📢 New paper alert: How does war shape democratic values? Conflict exposure and democratic values: Evidence from wartime Ukraine by @kristinmbakke.bsky.social, Marianne Dahl & Kit Rickard. 📖 Published in the @jpeaceresearch.bsky.social special issue on Political Violence in Democracies. 👇🧵

I’m very happy to share that the first paper of my PhD, «From the streets to the ballots: Protests, polls and Polarization in Hong Kong» has been published online in @democratization.bsky.social It is open access, and you can read it here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Introducing the Opposition Movements and Groups Dataset 1789–2019 in @cpsjournal.bsky.social together with @mariannedahl.bsky.social @chknutsen.bsky.social @sirianned.bsky.social @hannefjelde.bsky.social @torewig.bsky.social Read about the paper👇 Or dive right into the data👉 www.prio.org/data/39

📊 New dataset and paper alert! We’re proud to launch the Opposition Movements and Groups (OMG) Dataset, 1789–2019: a global dataset covering 1,452 mass mobilization movements. It was just published in Comparative Political Studies. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... Below follows a 🧵

📢 New article 👥 @mariannedahl.bsky.social , Mauricio Rivera Celestino & Scott Gates 🔎 Disaggregating Defection: Dissent Campaign Strategies and Security Force Disloyalty. 📖 Open access In Journal of Conflict Resolution. 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/0022...

Jeg debuterer som bok-anmelder! Det leses forsvinnende lite afrikansk litteratur i Norge, det er veldig synd. Så her er tips til de som vil prøve ut noe av den fantastiske litteraturen fra det kontinentet! www.panoramanyheter.no/afrika-havar...

Anas Al-Sharif was one of the most remarkable reporters of his generation. For 673 days, he defied Israeli threats to kill him. Al Jazeera now confirm their crew in Gaza City have all been assassinated: RIP reporters Anas Al-Sharif & Mohammed Qareqea and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher & Mohammed Nofal

🇬🇪A country once seen as the democratic bright spot of the post-Soviet space is now undergoing the fastest authoritarian regression in modern European history. 🧵Here’s a thread to keep you updated on what’s happening - and why it matters. 1/23

Happy to have presented joint work with @juliakoebrich.bsky.social at the NEPS2025 in Barcelona. This is a new project and we got some many interesting and helpful comments --> new energy 🚀

New paper alert 😄 ! Mauricio Rivera Celestino, Scott Gates and I have a paper out in the Journal of Conflict Resolution: lnkd.in/gzqYuTmN! The work began in 2017 as part of the Street-Level Autocrat project. Since then, children have been born, data collected, and now, the article is finally out:

I just like to post these data from time to time to puncture the mythological aura of mid 20th c protests. They were less popular than pretty much any 21st c mass action & people criticizing them used the same lines. Protest is about people coming together, shaping narratives, & building power.

Cruelty is for losers.

When financial regulators are picked for ideology rather than expertise, markets fail…When bridge inspectors are chosen for loyalty over competence, bridges collapse…The consequences won't be abstract—they'll be measured in lives lost and futures destroyed.

We closed Abbeville Road in Clapham to cars for a few hours today and something truly radical and transformative happened. We saw a community grow. People came out to chat, laugh, listen, gossip, eat, drink and share. Just proves that streets are for people not just for cars.

I dag har Sven Holtsmark og Ine Marie Eriksen gjort en heltejobb. Debatten funker svært dårlig for å få arrestert faktafeil, og når Russlands apologeter blir tatt med buksene nede tyr de til Whataboutism og nye løgner.

Always read @stevelevitsky.bsky.social @dziblatt.bsky.social & @lucanway.bsky.social: "No One Has Ever Defeated Autocracy From the Sidelines." Gift link here:

I cannot stop thinking about this woman & the community that tried to keep her family together. We are not powerless. Call your reps, raise your voice, get her reunited with her loved ones. Families belong together. And yes: under this lawless regime, if they can do it to her, they can do it to you.

84-year-old Lyudmila Vasilyeva from Russian St Petersburg went on a solitary protest in her city. She held a poster saying, "People, let's stop the war! We are responsible for peace on planet Earth." For that, she was summoned to the police station

The war in Gaza has killed or injured 170,000. Children are starving to death. Trump is encouraging the ethnic cleansing of 2.2 million people. Why is there no discussion in the US government about why we are spending billions of taxpayer dollars starving children in Gaza?

Today, @hrw.org publishes a new report on the media freedom crisis in #Greece. The pervasive constraints on journalism are fostering a climate of self-censorship, harming democracy & the rule of law “From Bad to Worse: The Deterioration of Media Freedom in Greece” www.hrw.org/news/2025/05...

Orlando City Commissioner Tony Ortiz just switched from Republican to Democratic. “The Republican Party is not the party I signed up with... The marginalization of Latinos and immigrants—many of whom have helped build this country—is not leadership. It’s fear-based politics.”

There is a reason why millions of workers want to join unions. There is a reason why greedy corporations oppose unions. Union membership means higher wages and better benefits. Let’s grow the trade union movement.

This is a great 10 minute listen with @chenoweth.bsky.social on the efficacy of anti-Trump protests. @npr.org www.npr.org/2025/04/24/1...

NEW: Columbia pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi walked out of court today after a judge ordered his immediate release from ICE detention. His words to Trump: "I am not afraid of you." w/ Liz Crampton www.politico.com/news/2025/04...

Nashville, TN ❤️‍🔥

Austin, TX ❤️‍🔥

Higher ed now pulling together formally. "Most fundamentally, America’s colleges and universities prepare an educated citizenry to sustain our democracy."

Stories coming from around the country that students are having their SEVIS status randomly restored, just as randomly as it was terminated. Suggests that ICE is either reversing these terminations on a large scale or having actual human beings finally look at cases and make decisions.

What makes a protest work? Size, diversity, discipline and shifting loyalties in power structures all help. Across countries, stolen elections or shocking abuses often spark action, but the U.S. may now be in uncharted territory. Lessons from @chenoweth.bsky.social: www.npr.org/2025/04/05/p...

Now release Rumeysa Ozturk, Mahmoud Khalil, Kseniia Petrova, Badar Khan Suri, and everyone else.

"Klimatiltak er så dyrt"-tråden, nå på Bluesky. Klimatiltak er så dyrt.

🇺🇦The latest US “peace deal” is no peace deal—it’s a Ukrainian capitulation script, drafted in Washington and proofread in Moscow. One-sided, cynical, and tailored to Putin’s terms. From now on, Europe and Ukraine must lead—without inviting America to the table. Enough.

Et nytt år kommer med nye temperaturrekorder. Oppvarmingen går langt raskere enn forventet. Klimaforskerne er svært bekymra. Norske medier dekker dette med alt alvoret saken fortjener i deres øyne.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

Please read this gutting story about a promising Harvard scientist caught up in our current national nightmare. She makes some astute observations about what's happening in America.

NEW: For months, @juliaangwin.com and I have been interviewing foreign dissidents and opposition leaders. Today The New Yorker published our practical guide to courage in Trump's age of fear. If you want to oppose authoritarianism, but fear for your job, freedom, or way of life, this is for you 🧵:

MIT following Harvard's lead here

Autocrats always try to dismantle universities and other sites of free thought. But the current effort to destroy American institutions is also a reactionary backlash against real progress on racial justice in this country. Backlash only happens when movements are winning the argument.

Every day, but especially these days, I am in awe of our students.

"I’m really not a movement guy. I don’t naturally march in demonstrations or attend rallies that I’m not covering as a journalist. But this is what America needs right now." www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/o...

Helpful corrective by Erik Wemple today.

So if 245 million adults are eligible to vote then 3.5% = 8.5 million of us need to get up and protest soon. 4/19 is the 250th anniversary of the ride of Paul Revere in 1775. Join a protest with a sign or not. Show up for your country before we have a dictatorship. Democracy matters.

It is not a shortcut. It is not a guarantee. And most movements that succeeded never reached 3.5% at all. Understanding the 3.5% Rule means understanding how people power really works. #50501 #50501Movement #EricaChenoweth 3/

Wow. David Brooks is recommending Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan's *Why Civil Resistance Works.* I never thought I'd see the day. @chenoweth.bsky.social @mariajstephan.bsky.social Time for a Civic Uprising www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/o...

Nonviolent campaigns are twice as likely to achieve their goals as violent campaigns, and it takes around 3.5% of the population actively participating in the protests to ensure serious political change. www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Remember, Paris wasn’t “always this way.” Not that many years ago, Paris was choking in car traffic. And it wasn’t a safe place to ride a bike for transportation, so not many people tried. This is new. This is a result of deliberate vision, and bold leadership. Cities are a result of choices.

“One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss.” “Which means that Copenhagen, a city of 1.2 million people, saves $357 million a year on health costs because something like 80% of its population commutes by bike.” #CityMakingMath Some costs aren’t costs.

Massive march in New York today to protect migrants and protect the planet #april19