Jeff Colgan
Professor of International Relations and Political Science. Interests: international order, energy, climate change, historical IR
- Reposted by Jeff Colgan"Nearly half the places that once hosted the Winter Olympics may not have the right climate conditions to ever do it again." www.cbc.ca/player/play/...
- Reposted by Jeff ColganI just used the example of Harvard at a roundtable on international relations at this moment--that Trump sucks at coercive diplomacy as he can't accept yes as an answer. He is always asking for more.
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- Reposted by Jeff ColganAn experiment: A wonkish post that isn't emailed out to subscribers paulkrugman.substack.com/p/a-wonkish-...
- Reposted by Jeff Colganfor us Americans, that's 98°F at night and 120°F in the day
- Australian Broadcasting has a new pod on the history of global oil politics with an emphasis on Venezuela. Based on interviews with the great Terry Lynn Karl and others incl me 🛢️💡🌎 www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...
- The North American Electricity Reliability Council (NERC) has a new report on where blackouts are most likely to occur by 2030. 🌍🔌💡 hs-23917781.f.hubspotemail.net/hub/23917781...
- Reposted by Jeff ColganNew from us: The average EU citizen spent EUR880 on fossil fuel imports in 2025, as gas imports increased and the U.S. became the largest supplier. Slow progress on electrifying transport and buildings as well as building wind power are harming the bloc's economy and energy security.
- He sings angry. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWKS...
- Petro-imperialism.
- Thanks for chipping in, Kai. One way for each of us scholars to think about peer reviews: am I contributing more or fewer reviews than I am asking of the system when I submit my own work for publication? Each article typically gets reviewed by 2-20+ people ...
- Reposted by Jeff ColganRFKJr's principal accomplishment as the nation's health guardian.
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- Huh. I guess the @nytimes.com is estimating crowd size in protests after all. Hope they'll do it again when it matters, when the crowds are even bigger. Crucial signal to those on the sidelines.
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- Fuck off, Bessent. 🇨🇦
- Reposted by Jeff ColganThis is just the latest evidence that the war on higher ed was never once about freedom of inquiry or cultivating excellence. It was just using state violence to silence criticism. A clear, open violation of the most sacred values of American public life and constitutional law. Unforgivable.
- Newly unsealed evidence makes it even clearer that Rubio and Noem knew they were targeting students based solely on their political speech and that they knew this policy was unconstitutional. They just didn’t care. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/u...
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- Everyone (except Trump) knows by now that China is pumping out renewables at astonishing scale. Less obvious is the sheer chaotic forces that China's industry lets loose. Read @jeremywallace.bsky.social 's great new piece. My summary: It's Schumpter on steroids and at global scale. 🌎🛢️🔌💡
- Reposted by Jeff Colgan“The strong do what they can" is what Athens said right before destroying itself. New piece on the Carney Doctrine, Vaclav’s grocer, and American hubris. hegemon.substack.com/p/the-strong...
- Ripple effects of Venezuela and Greenland. 🇨🇦🇺🇸
- Carney: "To help solve global problems, we are pursuing variable geometry— different coalitions for different issues, based on values and interests." This is the logic of subsystems. I fleshed out subsystems theory in the book Partial Hegemony global.oup.com/academic/pro...
- Carney lamenting the death of the liberal international order. 🇨🇦🇺🇸
- Carney: "American hegemony in particular helped provide public goods, a stable financial system... this bargain no longer works. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition... recently, great powers have begun using economic integration as a weapon. Tariffs as leverage ... "
- Americans should be under no illusions about what most US troops can be expected to do if Trump orders an attack on Greenland. Realistically, the only way to stop him if he's determined is an act of Congress, which should happen immediately.
- Today, on MLK Jr Day, let's remember that it's not just King's teachings about racial injustice that remain central to US politics, but also: the vitality of nonviolent political action as an instrument of change.
- Reposted by Jeff ColganDr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She was 95.
- Reposted by Jeff ColganI think a good strategy for your non-leftist social media presence (ie everywhere but here) is to give this photo - the remains of Danish soldiers returning in coffins after being killed in America's war in Afghanistan - as wide an audience as possible. Remind people who we're betraying
- Trump's threats on Greenland are treated as "quixotic" etc Pols & pundits not doing enough to spell out how awful an 🇺🇸 attack on 🇬🇱would be for 🇺🇸. Among ripple effects: 🇨🇦 WOULD have to fear 🇺🇸 invasion. Ice cold fear for 🇨🇦. And what weapon do weak countries want/need to deter stronger ones?
- @watsonschoolbrown.bsky.social pretty in the snow today
- Wow, Chicago Bears www.reddit.com/r/nfl/commen...
- Reposted by Jeff ColganThis map exposes the Greenland lie. The US used to have a massive military footprint here. Today, they operate just ONE base. If Trump were actually worried about Russian vessels, he would simply open more bases, which Denmark allows
- Reposted by Jeff ColganApparently the State Department, led Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the nation's top diplomat, released a strategic plan. Goal 1 is U.S. National Sovereignty. Goal 2 is "The Western Hemisphere and Establishment of the Donroe Doctrine." There's more, but take that in. www.state.gov/agency-strat...
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- Reposted by Jeff ColganImagine the view from Beijing and Moscow right now
- 2026 IR prof: Denmark and Sweden are mobilizing troops to defend against a possible USA attack 2015 anybody: oh c'mon, that's a ridiculous Internet conspiracy theory
- So much winning 😱🌎
- 2025 was an exceptional year for the Earth's climate ⬆️ Warmest ocean heat content ⬆️ Tied as second warmest surface temps ⬆️ Second warmest troposphere ⬆️ Record high sea level and GHGs ⬇️ Record low winter Arctic ice New State of the Climate over at Carbon Brief: www.carbonbrief.org/...
- Reposted by Jeff ColganDanish newspaper @politiken.dk opens ENGLISH LANGUAGE section of its coverage of Greenland. Resource to understand local coverage, analysis, politics, and public opinion ⬇️ politiken.dk/tag/main/gre...
- Reposted by Jeff ColganICE has escalated from Arresting undocumented migrants with criminal records to Arresting undocumented migrants without criminal records to Arresting legal migrants to Arresting US citizens who 'look' like migrants to Arresting US citizens protesting ICE to Arresting random bystanders. Who's next?
- Reposted by Jeff ColganI watch the bulk of ashleythebaroness videos, despite rarely sharing them. But this one hit today. And she's right! We're not dealing with some foreign ideology. We're dealing with a uniquely American phenomenon. fascism wrapped in our own flag
- Reposted by Jeff ColganIf there's one empirical insight I'd want everyone to understand about American politics, it's this: America's problems are solved problems. Just not here. What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵
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- I spoke with CBC Radio's _What On Earth_ podcast about the US attack on Venezuela.🛢️🌍🔌🇨🇦🇺🇸🇻🇪 podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/w...
- Reposted by Jeff Colgan"It’s no coincidence that, after years of fighting abroad, the US is beset with paranoia, loss of trust,& increasingly bitter divisions" @stephenwalt.bsky.social on why #WarsComeHome: Blowback Low domestic welfare spending Elite exaggeration of foreign threats foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/03/a...
- Sure, Venezuela is about oil--but so much more. @polgreen.bsky.social sees the essence of it: "Trump is collapsing the crucial binaries of America’s Constitution — between law enforcement and military action, between executive and legislative power and, above all, between foreign and domestic."
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- Reposted by Jeff ColganIn functioning democracies, ministers resign all the time, under threat of a no confidence vote in the parliament. We have a system where legislative confirmation totally fails ex ante to screen out wildly unqualified people, & ex post accountability depends on a toothless extraordinary measure.
- From Andor: "The pace of oppression outstrips our ability to understand it. And that is the real trick of the Imperial thought machine. It's easier to hide behind 40 atrocities than a single incident."
- Reposted by Jeff Colgan1. Look, there are basically just two ways to run the global oil market: petro-imperialism and petro-consumerism. Historically USA has embraced both, varying over time. The attack on #Venezuela is a return to naked petro-imperialism. Thread.
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- THIS. 👇
- Reposted by Jeff Colgan“Our neighbour’s autocratic and avaricious leader is demonstrably eager to use his country’s massive military power to advance his interests. We must get ready.” www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
- Reposted by Jeff Colgan“.. Chavez came to power in 1999 when audited reserves were about 75 billion barrels of reserves. The year he died in 2013, they magically jumped to 300 billion unaudited.” 🇻🇪
- China's largest imports from Greenland are halibut and shrimp. None of China's mining projects have worked out. Russia has approximately zero economic exchange with Greenland. The issue is about naval activity, but the US already has the only foreign military base in Greenland.
- As usual, The Onion nails it
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- Reposted by Jeff ColganGreat @jeffcolgan.bsky.social analysis of Trump's return to petro-imperialism, for @goodauth.bsky.social goodauthority.org/news/trump-m...
- US attack on Venezuela is, among other things, a regrettable turn towards petro-imperialism. My take at @goodauth.bsky.social goodauthority.org/news/trump-m...
- Heck of a coincidence. 🙄 #Venezuela
- Breaking news: Shares in some major US-listed oil companies have risen sharply in pre-market trading. Follow our live blog for the latest updates: ft.trib.al/LElkVHb
- Reposted by Jeff ColganI mean a guy can't even kidnap a foreign leader in an unauthorized military operation without getting criticized anymore
- Crucial point on Cuba by @christinecheng.bsky.social, in advance of Marco Rubio's troubling comments today: bsky.app/profile/atru...
- Reposted by Jeff ColganBest take I’ve heard, IRL: “This operation looks like it was designed by the same people who did the East Wing.”
- Reposted by Jeff Colgan3) Even in the presence of congressional authorization, using the US Military to depose leaders we don't like (even illegitimate ones) sets a very bad precedent and invites other strong militaries around the world to do the same, risks destabilizing global peace, and is against the US interests
- Reposted by Jeff Colgan"following BOEM’s proposal to issue leases in the entire Wind Energy Area, “the DOD concluded that site-specific stipulations, designed in consultation with the DOD, could mitigate the impact” [and].."impacts would be negligible and avoidable.” #Wind storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
- Reposted by Jeff ColganVenezuela may seem like a tactical loss for Russia, but in fact it's a strategic win for Putin's vision of the world. new essay: hegemon.substack.com/p/venezuela-...
- And then you've got the WaPo Ed board's insanely bad take #Venezuela
