Steven Klein
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stevenklein.bsky.social
Steven Klein
@stevenklein.bsky.social
5.2K followers 710 following 310 posts
Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Political Theory, King's College London. Writing a global history and philosophy of unions (Allen Lane/Oxford) and PI for DERISK https://www.derisk.org.uk/
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stevenklein.bsky.social
Labour had a window for big tax raises or fiscal change - right after the election, when they could have used the "Tory's left us with a bigger mess than we realized, we need to save the NHS." Their innate caution has led them to a dead end.
luketryl.bsky.social Luke Tryl @luketryl.bsky.social · 3d
Too much analysis was still treating breaking the tax pledge as “just another unpopular decision” rather than recognising consequence of breaking a promise which defined an election for the public. If is correct the govt won’t now break it they may have avoided a deeply scarring loss of public trust
November 14, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Reposted by Steven Klein
samuel-bagg.bsky.social
Misinformation *is* central to democratic problems today, but the solution is *not* to correct such epistemic failures directly. Instead, we must address them at their roots, in social identity.

Or so I argue in a new post for @apaphilosophy.bsky.social.

blog.apaonline.org/2025/11/12/t...
The Problem is Epistemic. The Solution is Not. | Blog of the APA
Doubts about the wisdom of the masses are as old as philosophy itself. Yet interest in democracy’s “epistemic” merits has surged in the last decade—and it is no mystery why. Democracy is collapsing ar...
blog.apaonline.org
November 13, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Steven Klein
yoandhey.bsky.social
KCL PPE for Public Policy Graduate
Conference

📅Date: 26 Nov 2025
🏟️Place: KCL Waterloo Campus
🎤Keynote: Prof. Jonathan Wolff
📊Sessions: Interdisciplinary & Policy-oriented (see ⤵︎for details)
📝Register here:
kclppe4pp.github.io

Please come join us!!

#PPE #Econsky #Philsky
#Polisky #Policysky
November 12, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Reposted by Steven Klein
benbraun.bsky.social
The central argument in this excellent paper & thread is that the open-access turn has neglected profit; indeed, it turbo-charged publishers’ margins. As political economists who know a thing or two about profit and power we should speak up a lot more. As it says below: What we’re doing is crazy.
hansonmark.bsky.social Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 6d
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 12, 2025 at 8:30 AM
stevenklein.bsky.social
Even starmers own loyalists have seemed to settle on "getting rid of him will roil the markets and make us look chaotic" rather than "he's a good leader"
November 12, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Reposted by Steven Klein
robin-c.bsky.social
Orwellian levels of political interference in academic affairs: Under pressure from right-wing press and the Minister of Education the prestigious Collège de France cancels the conference ‘Palestine and Europe’ - in the name of academic freedom and neutrality … read this statement by the organizers:
nicolashenin.net Nicolas Henin 🇪🇺💙💛 @nicolashenin.net · 7d
"En cédant à la pression du ministre, Philippe Baptiste, l’administrateur du Collège de France compromet l’indépendance d’une institution fondée il y a plus de quatre siècles, qui a accueilli les plus grands noms de la pensée française, de Foucault à Bourdieu.
Communiqué de presse : le Collège de France cède aux pressions et annule le colloque « La Palestine et l’Europe »
Le Collège de France annule le colloque « La Palestine et l’Europe » sous pression politique. Des universitaires dénoncent l’ingérence ministérielle et un article diffamatoire de Le Point, alertant su...
carep-paris.org
November 10, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Reposted by Steven Klein
colmpm.bsky.social
Breaking the tax pledge is the right call...and politically sulphurous. Reeves must argue, far more forcefully, that taxes are *the* essential downpayment we all pay for a fairer society.

Patrick Diamond and I wrote for @renewaljournal.bsky.social. Key points in 🧵 👇

renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
If Labour want a fairer society, they must argue for it
Labour must make the political argument: taxes are the critical downpayment we all pay to live in a fairer society.  It now seems all but certain that direct taxes will rise in the forthcoming Budget...
renewal.org.uk
November 10, 2025 at 7:34 AM
stevenklein.bsky.social
Wolf wrote a massive book arguing that the relationship between democracy and capitalism has broken down and needs a rebalancing, but when faced with the concrete policies that would enable that he balks
danielagabor.bsky.social Daniela Gabor @danielagabor.bsky.social · 7d
the Greens surge on an affordability crisis platform, Labour government bleeding support for embracing New Labour, and Martin Wolf's advice: stay New Labour

www.ft.com/content/b88e...
The disturbing victory of Old Labour over New Labour
In education, labour and housing we risk going back towards what we know will not work
www.ft.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Reposted by Steven Klein
pkandelic.bsky.social
Simpsons screncap. In Springfield shopping mall. Marge, holding Maggie, points towards a green bird, with red plumage, standing on a perch, while Homer looks on. Caption: "Look, Homer, there's that bird you like to argue with."
November 8, 2025 at 7:47 AM
stevenklein.bsky.social
we honestly have no idea what we are creating and doing here do we.
November 7, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Steven Klein
moreperfectunion.bsky.social
BREAKING: Starbucks workers have just authorized a massive strike.

Union Starbucks baristas voted to authorize the strike by 92%.

Now baristas in over 25 cities could launch an unfair labor practice strike on Thursday, November 13th.
November 5, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Reposted by Steven Klein
lyndab08.bsky.social
A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.
November 7, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Reposted by Steven Klein
heathercherone.bsky.social
FULL STORY: Finding that federal agents repeatedly used force that “shocks the conscience” and lied about their actions, a federal judge issued a sweeping injunction designed to permanently rein in agents’ use of tear gas and pepper balls. @wttw.bsky.social
news.wttw.com/2025/11/06/f...
Protesters gather outside an ICE processing facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Ill., Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (AP Photo / Alex Brandon)
November 6, 2025 at 7:38 PM
stevenklein.bsky.social
great news for Udit and Bruno, really excited we will be co-hosting this project!
November 6, 2025 at 11:21 AM
stevenklein.bsky.social
My short piece on democracy and elections was just republished in the magazine Kronika published by the Institute for Philosophy in Zagreb, Croatia

kronika.ifzg.hr/2025/11/04/a...
Are Elections Enough? Democracy and Collective Power - Kronika
Stephen Klein on the limits of elections
kronika.ifzg.hr
November 5, 2025 at 6:36 PM
stevenklein.bsky.social
I'm excited that we will be hosting a discussion of John McCormick's new book, The People’s Princes: Machiavelli, Leadership, and Liberty, here at KCL, with comments from Lawrence Hamilton, Camila Vergara, and David Wootton. Do sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-people...
The People’s Princes: Machiavelli, Leadership, and Liberty
A book discussion with author and academic, John McCormick.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 10:36 AM
stevenklein.bsky.social
Wanting a European welfare state with less-than-American taxation system.
jonathanhopkin.bsky.social Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 14d
How on earth can Rachel Reeves balance the books? Well, maybe there is a bit of room for taxes to go up, given the vast majority of OECD countries have higher - and in some cases much much higher - taxes on average incomes www.oecd.org/content/dam/...
November 4, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Steven Klein
danielagabor.bsky.social
Labour government preparing to hike income taxes - blaming bond markets.

not one adult in the room will say the obvious:

1. Britain's fiscal rules are shambles
2. Bank of England has too much power over fiscal decisions
3. ignore bond vigilantes

www.ft.com/content/5c8f...
Keir Starmer puts Labour MPs on notice for Budget tax rises
Prime minister declines to rule out higher income taxes as Treasury lays foundations for bigger fiscal buffer
www.ft.com
October 31, 2025 at 7:44 AM
stevenklein.bsky.social
Bond markets love it when you do two contradictory things at once.
October 31, 2025 at 8:20 AM
stevenklein.bsky.social
From the late 19th century to 1920s, American corporations invented "americanness" and forced it on immigrants, in part to reduce labour mobilisation and unrest. Ford famously paid bonuses if immigrants could prove they had become American. Assimilation was a tool of union busting.
dieworkwear.bsky.social derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 18d
JD Vance claims that diversity weakens unions, as people end up distrusting each other and not organizing.

Let me tell you two menswear stories related to this claim. 🧵
October 30, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Reposted by Steven Klein
voxdev.bsky.social
🆕 Enemies of the people: How Stalin’s Gulags shaped Russia

Gerhard Toews (New Economic School) & Pierre-Louis Vézina (King's College London) discuss how Stalin’s forced deportation of educated ‘enemies of the people’ inadvertently concentrated human capital in Gulag towns: https://ow.ly/Eceb50Xch32
Enemies of the people: How Stalin’s Gulags shaped Russia
Stalin’s forced deportation of educated ‘enemies of the people’ inadvertently concentrated human capital in Gulag towns, fostering inter-generational prosperity and long-term development despite the destructive intent of the repression.
ow.ly
October 16, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by Steven Klein
kcl-spe.bsky.social
In their new book, Dr Martin Moore and King's colleague Dr Thomas Colley show how states are battling to control and shape the news in order to entrench their power, evade scrutiny, and ensure that their political narratives are accepted 📚

Read a short preview here 👇

www.kcl.ac.uk/how-news-is-...
How news is being used to dictate reality
In an age where state directed media and tightly managed information are enabling world leaders to determine their own narratives, it is harder than ever for global citizens to share the same…
www.kcl.ac.uk
October 29, 2025 at 7:47 AM
stevenklein.bsky.social
My gym now has a psychic
October 28, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Steven Klein
uncanonical.bsky.social
A happy change: my article on Rousseau’s three general wills is now open access at the Review of Politics. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
October 28, 2025 at 11:14 AM
stevenklein.bsky.social
American politics are somehow simultaneously the most depressing and the most hopeful/awesome of any democracy
October 24, 2025 at 7:26 PM