Carl Henrik Knutsen

📢 New article
👥 @adridelrio.bsky.social, Woseeok Kim, @chknutsen.bsky.social @anjaneundorf.bsky.social & 2 others
👉 Enhancing Transparency and Replicability in Data
Collection: Lessons from the Construction of Three Education Datasets
📖 Published in Perspectives on Politics
🔗 doi.org/10.1017/s153...

Today marks four years since Russia invaded Ukraine. These are some thoughts (recorded yesterday) on what Ukrainians have done for all of us and what we can learn from them.

Picture of new V-Dem Institute director Steven Wilson, with the quote "As new incoming director, my first priority is to keep doing what V-Dem has been doing successfully for nearly two decades: measure the different dimensions of democracy with the highest scientific rigor. I also bring with me my own research interest in digital politics and cybersecurity, in relation to democracy".

📣 We welcome Steven Wilson as Associate Professor at the Dept. of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg and new V-Dem Institute Director.
We asked Steven a few questions about his new role, his priorities for V-Dem, and his research interest: v-dem.net/news/new-v-d...
More below 👇
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Painful to read this and think about the 2021 coup attempt, which was as blatant as it gets. An utter failure of US elites to seize the moment when everybody saw the threat right in front of their eyes.

If we have history books in the future, they will be unkind.

NEW: The Kremlin continues cognitive warfare efforts to attempt to convince the West to abandon Ukraine by projecting the false narrative that Russian battlefield victory in Ukraine is inevitable and that Russian forces are making widespread battlefield gains.

Full report: isw.pub/UkrWar022026

‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, i...

A retired British primary school administrator with a British passport and a valid visa was shackled, chained and detained for six weeks by ICE

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

It's only a matter of time before they come for political science next

❇️ FirstView -💼 Profession

@jjungblut.bsky.social, @nilsweidmann.bsky.social & @chknutsen.bsky.social examine political science departments at universities across the world to assess the extent to which they vary with regime type.

👉 buff.ly/qEIeGoB

Oslo, Norway

It’s time to Hype that Hypothesis! @magnusrasmussen.bsky.social and @chknutsen.bsky.social develop three hypotheses to examine #state #development to explain how relatively weak political actors can shape national #policy by pursing local #reforms. Read their full article: doi.org/10.1353/wp.2...

Russia, Venezuela, Iran, China, the Sahel region, the United States ...

Want to know why state agents carry out brutal repression — or participate in illegal coups?

Our new book "Making a Career in Dictatorship" provides answers — it just got published by @academic.oup.com:

tinyurl.com/ystwm3tf

The image is a cover for "European Political Science" by ECPR. It features the text "EPS" and "#OpenAccess" on a greenish-brown background with a pattern of small squares.

#OpenAccess from @epsjournal.bsky.social -

The politics behind political science: A cross-national perspective - https://cup.org/3ObeH5g

- @jjungblut.bsky.social, Nils B. Weidmann & @chknutsen.bsky.social

#FirstView

In a new study (OA) in @epsjournal.bsky.social
@nilsweidmann.bsky.social
@chknutsen.bsky.social & I study the global distribution of polit. science depts.
Political science is today a truly global discipline & we find few differences along the democracy–autocracy continuum:
doi.org/10.1017/S168...

Rubio may have signed up to this extremist rubbish for the sake of his own pathetic career. That doesn't mean that Europe has to.

“I have searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future”

Postdoctoral Fellow in Political Science (3-4 years) (295112) | University of Oslo Job title: Postdoctoral Fellow in Political Science (3-4 years) (295112), Employer: University of Oslo, Deadline: Monday, March 16, 2026

📣CfA for a Postdoctoral Fellow Position in political science (3-4 years) as part of the ERC project “Waging of War” (WOW) - PI Scott Gates. The application deadline is March 16th, 2026.
www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

Download and read Policy Brief No. 43 “Democracy Aid: What’s in it for Donor Countries?” at the V-Dem website: v-dem.net/media/public...

You can find all V-Dem Institute Policy Briefs and other publications on the V-Dem website: v-dem.net/publications/
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First page of V-Dem Institute Policy Brief Number 43, showing key insights and policy recommendations.

Altruistic motivations aside, looking at purely self-interested motives of donors, is there still a rationale for supporting democracy abroad?
YES, says a new #PolicyBrief from V-Dem Institute:
Democracy Aid: What’s in it for Donor Countries? v-dem.net/media/public...
👇 1(3) #Polisky #SocialScience

New publication!
Collecting data is key for social science. @adridelrio.bsky.social, Woseeok Kim, @chknutsen.bsky.social, @anjaneundorf.bsky.social, Agustina S. Paglayan & @eugenian.bsky.social suggest how to enhance transparency and replicability based on education datasets
tinyurl.com/yskszsdt

Trump is quickly passing Mobutu Sese Seko in corruption, although it took Mobutu more than two decades to reach $4 billion.

ICE not only looks and acts like a paramilitary force – it is one, and that makes it harder to curb ICE, created in response to 9/11, meets most definitions of paramilitary forces. Critics worry it’s gone beyond its writ of immigration enforcement.

New explainer from me, on understanding ICE as a paramilitary force, in more than one sense of the term 👇
theconversation.com/ice-not-only...

Who Rules? Support Coalitions and Regime Survival, 1789–2020 - Carl Henrik Knutsen, Sirianne Dahlum, Magnus Bergli Rasmussen, Tore Wig, 2025 All political regimes rely on coalitions of supporters to govern and remain in power. We discuss, specify, and test arguments pertaining to how the numerical si...

📢 New article
👥 Carl Henrik Knutsen (ISV), Sirianne Dahlum (ISV), Magnus Bergli Rasmussen & Tore Wig (ISV)
👉 Who Rules? Support Coalitions and Regime Survival
📗 Open Access in Comparative Political Studies
🔗 doi.org/10.1177/0010...

Trump's relentless bullying of Ukraine presented as a "peace process" is making us sound like broken records. Like, how many times do we have to say that asking Ukraine to withdraw from its most fortified region in exchange for another useless Budapest memorandum offer is a dumb proposition?

🥉“Conceptual and Measurement Issues in Assessing Democratic Backsliding”.
Working Paper 140 from 2023 is the third most viewed (4,080 times). v-dem.net/media/public...

@chknutsen.bsky.social @kailmarkvart.bsky.social @silindberg.bsky.social ‪@medzihorsky.bsky.social
@danpemstein.com
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NEW PAPER ALERT! My paper, with @bjornhoyland.bsky.social , on how “policy loss” shapes support for the EU has just been published in @cpsjournal.bsky.social. Check it out!
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Professor of Peace and Conflict Research Uppsala University announces a vacancy for a permanent position as  Professor of Peace and Conflict Research   At the Department of Peace and Conflict Research  The Department is one of the

We are hiring a Professor!
The Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University, the world’s leading research environments in the field, is now recruiting a Professor. We welcome applications from internationally recognized scholars. uu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

Who cares and has ever cared about the location of a book publisher? How much time have researchers wasted on figuring out this information?

Spoke to folks in Kharkiv and Kyiv - people are freezing to death while being bombed daily for hours. It’s a humanitarian crisis. Tweets of “how incredibly strong Ukrainians are” and “prayers” aren’t enough. They need help. Now.

So America is on edge, angry and reaching a boiling post--and this is President Trump's latest tweet.

Serious Nero fiddling while Rome is burning vibes...

Even in the AI era, learning to quickly "read" an academic article is an essential skill.

When I started grad school, I thought I had to read every word, in order, for every article I "read".

I don’t do that anymore.

Here’s how I "read" most academic articles:

We updated the dashboard so it now runs on Internet Explorer as well. If you are interested in seeing where Cuban members of government are born (or most other countries for that sake) now is your chance:

ptp.isv.sv.uio.no/ptp/