Inside the (Real) Zero Day Industry

A common image of the zero day industry—which provides non-public vulnerabilities to government agencies—is that of a wild west, with merchants selling hacking technology to whomever is willing to buy, including authoritarian regimes and adversaries of democracies. But there is another, much harder to cover section of the industry: companies that provide high end exploits and other tools to members of the Five Eyes, including the UK, US, Canada, and Australia. These companies keep a low profile, don't advertise at surveillance fairs, and keep any information on their public websites vague.

Partisanship, Organizations, and the Cultural Politics of Protest During Trump’s Presidency

Trump's 2016 election has sparked a major upsurge in protest in the U.S. Bringing together a diverse set of issues and constituencies, activists have organized thousands of protests with over six million participants in the year following the inauguration. Additionally, more than five thousand local organizations have been established by the anti-Trump Indivisible mobilization network. I draw on protest event data to track the main issues and claims at the forefront of the movement.

Black Urban Political Development and the American City


Kimberley Johnson (New York University)

This paper explores the formation of black urban citizenship or “black urbanism” as a key part of the development of the 20th century American urban order. Rather than seeing black urbanism as reactive to American urban development, I argue that it both shapes and is shaped by urban political development. Such a reconceptualization shifts black urban politics from its “urban crisis" origins across time and space, affecting national, state and local political development.

Calming the Markets: When technocratic appointments signal credibility

Who do prime ministers prioritise during financial crises; voters or the market? The political economy literature finds that international financial actors closely watch and react to political developments such as elections, particularly during times of financial turmoil. Particularly during financial crises prime ministers are between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, voters demand social protection against economic uncertainty.
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