On March 15th, 2022, APSA convened the webinar “Strategies for Teaching About Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine.”The panel brought together scholars with regional expertise on Russia and Ukraine, post-Soviet political development, international relations, global civic engagement, and political science instruction. Moderated by Michelle Allendoerfer, APSA’s Director of Teaching & Learning, the five panelists included John Ishiyama (APSA President, University of North Texas), Alison R. M. McCartney (Towson University), Yoshiko Herrera (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Paul Poast (The University of Chicago) and Olga Onuch (The University of Manchester). The aim of this event was to address the opportunities and challenges for teaching political science in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Members of the panel offered insights on how political science can shed light on the origins, dynamics, and consequences of the conflict, as well as practical suggestions for how to incorporate the events in Ukraine into classroom discussions and activities. In the following, I distill some of the core ideas that emerged in the panel discussion, which I organize around three key roles instructors can play during this time. Scholars of political science can provide students with relevant and accurate information about the conflict, help students to understand the conflict through the lens of political science, and empower students to take action on behalf of those affected by the conflict.

Elected leaders tend to enjoy an increase in popular support when the countries they govern become embroiled in international conflict. For example, George W. Bush could boast a 90% approval rating in the wake of 9/11. Existing theories claim that such “rally effects” occur due to favorable media coverage, support from opposition party members, and/or an uptick in patriotism. These existing theories share a basic assumption: rallies or rally effects reflect sincere changes in preferences, or individuals’ beliefs. In his new American Political Science Review article (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs%5b%E2%80%A6%5dpularity-surge-after-crimea/B587ECFA7B1280DE42D914DC101296F4), Henry E. Hale argues for a re-examination of the causal mechanisms in relation to rallying effects.

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to unfold, social media platforms are clamping down on Russian state-owned media, a key lever the Kremlin uses to spread propaganda and disinformation. The survival of non-democratic regimes in part depends on their ability to manage the information environment in this way. Social media has become a key ingredient in autocrats’ toolkits of how to respond to online opposition, which includes the use of trolls and automated bot accounts. But what are bots? What work do they do? And how might this social media tool be used in authoritarian regimes to help such regimes? In their new article, authors Stukal, Sanovich, Bonneau, and Tucker explore these pressing questions through an investigation of the use of pro-government Twitter bots within Russia during times of both offline and online political protests.

Corruption is a problem everywhere in the world, but it can be particularly damaging where political institutions and legal rules are weak. Many of those who grow up in developing countries have either been required to pay a bribe to a police officer, tax collector, or other government agent, or know someone who has.