Felix Wiebrecht

Join us next week!
@rexdeng.bsky.social (WashU) will present "Screened Realities: How Entertainment Fosters Political Compliance in China" and @scottrw630.bsky.social (@ox.ac.uk) and Yingdan Lu (@nuschoolofcomm.bsky.social) will discuss.

The clock is ticking! ⌛
You have until Sunday to submit your proposal for the Spring!

Join us next week!
Tiffany Simon (@harvardkennedy.bsky.social) will present "Happiness as Control: The Political Consequences of Entertainment Policy in Saudi Arabia" and @andrewleber.bsky.social (@tulanepolisci.bsky.social) and @aasiegel.bsky.social (@colorado.edu) will discuss

Crazy to think this but unfortunately, very true

Makes the ERC Starting Grants look very attainable in comparison (12.2% success rate for latest round)

Apply to Present Your Work! Complete the form to be considered for the Authoritarian Political Systems Group Spring 2026 Season. Read the Seminar Rules before applying.

Our Call for Papers for the Spring 2026 is still open!
Submit your proposal by November 9th using this link: forms.gle/SvZv98ke4QUT...
For more information visit: apsg.work/cfp/

Paths to Power (PtP) is out in @bjpols.bsky.social! It is a database with data on cabinet members' social profile globally from 1966-2021.

This is a great team effort with @chknutsen.bsky.social, @peterla.bsky.social, @inalkristiansen.bsky.social. But many more helped us along the way 🙏

A short 🧵

BJPolS abstract describing the introduction of a global database called PtP, which contains detailed individual-level data on political, occupational, and social backgrounds from 144,789 cabinet members across 141 countries between 1966 and 2021. The text highlights the database's relevance to researchers in various fields including political and social sciences.

NEW -

Paths to Power: A New Dataset on the Social Profile of Governments - https://cup.org/47i6oKQ

- @jacobnyrup.bsky.social, @chknutsen.bsky.social, @peterla.bsky.social & Ina Lyftingsmo Kristiansen

#OpenAccess

🚨 Deadline is TODAY!

🚨 The Call for Papers for PSA26 in Oxford closes soon! 🚨

We would love to host your paper at the 2026
@polstudiesassoc.bsky.social
conference.

More details here: www.psa.ac.uk/events/psa-a...

Deadline this Friday (17 October)! ❗

Get your submissions in quickly to join us in Oxford next year for the @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social Annual Conference!

New WP! We find: Overall male and female cabinet members have the same backgrounds, but women in high ranking positions, and women in contexts with few women in politics have backgrounds that align more with the archetypal politician. With @jacobnyrup.bsky.social

tinyurl.com/s4hy3htk

I'm very grateful to the many individuals who have contributed to this project over time and welcome any comments/questions/suggestions!

I first validate the data concerning parliaments' gender and age compositions and numbers of parties. I also provide a number of applications for the study of gender and age representation, legislative turnover, and subnational dynamics in autocracies - all in the paper!

New Working Paper 🚨

I am introducing the new dataset on Parliamentary Elites in Authoritarian Regimes (PEAR). It includes information on the composition of parliaments in 819 legislative terms in 130 autocracies from 1945 - based on over 200k individual-level observations.

tinyurl.com/48h68hmh

Apply to Present Your Work! Complete the form to be considered for the Authoritarian Political Systems Group Spring 2026 Season. Read the Seminar Rules before applying.

Our Call for Papers for the Spring 2026 is now open!
Submit your proposal by November 9th using this link: forms.gle/SvZv98ke4QUT...
For more information visit: apsg.work/cfp/

Join us next week!
@lisayfan.bsky.social (@politicsoxford.bsky.social) will present her work on expressions of loyalty by female elites. Jakob Tolstrup (Aarhus) and @parzetterberg.bsky.social (@uu-polisci.bsky.social) will discuss.

📣 Translate your academic expertise into public-facing policy briefs published in partnership with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy!

🚨 Next week Friday's deadline is fast approaching!

Full details below 👇

@jbeisermcgrath.bsky.social and I wrote the ‘last word’ for the latest Political Insight issue @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social.

We discuss the global rise of authoritarianism, its implications for domestic and international politics, and the future of democracy.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10....

Join us next week!
@javierpadilla.bsky.social (@thegraduatecenter.bsky.social) will be presenting his work on how oligarchic cleavages shape liberalization and democratization and @alucardi1.bsky.social (@itam-mx.bsky.social) and @emisimison.bsky.social (@qmpoliticsir.bsky.social) will discuss.

With the new term a new season of @apsgworkshop.bsky.social is also about to start! See the excellent line up below and sign up to the mailing list to recieve meeting invites!

👇

Same here, 0/4 now. We'll get there... one day

Congrats, Mehmet!

Excited to announce the publication of my article in Comparative Political Studies on how crises shape the ideological legitimation strategies of authoritarian regimes. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

NOW OUT ON FIRSTVIEW!!

#Blame #Shifting in #Autocracies following Large-Scale Disasters: Evidence from #Turkey

By @edwardgoldring.bsky.social, @jonaswschmid.bsky.social & Fulya Apaydin

doi.org/10.1017/S153...

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this year's WhoGov workshop on Political Elites! It is amazing to see so much great research presented on political elites and meet so many great people.

And thank you to @inalkristiansen.bsky.social and @jonaswschmid.bsky.social for co-organizing the event

The 2025 Best Paper Award for the best paper on autocracies and/or regime change presented at the PSA Annual Conference 2025 goes to...

@tjermanova.bsky.social with "Beyond Coordination: The Authoritarian Constitution at the Centre of Intra-Regime Conflict in Post-1979 Iran."

Congratulations! 🥳

The 2025 Best PhD Paper Award for the best article/chapter written by a current PhD candidate goes to...

@linettelim.bsky.social PhD candidate at @ucddublin.bsky.social for her chapter "Foreign Bogeymen: The Use of Anti-Foreign Media Propaganda in China"

Congratulations!! 🥳

📢 This is a great opportunity to translate academic research on autocracies into policy-relevant and public-facing briefs!

Full details on the CfP by @psaautocracy.bsky.social and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy below 👇

Patterns of incumbents’ repression during autocratization How do incumbents attack accountability during autocratization? The literature focuses on what democratic institutions autocratizers undermine, yet incumbents’ steps in attacking accountability mea...

🚨New publication!

By now, we know 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 democratic institutions autocratizers undermine, yet we (w/ Gorazd Ordanoski) ask:

𝑯𝒐𝒘 do they attack them?

We present three sequential repressive steps:
1️⃣ legitimization rhetoric
2️⃣ legal engineering
3️⃣ coercive control

🔓🧵
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....