@vladimirbortun
Materialist political scientist and lecturer in politics, currently based at St. John's College, Oxford. Working on class politics, far right parties, fractions of capital, political elites, and the European left. From Bucharest.
Trumpism is often cast as a personalist project representing no coherent capitalist interest.
But it is also the product of splits within the ruling class and a new power bloc uniting the tech-military complex, crypto-capital, and extractivists.
I will also fight against the extremes in politics on the right and the left, parties who want to tear our country apart.
This is why polarisation is such an unhelpful term as it encourages this kind of horseshoe theorising
Starmer's vision may sound grownup but it's one where politics should be in between democracy and authoritarianism, racism and anti-racism, transphobia and trans rights and fascism and anti-fascism
🧵Reform's Matt Goodwin has said he is “not part of the establishment”, and criticised the “elite class”. But we found that his definition of “the elite” excludes the bankers, asset managers and global real estate executives who pay him /1 bylinetimes.com/2026/02/25/r...
I've written for @jacobinmagazin.bsky.social a review of "Rogue Elephant: How Republicans Went from the Party of Business to the Party of Chaos" by Paul Heideman.
jacobin.com/2026/02/capi...
'For too long, the threat of the far right and reactionary politics has been externalised and exceptionalised. It is time to accept that the current system can indeed accommodate the far right if its survival is threatened by other crises'
This is why we need Red Lines
reacpol.net/why-red-lines/
Two days left to apply to the first edition of the flagship conference of the Standing Group on Central and East European Politics.
ecpr.eu/Events/358
They embrace their dreams and keep going. From stolen oranges to bitter laughter, Ali Abu Yassin writes from Gaza on how fleeting, fragile moments of “happiness” become a form of resistance, and a reason to survive another day.
Labour Together’s Donor Network tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
Fascinating survey experiment that lends support to the very hypothesis animating my whole research agenda on the 'populist' far-right: that people can be put off by these parties' privileged backgrounds and ties to wealthy elites. In other words, by showing that they're not what they say they are.
For the FES, I wrote a short brief about how mainstream party strategies have fueled far-right success. They move toward more anti-immigration positions to win voters back. This does not work, but shifts public opinion to the right. Parties then react to shifts in public opinion. A vicious cycle.
Just because far-right populist parties like to "blur" their economic agenda, it doesn't mean they don't have one. They do and, as in the case of Reform UK, it's very much pro-business.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Sure the 🇬🇧 media will be all over this 🙄
#farage
#reformUK
“Without foreign money and a complicit UK media, Nigel Farage would still be working in the City as a low-level commodities trader.
And the United Kingdom would be an altogether greener and more pleasant land.”
The most important Marxist event in Eastern Europe now at its third edition: Cluj, 16-18 April. Last week to send in your abstracts.
www.historicalmaterialism.org/event/histor...
With the far right gaining ground, some on the Left look to the Popular Front of the 1930s for inspiration. But despite its successes in unifying the Left against fascism, the Popular Front’s overall track record was in fact decidedly mixed.
Reform leaders say they're "the party of the workers", but only 4% of their 2024 parliamentary candidates had occupations traditionally deemed as working class. However, they are different from mainstream politicians in one crucial respect: the overrepresentation of the petty bourgeoisie.
Israel bombed tents in Gaza today, killed at least 30 people including children, and the death toll is likely to rise
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Something that "man-of-the-people" Matt Goodwin might not mention in his bid to become an MP is his leading role in one of the most Thatcherite think-tanks out there.
www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-mone...
DHS: Want affordable housing? Help report illegal aliens in your area. Call 866-DHS-2-ICE. If you are an illegal alien, you can take control of your departure using DHS.GOV/CBPHOME.
straight up Gestapo shit
Israel's apologists spent over 2 years sowing distrust in the official Gaza death toll.
Now the Israeli army quietly accepts that it is actually an underestimate.
Eternal shame for the atrocity deniers. They must never be absolved of their guilt.
Happy to have been interviewed for @rfi.fr 's latest "Spotlight on France" podcast on drug prices and Trump's threats! An episode that you can listen to here:
Wonder if Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin remembers this.
Dear voter, sick of the other parties and tempted by Reform UK? Don’t be daft. Don’t do it. They’re not your friends. Unless you are already rich, this report proves that they will only make your life and your family’s lives worse talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/01/28/d...
Thanks Emmy! This means something coming from you.
The paper on the class politics of Reform UK, which I've been working on with @aaronreeves.bsky.social for the last year and a half, is now available as a pre-print on SSRN. These are our main findings. Any feedback is more than welcome.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
My recent article on the European left now in Spanish for the Argentinian edition of Jacobin.
jacobinlat.com/2026/01/la-d...
Matt Goodwin's trajectory, from scholar of the far-right to its 'organic' intellectual to parliamentary candidate, certainly has an ideological component but ultimately can't be understood without factoring in his own material interests. From my review of his book for @lsereviewofbooks.bsky.social.
Very much looking forward to this - Silicon Empires by @nsrnicek.bsky.social is the best book I've read on the political economy of AI
