Lise Rakner

Chilling- indeed.

Chilling.
“For MAGA America, ICE is an instrument for cleansing violence.” And “Failure to heed the MAGA campaign to redistribute respect is insolence punishable by death.”

We Found More Than 40 Cases of Immigration Agents Using Banned Chokeholds and Other Moves That Can Cut Off Breathing Civilians have had apparent seizures. One had his eyes roll back. Another had ribs broken. “I felt like I was going to pass out and die,” said a 16-year-old citizen put in a chokehold. The government ...

NEW: Civilians have had apparent seizures. One had his eyes roll back. Another had ribs broken.

“I felt like I was going to pass out and die,” said a 16-year-old citizen put in a chokehold.

The government won’t say if any agents have been punished.

Oh, he´ll get there!

The Golden Age of Transnational Repression | Journal of Democracy Authoritarian regimes are targeting exiles and diaspora communities in more places than ever before. Activists, journalists, and regular people living abroad must watch their backs…

“The Golden Age of Transnational Repression”

by @nateschenkkan.bsky.social in @jodemocracy.bsky.social (2025)

#AutumnReading

📢 New article
👥 @oyvindstiansen.bsky.social, @haakongjerlw.bsky.social & @liserakner.bsky.social
🔎 The politics of litigating and adjudicating electoral disputes: Evidence from Zambia.
📖 Open access In Electoral Studies
🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.el...

Finally out! Together with @liserakner.bsky.social we discuss notions around taxation and solidarity! “Imagined solidarity around tax practices: a two-dimensional framework based on motivating logic and group boundaries”
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Yay! New article our with @haakongjerlw.bsky.social and @oivindstiansen.bsky.social

YouTube video by Harvard Ash Center Backsliding and Resistance in the United States

Listen to this great conversations between two amazing scholars if you a) want to understand what is going on in the US and b) what to DO about it! And as an extra bonus to us Europeans- yes- parliamentary systems will protect us against the tyranny of the minority. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS-n...

Diary Week 1

I recommend following Adam Przeworswki´s diary- when this is over and the history of the demise of America´s democracy is to be written- we will need daily accounts. This is scary. adamprzeworski.substack.com/p/diary?subs...

Please consider joining!

Starter pack for scholars in the Centre on Law & Social Transformation network (LawTransform www.lawtransform.no) and others researching the strategic use of rights, law & court for social change. #lawfare #legalmobilization. ♦️Want to be included? Let us know in comments ♦️
go.bsky.app/DBYcFVs

Legalised resistance to autocratisation in common law Africa Since the 1990s, African incumbents have engaged in forms of rule-bending that weaken democratic institutions. The democratic backsliding witnessed weaponises law through processes of autocratic la...

On a day when resistance to autocratization seems particularly urgent, Lise Rakner @liserakner.bsky.social and I are pleased that our article on "Legalized resistance to autocratisation in common law Africa" is out - and open access. @lawtransform.bsky.social
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

thank you my dear for beating me to it!

Congratulations to @jsoderstrom.bsky.social and @liserakner.bsky.social on having this very interesting article published!

Congratulations on securing the grant and bravo for doing such important work!

UiB Master’s Programme Secures NOK 3 Million Grant for Global Classroom Initiative «We will teach the courses at five universities in different ways. We will create shared teaching materials, and students at all five institutions will participate through teacher and student mobility...

www.uib.no/en/svf/17450...

UiB Master’s Programme Secures NOK 3 Million Grant for Global Classroom Initiative «We will teach the courses at five universities in different ways. We will create shared teaching materials, and students at all five institutions will participate through teacher and student mobility...

A dream come true and I mean it! Cannot wait! www.uib.no/en/svf/17450...

Studenter mer EU-vennlige enn resten av befolkninga Det er svært jevnt løp mellom nei og ja til EU blant studentene, viser ny meningsmåling. — Vi har behov for å være del av et større fellesskap enn vi er i dag, sier student og ja-mann Petter Hov Jacob...

This is a note of hope- Norwegian students realize that EU membership makes sense for a liberal democracy with an open economy sharing a border with Russia... go figure- smart kids! www.khrono.no/studenter-me...

Bluesky now has over 20M people!! 🎉

We've been adding over a million users per day for the last few days. To celebrate, here are 20 fun facts about Bluesky:

When are politicians willing to liberalize abortion laws? Check out of new article in CPS- the latest from the Bergen-Berkeley gang!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

GLD's Research Seminar Series introduces the research process and covers 3 stages of research:
Refining a research question
Selecting methodology
Presenting findings.

All 15 videos are free to use and available on our website with English & Arabic subtitles: gld.gu.se/en/education...

This paper is good! And it crystallizes an idea: the type of social change whose outcome you could measure through a randomized controlled trial is almost certainly system-preserving.

So, if you only study the policies that RCTs can evaluate, you'll *never* study transformative social change.

congrats, @rubenmathisen.bsky.social !

The Lawfare Podcast: Trump’s Trials and Tribulations: What Is Judge Cannon up to Now?

@benjaminwittes.bsky.social talked to @rparloff.bsky.social and @annabower.bsky.social about Judge Cannon's cryptic order in the Mar-a-Lago case, the latest in the Section 3 litigation, and the release of proffer videos in Fulton County on Trump's Trials and Tribulations. Listen now:

Professor of Government, University of Bergen. Head of MA program in Politics and Governance of Global Challenges www.uib.no/en/studies/M...

Thank you CEDAR (Uni of Birmingham) for offering an opportunity to exchange on democracy in Africa. Nic, Lise and I had a great time discussing the implications of our book on democratic backsliding!
@manoelgehrke.bsky.social

APSA Mini-Conference 2024: Call for Papers - Institutions and Democracy in Africa Following the introduction of multiparty electrons across many parts of Africa in the early 1990s, domestic and international analysts hoped that democracy would take root by institutionalizing horizo...

Working on political institutions and democracy in Africa? We're calling for participants for a mini-conference during the next APSA.

Scholars from the continent and early-career scholars are particularly encouraged to apply.

Submit your abstract by Dec. 4: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...