Something I have been working on is starting to feel real, the proofs of Constitutional Change under Autocracy have arrived. I could not be more excited! Publication is expected in early 2026.

Yesterday, @internationalidea.bsky.social launched its Global State of Democracy 2025 Report: #DemocracyOnTheMove. The #GSoD2025 report focuses on the intersection between #migration and #democracy. (Re)Watch the live recording of the event ➡️ youtube.com/live/fom0bzA... #DemocracyForAll

As you've likely heard, today is the International Day of Democracy. A good day to read a report about the Global State of Democracy? I know that can seem like a herculean labour one would rather walk past.

Great to see @globalcit.bsky.social’s Rainer Bauböck at the launch of the @internationalidea.bsky.social Global State of Democracy Report 2025. Emphasising the important implications of out-of-country voting in times of democratic recession both in migrant origin countries and destination countries.

➡️📍📑 New Working Paper with @sumpierrez.bsky.social and Rainer Bauböck Work on migrant voting rights often has a state-centric perspective. We propose *migrant franchise constellations* as a migrant-centric approach. A 🧵 with our argument and new data! 🗳️ preprints.apsanet.org/engage/apsa/...

The pretty draft is now online. Link to paper (free): www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10.... Our replication package starts from the raw data and we put real work into making it readable & setting it up so people could poke at it, so please do explore it: dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtm...

From Research to Practice Voices from Our Pilot Areas The third panel of #LegitimultFinalConference, featuring @internationalidea.bsky.social’s Democracy Assessment experts @aehudson.bsky.social & @gentagola.bsky.social, focuses on lessons learnt and good practices for future activities.

New, from me: America is no longer a functioning democracy. It is a competitive authoritarian system, hurtling rapidly toward authoritarianism. This was a hard piece to write but we can't move forward if we don’t acknowledge where we are. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-author...

You'll read the report anyway (right?), so why watch the launch? It's a time-effective way to hear the main messages from the report directly from one of the authors. And, there will be an outstanding panel discussion with a diverse panel of external experts. Sign up to see it live, or watch later.

I have worried a bit about how reports on the state of democracy that are (1) based on data from expert surveys that may then (2) be read by the coders, could create a feedback loop that would bias future measures. Good to see some empirical tests of this, and that it's not a problem for V-Dem.

🔔 New Book Alert 🔔 "The Sciences of the Democracies" by our colleague Jean-Paul Gagnon and over 30 contributors challenges us to rethink how we understand and study democracy. Congratulations to all the authors! Open access download here: uclpress.co.uk/book/the-sci...

I have been fortunate to have a small part in an interesting and provocative book that was just published yesterday. Among other things, the book is a call to radically open up our study of democracy -- including what it looks like, where it happens, and who the participants in it may be.

We are thrilled to relaunch this year as an international, multilingual, open access journal, published by the Comparative Constitutions Project and the International Association of Constitutional Law. First reissue out this June! Read more at tinyurl.com/mtsuc85u and follow to get future issues!

I guess I'm a 'long-time listener, first-time host' for International IDEA's podcast. I had the great pleasure to talk to two science journalists about their experiences covering the Covid-19 pandemic, and more broadly about the role of journalism in democracy. www.idea.int/podcasts/leg...

The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs hosts the flagship event of #IDEA30Years with remarks by Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard and Secretary-General @kevincasasz.bsky.social. Former President of Chile Michelle Bachelet provided an engaging keynote speech. #DemocracyIsAVerb

As we celebrate #IDEA30years, we have partnered with Sweden to convene one of the world’s biggest gatherings of election authorities, to discuss ways of confronting new threats of disinformation, election denialism and autocratic interference. #ProtectElections #DemocracyForAll

Interested in debates about how to measure democracy and/or the use of observable and judgmental indicators? Then check out this piece.

Many on this site seem to be celebrating Poilievre's defeat. Note that he actually received about 3k more votes than he had in 2021. Fanjoy did more than consolidate the left vote (from NDP etc.) Higher turnout went to the Liberals. Also note that the 'Longest Ballot Committee' has struck again.

This post is more relevant than ever. Give it a read.

1) Remember how media in 2024 painted "once peaceful Sweden" as collapsing in violence? Well, murder stats for 2024 came out today. Number of homicides per capita in 2024 was the lowest in 13 years, and one of the lowest in the past 50 years. Will media cover this? Not likely.

The legal question of when a constitutional crisis has well and truly arisen is not helpful. The ways in which democracy is threatened – for all Americans – must be documented in ways that are accessible and valuable to ordinary people. 📢 New blog by @aehudson.bsky.social 👇 bit.ly/constcrisis-...

I have one simple argument to make concerning the potential existence of a 'constitutional crisis' in the USA right now: it doesn't matter. We need to keep track of what is concretely happening, and tell people why that matters for democracy. bit.ly/constcrisis-...

We are launching an LL.M. program in Comparative and Global Law @uni-muenster.de, which is one if the top places in Germany to study law in English, w particular strengths in comparative law & legal history.More info below, pls help spread the word! www.jura.uni-muenster.de/de/internati...

In the latest #DemocracyIDEAs podcast, Bob Rae talks about the role of youth in politics, the deadlock in the Security Council, the 2030 Agenda, how democracy is portrayed at the UN & the role of civil society in multilateral engagement.➡️ www.idea.int/podcasts/un-... #IDEA30years #DemocracyForAll

Workshop announcement🌟 "Democracy between regression, resilience and vitality", June 19-20th at University of Padua. John Dryzek will deliver the keyote lecture :-) Here's the CfP. Send your proposal by March 21st. It's free with some funding to support junior participants!

Canadians, read this. Our plight is even worse.

The impossibility of keeping up with the torrent of news about the second Trump administration (alongside many other important events) set me off on a slightly philosophical re-consideration of how I consume news media. So, I wrote a blog post about it. See if you agree: www.idea.int/blog/what-do...

Many thanks to @samuelmarclowe.bsky.social for this piece that was posted on inauguration day. His application of Beer's insight that 'The purpose of a system is what it does' to explain Trump really helped me. Trump's purpose is to create uncertainty. mostfavourednation.substack.com/p/the-uncert...

In a nod to the broad-brush tradition of western foreign correspondents, Patrick Gathara reports on the inauguration of Donald Trump.

Interactive piece on proportional representation in the NYT today 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Trump seems pretty committed to this argument. The key question now is whether he is merely trying to belittle the country and its leader as part of a strategy of intimidation, or if he is sufficiently committed to the idea that he will use the tariff threat to push for something bigger.

Can we do pet peeves on Bluesky? If so, could everyone please stop abusing the word 'playbook'. American gridiron football coaches have playbooks. Dictators do not have playbooks, nor do democratic governments, political parties, or any other political actor. This hackneyed metaphor must stop.

It's been online since January, but my article on the relationship between participation and legitimacy in constitutions (with Ran Hirschl) was published this week in Law & Social Inquiry. It's open access too, thanks to @uoft.bsky.social. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

It was great to hear from Nobel laureate Simon Johnson @internationalidea.bsky.social this morning — even from the cheap seats. Technology, institutions, and economics interact with democracy in important and complex ways.

The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) has convened a technical workshop to review the country self-assessments questionnaire this week in Kigali. They were very kind to invite me to participate. It has been a great privilege for me to be here and to collaborate with these brilliant people.

In case your weekend involves some podcast listening, check this out: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

I had a lot of fun devising a data visualization for the level of democracy at the level of the Congressional district for International IDEA’s annual report. Thanks to @donnermaps.bsky.social for the great map design. Data from the 2022 midterms.

Don't have time to read more stuffy 'grey literature' about democracy? May I invite you to read a blog post instead. Seema Shah and I reflected on the state of democracy in 2024, and whether that wave metaphor still works. www.idea.int/blog/global-...

Hard on the heels of the International Day of Democracy, at International IDEA we've just published the Global State of Democracy 2024. The big picture globally is not surprising; declines continue. But this year we took a hard look at disputes about elections. Check it out here: t.co/RsIqCG7o7L

La crisis de legitimidad electoral es el reflejo de un tiempo de incertidumbre radical. Aquí @elpais.bsky.social lo explica 👇 Las democracias se enfrentan a una crisis de legitimidad electoral -

We're hiring again at the Democracy Assessment unit at International IDEA. This is a junior position with a focus on Africa. Please share the link with likely candidates. I'm happy to answer questions. Note: this position requires authorization to work in Sweden. careers.idea.int/jobs/4501727...

We just published some work at IDEA that seeks to measure what the people themselves think about the quality of the democracy. We designed this research to have a special focus on marginalized people. Press summary: www.reuters.com/world/voters... Full report: www.idea.int/publications...

UNDP and IDEA are collaborating on an event in Oslo to launch reports on SDG16 and democracy. I'm excited to be one of the speakers. Join us for #Democracy in Flux: Trends, Challenges and Inclusive solutions. 5 Dec 08:00 - 10:30 Litteraturhuset, Oslo + streamed online

My team at IDEA is hiring a political researcher with a regional specialization in Western Asia/Middle East and/or Africa. The position is based in Stockholm. Skills in Arabic and quantitative analysis are both attractive qualities. Details here: careers.idea.int/jobs/3382913...

The 2023 Global State of Democracy report was published today by International IDEA. The report finds that there are declines in half of the countries in the world, and that this is the sixth consecutive year where more countries are declining than improving. Read more here: www.idea.int/gsod/2023/

As disinfo is always high on the #IGF2023 agenda, I published this op-ed @themessenger.com arguing our policy makers need to do a mental shift when it comes to it. themessenger.com/opinion/are-...