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Laura Gamboa

@lgamboa.bsky.social

Assistant Professor at the Keough School of Global Affairs (University of Notre Dame) Political Science - Research on democracy in Latin America

95 Posts2060 Follower779 Folgt
Kim Lane Scheppele@kimlanelaw.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Hungarians deserve every congratulations for giving Peter Magyar a bigger margin than Orban has ever gotten in all of his rigged elections - and this within the system that Orban rigged. Magyar now has a constitutional majority to undo Orban's constitutional prison and govern as a democratic leader.

Laura Gamboa@lgamboa.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The outcome of today's election seems to be good news for democracy and (yes) bad news for MAGA. But let's not reduce the enormous amount of effort the opposition did (building a broad tent coalition, campaigning in unfair elections etc.) and Hungarians overall rejection fo Fidez to US politics.

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Kat O’Brien@lavidagata.bsky.social · 5mo ago

This is a terrific piece, with research included from a recent book by Notre Dame professor @lgamboa.bsky.social. The U.S. isn’t faring as well, because the elite - in Congress, in the Supreme Court, in business and media and more, have largely not recognized the threat as grave.

Because when they do, Gamboa notes, the backlash is overwhelming. She cites, as one example, Peruvian President Pedro Castillo's 2022 declaration of a state of emergency. The move was so obviously authoritarian that it galvanized Peruvians, and the international community, to act— leading to Castillo's impeachment and arrest on the very same day as his attempted power grab. Smart authoritarians, Gamboa notes, "have learned that they can avoid this kind of' backlash and maintain a democratic facade by undermining democracy gradually instead."To defeat an authoritarian project, people — in courts, legislatures, the military, business, civil society, and the mass public — must choose to fight rather than collaborate in democratic decline or ignore it altogether. These different social groupings make decisions for diverse, often contradictory, reasons. But I think the government's success at building and maintaining a democratic facade is one of the most important factors, simply because many people genuinely care about preserving democracy. Under ordinary political circumstances, this concern is unnoticeable. People in democracies generally assume political life will continue as normal, and so they prioritize other concerns: political squabbling, bureaucratic infighting, the pursuit of short-term profit, or even non-political hobbies and interests. The purpose of a democratic facade is to maintain this expectation of normalcy. But once it is punctured, either due to a misstep by the authoritarian or proactive measures by their opponents, the resistance can be overwhelming.Korea gives lie to the notion that democracy is "too abstract" to matter to large swathes of the public. And it can matter even when the threat is less obvious than a literal declaration of martial law. Poland: A threat legible to the opposition Poland's would-be authoritarians, the Law and Justice party (PiS), first took power in 2015. Unlike their peers in Brazil or Korea, PiS did a much better job masking their intentions: no open praise of dictators, no martial law. hard for many to believe democracy could die before it starts happening, especially if the leader they might elect had been in office before and democracy survived. Three of the most notable contemporary assaults on a democracy -in the United States, Hungary, and Israel - have been orchestrated by leaders who had previously been elected, lost in free and fair elections, and returned due to voter dissatisfaction with the alternative. The voters weren't affirmatively voting for authoritarianism; they just didn't rate the risk very highly. Once a threat becomes legible — primarily, by an elected authoritarian beginning to act in authoritarian ways once in office - people start prioritizing democracy in a way they didn't beforehand. And indeed, there are good reasons to think that's the case in the US in 2026. There was no meaningful pro-democracy movement in 2024. Today, data like Chenoweth's reveals an enormous one, fueled by reaction to Trump's lawless power grabs and ICE's assault on civil liberties. Even in deep-red areas, many people just don't like what they're seeing. The actionable advice here is straightforward: people with political influence and platforms need to work to make the threat to democracy more legible to more people, and channel citizen
Zack Beauchamp@zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I have spent the past several months studying the cutting-edge research on modern democracies that have defeated authoritarian leaders. I've learned that the conventional wisdom on the topic is wrong — in ways that have clear implications for the US going forward THREAD www.vox.com/politics/479...

Stephen Wolf@stephenwolf.bsky.social · 6mo ago

🚨 Republicans just passed a law to pack Utah’s Supreme Court by adding two seats. Republicans are doing this following court rulings against their gerrymander and their attempt to gut the ballot initiative process that voters used to ban gerrymandering

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Fabio Angiolillo@fabioangiolillo.bsky.social · 6mo ago

🚨 Deadline is tomorrow! 🚨 Submit your abstract for the 4th APSG Conference in London 15-16 June here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Authoritarian Political Systems Group@apsgworkshop.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Come join us 15-16 June 2026 at @qmulsse.bsky.social for our 4th APSG Annual Conference co-organized with @qmul-sse-cgd.bsky.social ! To apply, fill this form by 1 February 2026: forms.gle/5eQ1NHMtK5GS... For more information visit: apsg.work/call-for-pap...

Laura Gamboa@lgamboa.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Authoritarianism is BY DEFINITION unevenly distributed. Venezuela's SEBIN, Pinochet's DINA, and Russia's FSB target some and spare others. ICE isn't any better. Saying that authoritarianism in the US is uneven is just another way to dress the fact that US is turning into a dictatorship.

Filipe Campante@filipecampante.bsky.social · 6mo ago

What’s so misguided about the formulation “authoritarianism is here, it’s just unevenly distributed,” which I have heard from Ezra Klein and others, it’s that it misses the point: that’s true of authoritarianism *everywhere*.

Antulio Rosales@antuliorosales.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I wanted to make a thread about the useful analyses coming out about the situation in Venezuela, but there is a lot, and everyday new things come out. It may be more useful to share some of the existing analysis of how we got here. Books in no particular order and on various themes/issues... 🧵

Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame@kellogginstitute.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Tomorrow is the day - please join us for what promises to be an engaging conversation with @lgamboa.bsky.social, Michael Coppedge, and Paola Bautista de Alemán. See you at 2pm in the Hesburgh Center!

Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame@kellogginstitute.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Join us this Fri., Jan. 16, for a flash panel on Venezuela with @lgamboa.bsky.social, Michael Coppedge, and Paola Bautista de Alemán. Moderated by @aperezli.bsky.social at the Hesburgh Center. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4sy6Dv3

Kim Lane Scheppele@kimlanelaw.bsky.social · 8mo ago

As the US threatens Venezuela, top military commanders might note that Venezuela is a member of the International Criminal Court and it has refused to sign an "Article 98 waiver" with the US. That means that Americans could be brought before the ICC on war crimes charges.