@plutscher.bsky.social, @draege.bsky.social und @chknutsen.bsky.social untersuchen am Beispiel der Türkei, welche Auswirkungen Regierungspropaganda in elektoralen (im Gegensatz zu besser erforschten geschlossenen) Autokratien hat (OA 🔓): doi.org/10.1017/S147...

#OpenAccess from @ejprjournal.bsky.social - The effects of government propaganda in electoral authoritarian regimes: Evidence from Turkey - https://cup.org/3NGDtu8 - @plutscher.bsky.social, Jonas Bergan Draege & @chknutsen.bsky.social#OpenAccess #FirstView

🆕 #Propaganda & #Authoritarianism 💭 Philipp M. Lutscher, Jonas Bergan Draege & @chknutsen.bsky.social explore how government propaganda shapes political behaviour in polarized electoral authoritarian regimes using preregistered survey data from Turkey

Very happy and proud to have co-authored this paper in @ejprjournal.bsky.social, with @plutscher.bsky.social & @chknutsen.bsky.social 😊 doi.org/10.1017/S147... Please see Philipp's 🧵 below for the main findings 😊

(7/8) Notably, the deterrent effect on opponents weakened considerably during the 2023 campaign, when mobilization was already high and alternative narratives more accessible.

(5/8) Opponents exposed to propaganda videos report heightened anger and anxiety. Supporters report a stronger sense of societal belonging. These are consistent, robust findings across both experiments and both videos we tested.

@ejprjournal.bsky.social even timed the publication to my birthday 🎉😀 More seriously: so happy to see this published, and grateful to have worked with and learned from @plutscher.bsky.social & @draege.bsky.social Propaganda—>Diff’t Emotions—>Protest behavior Check out Philipp’s thread 👇

Join us for our first APSG-APSA Democracy & Autocracy roundtable! With Anya Schiffrin (@columbiasipa.bsky.social), Bardia Rahmani (Harvard), Erin Baggott Carter (USC, @hooverinstitution.bsky.social), @linettelim.bsky.social (@ucdpolitics.bsky.social) and @scottrw630.bsky.social (@ox.ac.uk).

"the decline in [academic freedom in] the United States has been more rapid and pronounced, particularly in the last year. It has deteriorated by 50% from 2015 to 2025 and is now evaluated as moderate autonomy by country experts" academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...

Our decisions are based solely on criteria specific to this project. Those criteria can be viewed in full in the V-Dem Country Coding Unit reference document: v-dem.net/documents/72... 8(8)

💡What is a V-Dem Country Coding Unit? A V-Dem “country” is a political unit enjoying at least some degree of functional and/or formal sovereignty. Watch the video or read in the thread to find out more. 👇 🧵1(8) #PoliSky #PoliSciSky #PolDataSky #PoliticalScienceData #VDemMethodology #VDemDataset

Freedom House, Bright Light Watch and V-Dem this week all told dire stories about American democracy under Trump. But the details were different---and they matter. newrepublic.com/article/2080...

The grand grift and corruption in this administration is startling and makes all Americans far worse off. Grand corruption on this scale destroys states and societies.

Nu er det simpelthen ved at blive for meget tegneserie-diktatur til, at jeg tror på, at det fortsat er sandt

I want to introduce a statistical measurement called ‘Value Under Cardboard President’ or VUCP, which measures the harm Trump does relative to a president made of cardboard that does nothing whatsoever.

NEW: Ukraine has been imposing increasing challenges on Russia at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels since the beginning of 2026. 🧵 (1/10) Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, March 19, 2026: isw.pub/UkrWar031926

Not once does this story mention that offering a federal job in exchange for a political favor is a crime

I'm very excited that you all can now read about Itinerant Rule in the Holy Roman Empire from 919-1519 in the @ajpseditor.bsky.social! Thank you @claranw.bsky.social, @andrejkokkonen.bsky.social and Jørgen Møller for a great collaboration! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#DR26 What were the aspects of Democracy that declined in the most countries over the last decade? The figure displays the top 20 indicators that register decline in the largest number of countries between 2015 and 2025. 🧵 1(6) #Polisky #PoliSciSky #DemocracyAutocracy #SocialScience #PolDataSky

📢 New article 🌟 👥 Jens Jungblut @jjungblut.bsky.social (ISV), Nils B. Weidmann @nilsweidmann.bsky.social, & Carl Henrik Knutsen @chknutsen.bsky.social (ISV) 👉 The politics behind political science: A cross-national perspective 📗 Open Access in European Political Science 🔗 doi.org/10.1017/s168...

I have a PhD in political science, and I don't understand how Hungary's electoral system works. It is a good example of how authoritarian parties game the system in their favour, while keeping nominally free (but not fair) elections. From this excellent analysis: tvpworld.com/92116709/hun...

This post raises a several important questions about the @vdeminstitute.bsky.social indices that I'll try to discuss broadly, then specifically in the case of Mongolia. Important caveat: I am not a Mongolia expert, so can't speak substantively about the case; I can discuss the V-Dem methodology.

New data from V-Dem, which tracks democracy worldwide, points to a sharp decline in US democracy in 2025. Checks on the government and the freedom of expression have especially declined. But the data also points to what could halt and reverse the decline. Here’s what the data shows. 🧵

A 🧵on how the @vdeminstitute.bsky.social accountability indices help us understand how democratic backsliding is occurring in the United States. tl;dr: in principle, vertical constraints on the president remain strong; in practice, horizontal and diagonal constraints have been greatly weakened.

An independent assessment of the strength of democracies across the world measured a huge drop in the U.S. last year, driven by erosion of legislative and judicial constraints and by a decline in free speech. www.pbump.net/o/visualizin...

Two weeks left to apply!

The V-Dem Steering Committee's release statement for v.16 of the dataset (link in the post below):

Here's the release statement from V-Dem's Steering Committee, of which I am a member, which may help contextualize these findings: v-dem.net/release-stat...

The new V-Dem dataset version 16 covers 202 countries and territories from 1789 – 2025. Please note that events in 2026 do not affect the data in the v16 dataset or ratings on the V-Dem Democracy Indices. 3(3) @vdemamlat.bsky.social

📢 Out Now! V-Dem Dataset v16 & the V-Dem Institute Democracy Report 2026 💾 The V-Dem Dataset: v-dem.net/data/the-v-d... 📰 The Report "Unraveling The Democratic Era?”: v-dem.net/publications... 📈 Explore the new data with the V-Dem Graphing tools: v-dem.net/graphing/gra... #PoliSky #PoliSciSky 1/3

V-Dem v.16 is now released, w. updated scores for 2025. Most countries remain stable from 2024, but some clear improvements (on diff’t democracy indices), incl. S. Korea, Sri Lanka & Mauritius. Largest declines came, by far, in the US. This figure shows 10-yr changes on the Liberal Dem. index.

NATO is a defensive alliance whose main goal is deterrence, not a mercenary force

RIP Jürgen Habermas

I can’t get over how Cultural Revolution the DOGE story is, these young people doing crimes they didn’t understand on behalf of a political leader

💡 When does a Country decline on the V-Dem Democracy Indices? Watch the video or read in the thread to find out! #PoliSky #PoliSciSky #PolDataSky #Acedemia #PoliticalScience #Democracy #DemocraticBacksliding #VDemMethodology #VDemDataset @vdemamlat.bsky.social

📢 V-Dem dataset version 16, updated with data for 2025, and the V-Dem Institute Democracy Report 2026 will be released on March 17! Make sure to follow us so you don't miss the announcement. @vdemamlat.bsky.social #Polisky #PoliSciSky #PoliticalScience #PoliticalScienceData #AcademicSky #VDemData

The LDI builds out our Electoral Democracy Index by incorporating the aspects of democracy that underpin civil liberties and individual rights. Read more about the different concepts of democracy used by V-Dem and the indices that represent each concept in our FAQ: v-dem.net/about/faq/ 5(5)

💡What does V-Dem mean by 'Liberal Democracy'? The liberal principle of democracy emphasizes the importance of protecting individual and minority rights against a potential “tyranny of the majority” and state repression. Watch the video or see the thread below to find out more 👇 #Polisky #PolDataSky

Coming up with a post-hoc theory section when your results are weird:

Great to have our recent APSR highlighted!

There's something deeply obscene and broken about the fact that Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are bombing elementary schools in an illegal war of aggression, and there's still a sense among the opposition that it has to be explained in terms of gas prices in order to get American voters to care.

🧵Feels like shouting into the void, but it is essential to note that the Trump/Rubio gutting of the State Department and blowtorching of US diplomatic capacity and credibility is an accelerant to this spiraling war and will seriously undercut US/allied efforts to pick up the pieces after. 1/

📢 New book chapter 🌟 👥 Sirianne Dahlum @sirianned.bsky.social & Carl Henrik Knutsen @chknutsen.bsky.social 🔎 The State of Norwegian Democracy 📖 Published in Oxford Handbook of Norwegian Politics 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/oxfo...

📢 We are hiring: Combined Postdoc position at V-Dem Institute and GLD! Applications are open for a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Cross-National Survey Methodology in Political Science. Application: web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/103... 🧵1(4) #Polisky #PoliSciSky #PoliticalScienceJobs #PostDoc

I know that one

I don’t think we fully grasp how powerfully our politics is shaped by constant threats of violence

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/08ck...

Både FNs sikkerhetsråd og den amerikanske kongressen ble forbigått da Trump gikk til krig mot Iran. Verden inne i en negativ bølge der stadig flere land glir i autoritær retning, sider @chknutsen.bsky.social Hva betyr det for vår evne til å løse globale problem? Spotify og Apple podkast, så klart!

Still controlling for gender without thinking about why? You can cite me💚👩‍🔬💚 I show that the gender gap in progressive climate and environmental views is a persistent empirical regularity that cannot be explained by differences in socioeconomic background, political ideology, or risk aversion.