Mischiefs of Faction, now on Substack

Now in its fourth evolutionary form, we reintroduce Mischiefs of Faction -- a political scientist's "community blog."

A new plant sprouting after a fire. Photo by Jack Skipworth on flikr, Creative Commons license.

We’re back!

Sort of. Matt Green and I are reawakening the Mischiefs of Faction into a modernized, flexible place for political analysis. We will serve as writers and editors-in-chief of this entity, but our vision for Mischiefs is as a political scientist’s community blog.

That means, if you’re a political scientist (or adjacent), and you have 800 - 1200 words worth of expertise to share with an eager audience to help us all better understand the world, we invite you to do that here.

Our vision is to provide analytical, apolitical, partisan-neutral takes on current affairs. We apply political science theory, evidence, and context to make sense of the morass of social, political, and economic puzzles we find ourselves living through.

If you’re unfamiliar with Mischiefs, let me give you a brief historical orientation.

A Brief History of the Mischiefs of Faction

Mischiefs of Faction was started as a small, scrappy “web log” back in 2012—when blogging was highly fashionable and commenting on politics was more fun and games than existential woe and dread. Originally, there were four writers: Seth Masket, Hans Noel, Greg Koger, and me. Before too long, we added several more writers, including Julia Azari, Matt Green, Jonathan Ladd, and others. As practicing academics working in US universities, we aimed to provide explanations and analysis about political events, often, but not always, using a lens of party politics. The blog’s title is a reference to James Madison’s famous phrase in Federalist No. 10:

There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects.

In 2015, we were invited to join the Vox media universe, as an independent but associated blog. We did well there, had a few hits, but the party didn’t last. In 2019, the Vox staff unionized, and our unmanaged band of unpaid writers was no longer welcome. In August 2019, Mischiefs became an independent blog again.

Mischiefs thrived once more, with more guest writers, popular pieces, and regular content, through the Trump-I and most of the Biden presidency.

In 2023, the blog was slowing down. The young associates became fulls and the assistants became overburdened associates. The blogosphere was mostly gone, political science Twitter was dying, and it was harder to get traction on things. Our attempts at reform petered out. The blog went silent.

Until now.

Mischiefs of Faction is reborn. It is broader, more inclusive, and modernized from its previous forms. Subscriptions are free, and there are no gated components to this enterprise. Mischiefs’ contributors are now, and always have been, volunteer writers.

You can look for takes from me, Matt, and perhaps some others from the old gang, in addition to new voices.

TO POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTORS: We will consider posts from academic or subject-area experts in US politics and related fields. Our goal is to have a fast turnaround and minimal editing. To maximize the likelihood of acceptance, follow these guidelines:

• 800 - 1200 words

• Original content written in the submitting author's voice.

• Current topics or reflections that are timely and relevant to recent events.

• Evidence-based analysis free of unsubstantiated opinion.

• Any images are freely available (e.g., Creative Commons license).

• References are included as active hyperlinks to credible sources.

We aim to publish pieces in a timely manner–if we accept your piece, we aim to push it out within 24 hours. The editors provide minimal editing and fact-checking on pieces; authors are responsible for their own content. If a piece is found to violate our submission guidelines after it has been published, the author(s) will be banned from future submissions.

Submit your piece, or pitch an idea for a piece, using this form.