So happy and proud that my article with @liselhintz.bsky.social, “Film-Making the Nation Great Again,” has received the 2026 Alexander L. George award from the APSA QMMR Section! doi.org/10.1017/S153...

I am awed and honored that Film-Making the Nation Great Again, with @draege.bsky.social, received the 2026 Alexander L. George award from the APSA Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Section. We created a dataset of 11,000+ YouTube videos to study how autocratizing leaders instrumentalize history

Delighted to share a short blog post on the dark logic of visual "strongman" propaganda — drawing on survey experiments in Venezuela, Türkiye and the US!

The Loop@ecprtheloop.bsky.social · 3mo ago

🌊 #Illiberal Wave No.46 💪 @plutscher.bsky.social, @draege.bsky.social, @karstendonnay.bsky.social & @chknutsen.bsky.social draw on 3 experiments across Venezuela, Türkiye + the US to show that visual strongman #Propaganda can deter opposition movements + mobilise supporters. 👉️ bit.ly/48vkRV3

Congrats to @draege.bsky.social and co-authors on a new article studying effects of pro-regime propaganda: cambridge.org/core/journal... Pairs well with our article on how regimes use historical-themed videos to legitimize their rule. Strategy + effects loop complete! cambridge.org/core/journal...

New publication! Can propaganda mobilize and demobilize at the same time? @plutscher.bsky.social, @draege.bsky.social & @chknutsen.bsky.social show it can with evidence from two preregistered experiments (N = 6,286) in Turkey @ejprjournal.bsky.social doi.org/10.1017/S147...

🌊 #Illiberal Wave No.46 💪 @plutscher.bsky.social, @draege.bsky.social, @karstendonnay.bsky.social & @chknutsen.bsky.social draw on 3 experiments across Venezuela, Türkiye + the US to show that visual strongman #Propaganda can deter opposition movements + mobilise supporters. 👉️ bit.ly/48vkRV3

🌊 The dark logic of visual strongman propaganda

Philipp Lutscher, Jonas Bergan Dræge, Carl Henrik Knutsen and Karsten Donnay draw on three survey experiments across Venezuela, Turkey and the United States to show that visual strongman propaganda ca...

bit.ly

New publication! @govjournal.bsky.social Many authoritarian regimes seek mass support through policy perf. When do citizens respond? @andrewleber.bsky.social and @draege.bsky.social highlight the role of hist. legacies of development in labor-market views in Saudi Arabia doi.org/10.1111/gove...

Evaluating Authoritarian Performance: Historical Legacies and Contemporary Attitudes in Saudi Arabia

Many authoritarian regimes seek mass support through policy performance – delivering material benefits to citizens. When do citizens respond to these appeals? Standard explanations emphasize national...

doi.org

Very happy and proud to have co-authored this paper in @ejprjournal.bsky.social, with @plutscher.bsky.social & @chknutsen.bsky.social 😊 doi.org/10.1017/S147... Please see Philipp's 🧵 below for the main findings 😊

Philipp Lutscher@plutscher.bsky.social · 4mo ago

(1/8) New Open Access paper out today in the @ejprjournal.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1017/S147... "The effects of government propaganda in electoral authoritarian regimes: Evidence from Turkey" with @draege.bsky.social & @chknutsen.bsky.social #polisky #socsky #commsky #dictatorsky #OA

@ejprjournal.bsky.social even timed the publication to my birthday 🎉😀 More seriously: so happy to see this published, and grateful to have worked with and learned from @plutscher.bsky.social & @draege.bsky.social Propaganda—>Diff’t Emotions—>Protest behavior Check out Philipp’s thread 👇

Philipp Lutscher@plutscher.bsky.social · 4mo ago

(1/8) New Open Access paper out today in the @ejprjournal.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1017/S147... "The effects of government propaganda in electoral authoritarian regimes: Evidence from Turkey" with @draege.bsky.social & @chknutsen.bsky.social #polisky #socsky #commsky #dictatorsky #OA

Yesterday marked one year since İmamoğlu was taken into custody He polled higher than Erdoğan. He's now in jail facing over 100 politicized charges. Thank you @sinemadar.bsky.social and Sinem Bal for including my thoughts the latest CATS Network issue: www.cats-network.eu/assets/cats/...

Sinem Adar@sinemadar.bsky.social · 5mo ago

CATS Network Roundup's March issue looks at Turkey's political landscape one year after the imprisonment of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, also featuring an interview with @liselhintz.bsky.social conducted by Sinem Bal 👇 www.cats-network.eu/assets/cats/...

My article with @andrewleber.bsky.social is out now in @govjournal.bsky.social! Evaluating Authoritarian Performance: Historical Legacies and Contemporary Attitudes in Saudi Arabia doi.org/10.1111/gove...

In a new article for @govjournal.bsky.social, @draege.bsky.social & I examine labor-market views in Saudi Arabia to argue that "historical legacies of development substantially affect perceptions of regime [policy] performance in the long run." [Open Access] onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

“the response to the killings.. follows the Israeli script to the letter..like Syrian regime campaign to defame the White Helmets, Russian campaigns to shape narratives in Ukraine, Saudi campaigns to deny responsibility for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi” abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io/muddying-mur...

Muddying Murderous Waters

I watched Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis murder a man on Saturday. The killing was captured by multiple videos from several angles, and all tell the same undisputable story. As with their smearin...

abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io

Kind of surreal to be discussing my new book on my favorite podcast for learning about new books. Marc as always knows so much about the topic; it's a real privilege (if intimidating) to be in conversation with him.

POMEPS@pomeps.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Welcome to Season 15 of the POMEPS Podcast! On this week's episode, Rana Khoury joins POMEPS Director Marc Lynch to discuss her new book, Civilizing Contention: International Aid in Syria's War. Also, Marc shares additional academic research on Syria. pomeps.org/civilizing-c...

New Publication! Opposition often fails to coordinate. Why? @draege.bsky.social and @maryhenjimenez.bsky.social find two overlooked drivers (⁠resource asymmetry and extraordinary times as stress-tests) in their deep comparative analysis of Venezuela and Turkey journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

My new article with @leberntzen.bsky.social out in @scandpolstud.bsky.social! Can politicians calm conflict as effectively as they can inflame it? Our experimental evidence from Norway suggests that they cannot. 🧵

Asymmetric Influence: Politicians Can Fuel but Not Dampen Conflict

Research from the deeply polarized United States suggests that the impact of elite communication is asymmetrical: antagonistic messages often heighten divisions, while positive appeals fail to dampen...

doi.org

Jeg skriver i Dagens Næringsliv om noe som har gått litt under radaren i utkastet til fredsavtalen mellom Russland og Ukraina: G7/8 medlemskap til Russland. Og om symbolikken bak det: www.dn.no/innlegg/ukra...

For Putin er dette full pott

G7 skal igjen bli til G8. Med Russland som nygammelt medlem. Vesten er i ferd med å bøye av.

dn.no

New article with @draege.bsky.social out in Scandinavian Political Studies: “Asymmetric Influence: Politicians Can Fuel but Not Dampen Conflict.” We test whether politicians in one of the world’s least polarized democracies, Norway, can calm conflict as effectively as they can inflame it. #polisky

Asymmetric Influence: Politicians Can Fuel but Not Dampen Conflict

Research from the deeply polarized United States suggests that the impact of elite communication is asymmetrical: antagonistic messages often heighten divisions, while positive appeals fail to dampen...

dx.doi.org

New article out in @polstudies.bsky.social! Why do opposition parties in authoritarian regimes so often fail to coordinate, even when unity could help them win? doi.org/10.1177/0032... In this article, we highlight two overlooked drivers of opposition fragmentation 🧵

Why do opposition parties in autocracies struggle to unite? Jonas Bergan Draege & @maryhenjimenez.bsky.social examine how resource asymmetry & high-pressure moments like protests deepen fragmentation. Read more: buff.ly/k2arX2i @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social @uoypolitics.bsky.social @sagepub.com

My article "Film-Making the Nation Great Again" with @liselhintz.bsky.social is out now in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social! doi.org/10.1017/S153... We show how Turkey’s ruling party instrumentalizes history through emotionally evocative videos to legitimize the authoritarian incumbent 🧵

My article "Film-Making the Nation Great Again" with @draege.bsky.social is out in Perspectives! Poli sci work on authoritarianism and populism largely overlooks audiovisual strategies. Our multi-modal study uses a new dataset of 11,000+ regime YouTube videos in Turkey. doi.org/10.1017/S153...

Perspectives on Politics@poppublicsphere.bsky.social · 11mo ago

NOW OUT ON FIRSTVIEW!! #Film-Making the #Nation #Great #Again: Audio-visualizing #History in the #Authoritarian #Toolkit By @liselhintz.bsky.social & Jonas Bergan Draege doi.org/10.1017/S153...

Before my PhD, I worked mostly in arts and media. Regimes invest lots in AV media, but Pol Sci largely doesn't engage it. So I was thrilled to see images in the proofs for Film-Making the Nation Great Again with @draege.bsky.social. We analyze autocrats' AV instrumentalizations of history.

Folks in Istanbul please join me July 10 at IPC. I'll present findings from a new dataset of over 11,000 YouTube videos. In two projects with @draege.bsky.social, our multi-method analysis examines regimes' instrumentalizations of history and foreign threat production. forms.gle/6BRkXR3439LKV7A96