Weekly Links

By Sarah Bakhtiari

Financial constraints are forcing Iran to face trade-offs in devoting resources to Shia militias in Syria and Hezbollah—but if the final nuclear deal comes through, these pressures may be alleviated.

Why does political science eschew prediction and cross-validation when it’s considered the gold standard in most scientific fields?

The African Union is unlikely to constrain Nkurunziza in his self-decreed third-term presidential bid, which he has deemed “non-negotiable.”

The Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine State number 1.3 million, and have been considered illegal and stateless by the government since 1982. Myanmar’s democratization has exacerbated inter-communal tensions, compelling the government to backtrack on its consideration of Rohingya voting rights and further constrain their rights.

Do words matter? Apparently, yes, regardless of whether you are conducting a Pew poll or explaining why one is deficient.

Software start-ups are an effort by the Italian government to develop a mini Silicon Valley in southern Italy.  One of these start-ups, Texplora, is combatting corruption directly by correlating individuals’ fiscal data to identify probable tax dodgers.

National Security Advisor to the Vice President Joe Biden, Colin Kahl, offers candid insights on the Iranian nuclear deal in this interview.

Are similar U.S. cyber collection practices constraining the U.S. response to China’s recent breach of federal worker data from the Office of Personnel Management?

What are the parallels between Sepp Blatter’s leadership at FIFA and corrupt autocrats in much of the world? FIFA has its own complex political economy that has implications for cheap vote-buying and other such practices.

Maria Konnikova explores the institutional implications, rather than the psychological ones, of the Stanford prison experiment.

Following protests on Freddie Gray’s death and the absence of police patrols, homicide rates have soared in Baltimore. On the other hand, legal reforms that might allow for deeper probes into police misconduct are unlikely.

Is imperialism dead in the Middle East? Benjamin Denison and Andrew Lebovich respond to Robert Kaplan’s neoimperialist argument.