and scholar identity. In a new essay, Tom Clark and I argue empirical claims should instead be evaluated based on evidentiary strength. We outline a framework for judging evidence, and show its usefulness by revisiting high-profile scholarly disagreements spanning policing, political violence, election administration, and terrorism, before critiquing non-evidentiary approaches. We also argue social science needs a culture that is hospitable to critique—rather than one which condemns critics as “bullies”—if quality standards are to be upheld.
dropbox.com/scl/fi/fsgpflron…
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
Luxembourg is often called a 'microstate', but at 2,586 km² (1,607 mi²), many Luxembourgers, justifiably, consider this designation unfair.
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
Data project (AI-able) and exam (paper, no aids) score distribution on the undergraduate Development Economics course I have been teaching at Stockholm University, 2022-2026.
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
Lavik to Ytre Oppedal in Norway is only a few miles across the Sognefjorden. However, if there are ferry troubles then you're looking at a nine-hour drive and 335 mile (540 km) detour.
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
Fascinated by this TripAdvisor review of Machu Picchu. I'm not sure what Simone's expectations were.
'No ceiling.'
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
"How do single-celled algae swim toward light sources" is the kind of project that gets DOGE'd—how does this help Americans?
20 years later, the underlying protein is a central tool in human neuroscience.
We're a rich country, we should be funding way more basic science.
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
I was shocked 4-5 years ago when told that OUP no longer copyedits its books.
Even in monetary terms what is more valuable, the cost of copyediting or a reputation as a top academic press?
Part of a general institutional decline that reflects a widespread failure to educate.
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
On the economics of economics: a 🧵
(tl;dr = Universities make money on superstars in, say, biomedical research. So any institution can afford to hire them. Superstar economists are money-losing investments and only wealthy institutions can afford them.)
Economics is the *only* scientific field in which the concentration of institutional affiliations of award-winning researchers (i.e., more winners at top universities) has increased over time.nber.org/papers/w35875
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
Many people hope remote work will raise birth rates. No commute, more flexibility, a chance to live near family.
I test the idea in a new paper. Among married women, the 2020 expansion of remote work reduced births. 🧵
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
Not sure he understands what the triple lock is. He seems to be equating scrapping the triple lock with means testing the state pension.
I strongly oppose the removal of the pensions triple-lock.
More than 2 million pensioners live in poverty. They will be the ones who suffer the most by taking away pension security.
We must protect the principle of universalism. That is why we opposed cuts to winter fuel - and that is why we must oppose any means-testing of the state pension.
This isn't about old versus young. This is about the super-rich versus the rest. That's why we should be taxing wealth to fund social care for all.
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
Study the news, you'll conclude that things have never been worse.
Study history, you'll conclude that things have never been better.
Kristian Skrede Gleditsch retweeted
Claude Opus 5.5 writes a fugue in the style of Bach. I called Astra’s fugue the most impressive musical feat I’d ever seen from an LLM, and this is just as good. The circle-of-fifths sequence beginning at 1:13 is beautiful. The interplay of voices is natural and satisfying. LLMs are getting to the point where their music is good enough to listen to for pure enjoyment.