Yoni Abramson

Excited to share that my project on polarization and nonviolent resistance was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant. So grateful to the many colleagues who supported the work along the way, and looking forward to the research ahead!

Scholars have long paid attention to disproportionality between parties’ votes and seats emerging from the electoral system. In @sespjournal.bsky.social, Gianni Del Panta, @mattiaguidi.bsky.social, and I show that disproportionality can also be a by-product of pre-electoral coalition formation.🧵

Congrats!!

What links the recent Israeli government attacks against its Attorney General and the new Leadership Institute Israeli branch? Or Asher and I answer that in a new paper in @PoPpublicsphere on the ideological shift of Israel's Right- a 🧵: doi.org/10.1017/S153...

Finally, some hope. 🪬 🌈 🕊

🧵 As an academic whose formative college and graduate experiences took place during the 'modernists' vs. 'neo-primordialist' debates about nationalism, I find the causal ideological & methodological nationalism of even left-wing social media shocking.

Congratulations!!

It’s publication day 🥳 my book is officially out in the world thanks to @stanfordpress.bsky.social, and I celebrated by giving it the 6+1 treatment at the @duckofminerva.bsky.social.

👀 New from @profpjones.bsky.social @deandulay.bsky.social @anilmenon.bsky.social & @yoniabramson.bsky.social, studying the effects of 🇺🇦 President Zelensky’s historical analogies with survey experiments in four countries – US, UK, Germany, and Israel. Do these appeals impact foreign policy attitudes?

(5) Overall, our findings indicate that historical analogies can be a powerful rhetorical tool, but they may be more effective in shaping policy attitudes when used early in a conflict or foreign policy crisis.
@armenon.bsky.social @deandulay.bsky.social @profpjones.bsky.social

(4) However, only in Israel did exposure to the analogy increase public support for specific assistance to Ukraine. Why? We suggest that, compared to the other three countries, Israel provided noticeably less assistance to Ukraine. Thus, public opinion had more room to shift.

(3) To study the effects of President Zelensky’s historical analogies, we simultaneously fielded survey experiments in four countries – the US, the UK, Germany, and Israel. In all four, those exposed to the analogy had an emotional reaction consistent with the content of the speech.

(2) Leaders often use historical analogies to mobilize public opinion around foreign policy events. Most memorable are Zelensky’s speeches, comparing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to Pearl Harbor and 9/11 (in the US), World War II (in the UK), and the Holocaust (in Germany and Israel).

(1) Are historical analogies effective as a persuasion tactic during foreign policy crises? Our new article in Security Studies finds that while exposure to analogies elicits an emotional reaction, it does not always translate into a shift in policy attitudes. 🧵: doi.org/10.1080/0963...

ברכות גם פה!

Author with book

Guess what, my new book "The Art of Status" is out with @oxfordacademic.bsky.social 📚💃🎉 It's about looted art and international status competition - why some states decide to return and some don't. I explore in detail Parthenon Marbles, Benin Bronzes, and Nazi-looted art. More info/pics soon.

I learned so much from @rdassonneville.bsky.social's Voters Under Pressure, Tillman's Authoritarianism and the Evolution and Bartels's Democracy Erodes from the Top. In @comppol.bsky.social, I review each book on its own terms and draw out implications for the view that elections confer mandates. 🧵

So great to see Voters Under Pressure featured in this @comppol.bsky.social review article by @klingelt.bsky.social!

Reviewing the book alongside work of Bartels and Tillman, Tristan's reading is the mandate function of elections is being challenged👇

www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cuny...

Excellent op-ed on nonviolent protest from @robbwiller.bsky.social and @owasow.bsky.social on the importance of nonviolence here www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/o.... Some additional points worth noting:

Congratulations!

Incredibly honored that our (@sricht.bsky.social @loewnic.bsky.social) paper "Changing affective alignments between parties and voters" @wepsocial.bsky.social won the inaugural Rudolf Wildenmann prize for election research of Forschungsgruppe Wahlen e.V.

www.forschungsgruppe.de/Aktuelles/Wi...

Starter pack of scholars of #emotions, #friendship, #positivepeace, #specialrelationships, #affect, etc in politics. Suggestions welcome!

go.bsky.app/4X77g88

@simonkoschut.bsky.social, @bctallis.bsky.social, @yoniabramson.bsky.social, @piakoivunen.bsky.social, @europeanisa.bsky.social

Whose critique matters? The effects of critic identity and audience on public opinion by Yehonatan Abramson, Anil Menon, and Abir Gitlin is now available in Early View. @yoniabramson.bsky.social @armenon.bsky.social ajps.org/2024/03/12/w...

I am honored! Also - you are cited of course :)

That's a different one, but the best papers are constructivists who do experiments!

Thank you!!

(8) There are many people to thank, but I am especially grateful to @aecoppock.bsky.social, @florianfoos.bsky.social, and Eline de Rooij - the instructors of the ICPSR Field Experiments course - for tolerating my constructivist sensibilities.

(7) This contribution, we hope, will open up a new comparative research agenda on diasporas’ naming and shaming. For example, Russians, Ethiopians, Indians, Hungarians, and Filipinos abroad have been also active in criticizing their “homeland” over various issues.

(6) In terms of human rights, consistent with past work, we find a backlash effect. Compared to respondents who were not exposed to criticism, Israelis became less supportive of improving existing practices. This was only true when the criticism was made by non-Israeli critics.