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Laura Gamboa

@lgamboa.bsky.social
2.1K followers 791 following 96 posts

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

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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
That’s a wrap! Thanks to our colleagues who travel to present and discuss and @apsa.bsky.social for all the work they do to organize the conference. It was a lot of fun! 🤓
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Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · 28/05/2026
#LASA2026 - Don’t miss your chance to read the new Cambridge element, New Forms of Democratic Erosion in Latin America, by @lgamboa.bsky.social & @raschwartz.bsky.social. Free access available until 3rd of June 2026 - cup.org/4uoTtRz
Cover of Cambridge Element 'New Forms of Democratic Erosion in Latin America' by Laura Gamboa and Rachel A. Schwartz
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Check out our Cambridge Elements with @raschwartz.bsky.social available online for free until June 3rd: doi.org/10.1017/9781... In it, we build a new analytical framework to understand new forms of democratic erosion in the region.
doi.org
New Forms of Democratic Erosion in Latin America
Cambridge Core - International Relations and International Organisations - New Forms of Democratic Erosion in Latin America
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Thalia Gerzso @thaliagerzso.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
My policy brief on Judicial Capture is now out, as part of The Authoritarian Ecosystem collection by @wfd.org and PSA Courts are now sites of democratic contestation. They can accelerate backsliding or resist it. Understanding how they are captured matters. www.wfd.org/what-we-do/r...
wfd.org
The authoritarian ecosystem
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Kim Lane Scheppele @kimlanelaw.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
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.
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
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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Latin American Political Institutions Section (LAPIS) @lapislasa.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Felicidades a los ganadores del Premio LAPIS al Mejor Artículo 2025: Verónica Pérez Betancur, Rafael Piñeiro-Rodríguez y Fernando Rosenblatt (@fernandorosenblatt.bsky.social) por su trabajo: “La incorporación política de los sectores populares en América Latina.” #LASA2025
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Es un libro maravilloso!!!
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
I just did a 3 hours security line in Houston. It is terrible. But if the alternative is funding a paramilitary force to violate human rights with impunity, the choice is easy. Dems cannot cave. No more money to ICE www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03...
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Live Updates: House Republicans Reject Senate’s D.H.S. Funding Bill, Extending Shutdown
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Authoritarian Political Systems Group @apsgworkshop.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
New Publication Alert! Why are legislatures in some authoritarian regimes more powerful and influential than in others? In their book, Alejandro Bonvecchi and @emisimison.bsky.social answer this question by analysing past dictatorships in Argentina, Brazil, and Spain www.cambridge.org/9781009676243
Book cover. Includes an image of tanks in front of the Brazilian Congress and the title: Lawmaking under Authoritarianism. Factions, Institutions, and Outcomes Across Dictatorships
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Kat O’Brien @lavidagata.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
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
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Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
🚨 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
abc4.com
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Fabio Angiolillo @fabioangiolillo.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
🚨 Deadline is tomorrow! 🚨 Submit your abstract for the 4th APSG Conference in London 15-16 June here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
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Thomas M. Keck @tmksyracuse.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
The people of Minnesota are heroes. And the behind the scenes networks of immigrant advocacy organizations, churches, etc. are doing G-d’s work
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James North @jamesnorth7.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
As #Venezuela skids deeper into a "food emergency," Trump's de facto new alliance with the repressive, corrupt regime there makes the crisis even more deadly. My article @newrepublic.com. @deanbaker13.bsky.social @dceiver.bsky.social newrepublic.com/article/2056...
newrepublic.com
Is Trump Going to Let Venezuela Starve?
The country is rapidly tipping into a dire food emergency caused in part by the U.S. blockade.
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
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.
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Antulio Rosales @antuliorosales.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
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... 🧵
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Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame @kellogginstitute.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
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!
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Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame @kellogginstitute.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
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: bit.ly/4sy6Dv3
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Latin American Political Institutions Section (LAPIS) @lapislasa.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
📢LAPIS abre nominaciones 2025: 🔹 Best Paper Award (deadline: 23 enero) Más info: sections.lasaweb.org/sections/pol...
sections.lasaweb.org
Political Institutions | Welcome
A section of the Latin American Studies Association
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Latin American Political Institutions Section (LAPIS) @lapislasa.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
📢 Call for Nominations – LAPIS (2025) Now open: 🏆 Best Paper Award (deadline Jan 23). 🔗 More info: sections.lasaweb.org/sections/pol...
sections.lasaweb.org
Political Institutions | Call for Nominations LAPIS Best Paper Award 2025
A section of the Latin American Studies Association
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Latin American Political Institutions Section (LAPIS) @lapislasa.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
📢 LAPIS abre nominaciones 2025: 🔹 Donna Lee Van Cott Book Award (deadline: 16 enero) 🔹Más info: sections.lasaweb.org/sections/pol...
sections.lasaweb.org
Political Institutions | Welcome
A section of the Latin American Studies Association
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Latin American Political Institutions Section (LAPIS) @lapislasa.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
📢 Call for Nominations – LAPIS (2025) Now open: 🏆 Donna Lee Van Cott Book Award (deadline Jan 16) 🔗 More info: sections.lasaweb.org/sections/pol...
sections.lasaweb.org
Political Institutions | Call for Nominations Donna Lee Van Cott Book Award 2025
A section of the Latin American Studies Association
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Kim Lane Scheppele @kimlanelaw.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
Autocratic capture comes to cities in Texas if this law passes.
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Kim Lane Scheppele @kimlanelaw.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
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.
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
Resistance to democratic backsliding is in many ways a fight to buy time. Not caving is key in that regard. It allows a very slow legal battle to play out.
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Kim Lane Scheppele @kimlanelaw.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
Compare Harvard's resistance aided by law with Northwestern's negotiations and eventual cave-in: www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
insidehighered.com
Majority of Harvard’s Research Funding Has Been Restored
As of Tuesday, Harvard University had recouped most of the federal research funding it lost when the Trump administration froze its access to grants earlier this year, multiple local news organization...
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
As a newly minted Michigander I am proud to be represented by @slotkin.senate.gov. Thanks for speaking up Senator!
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Danielle Terrazas Williams @drdanielletw.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Postdoc Opportunity! Purdue University The Center for American Political History, Media, and Technology (CAPT) seeks a Postdoctoral Research Fellow specializing in research at the intersection of media, politics, and technology in modern America. networks.h-net.org/jobs/69524/p...
networks.h-net.org
Purdue University - Postdoctoral Research Fellow | H-Net
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Latinoamérica21 @latinoamerica21.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
11) Erosión democrática en Estados Unidos: una alerta roja para la región / Por @lgamboa.bsky.social latinoamerica21.com/es/
latinoamerica21.com
Latinoamerica21 | Una región, todas las voces | Inicio - Latinoamérica 21
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Reflexiones sobre la erosión democrática en EEUU y su impacto en América Latina
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
This is the kind of campaign unleashed against the few Republicans opposing redistricting in Indiana…How can non-Republicans counteract that kind of pressure?
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Jonas Draege @draege.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
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 🧵
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
People think the closest example to what is happening in the US is Hungary. I think is Guatemala (2017-2023) where the Corrupt Pact co-opted state institutions and undermined state capacity to enhance impunity and corruption
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
You know who else refused to swear in democratically elected members of congress? Nicolas Maduro (2015) Just saying…
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
In case you missed it! Here is last week’s Charlemos where the awesome @jolechartre.bsky.social discusses her amazing research
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Joséphine Lechartre @jolechartre.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
It's today!
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
I won't get tired to repeat it. Due process not only protects minorities and marginalized communities, it protects US ALL.
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Adam Isacson @adamisacson.com · 25/10/2025
- What is the current "boat strike" death toll? (43) - How much of cocaine supplies (est) actually transit Venezuela? (10-13%) - How much US-bound fentanyl comes from South America? (none) We all need credibly sourced information right now. And here is a new @wola-org.bsky.social fact sheet:
wola.org
Facts to Inform the Debate about the U.S. Government’s Anti-Drug Offensive in the Americas - WOLA
Fact sheet: U.S. military anti-drug strikes have killed at least 43 civilians in the Caribbean. Examines the operations' legal basis, justifications, and effectiveness.
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Join us for this fantastic Charlemos featuring the great @jolechartre.bsky.social who will be discussing her award winning research! Time: Monday 27, 2025: 3-3:30 pm ET (Online) You can register here: forms.monday.com/forms/e0aefb...
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Pat Bagley @bagleycartoons.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Just a reminder that Republicans own this shutdown
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Those comparing this government with Orban’s give it to much credit. This administration is nothing more than an obscene corruption and impunity racket, like the Corrupt Pact in Guatemala or Dina Boluarte and her allies in congress in Peru www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Said to Demand Justice Dept. Pay Him $230 Million for Past Cases
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Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 19/10/2025
This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings
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Karen Graubart @kbgraubart.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
Organizers estimate 5000-6000 people in South Bend, IN (pop about 100,000), with massive and loud support from most of the cars on a big football weekend. #NOKINGS2
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
This is how democracy looks like #NoKings in South Bend IN
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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Brown rejected the compact! www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...
brown.edu
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Laura Gamboa @lgamboa.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
More extra-judicial killings. So far these attacks have costed 27 lives. Trump alone decided they were guilty and deserved to die. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/u...
nytimes.com
U.S. Military Kills Another 6 People in 5th Caribbean Strike, Trump Says
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Benjamin Garcia-Holgado @bgarciaholgado.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
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