48 hours in Edinburgh at #BIAPT2026 and the verdict is in: The center is not holding. Day 1 killed "Polite Politics." Day 2 killed the "Liberal Individual." From the ethics of "Rage Bait" to the structural injustice of owning a Goldendoodle, here is the dispatch from the edge of Political Theory 🧵

🌍 DAY 1: THE CLIMATE STATE Alyssa Battistoni warns we are trapped in "Conflict Management" with fossil capital—treating oil like legitimate property to be negotiated with. She invites us to read her new book: "Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature"

🥫 Suzanne Whitten argued that "Incivility" isn't toxicity; it’s a weapon of the weak. When the State ignores standard dissent, "throwing soup at art" isn't vandalism—it's a rational democratic response.

🐶 DAY 2: THE RESISTANCE Angie Pepper dropped the most controversial take of the week: Pet keeping isn't companionship; it’s "Structural Injustice." She argues our desire to own animals is "acquisitive and instrumentalising." We don't need better owners; we need to abolish the institution of The Pet.

🗳️ Bruno Leipold confirmed what we suspect: Elections are oligarchic. MPs are structural elites who can’t be held accountable by voting alone. His fix? "Constituency Juries." Randomly selected citizens (Sortition) with the power to sanction and recall MPs. Real accountability has teeth.

🍄 Finally, we moved beyond human politics entirely. The "Entanglement" panel argues we are "multispecies assemblies"—from gut biomes to whales. The goal isn't to fix the crisis but to "stay with the trouble" (Haraway) and survive the wreckage together.

The energy shifted from high theory to survival strategies. The @openuniversity.bsky.social was built for this reality: education that exists in the real world, not a walled garden. #OUPIPS #PolSci #PoliticalTheory #BIAPT