Stephen Walt
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stephenwalt.bsky.social
Stephen Walt
@stephenwalt.bsky.social
3.9K followers 220 following 280 posts

Harvard professor, realist, FP columnist. Tennis enthusiast, amateur musician, proud dad, & grateful husband. Troubled by the state of the world & looking for solutions. For speaking engagements contact John Bute at [email protected] .. more

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Stephen Martin Walt is an American political scientist serving as the Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of international relations at the Harvard Kennedy School. A member of the realist school of international relations, Walt has made important contributions to the theory of neorealism and has authored the balance of threat theory. Books that he has authored or coauthored include Origins of Alliances, Revolution and War, and The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. .. more

Political science 72%
Sociology 17%
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stephenwalt.bsky.social
Stephen Walt @stephenwalt.bsky.social · 18h
Following the #Trump (aka Boor-in-Chief) rant re Bad Bunny singing in Spanish, will the #MetOpera take the hint and stop mounting all those operas in Italian, French, German, etc.?

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Brendan Nyhan, David Darmofal

chrisvannini.com
Chris Vannini @chrisvannini.com · 1d
The Champions League final in Germany last year opened with Linkin Park

stephenwalt.bsky.social
Stephen Walt @stephenwalt.bsky.social · 1d
The only response to a #PredatoryHegemon.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

kimlanelaw.bsky.social
Kim Lane Scheppele @kimlanelaw.bsky.social · 1d
Europe -- are you listening? There's really only one way to deal with a bully . . . www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...
Want to stop Trump bullying your country? Retaliate
Faced with economic coercion, Europe has trodden carefully. My experience tells me that’s not enough
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

hkfinan.bsky.social
Heidi Finan @hkfinan.bsky.social · 1d
Yea, nobody who has a “Trump account” for their kids should expect it to be a sound investment 🤦🏼‍♀️ (that commercial)

stephenwalt.bsky.social
Stephen Walt @stephenwalt.bsky.social · 1d
The propaganda has begun.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, David Darmofal

roey.bsky.social
Roey Hadar @roey.bsky.social · 1d
And the women’s team:
- the daughter of Chinese immigrants who rebuffed an aggressive campaign to get her to skate for China
- the daughter of an Italian immigrant embryologist mom who named her after a Michelle Pfeiffer character
- the pansexual daughter of a Texas cop (who is her biggest fan)
alexip718.com Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 4d
This year, the U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Men's Team is represented by:
• the son of Ukrainian Junior World Champion skaters in Florida who like Papa John's
• the son of Russian World Champion skaters in Connecticut
• the son of Uzbek Olympic skaters in Virginia

That's what makes America great.
alexip718.com Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 4d
This year, the U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Pairs Team is represented by:
• A Japanese and Chinese Hawaiian
• A Michigan guy (You'll notice a trend here)
• A Hong Kong and Taiwanese Texan
• A Japanese American and Army soldier who is studying to become a chaplain!

That's what makes America great.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

matthew-bunn.bsky.social
Matthew Bunn @matthew-bunn.bsky.social · 2d
Pete Hegseth's decision to end all military education and fellowships at Harvard is bad for the military, as well as bad for Harvard. I'm proud to say many of my former fellows are making big contributions to the U.S. military -- helped by their time at Harvard.
x.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

stelhami.bsky.social
Shibley Telhami @stelhami.bsky.social · 2d
Simple: War with Iran is mostly about Israel. As long as Israel remains expansionist, its project will be regionally rejected, leading it to define its security as regional hegemony - a state of 10 million dominating a region of half a billion. That’s impossible without the USA – thus forever war.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Matthew Bunn

robertstavins.bsky.social
Robert N. Stavins @robertstavins.bsky.social · 3d
Read this and check out the index across all 12 dimensions www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Opinion | ICE and Minnesota Have Pushed the U.S. Closer to Autocracy
Measuring America’s slide toward democratic erosion.
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

jricole.bsky.social
Juan Cole @jricole.bsky.social · 4d
could we please retire the word "testing"? you mean "violating
truthdig.com Truthdig @truthdig.com · 4d
ICE has asserted it can enter homes without judicial warrants. Legal experts say schools are protected by the Fourth Amendment — but agents are testing those limits.
ICE Is ‘At the School Yard Gate’
ICE may not be conducting large-scale raids inside schools. But agents are getting close to schools, leaving a mark on students across the country.
www.truthdig.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Juan Cole

truthdig.com
Truthdig @truthdig.com · 4d
ICE has asserted it can enter homes without judicial warrants. Legal experts say schools are protected by the Fourth Amendment — but agents are testing those limits.
ICE Is ‘At the School Yard Gate’
ICE may not be conducting large-scale raids inside schools. But agents are getting close to schools, leaving a mark on students across the country.
www.truthdig.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

mirakamdar.bsky.social
Mira Kamdar @mirakamdar.bsky.social · 4d
"Appeasing Trump isn’t working. Rutte has gone to enormous lengths to appease and flatter Trump (at one point likening him to a benevolent “daddy”), and what did it get him?" foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/04/n...
NATO’s Leader Is Totally Lost
What does Mark Rutte think he’s doing?
foreignpolicy.com

stephenwalt.bsky.social
Stephen Walt @stephenwalt.bsky.social · 4d
Silver lining: #Trump's remarks at the #NationalPrayerBreakfast will make even non-believers start praying for a miracle that stops him from doing even more damage to a once-great nation.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

nilsgilman.bsky.social
Nils Gilman @nilsgilman.bsky.social · 5d
“Theory is the basis for all explanation and prediction.” - Chief, Methods and Forecasting Division, Office of Regional & Political Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency, 1978

apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA...
apps.dtic.mil

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

foreignpolicy.com
Foreign Policy @foreignpolicy.com · 5d
Trying to preserve NATO’s old formula of U.S. dominance and European submission is an increasingly bad bet, writes columnist @stephenwalt.bsky.social.
NATO’s Leader Is Totally Lost
What does Mark Rutte think he’s doing?
foreignpolicy.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Anna O. Law, Rebecca Solnit , and 6 more

nhannahjones.bsky.social
Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 5d
Our founders, though deeply flawed, understood that democracy requires an informed citizenry and a government accountable to it people. That’s why the press is the only profession protected by the Constitution. It’s also why autocrats and oligarchs seek to control and destroy it.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Jan W. Mueller, Matthew Bunn , and 1 more

gregsargent.bsky.social
Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 5d
"We are now in a system of competitive authoritarianism. And it’s just about whether we manage to take our democracy back from that."

On the pod, @ryanenos.bsky.social is so good on Harvard pulling back from surrender to Trump, and on need for institutions to fight:
newrepublic.com/article/2061...
Trump Spirals Into Crazed Fury After Harvard Humiliates Him Very Badly
As Trump rages at Harvard over leaks that he’s backtracking in his fight with the university, a Harvard political scientist explains why the stakes in this battle are far bigger than they seem.
newrepublic.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

abuaardvark.bsky.social
Abu Aardvark @abuaardvark.bsky.social · 5d
Have any members of what’s left of the editorial board resigned over this?

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Lisa W. Fazio, Brendan Nyhan , and 4 more

pbump.com
Philip Bump @pbump.com · 5d
These are the last words in the last column I wrote for The Washington Post, titled "When institutions crumble, strongmen step in". www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
This is nonetheless more favorable terrain for Trump than for the American system. As New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan once wrote (here in The Post), “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” Trump has for years stoked the idea that actually, having your own facts is fine. And even as his base chooses facts that he finds inconvenient in the moment, he’s still pushing toward the next phase: Everyone is entitled to the facts that Trump presents. What institutions of power will be left to disagree?

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt

opiniontoday.bsky.social
Opinion Today @opiniontoday.bsky.social · 6d
The grand strategy of Trump's 2nd term is perhaps best described as “predatory hegemony.” Its central aim is to use Washington’s privileged position to extract concessions, tribute and displays of deference from allies and adversaries.
@stephenwalt.bsky.social
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
The Predatory Hegemon
Ever since Donald Trump first became U.S. president, in 2017, commentators have searched for an adequate label to describe his approach to U.S. foreign relations. Writing in these pages, the political...
www.foreignaffairs.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Kim L. Scheppele

therealjackhopkins.bsky.social
Jack Hopkins-The Original @therealjackhopkins.bsky.social · 6d
Stop asking if they’re “rigging the election.”
They. Already. Are.
But the most dangerous part isn’t the mechanics. It’s the message.
They’re doing it in public to make you swallow the real lie:
That voting is pointless.
If they can get you to quit before Election Day… they don’t even have to win.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Shibley Telhami

foreignaffairs.com
Foreign Affairs @foreignaffairs.com · 6d
“The Trump administration appears to believe it can prey on other states forever, and that doing so will make the United States even stronger,” writes @stephenwalt.bsky.social. But “predatory hegemony contains the seeds of its own destruction.”
The Predatory Hegemon
Ever since Donald Trump first became U.S. president, in 2017, commentators have searched for an adequate label to describe his approach to U.S. foreign relations. Writing in these pages, the political...
www.foreignaffairs.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Gerald Friedman

djrothkopf.bsky.social
David Rothkopf @djrothkopf.bsky.social · 6d
In the current @foreignaffairs.com there's a an important article by @stephenwalt.bsky.social which frames Trump's "foreign policy" as "predatory hegemony." It also notes that this "mafia boss"-like policy is doomed to fail and weaken the U.S. Truth. Must read. www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
The Predatory Hegemon
Ever since Donald Trump first became U.S. president, in 2017, commentators have searched for an adequate label to describe his approach to U.S. foreign relations. Writing in these pages, the political...
www.foreignaffairs.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Robert Wolfe

nessanichasaide.bsky.social
Nessa Ní Chasaide @nessanichasaide.bsky.social · 6d
Yep.

"The bottom line is that acting as a predatory hegemon will weaken the networks of power and influence on which the United States has long relied and which created the leverage that Trump is now trying to exploit."

by @stephenwalt.bsky.social

www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
The Predatory Hegemon
Ever since Donald Trump first became U.S. president, in 2017, commentators have searched for an adequate label to describe his approach to U.S. foreign relations. Writing in these pages, the political...
www.foreignaffairs.com

Reposted by Robert Wolfe

stephenwalt.bsky.social
Stephen Walt @stephenwalt.bsky.social · 7d
If #Trump does a nuclear deal with Iran, I hope it is better than the phony peace deal he claimed to have reached in Israel-Palestine.

stephenwalt.bsky.social
Stephen Walt @stephenwalt.bsky.social · 7d
The United States under Trump has become a predatory hegemon. It is a strategy that contains the seeds of its own destruction. I explain why in this forthcoming essay of mine in FOREIGN AFFAIRS (no paywall but you do have to register). www.foreignaffairs.com/guest-pass/r...
Sign In
Foreign Affairs — The leading magazine for analysis and debate of foreign policy, economics and global affairs.
www.foreignaffairs.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Elizabeth Saunders, Will Jennings , and 11 more

vermontgmg.bsky.social
Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 8d
A reminder that the Kennedy Center is the literal and legal and congressional designated presidential memorial to JFK. This would be like Trump tearing down the Lincoln Memorial to build something “better.”
hudsonrivercroc.bsky.social HudsonRiverCroc @hudsonrivercroc.bsky.social · 8d
He’s going to tear it down

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Kim L. Scheppele, Bonnie Honig , and 4 more

drewharwell.com
Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 8d
Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017 and now wants $10 billion because a leaker pointed that out www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...
Trump Lawsuit Against IRS Puts Him on Both Sides of the Same Case
President Trump’s lawsuit against the government that he runs presents a mind-bending minefield of conflicts that could end with his appointees approving a federal payout to him.
www.wsj.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Steve Peers, Stacy D. VanDeveer , and 1 more

atrupar.com
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d
Karoline Leavitt lies shamelessly: "Under Joe Biden, murders were up. Violent crime was up." (Biden brought crime dramatically down from where it was in 2020, the last year of Trump's first term)