Dani Gilbert

New research on hostage diplomacy negotiations co-authored by Buffett Faculty Fellow Danielle Gilbert ( @danigilbert.bsky.social ) ⬇️

🔥Hot off the press via @ispp-pops.bsky.social A very particular set of skills: The role of perspective-taking in hostage diplomacy negotiations Profs. Dani Gilbert ( @danigilbert.bsky.social / @buffett.northwestern.edu ) & Cynthia Wang ( @cynthiascwang.bsky.social / @drrc-kellogg.bsky.social )

We're proud to announce our 2026–27 Buffett Faculty Fellows: @weinbergcollege.bsky.social Professors Jeong Eun Annabel We and Silyane Larcher, and @polisciatnu.bsky.social Professors Ana Arjona, @danigilbert.bsky.social, and Shmulik Nili.

Our new cohort of Buffett Faculty Fellows is embarking on projects spanning Colombia, France, Jeju, Okinawa, Hawaiʻi, & beyond, researching issues ranging from the hidden costs of civil war to the sacred grounds of Pacific islands, & from the logic of kidnapping to the philosophy of the unthinkable.

#OpenAccess from @ejisbisa.bsky.social - Who supports hostage recovery? Explaining individual variation in American support for bringing hostages home - https://cup.org/4sZqdQ1 - Danielle Gilbert & @laurenrprather.bsky.social #FirstView #ISA2026

One day, @laurenrprather.bsky.social is going to ask you to embark on a joint research agenda. It’s very important that you say yes 🤝 Thrilled that our first collaboration is out in the world! 👇👇 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

As the last surviving October 7th hostages come home, what have we learned about hostage taking and recovery? My latest in @goodauth.bsky.social explains 👇 goodauthority.org/news/4-takea...

In @goodauth.bsky.social, @polisciatnu.bsky.social's @danigilbert.bsky.social explains President Trump’s new executive order creating a “state sponsor of wrongful detention” designation, aimed at punishing countries that detain foreigners as bargaining chips. spr.ly/63323ASHdP

Will Trump's new executive order “Strengthening Efforts to Protect U.S. Nationals from Wrongful Detention Abroad” help deter hostage diplomacy? Four big questions remain. Professor @danigilbert.bsky.social via @goodauth.bsky.social goodauthority.org/news/trump-w...

Trump wants to punish countries that wrongfully detain U.S. citizens. A new executive order aims to strike back against “hostage diplomacy.” Read the latest from @danigilbert.bsky.social: goodauthority.org/news/trump-w...

What should we expect from President Trump’s new executive order on “wrongful detention”? My latest, on @goodauth.bsky.social, explains👇 goodauthority.org/news/trump-w...

Breaking News: Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton graduate student taken hostage in Iraq, has been freed after more than two years of captivity.

👀👀👀 www.nytimes.com/2025/07/08/w...

I’m currently building a dataset on police forces around the globe. No other country has a force quite like ICE (w/ broad enforcement powers, tactical gear, immigration focus); the most apt comparisons are to secret police in authoritarian regimes rather than border/immigration forces elsewhere.

This is an unappreciated downside of the Iranian airstrikes: it revealed capabilities of the MOD and the B-2 itself (both radar x-section and actual combat load/range) and, despite everything working perfectly, appears to have failed to destroy the program despite being built for this use

My colleague Nick Miller in The Economist www.economist.com/middle-east-...

according to conservatives on the court, the constitution does not protect your right to your own body but does enable the government to ship you off to a foreign gulag without any hope of return

Justice Sotomayor ends her dissent by saying the Supreme Court has permitted "thousands [to] suffer violence in farflung locales," an action which "rewards lawlessness" by the Trump administration. She says the Court has undermined the basic concept of Due Process under the law.

Sotomayor's dissent is scathing. She accuses her colleagues of a gross abuse of discretion, saying they "interven[ed] to grant the Government emergency relief from an order it has repeatedly defied." She's right. The 6-justice majority is effectively endorsing contempt of court.

#BREAKING: Over a (sharp) public dissent from the three Democratic appointees, #SCOTUS clears the way for the Trump administration to remove migrants to third countries *without* giving them an additional opportunity to contest whether they face persecution or other forms of mistreatment there:

at least he didn't do something truly reckless like try to forgive student loans

By the way, one of the reasons it’s terrible all of these people lie all of the time about meaningless things is it makes it impossible to believe them when they’re talking about incredibly consequential things.

Journalists: this thread has many, many people who can comment on different angles of the US attack on Iran. Contact them!

Donald Trump, a weak and dangerously reckless president, has put the United States on a path to a war in the Middle East that the country does not want, the law does not allow, and our security does not demand.

Trump is skipping over all potential checks on use of force. Intl law - no claim of self defense. US law - no AUMF, does not meet WPR criteria, Article 2 so stretched it’s tearing. Partisan congressional notification only. Intel and defense principals objected. Vast majority of Americans opposed. 1/

Trump is once against arsonist and fireman. If he hadn't pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal (which our own State Dept. certified Iran was in compliance with), we wouldn't be here.

🧵 Quick legal thoughts on Trump's attack on Iran. It was patently illegal. And a further egregious assault on the rule of law in the US. 1/n

I was briefed on the intelligence last week. Iran posed no imminent threat of attack to the United States. Iran was not close to building a deliverable nuclear weapon. The negotiations Israel scuttled with their strikes held the potential for success.

Oh hey if you wanna go back and listen to a whole season about why pulling out of the JCPOA during Trump’s first term was a terrible idea and would probably lead to war, we did that here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... (Season two.)

No Congressional approval and we find out we're at war with Iran from a freaking social media post. Just straight up Mad King

Data points like this and the badly outdated State/DoD websites suggest a lack of government coordination. Which is…well, not good when you’re getting into a war.

Questions, in no particular order: 1. Where’s the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio? 2. Is there a homeland security/CT plan given recent focus on mass deportations and downgrading of CT? 3. Did the “2 weeks” backlash push him or was it a done deal? 4. Did he notify Congress at all? (More soon)

Among many other things this is a proliferation nightmare. The lesson learned will be never negotiate with the United States.

It’s a good thing Congress isn’t alive to see this

“When Mahmoud Khalil was detained, I wrote on my blog that the U.S. had pivoted to a new tactic, one I called “the deportation of dissent.” Then it happened to me.” Stunning, from @alistairkitchen.bsky.social www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

As someone who studies kidnapping, I’d say we don’t have to label every abduction/ detention as “kidnapping” to indicate that it’s arbitrary, unlawful, or just plain vile. Fortunately, we’ve got a whole slate of terms for what’s going on. More from me with all of them, soon.

🧵IR scholars, let's start a thread of what we know that's relevant for a US attack on Iran. Won't change any minds, but might help us teach this crisis and learn new angles. Please add (incl. your own work!), forgive/correct omissions. Nobody can cover everything and it's great to find new work. 1/?

Not an original point but worth saying again - there is not a single element in this picture that identifies any of these folks as law enforcement agents. No badges, no uniforms, no vests. Out of context it just looks like a bunch of random guys are kidnapping a mayoral candidate.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City's comptroller, mayoral candidate Brad Lander, has been arrested while visiting an immigration court.

Here's a longer video of Brad Lander's detention just now inside 26 Federal Plaza as he tried to walk a man out of immigration court, by masked federal agents.