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Ben Yoel

@benyoel.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1.2K following 467 posts

Postdoc @ Stanford CDDRL| PhD in Political Science from MSU | IPPSR Fellow | resistance to democratic erosion | Past: Predoc @ SNF Agora Institute, JHU, UChicago Visiting PhD student, Reichman University alum, EA @ JoP | benjaminyoel.com

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Reposted by Ben Yoel
Gabriela Greilinger @gabrielagreilinger.com · 8h
Excited to share our new working paper with @benyoel.bsky.social: we analyse public opinion dynamics around the consequential election in Hungary last April and specifically look at (anti-)democratic attitudes in the aftermath of Orbán's defeat. Available here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com
Democratic Attitudes When Backsliding Reverses: Evidence from Hungary
Increasingly, opposition actors in settings undergoing democratic backsliding have been able to unseat anti-democratic incumbents. But unseating an anti-democra
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 19h
How do elections in backsliding settings shape attitudes toward democracy? @gabrielagreilinger.com and I fielded two surveys: 1 pre/post & 1 after Hungary's election. In short, elections appear to increase satisfaction among winners, even months after. Working paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com
Democratic Attitudes When Backsliding Reverses: Evidence from Hungary
Increasingly, opposition actors in settings undergoing democratic backsliding have been able to unseat anti-democratic incumbents. But unseating an anti-democra
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Reposted by Ben Yoel
Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Tomorrow at 9am PT/12pm EST/6pm CET, I'll be giving a talk at @snfagora.bsky.social (virtually) on my job market paper and book project on foreign pressure and opposition to democratic backsliding. All are welcome! Zoom link on website: snfagora.jhu.edu/event/academ...
snfagora.jhu.edu
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Tomorrow at 9am PT/12pm EST/6pm CET, I'll be giving a talk at @snfagora.bsky.social (virtually) on my job market paper and book project on foreign pressure and opposition to democratic backsliding. All are welcome! Zoom link on website: snfagora.jhu.edu/event/academ...
snfagora.jhu.edu
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Question to survey methods folks: is there a paper that shows/examines whether putting items in a matrix makes them more correlated as opposed to including them as separate individual items? Thanks in advance!
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Sad I won't be there, but if you're in Atlanta/GA Tech this weekend, check out the excellent @gabrielagreilinger.com presenting our joint work on the effects of consequential elections in backsliding democracies on democratic attitudes and support for retaliation against former backsliding leaders.
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I'm thrilled to be giving a talk at next week at the @snfagora.bsky.social Academy Workshop on my job market paper, where I examine the causes and consequences of foreign pressure on democracy and democratic backsliding. The talk is fully online, link to join here! snfagora.jhu.edu/event/academ...
snfagora.jhu.edu
International Pressure and Opposition to Democratic Backsliding
Register to attend by Zoom at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/pS1vAMA7QjGfAZ-xW3maiw. There is no in-person attendance for this event. Authoritarian and backsliding regimes actively seek to delegitimize domestic opposition movements. But it remains unclear […]
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I'm very excited to have officially started as a Postdoc at @stanfordcddrl.bsky.social! I'm also grateful for their very kind write-up of my work, as well as that of my cohort members. If you're in the Bay Area this academic year, I'd love to grab coffee. cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/news/introdu...
cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu
Introducing CDDRL's 2026-27 Pre- & Postdoctoral Fellows
Introducing CDDRL's 2026-27 Pre- & Postdoctoral Fellows
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
APSA 2026 done! Was a pleasure to serve as a discussant for an awesome panel on measuring democratic erosion and present my JMP on foreign pressure and public support for pro-democracy movements.
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Still around at APSA? I'll be presenting my job market paper on the effects of foreign cues on public attitudes toward pro-democracy movements today at 10am at Hynes! The panel features a diverse set of papers on the domestic and international politics of opposition to democratic backsliding.
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Good to be in Boston for the first time. APSA Pre-Conference Job Market Workshop ✔️ now onto APSA! If you’re around tomorrow until Sunday, I’d love to grab coffee. I'll also be presenting my job market paper on Sunday at 10am.
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Reposted by Ben Yoel
Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
It's hard to underscore how unprecedented this move is. We have never seen a mainstream Jewish (Zionist) politician join a predominantly Islamist party. Segalovitz served as a leading figure in the Israeli police and earned a lot of allies in the Arab sector. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/w...
nytimes.com
Mansour Abbas Recruits Yoav Segalovitz to Join Raam Party in Israeli Election
Mansour Abbas has recruited a Jewish lawmaker best known for reducing the crime rate in Arab cities. Could that be enough to get Mr. Abbas a seat in the next government?
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
It's hard to underscore how unprecedented this move is. We have never seen a mainstream Jewish (Zionist) politician join a predominantly Islamist party. Segalovitz served as a leading figure in the Israeli police and earned a lot of allies in the Arab sector. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/w...
nytimes.com
Mansour Abbas Recruits Yoav Segalovitz to Join Raam Party in Israeli Election
Mansour Abbas has recruited a Jewish lawmaker best known for reducing the crime rate in Arab cities. Could that be enough to get Mr. Abbas a seat in the next government?
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Heading to APSA this week? I'll be presenting my solo work on the effects of foreign pressure on attitudes toward pro-democracy movements on Sunday at 10am, alongside excellent papers by @yukosato.bsky.social, @osamet.bsky.social, @ozlemtuncel.bsky.social, and Pelin Musil on opposition politics.
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
First trip to the Hoover archive! Super comprehensive collection of diplomatic cables. My first ever time doing archival data collection. Thanks to everyone for the advice and tips.
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I'll be presenting my job market paper (part of my book) on this terrific panel in two weeks. More specifically, I examine the effects of foreign rhetorical pressure and attitudes toward pro-democracy movements in backsliding settings using two survey experiments. If you're at APSA come say hi!
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Reposted by Ben Yoel
Avishay BSG (Ben-Sasson-Gordis) @avishaybsg.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Interested in Israeli election polling? My friend Tal Elovits created this wonderful aggregation website with plenty of quality of life features for the junkies among us. k26polls.co.il/en.html
k26polls.co.il
The data behind the seat projections
Raw support percentages for every list, as filed with the Israeli Central Elections Committee.
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I’m so thrilled and honored to be starting a Postdoc at @stanfordcddrl.bsky.social in the next few weeks! I’ll be mostly working on a book project on international pressure and opposition to backsliding. If you’re in or around Stanford and the Bay Area for the next year, I’d love to meet.
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Question to folks who have done/do archival research. What advice (if any) might you have? I'm doing some archival work for the first time for my book project at the Hoover Institution in a few weeks, and am primarily interested in digitizing documents. All comments/thoughts appreciated!
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
My first ever European conference ✔️! It was a delight to present my dissertation work on foreign pressure in an age of democratic backsliding, to discuss some awesome work on the international dimensions of autocratization, and meet scholars with shared interests from Europe and around the world.
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Great to be at EPSS. Today at 5:10pm I’ll be presenting my work on foreign cues and public support for pro-democracy movements in backsliding contexts and discussing three excellent papers on the international consequences of autocratization across the Global North and South.
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Nice to be back in Europe. I‘m in Dublin and Belfast this week, and I’ll be presenting extensions of my dissertation work on foreign cues and support for pro-democracy movements at EPSS on Friday afternoon. If you’re in town, I’d love to meet!
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
I‘m thrilled to share that my manuscript, “Who Counts? Ethnicity and Support for Democratic Backsliding,” coauthored with Hannah Ridge, is now under advanced contract as a Cambridge Elements in Experimental Political Science and will hopefully be out in April 2027. Immensely grateful.
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Reposted by Ben Yoel
The WhoGov Project @whogov.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
We are happy to release Version 4 of WhoGov, which expands WhoGov to 2025. It now contains data on cabinet members from 1966-2025. The update is supported by UiO:Democracy and can be downloaded through GETGOV's page or through Nuffield College: politicscentre.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/whogov-datas.... 1/2
sv.uio.no
Governing elites since the dawn of modern democracy (GETGOV) - Department of Political Science
Ever since humans settled into communities, there have been political classes. A small elite governs, while the majority are governed. Yet, who are the people in the governing elite? GETGOV will answe...
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
I'm pleased to see our paper introducing the Democratic Erosion Event Dataset (DEED), an events-based dataset on democratic erosion, finally out in Nature Scientific Data. In our data, we distinguish between resistance, precursors, symptoms, and destabilizing events www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
The Democratic Erosion Event Dataset (DEED) - Scientific Data
Scientific Data - The Democratic Erosion Event Dataset (DEED)
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
EPSS paper submitted! I will be presenting the early stage theory & results from my book project on foreign cues and public support for pro-democracy movements in backsliding contexts on Friday the 19th at 5:10pm and discussing several terrific papers. If you will be at EPSS, I would love to meet.
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Final paper from my dissertation sent out for peer review finally!
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Reposted by Ben Yoel
Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Tomorrow at 12pm ET/6pm CET. We will be speaking with activists from Israel's Protest Headquarters about Israel's autocratization as well as lessons learned and what the democracy protests in Israel mean for the country's upcoming critical election (scheduled to be held in October at the latest).
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Tomorrow at 12pm ET/6pm CET. We will be speaking with activists from Israel's Protest Headquarters about Israel's autocratization as well as lessons learned and what the democracy protests in Israel mean for the country's upcoming critical election (scheduled to be held in October at the latest).
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
I'm pleased to share that I'm co-organizing a webinar in partnership with @stanfordcddrl.bsky.social on Israel's judicial reform & the country's upcoming critical election. Webinar is May 26 12pm ET. This is part of a project with @carnegieendowment.org. Link: cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/events/cross...
cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu
Cross-Sectoral Mobilization in Defense of Democracy: Insights from Israel’s
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Remember when JD Vance's visit to Hungary was all over the news a few weeks ago? In a post-election survey I fielded between April 13 and yesterday, I asked Hungarian respondents (n = 1,060) to assess how the visit influenced their vote. It seemed to do little, but if it did anything it *backfired.*
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Reposted by Ben Yoel
Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
I’m very pleased to share that I defended my dissertation, “Standing for Democracy.” I‘m very gratefuk to my amazing committee, Erica Frantz, Michael Wahman, Ana Bracic, and Andy Halterman! I’m also pleased to share that I’ll be starting a postdoc at @stanfordcddrl.bsky.social in September.
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
I’m very pleased to share that I defended my dissertation, “Standing for Democracy.” I‘m very gratefuk to my amazing committee, Erica Frantz, Michael Wahman, Ana Bracic, and Andy Halterman! I’m also pleased to share that I’ll be starting a postdoc at @stanfordcddrl.bsky.social in September.
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Reposted by Ben Yoel
Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Great to be back at MPSA! I’ll be presenting work with @hmridge.bsky.social and Daniel Markovits. Come say hi!
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Great to be back at MPSA! I’ll be presenting work with @hmridge.bsky.social and Daniel Markovits. Come say hi!
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
This is very consistent with what @alelov.bsky.social and I argue in our paper (now under review). As leaders consolidate power in backsliding settings, they no longer "need" to keep women in positions of power and are often very willing to forego women, particularly in high-prestige positions.
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Reposted by Ben Yoel
Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
I will also be presenting work in progress with Daniel Markovits, Abhu Tyagi, and Jeremy Price on public support for opposition coalitions. While elites play a critical role in coalition formation, public support for them is often critical. We highlight the role of prospective threats to democracy.
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
I will also be presenting work in progress with Daniel Markovits, Abhu Tyagi, and Jeremy Price on public support for opposition coalitions. While elites play a critical role in coalition formation, public support for them is often critical. We highlight the role of prospective threats to democracy.
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Reposted by Ben Yoel
Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
MPSA papers submitted! I will be presenting work with @hmridge.bsky.social on the conditional effect of ascriptive identities on tolerance for democratic transgressions next Saturday. We are very grateful to the @prl.bsky.social for including our experiments in their survey in Germany and Israel!
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
MPSA papers submitted! I will be presenting work with @hmridge.bsky.social on the conditional effect of ascriptive identities on tolerance for democratic transgressions next Saturday. We are very grateful to the @prl.bsky.social for including our experiments in their survey in Germany and Israel!
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Reposted by Ben Yoel
Matt Grossmann @mattgrossmann.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Drivers of Congressional Behavior: Analyzing Members, Constituents, and Committees With CongressData doi.org/10.1177/1532... Our new article is now available online.
doi.org
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Thrilled to share that my paper with @mattgrossmann.bsky.social and Caleb Lucas is now out at American Politics Research. In it, we introduce CongressData, a novel repository of 1,300+ variables on the US Congress. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/....
journals.sagepub.com
Drivers of Congressional Behavior: Analyzing Members, Constituents, and Committees With CongressData - Benjamin Yoel, Caleb Lucas, Matt Grossmann, 2026
The US Congress is the world’s most studied legislature, but data on its many facets often remains isolated. This note introduces an updated version of Congress...
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Just sent one of my dissertation papers out for reviews only to get a rejection two minutes later for another one of my dissertation papers that was under review! Happy Wednesday!
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Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 13/04/2026
Peter Magyar confirmed that Szijjarto, Orbán's FM, has barricaded himself with some of his closest colleagues and is shredding documents related to the sanctions on Russia any other evidence of treason.
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Polling stations have now closed in Hungary. I fielded a pre-election survey among Hungarians up until yesterday (1065 respondents). When asked if they had to choose between Tisza and Fidesz to form the next government, 57% selected Tisza, and the rest Fidesz (current government).
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Petra Guasti @petraguasti.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
1/ The starting point: Orbán did not build an illiberal democracy. He built an authoritarian regime: an illiberal kleptocracy with institutional cover.
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Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu · 12/04/2026
Ma este Európa szíve erősebben dobog Magyarországon. Europe’s heart is beating stronger in Hungary tonight.
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theresa gessler @gessler.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Keeping this for the future: Orbán on TV saying that the election results are painful but clear. This feels momentous. #Hungary
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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
It's over. Peter Magyar will be Hungary's new Prime Minister. Viktor Orban has appeared to concede.
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