iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael Evans @mevanspolisci.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I hope you'll join us on Tuesday, October 6 (4:30 PM ET online) for the next conversation in the Scholars Strategy Network's Defending U.S. Democracy series, featuring Colin Woodard and Jennifer McCoy. See flyer for details. Register: scholars.my.salesforce-sites.com/event/home/d...

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Michael Evans @mevanspolisci.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

It's good to know that there is one additional problem with "the AI industry being run by apocalyptic millenarian cultists" that had not yet made my list.

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Michael Evans @mevanspolisci.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Please help my student, Sayna Kaushik, who is working on an amazing AI-driven app that helps voters get accurate information about the voting process in each of the 50 states. She needs volunteers to spend about 15 minutes trying out two versions of the app for her research. Link is in the comments.

lnkd.in

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

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Dave Troy @davetroy.com · 26/05/2026

Many of you have seen the viral clip wherein Steven Bartlett says that '3 glasses of wine' disabled him for three days, and his Whoop fitness sensor says so. It's an ad. Here's the backstory of a complex influence campaign funded by major tech investors. america2.news/the-anatomy-...

america2.news

The Anatomy of an Influence Operation

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

This is an important thing to understand about the 1-2 step the Supreme Court engaged in to gut the VRA: they first said that partisan gerrymandering was bad, but there was nothing they could do about it in 2019. That paved the way for Callais. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/power-demo...

donmoynihan.substack.com

Power, democracy, and clarity

What does the end of the Voting Rights Act mean?

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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

You can apply lots of normalizing frameworks or you can just make a timeline of his calls with Putin. We don’t have a sovereign foreign policy. We have superpower suicide.

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Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Here they are: our two top Iran negotiators. No diplomatic experience. In way over their head. Both with massive financial conflicts of interest, their fortunes tied to the Middle East dictators that make them rich. What a disaster.

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Jennifer N. Victor @jenvictor.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Highlights from the MPSA "Town Hall" on US democratic collapse, featuring leading scholars in political science. 🧵 (1) Moderator, @nazita.bsky.social , starts off with a plain description of democratic decline in the US with an impressive list of illiberal activity and rapid decline. 1/

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Jennifer N. Victor @jenvictor.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

11/ Lester Spence anchors the program with an impassioned call for political scientists to be the teachers in our communities--give Americans the language they need to describe and observe democratic decline, injustice, and hte integral relationship between racial injustice and democratic governance

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Michael Evans @mevanspolisci.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

I'm excited to announce this webinar on Wednesday April 29th (4:00PM EST) called "Protecting the Midterm Elections in a Time of Democratic Backsliding." You can learn more about the event and register by following this link: scholars.my.salesforce-sites.com/event/home/d...

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Jonathan Ladd @jonathanmladd.com · 14/04/2026

Nope. Nope. Nope. This post is just two false statements.

Strong political parties that bend the rules to entrench their power and succumb to corruption are a consistent feature of democracy qua democracy. And if your entrenched ruling party can lose everything in a wave election, you are not living in an authoritarian state.

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Yes, I'm cautiously optimistic here. The two-thirds majority is basically absolute power in the Hungarian system; if Magyar is capable of maintaining party unity, Tisza has the capability to undo Orbánism and bring back democracy. But it still won't be easy. bsky.app/profile/saur...

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Jennifer McCoy @jennifermccoy.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Magyar's defeat of Orban in Hungary today illustrates perfectly the concept I describe here: repolarize to depolarize. Shifting the line of conflict from L-R or Urban-Rural to Nation vs Oligarchs was a winning move, and lesson for U.S. Repolarize to Depolarize open.substack.com/pub/betterco...

open.substack.com

Repolarize to Depolarize

And other ways forward for America from our talk with polarization scholar Jennifer McCoy - BCB #162

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 13/04/2026

i will vote for any candidate who offers up this slogan

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Lessons that all Americans should contemplate about the road ahead for Hungary and for us

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

A lot of Orbán's American fans are saying that this election proved he was never an authoritarian in the first place. This is completely wrong — and, in fact, betrays a complete misunderstanding of both Hungarian politics and modern authoritarianism. Here's why.

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Zack Beauchamp @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Orbán's best bet for regime survival — for returning to power — wasn't staging a doomed January 6-style putsch in the face of overwhelming defeat. It was retreating, and doing everything he can to preserve regime elements that would allow for a return to competitive authoritarianism in the future.

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Barack Obama @barackobama.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

The victory of the opposition in Hungary yesterday, like the Polish election in 2023, is a victory for democracy, not just in Europe but around the world.

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🎃Darin S Pumpkins🎃 @darinself.com · 13/04/2026

As someone who researches and teaches comparative democracy/authoritarianism you have no idea how happy it makes me to see people like Zack and @jamellebouie.net who have read the polisci

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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

There are good lessons to learn about voting, organizing etc. But I worry people will learn the wrong lesson about concessions. Orban conceded. Trump never will. We cannot get lulled into a false sense of security for 2026. More tomorrow…

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Lina Srivastava @linasrivastava.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Kudos to all the movement organizers and organizations in Hungary who have pushing back against the Orban regime and showing the world a path away from autocracy. The jury is still out on Magyar but this is a huge step forward. Gratitude and congratulations are due.

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Alissa Wilkinson @alissawilkinson.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

This is the paragraph I re-read a few times.

Shortly before polls closed, the electoral authorities said that more than 77 percent of registered voters had cast ballots, the highest turnout in a Hungarian election since the collapse of Communism in 1989 and the start of democracy.

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Brennan Center @brennancenter.org · 12/04/2026

The SAVE Act goes beyond voter ID. It would require a passport or birth certificate to register to vote, which would block millions of American citizens from voting.

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Phil Klinkner @pklinkne.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Really smart point by @jonathanbernstein.bsky.social "Indeed, it’s quite possible that when all is said and done it will turn out that this war will be seen as a case of a hawkish faction rolling Trump, rather than something that Trump did because he wanted to." open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...

open.substack.com

Who Is Responsible? The GOP.

They have several options way short of impeachment if they don't like what's happening.

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Lisel Hintz @liselhintz.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

A potential consequence of populists’ hyper-mediatized approach to politics is they create evidence for their own future indictment. Here’s to hoping.

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Spooky Back From The Dead Lazarus @jlazarus.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

More corrupt than all other administrations in American history combined, and it’s not close.

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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

I’ve been studying civil rights protests for 20 years. With new mobilization against Trump’s agenda, I’m sharing a thread summarizing my research on how nonviolent & violent actions by 1960s activists and police influenced media, elites, public opinion & voters. 1/ www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Article title: Agenda Seeding: How 1960s Black Protests Moved Elites, Public Opinion and Voting

Article Abstract

How do stigmatized minorities advance agendas when confronted with hostile majorities? Elite theories of influence posit marginal groups exert little power. I propose the concept of agenda seeding to describe how activists use methods like disruption to capture the attention of media and overcome political asymmetries. Further, I hypothesize protest tactics influence how news organizations frame demands. Evaluating black-led protests between 1960 and 1972, I find nonviolent activism, particularly when met with state or vigilante repression, drove media coverage, framing, congressional speech, and public opinion on civil rights. Counties proximate to nonviolent protests saw presidential Democratic vote share increase 1.6–2.5%. Protester-initiated violence, by contrast, helped move news agendas, frames, elite discourse, and public concern toward “social control.” In 1968, using rainfall as an instrument, I find violent protests likely caused a 1.5–7.9% shift among whites toward Republicans and tipped the election. Elites may dominate political communication but hold no monopoly.

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Leon Furze @leonfurze.com · 22/03/2026

Resistance as a Framework for Combating Cognitive Offload The post discusses the necessity of resistance in using AI for education, comparing it to physical training. While generative AI can lead to cognitive laziness, integrating resistance can help maintain learning integrity. The author…

leonfurze.com

Resistance as a Framework for Combating Cognitive Offload

The post discusses the necessity of resistance in using AI for education, comparing it to physical training. While generative AI can lead to cognitive laziness, integrating resistance can help maintain learning integrity. The author proposes a framework exploring expertise, evaluation, metacognition, cognitive stretch, and feedback to ensure beneficial AI usage.

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Michael Evans @mevanspolisci.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

V-Dem's 2026 Democracy Report dropped today. Two key headlines: (1) "The USA loses its long-term status as a liberal democracy for the first time in over 50 years." (2) "The speed with which American democracy is currently dismantled is unprecedented in modern history." www.v-dem.net/documents/75...

v-dem.net

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Michael Evans @mevanspolisci.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

The leading alternative to jetting forward with blind ambition is not "introspection" or "being stuck in the past". It is to blend one's ambition with prudence and justice. It is to be -- unlike this pathetic man -- a person of noble ambition...

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Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 02/03/2026

"'If the U.S. ends up withdrawing' from the Iran nuclear deal, I wrote in March 2017, 'it sets the Middle East on a path to two possible futures: (1) A nuclear Iran. (2) War. Both are much worse than the status quo.' Nine years later, America launched a war on Iran."

liberalcurrents.com

International Relations Is Not a Morality Play: What to Expect From the War With Iran

The Trump administration has no plan and no path to a good outcome.

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Michael Evans @mevanspolisci.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

This should be a great talk by Bernie Tamas, a leading scholar on third parties.

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Robert P. Jones @robertpjones.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Sharing this special President’s Day convo with @Kim Wehle on Trump, legal authoritarianism, and the massive erosion of not just law but democratic norms we’ve experienced since we last celebrated this holiday. open.substack.com/pub/robertpj...

open.substack.com

Trump and Legal Authoritarianism: Live President's Day Convo with Kim Wehle

A recording from Redeeming Democracy's live video

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

In Printz v. United States, #SCOTUS held that the Constitution bars the federal government from forcing or otherwise compelling local or state governments to enforce federal law. The liberal squish who wrote the majority opinion in that case? Justice Antonin Scalia: tile.loc.gov/storage-serv...

Screenshot of TruthSocial post by President Trump complaining that Mayor Frey won't enforce federal immigration law, and calling it a "very serious violation of the Law."

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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Within 4 hours of ICE (actually CBP) killing Alex Pretti, the data suggested that the right wing spin machine was having trouble gaining traction, even on their home turf over on X. Here's a Substack I wrote analyzing X data from that time. katestarbird.substack.com/p/another-mu...

katestarbird.substack.com

Another Killing on ICE

The right wing propaganda machine can’t spin the killing of Alex Pretti

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Max Berger @maxberger.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

The people of Minnesota have executed one of the most impressive civil resistance campaigns I can remember: - Organized a city wide general strike - Maintained nonviolent discipline amidst violence - Mobilized 10,000s in subzero temps to protest and watch ICE - Flipped public opinion against ICE

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

On the weakness of state terror: once ppl internalize the regime's lawless brutality, that they are no safer in their homes than in the streets (& vice versa), and that their unwavering defiance is what confounds & disempowers the regime, they also realize they have nothing to lose but their fear.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Oh my God, what an incredibly real and incredibly terrifying story. These grown men were locked inside a restaurant? Wow. It's hard to say where that ranks next to the state-sanctioned murders and the kidnapping of children, but gosh, they were briefly locked inside a restaurant? Heaven forfend.

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Connor Ewing @cmewing.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

"Don't forget to add the bit about people only having rights if they agree with what the government is doing."

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Barry Burden @bcburden.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

This week in the USA: * Trump is first prez not to acknowledge MLK holiday * Revealed Trump made at least $1.4B in 2025 * Speaker of the House endorses impeaching judges * Fed regulators threaten free speech of TV talk shows * US announces departure from WHO w unpaid bill

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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

A five-year-old boy seized on his way home in Minnesota and now locked up in Texas. His family didn't know where he was for 24 hours.

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Last year a whistleblower said DOGE had illegally accessed a Social Security database. SSA now acknowledges it's true—& that DOGE employees had secret agreement w/ unidentified political advocacy group to use SocSec data to help overturn election results. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

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Lisel Hintz @liselhintz.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Trump/US is clearly an extreme example. In terms of 1) psychological factors driving him, 2) degree of personalization of leadership, and 3) US relative power re: coercion. But Trump’s overarching approach to the international arena is one we’ve see from other populists: Erdoğan, Modi, Orban

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Erin S. Pumpkins @erincikanek.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

The way this would be covered if a Democratic president was talking about doing something this unpopular… To start a quote from @mcopelov.bsky.social “Neither our media nor our political system…”

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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

NEW: President Donald Trump’s redistricting arms race is wreaking havoc across the country, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. But in Missouri, the fight has grown into something that threatens to cut democracy to the bone. www.democracydocket.com/analysis/in-...

democracydocket.com

In battling a GOP gerrymander, Missouri voters are fighting for American democracy

Read about the fight for democracy from activists, elected officials, legal experts and others.

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