„Wählen wir die Demokratie ab?“ Liberale Demokratien sind weltweit unter Druck — und autokratische Kräfte gewinnen an Einfluss Wie ernst ist die Lage? Was können wir tun? Darüber diskutiere ich nächste Woche am @ipz.bsky.social 📍Mo, 18.05., 18:15, Aula Uni Zürich Anmeldung 👇 ema.uzh.ch/RTKL3

Just arrived: MAKING A CAREER IN DICTATORSHIP. Featuring original visualizations throughout, the book reconstructs an entire military organization using career data from 15k officers. A deep dive into how the security apparatus in autocracies really works. Excited to finally hold it in my hands.

Adam Scharpf@ascharpf.bsky.social · 6mo ago

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

How does an authoritarian leader build — and maintain — a fiercely loyal security force? And how much of that playbook shows up in developments around the U.S. Department of Homeland Security? We followed @donmoyn.bsky.social’s invitation and wrote a guest post - based on our new book 👇

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 5mo ago

New, at Can We Still Govern?: Christian Gläßel and @ascharpf.bsky.social have studied the formation of secret police in other countries. They explain the parallels with Trump's immigration enforcement. The key factor is career incentives not ideology. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-secret...

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 @financialtimes.com calls Trump's Board of Peace "a fledgling club of autocrats". A data-based view fully supports that:

Adam Scharpf@ascharpf.bsky.social · 7mo ago

The graph ranks the countries based on their BoP status and their ruling regime. Data: BoP status comes from Wikipedia, data on regimes from @vdeminstitute.bsky.social. Note: Regime data for Vatican City and the EU is not available.

What's happening in ICE also seems to go in the FBI. The current US administration seeks to staff key security agencies with unprofessional careerists rather than skilled professionals. See 👇 🙏 for a great post and featuring our work/new book "Making a Career in Dictatorship", @donmoyn.bsky.social!

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 9mo ago

New from me: Kash Patel is engaged in purges, removal of real accountability, and impunity for loyalists at the FBI. Researchers told me that these are the exact patterns that create abusive national security organizations under authoritarianism. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-the-fb...

Kein besserer Start in den Morgen als mit einem starken ZEIT-Artikel meines großartigen Hertie-Kollegen Christian Gläßel und @ascharpf.bsky.social: www.zeit.de/politik/ausl... (Freebie-Link)

Rekrutierung bei ICE: Repression als Karrierechance

Das Ziel: 3.000 Festnahmen pro Tag. Die US-Einwanderungsbehörde ICE geht nicht zimperlich vor, und den schmutzigen Job machen Leute mit fragwürdiger Eignung. Kein Zufall.

zeit.de

Thanks @hcrichardson.bsky.social for featuring our work on the staffing of secret police organizations and how it is related to ICE. Our forthcoming book delves deeper into the authoritarian security apparatus and examines who serves where and why: global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR)@hcrichardson.bsky.social · 10mo ago

October 23, 2025

Fantastic special issue - Thanks so much for putting it together @laiabalcells.bsky.social @apvjustino.bsky.social @andrearuggeri.bsky.social 💪 [full disclosure: our article is part of it as well]

Laia Balcells@laiabalcells.bsky.social · 11mo ago

New publication alert: "Legacies of Repression and Resistance in Early 20th Century Europe", at Comparative Political Studies. With @andrearuggeri.bsky.social and @apvjustino.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

I started the year with a great personal achievement. After years in the making, our book manuscript is ready and under contract with Oxford University Press. So stay tuned for deep insights into the security apparatus of dictatorships. Small preview 👇

🚨JOB ALERT🚨 👉ERC Project DEMOLAW 🏦Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen 🤓Public Policy, Comp. Text Analysis, R/Python, #NLProc ⏰3+1 years 📆Deadline: 05/11/2024 🎓Postdoc: short.sg/j/49273108 🎓Predoc: short.sg/j/49278053 ❗️Please share

Are you an expert in dealing with lobby registers, transparency laws, corporate registers and the like? You want to understand how autocrats and their regimes influence foreign democracies? We (@alexdukalskis.bsky.social) have some funds to hire someone for some work on a freelance basis. ⬇️

In a follow-up article in @thejop.bsky.social, we study how sportswashing works and what publicity/image effects autocracies achieve from hosting sports events Case: 2022 ⚽ World Cup in Qatar doi.org/10.1086/730728

Does sportswashing work? First insights from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar | The Journal of Politics: Vol 0, No ja

doi.org

Just learned that our APSR article on sports mega events in autocracies has won the Best Article Award by @apsa.bsky.social's Democracy & Autocracy section 🥳🍾 @pearceaedwards.bsky.social 🙏 to the committee: @annemeng.bsky.social Jean Hong, Lisa Mueller, Anibal Perez-Linan doi.org/10.1017/S000...

@alexdukalskis.bsky.social and I had the pleasure talking to @cjcmichel.bsky.social about our new paper on dictators and their contracting of Western PR firms. The exchange is part of the podcast series by the Human Rights Foundation. Check it out! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

‎Dissidents and Dictators: Whitewashing Dictators on Apple Podcasts

‎Show Dissidents and Dictators, Ep Whitewashing Dictators - May 30, 2024

podcasts.apple.com

🚨 4-year postdoc position in computational social science at University of Zurich. Come work with me and @fgilardi.bsky.social at @ipz.bsky.social ! Application deadline is June 30. Job ad & details: ⬇️ www.ipz.uzh.ch/de/ueber-uns... polisky csssky socsky commsky

✨ Call for papers ✨ Digital Democracy Workshop University of Zurich, 24-25 October 2024 Submission deadline: 2 June 2024 Pls share widely! democracy.dsi.uzh.ch/news/24-25-1...

Last week, Christian Gläßel and I kicked off our DFG-funded Anatomy of the Authoritarian Security Apparatus project w. a book workshop @hertiesecurity.bsky.social Natasha Lindstaedt Erica Frantz @belengonzalez.bsky.social Kristen Harkness @smsaideman.bsky.social, @feiyonah.bsky.social Yuri Zhukov

Which dictatorships hire Public Relations (PR) firms, under what conditions, and with what effects? Christian Gläßel, @alexdukalskis.bsky.social, and I offer first answers with data on 7k contracts between autocracies and US-based PR firms (1945–2022).

The new "Research Handbook on Authoritarianism" is now out! We (+ Christian Gläßel & @ascharpf.bsky.social ) contribute with a chapter on the competence-loyalty trade-off in the security apparatus of autocracies. 🧵👇

Adam Scharpf@ascharpf.bsky.social · 2y ago

Excited that the brand new "Research Handbook on Authoritarianism" just got published! Our contribution (with Christian Gläßel & @belengonzalez.bsky.social) is on military officers. Check it out: doi.org/10.4337/9781... Feels great to be part of such an esteemed group of scholars!

Super happy that our article on the conflict potential of illegal sand mining in Africa is now published online (and open access) with @EnvSecJournal: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

I'm hiring a postdoc! > Aug 2024 - July 2027 > PhD completed or close to completion > Interest in digital technology & politics > Causal inference and/or computational social science > Salary: CHF 81,400/yr Pls help me spread the word! jobs.uzh.ch/offene-stell...

UZH: Three-Year Post-Doctoral Research Position in the Research Group of Professor Fabrizio Gilardi

The Department of Political Science at the University of Zurich (http://www.ipz.uzh.ch) invites applications for a post-doctoral research position in the research group of Professor Fabrizio Gilardi (...

jobs.uzh.ch

We are planning the first WhoGov Workshop to be held in Oslo on the 29-30th of August 2024. We welcome all research using WhoGov in some capacity and we have funding to cover travel expenses for participants. Find the call for papers through the link or use the QR code: bit.ly/WhoGov_Workshop

New paper in the Journal of Peace Research with Tabea Palmtag and @tobirommel.bsky.social! 🥳 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

We have been collecting a lot of data on evolving public opinion on international cooperation in the DISINTEGRATION project. Some of this data is now publicly available for download in the SWISSUbase repository. Check it out!

ERC project DISINTEGRATION@disintegrationerc.bsky.social · 3y ago

🥁Exciting Update! 📣 The DISINTEGRATION 5-wave panel survey on 🇨🇭Swiss public opinion is now out, revealing key shifts in attitudes. Dive into our data to explore how attitudes on Switzerland’s relations with 🇪🇺Europe and the 🌍World have evolved. Access it here: doi.org/10.48573/enm...

We are advertising a Pre-Doc/PhD position at Humboldt. You get a nice office in the heart of Berlin, free coffee, and a tremendous community of scholars working on cutting-edge social science. Your own project can be on whatever excites you! Deadline is Feb 21. Ad is below. POLISKY

Attention: Open call for a Ph.D. scholarship in my Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen (we include all sub-fields). Excellent PhD Programme, great salary and it's in the middle of wonderful Copenhagen! Deadline for application: 25 February 2024. Start date: 1 September 2024

PhD scholarship at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen (UCPH)

jobportal.ku.dk

Henry A. Kissinger died last week. Few people know that as an academic he used a soft power campaign to get foreign politicians, intellectuals, and cultural figures enthusiastic about the United States. Who did Kissinger target with his soft power campaign? polisky

Small feature in the ZDF Heute about Saudi Arabia's role in international sports. www.zdf.de/nachrichten/...

Saudi-Arabiens Sport wie "Brot und Spiele"

Die Sportoffensive Saudi-Arabiens soll Menschenrechtsverletzungen legitimieren, die Jugend begeistern und neue Geldquellen erschließen.

zdf.de

There will be another TOPIQ talk @ipz.bsky.social tomorrow 5pm CET (online) Andrew McNeil will present new work on the effects of (lacking) social mobility on political discontent. Registration here: www.urpp-equality.uzh.ch/en/registrat...