Dave á Jus7h ago

Letters From an American, real-time history by Heather Cox Richardson

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-18-2026

> And, just like that, President Donald J. Trump’s triumphant boasting that the Strait of Hormuz had been permanently reopened has unraveled in less than 24 hours. Citing the continuing U.S. blockade, Iranian officials announced they were closing the strait again. Reports say Iranian forces fired on two ships trying to cross the strait. Iranian media said: “Until the United States ends its interference with the full freedom of movement for vessels traveling to and from Iran, the status of the Strait of Hormuz will remain under intense control and in its previous state.” ...Susannah George of the Washington Post noted that the fragile temporary ceasefire between Israel and the government of Lebanon also appears to be cracking. Israel has been bombing southern Lebanon where Iran-backed [armed members of leading regional political party Hezbollah] operate, and Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that it believed Hezbollah had violated that ceasefire. It said: “IDF is authorized to take the necessary measures in self-defense against threats, while ensuring the security of Israeli civilians and the soldiers deployed in the area.” ...This morning, Trump said Iran wanted “to close up the strait again, you know, as they’ve been doing for years, and they can’t blackmail us.” In fact, the strait was open until Trump began to bomb Iran on February 28. Trump’s choice of the word “blackmail” is interesting in this context, for there have been no public threats of exposing someone’s secrets or threatening harm to them in association with the crisis in Iran...

#rebellion #uprising #resistance #sovereignty #legitimacy #colonialism #extortion #imperialism

April 18, 2026

And, just like that, President Donald J.

Letters from an American
Load average1d ago

We should impose a fitness filter on our governments in whatever form we choose to construct them.

If a government does not protect it's citizens and ensure for their health, stability and security; it's not a government, it's a crime.

#legitimacy

Show threadPepperberryApr 8

Synthesis: decoupling advances via loss of proximity, abolition of reciprocity, removal of voice. Re-embedding means designing institutions that restore all three — so accountability is structural, not optional.

Read Essay:
https://thinkingprospectus.substack.com/p/the-moral-economy-tradition-intellectual

#MoralEconomy #Polanyi #Thompson #Granovetter #SocialTheory #Governance #Legitimacy #Embeddedness
#PoliticalEconomy #EconomicSociology #InstitutionalDesign
#Accountability

The Moral Economy Tradition: Intellectual Genealogy, Structural Theory, and the Architecture of Embedded Responsibility

A Supplementary Essay to The Great Decoupling, A guided map of moral economy—Thompson, Polanyi, Scott, Granovetter & Akbar — showing how proximity, reciprocity, and voice sustain legitimacy.

Thinking Prospectus
Show threadPepperberryApr 8

Key idea: markets always rely on norms and social mechanisms. Thompson shows crowd expectations; Polanyi shows why self-regulating markets destabilize social/ecological foundations and trigger countermovements.

Read Essay:
https://thinkingprospectus.substack.com/p/the-moral-economy-tradition-intellectual

#MoralEconomy #Polanyi #Thompson #Granovetter #SocialTheory #Governance #Legitimacy #Embeddedness
#PoliticalEconomy #EconomicSociology #InstitutionalDesign
#Accountability

The Moral Economy Tradition: Intellectual Genealogy, Structural Theory, and the Architecture of Embedded Responsibility

A Supplementary Essay to The Great Decoupling, A guided map of moral economy—Thompson, Polanyi, Scott, Granovetter & Akbar — showing how proximity, reciprocity, and voice sustain legitimacy.

Thinking Prospectus
PepperberryApr 8

New essay: “The Moral Economy Tradition.” Moral economy isn’t nostalgia — it’s a structural claim: systems stay legitimate when responsibility is embedded. We trace Thompson → Polanyi → Scott → Granovetter → Akbar, then offer a diagnostic for modern “decoupling.”

Read Essay:
https://thinkingprospectus.substack.com/p/the-moral-economy-tradition-intellectual

#MoralEconomy #Polanyi #Thompson #Granovetter #SocialTheory #Governance #Legitimacy #Embeddedness #PoliticalEconomy #EconomicSociology #InstitutionalDesign #Accountability

ValdeloireApr 5

У демократії легітимність ...
Дені Подалідес

En démocratie, la légitimité ...
Denis Podalydès
https://buymeacoffee.com/valdeloir/bevakaninu

#демократія #політика #легітимність #лідерство #держава
#democracy #politics #legitimacy #leadership #state

Richard Michael BlaberMar 25
https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-new-15-point-plan-is-the-biggest-sign-yet-that-washington-fears-it-is-losing-this-war-279001; https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/17/joe-kent-resigns-director-national-counterterrorism-center. "The most immediate problem is lack of #legitimacy. This #war has authorisation from neither the #UnitedNations or, in the case of #America, the #USCongress. Further, #US #intelligence #assessments indicate #Iran was not rebuilding its #nuclear programme following earlier strikes - contradicting one of Washington’s justifications for war."
Donald Trump’s ‘new’ 15-point plan is the biggest sign yet that Washington fears it is losing this war

Donald Trump’s revival of a ‘roadmap’ to peace dismissed by Iran in 2025 suggests he is looking for a way out of an increasingly unwinnable war.

The Conversation
BellingenNSWMar 16

Lords a-leaving: Britain is ejecting hereditary nobles from Parliament after 700 years
"Centuries of British political tradition will end within weeks after Parliament voted to remove hereditary aristocrats from the unelected House of Lords."

"On Tuesday night members of the upper chamber dropped objections to legislation passed by the House of Commons ousting dozens of dukes, earls and viscounts who inherited seats in Parliament along with their aristocratic titles."
https://apnews.com/article/uk-house-of-lords-hereditary-peers-expelled-535df8781dd01e8970acda1dca99d3d4
#aristocracy #nobility #privilege #democracy #legitimacy #parliament #British #monarchy

The UK is ejecting hereditary nobles from Parliament after 700 years

Britain is ending the centuries-old tradition of hereditary aristocrats sitting in Parliament’s House of Lords. Late Tuesday the Lords dropped objections to a bill passed by the House of Commons that removes dozens of dukes, earls, and others who inherited seats in the unelected upper chamber. The chamber currently has more than 800 members. The vast majority are now “life peers” appointed by the government, but roughly 1 in 10 members are currently hereditary peers. A previous Labour government removed most hereditary peers in 1999 but left 92 in place. The rest will leave at the end of the current session of Parliament in the spring.

AP News
Show threadTon LansinkMar 15
9/11
#8 Legitimacy deficit. Occupying powers lose when they offer no acceptable political alternative to the regime they fight. Betts (1995), Nagl (2002). Most underrated factor in the literature on Iraq and Afghanistan.
#Legitimacy #StateBuilding #Iraq #Afghanistan #Occupation
BellingenNSWMar 11

A ‘just’ war?
‘We’re the good guys’: why moral storytelling doesn’t make the war on Iran necessary or legal

"The Iran war reveals a dangerous shift in the way states justify their actions: a growing preference for moral storytelling over legal reasoning."

"Once the narrative of a “just war” replaces the rule of law, there is little left to restrain the powerful states from dominating the weaker ones."

"The purpose of international law is not to determine who is morally good; it is to maintain order in a world where every state believes it is waging the “good” fight." >>
https://theconversation.com/were-the-good-guys-why-moral-storytelling-doesnt-make-the-war-on-iran-necessary-or-legal-277952
#war #legitimacy #narratives #RuleOfLaw #Australia #law

‘We’re the good guys’: why moral storytelling doesn’t make the war on Iran necessary or legal

Once the narrative of a “just war” replaces the rule of law, there is little left to restrain powerful states from dominating weaker ones.

The Conversation