Ben Yoel

It's been an exciting month working as a predoctoral fellow at JHU's @snfagora.bsky.social with Consuelo Amat! Nice to see my bio up on the SNF website: snfagora.jhu.edu/directory/be...

Amen

So happy to see this out! We caution against excessive optimism that the opposition will restore countries back to their democratic trajectories after electoral victory. Weakened institutions and the memory of repression makes it tempting to continue rather than buck the trend of autocratization.

Congrats, Danny! Was great chatting about this at APSA.

Awesome, thank you Alex!

And @liampert.bsky.social,might be of interest!

Congrats, excellent work! Flagging for @mattgrossmann.bsky.social and I for a new repo that we're building on the Senate and would like to include this.

Shana Tova U Metuka to everyone else celebrating!!

Paper submitted for review!!

Now that it's up online, I guess it's official: I'm on the job market! I study democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, and nonviolent resistance. My dissertation focuses on the nexus of domestic and international factors in shaping opposition to democratic erosion: polisci.msu.edu/graduate/hir...

Picture of the Vancouver waterfront

Award from the ITP section for my paper with Jan Zilinsky

View from Cypress Mountain

Thanks to the folks at APSA for organizing a great conference, and Vancouver for being a great host city!

cc @janzilinsky.bsky.social

First in person APSA ✔️! I had the pleasure of presenting my job market research on opposition to democratic backsliding, meeting old and new friends from around the world, and exploring Vancouver.

Had the pleasure of presenting my dissertation work on international pressure and opposition to democratic backsliding this morning at APSA in Vancouver. Grateful to attendees, @lgamboa.bsky.social and @orcunselcuk.bsky.social for discussant comments, and an excellent discussion on backsliding!

APSA and Vancouver bound! I’m thrilled to have organized the panel, “democratic backsliding and opposition resistance,” taking place tomorrow at 8am PT. I’ll be presenting findings from my dissertation on international pressure and opposition to democratic erosion along with some great scholars.

Post-Soviet graffiti: free speech in authoritarian states In recent decades, authoritarianism has resurged globally. Yet, scholars still lack a strong sense of the full repertoire of means that opposition actors c

I’m pleased to share that my review of @alexislerner.bsky.social’s new book is out @iajournal.bsky.social. It’s an excellent book that draws attentions to street art as a tool oppositions can use in dictatorships but also how dictators can co-opt such strategies. academic.oup.com/ia/article-a...

This speaks to my broader interest in the intersection of domestic and international factors in shaping democracy. My other dissertation papers assess the role of the composition of protest movements (under review) and the micro-level effects of foreign messaging. Say hi if you're attending APSA!

APSA paper submitted! I'm excited to share that I'll be presenting one of my dissertation papers, in which I examine the effect of international rhetoric on opposition movement behavior in backsliding democracies, using an original dataset of US Secretary of State speeches. I'm also on the market!

Athens and Berlin. Both among my favorite European cities but for very different reasons. Berlin for super international food, Athens for the best Greek you'll have (or Thessaloniki if you prefer smaller cities)

🚨 New in Journal of Politics! 🚨
Do radical right parties need to cut ties with old dictatorships to succeed?
👉 @sergipardos.bsky.social and my study of Spain’s VOX says: ❌ Not necessarily.

Today officially marks my first day as a predoctoral fellow @snfagora.bsky.social! I'll be working with @consueloamat.bsky.social on lots of cool things related to nonviolent resistance and democracy. I'm grateful for this opportunity and the many people in my department @ MSU for their support.

Finally, a paper from my dissertation submitted for review!!

Going right into a paper I'm working on with @hmridge.bsky.social. Thanks for this!

Cool study! I'd love to see some descriptives of the sample of respondents by profession (unfortunately, I don't have access to the journal).

Good question: It's actually been quite effective in a number of cases. Nonviolent resistance alone is insufficient, but it is certainly a necessary condition for effect democratic defense. See, for instance, the cases of Guatemala, Poland, and Senegal, where international pressure was also key.

I'll also be at APSA next month, so if you have any questions, know of anyone that's hiring, or just want to meet, please feel free to DM or email me. My website is: benjaminyoel.com, where you can find all my publications, teaching materials, and anything else. Thank you and good luck to everyone!

I'm now a fellow at @snfagora.bsky.social and have been fortunate to have published three academic articles, and have taught and guest lectured on topics relating to my dissertation. I'm a firm believer and have had the pleasure of mentoring over a dozen undergraduate students and master's students.

Now that it's up online, I guess it's official: I'm on the job market! I study democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, and nonviolent resistance. My dissertation focuses on the nexus of domestic and international factors in shaping opposition to democratic erosion: polisci.msu.edu/graduate/hir...

I have not, but I think I know someone that has: I'll DM you if they have and share their insights. Hope you're well!

Agreed on @cloudresearch.bsky.social: very smooth experiences with them on my end. I've heard less than stellar things from people that have recently used MTurk.

Before my PhD, I worked mostly in arts and media. Regimes invest lots in AV media, but Pol Sci largely doesn't engage it.

So I was thrilled to see images in the proofs for Film-Making the Nation Great Again with @draege.bsky.social. We analyze autocrats' AV instrumentalizations of history.