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Scott Williamson

@scottrw630.bsky.social
2.9K followers 752 following 76 posts

Associate Professor of Politics at Oxford studying authoritarianism, migration, and the Middle East. www.scott-williamson.com

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Reposted by Scott Williamson
Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Four-byline alert: “.. Meta claimed that $4.1 billion of stock options exercised by Mr. Zuckerberg counted as a research expense ..” @nytimes.com $META www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...
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Authoritarian Political Systems Group @apsgworkshop.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The call for papers for our Spring 2027 workshop season is now open! We welcome applications by early-career scholars who study authoritarian political regimes regardless of their methodological approaches. For more information and to apply visit: apsg.work/cfp/
apsg.work
Call for Papers Spring 2027
The Authoritarian Political Systems Group is pleased to announce a Call for Papers. We are accepting submissions for our new season of online workshops taking place from 26 January 2027 to 4 May 20…
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Jonathan Ladd @jonathanmladd.com · 24/09/2026
Yes. I think the consensus among US elite pundits and senior politicians that the way to protect liberal democracy is *not* to punish elite figures who violate its rules is wrong. A norm starting at least with the Watergate pardon. The opposite is true. You need to enforce the law and Constitution.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/09/2026
Sen. Susan Collins helped steer millions in federal defense contracts to Navatek, whose CEO illegally funneled thousands of dollars to her campaign. The FBI sought to launch a probe and was eyeing Collins and other lawmakers. Then Trump gutted the unit in charge. THREAD 🧵
Martin Kao, CEO of defense contractor Navatek, poses next to Sen. Susan Collins for a photo. Collins is holding a model of a boat in her hands. Behind them is a large sign with the Navatek logo.
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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
There's really no good argument against it, especially if Dems take the Senate. A distraction? Futile? As opposed to what, passing bills that you can't get past a veto anyway? Oversight? You get more attention and stronger legal tools with impeachment. Just do the right thing, it's good politics!
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Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
this
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Michelle Goldberg @michellegoldberg.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/o...
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Hakkı Taş @hakkitas.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Come and work with us at @giga-hamburg.de in Hamburg! We are looking for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow focusing on the Middle East and North Africa. It is a 3+3 year position, offering up to six years to develop an independent research profile at GIGA. www.giga-hamburg.de/en/career/po...
giga-hamburg.de
GIGA Hamburg
German Institute for Global and Area Studies
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
All the polling from multiple pollsters, including GOP ones, points to a massive Democratic wave in the Midterms. If it doesn’t happen there will have been shenanigans that should get people out on the streets. Don’t be diverted by people who try to dismiss it as a conspiracy theory.
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David Szakonyi @szakonyi.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
For less than $100, you can move the entire odds of most midterm election markets on Kalshi or Polymarket by $0.05 (or 5%). So if a candidate is at 40%, your small bet by itself could move them to 45% Any bettor can artificially help a campaign look more popular than it actually is
a plot showing how much money it costs to move prediction markets
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🎃Darin S Pumpkins🎃 @darinself.com · 10/09/2026
Its been 10 years of this and its upsetting. Journalists will claim they're being unbiased by just reporting a statement but that requires you to stop yourself from even the most minimal critical thinking. Trump's party controls all of government now * he lies constantly. Come. On.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
What Sam said. Meanwhile, in Denmark, migrants' kids lag 20/30/40 points behind on average -and there are still people here who think *we* should copy *them* on immigration/integration.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 31/08/2026
in john roberts’ constitution, congress does not exist and the power of the purse belongs to the president, who is an elected dictator embodying the authentic Will of the People
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🎃Darin S Pumpkins🎃 @darinself.com · 31/08/2026
The White House belongs to us. All of us. It may not the biggest issue, but it represents the anti-constitutional behavior of these so-called conservatives that control all of the federal government.
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Michael Derby @michaelsderby.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
NYT on the ultra rich dumping cash into the political process: “The leaderboard of the top 20 donors is dominated by the tech industry and ultrawealthy Republicans.”
nytimes.com
Meet the Megadonors Who Have Poured $1.2 Billion Into the Midterms
The leaderboard of the top 20 donors is dominated by the tech industry and ultrawealthy Republicans.
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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The Democratic Party has let a consulting industry exploit elderly donors in its name, wreck its reputation and finances in the process, and walk away rich whether the party wins or loses. When a mirror is held up, the instinct is to break the glass rather than look. On why the press looks away:
data4democracy.substack.com
The Bulwark Killed an Investigation into Political Fundraising Spam After Its Publisher Took the Consultants’ Side
This is a story about the Democratic Party captured by its consultants, and about what happens when the pro-democracy press is asked to say so.
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Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
This is worrisome because “hardball” includes a bunch of the measures necessary to sustain democracy, eg Supreme Court reform and PR/DC statehood. (I dislike the word hardball and the definition, eg what norm exactly does PR statehood violate?)
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 14/08/2026
Two married professors and their son are being held in ICE detention, despite being legal permanent residents and having no criminal records. All, apparently, because their mom/MIL was a translator for the Iranian hostage takers in 1979, before they were even born. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention
My husband, son, and I have been locked up for months—despite being permanent residents with no criminal record. It is an unendurable, unending nightmare.
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JLRay @jlray.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Historically, Trump's numbers are closer to those of presidents who aren't invited to the next nominating convention than to presidents who get to hand pick the next nominee. Act accordingly.
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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
The Supreme Court invited exactly this when it held that the president's attempt to conduct "sham" "investigations" was a core executive power immune from all regulation, including criminal prosecution, in Trump v. United States.
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Rita Moore @ritamoore.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Important corollary: people are LESS likely to support authoritarian leaders if people around them don't. This is where "social proof" comes in. Be vocal and visible to social circles and neighbors about your resistance against authoritarians AND your support of pro-democracy candidates and causes
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
There is simply no ambiguity in what Elon Musk is arguing and endorsing here.
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Paul Alcocer @paul28730.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
This is the latest one that I can't believe doesn't have legs. They listed all the grants by whether the states they were in went for Harris or Trump and whether they had at least one republican Senator. All grants in Harris states w/o a republican Senator were canceled.
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him (Gift Article)
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
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Sharan Grewal @sharangrewal.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
👀 see you in October: The Rise and Fall of Tunisian Democracy, Cambridge University Press Grateful for the endorsements from Professors Melani Cammett and Milan Svolik and Prime Minister Youssef Chahed. Coming soon to a library near you! www.cambridge.org/core/books/r...
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Politics_Oxford @politicsoxford.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
DPIR is proud to launch the MSc in Politics of Global Challenges, a new one-year interdisciplinary master’s course. “A new generation of students who want to think critically, build real skills, and make a difference.” — David Rueda, Interim Head of Department f.mtr.cool/vuwxohznor
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🎃Darin S Pumpkins🎃 @darinself.com · 20/07/2026
Universities can actually do what the tech-venture capitalists can only promise to do
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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.net · 17/07/2026
Trump already tried to do a coup. We should prepare for the worst. I've heard that Democratic officials are already gaming this out, but if they aren't, they should be getting regular presentations from veterans of Color Revolutions and other mass pro-democracy protests.
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
I have a piece in the NYT today arguing that the law should permit victims of ICE abuse to sue not just individual officers, but supervisors and policymakers like Stephen Miller and Gregory Bovino. A Democratic president and Congress could do this in 2029. And they could make it retroactive.
nytimes.com
Opinion | ICE Is Out of Control. Here’s What to Do About It.
Congress must push back against our inhumane immigration tactics.
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Samira Shackle @samirashackle.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
I found this story genuinely shocking to report. The legislation has expanded so much that now the grounds on which citizenship can be stripped are incredibly vague and there is hardly any recourse. Anyone who the government believes MIGHT have a claim on another nationality can be denationalised.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 15/07/2026
NEW: Months after FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty cast a decisive vote approving Paramount’s historic $8 billion merger with Skydance Media, she and a guest accepted Kennedy Center gala tickets from the company worth more than $12,000.
propublica.org
FCC Officials Took Pricey Gifts From Paramount as the Company Needed Approval for Billion-Dollar Deals
Accepting tickets to the Kennedy Center honors gala compromised the commissioners’ impartiality, ethics experts told ProPublica. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has been gifted at least $63,000 worth of ticket...
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Dan Silverman @dmsilverman.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I think it’s time for political scientists, strategists, and junkies of all stripes on this site to start really having a conversation — a grounded, realistic conversation — about what we think Trump will try this fall If you know the likeliest scenarios you can better prepare for them
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
hard but important to watch
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
“Culture of impunity” is right. The demand is to never hold public figures accountable for wrongdoing, not even verbally when they’re already beyond the reach of human accountability and won’t hear the criticisms and jokes. The legacy must be sanitized, or current elites might feel less impunity.
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Carl Henrik Knutsen @chknutsen.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
The Aug. issue of @cpsjournal.bsky.social is out and our article on support coalitions and regime survival is in it: Larger & more diverse coalitions correspond to longer-lived regimes @sirianned.bsky.social @magnusrasmussen.bsky.social @torewig.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
Who Rules? Support Coalitions and Regime Survival, 1789–2020 - Carl Henrik Knutsen, Sirianne Dahlum, Magnus Bergli Rasmussen, Tore Wig, 2026
All political regimes rely on coalitions of supporters to govern and remain in power. We discuss, specify, and test arguments pertaining to how the numerical si...
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Courtney Joslin @courtneygjoslin.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Yale should reject the deal, write Penn Profs Serena Mayeri & Amanda Shanor: "The administration’s tactics place univ. leaders under unenviable stress, but the existential nature of the threat is the reason not to consent ...." www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...
usatoday.com
Trump, Yale deal would be authoritarianism by agreement | Opinion
Trump's government hopes a deal with Yale will push other universities to fold. The university should stand for the Constitution and the law instead.
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
NEWS --> Three men who were in the van with the victim of the ICE shooting in Texas are potential witnesses, but they're now under pressure to self-deport, a rep for the families tells me. They remain in detention even as ICE's story falters. Details in this piece: newrepublic.com/article/2129...
newrepublic.com
Texas ICE Killing Darkens: Rep Says Witnesses Pressured to Self-Deport
There were three others in the van with the man shot by ICE in Houston this week. A represenative for the families tells TNR that the government is pressuring these potential witnesses to self-deport.
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
The dean of Yale Law School and some members of its faculty are trying to stop a settlement between the university and the Trump admin — warning that an agreement could jeopardize Yale's independence, according to two people familiar with the deliberations.
nytimes.com
Yale Law School Fights to Stop Trump Deal
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Diana B. Greenwald @dbgreenwald.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
“In light of ongoing reports of continued severe torture and the latest reports suggesting that his injuries could lead to imminent death, Israel must ensure that Dr. Abu Safiya has access to immediate and adequate medical care.” www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...
ohchr.org
Israel must immediately release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya: UN experts
GENEVA – UN experts* today urged Israel to immediately release Palestinian Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all the health and care workers arbitrarily detained.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Don't want to speak ill of the dead, so getting this Mitch McConnell take out now. He saw Trump with complete clarity, as a danger to America, but protected him anyway. Perhaps more than anyone, he had the power to end Trumpism, but chose party over country. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/jan-6-and-...
And yet…McConnell refused to vote to convict. Seven of his colleagues did, and with McConnell’s leadership, more would have done so, potentially enough to get to the supermajority needed. With conviction, the Senate could have also taken the vote to block Trump from running again. Doing so would have ended Trump as a political power. McConnell was clearly considering this option. In an oral history interview at the time the House was impeaching Trump, McConnell said

But apparently you can impeach somebody after they leave office, and if that happens, there’s a second vote in the Senate, which only has to pass by a simple majority, that prevents that person from seeking office again. So he could not only be impeached, but also eliminated from the possibility of a comeback for this office. So it is significant.

In the end, McConnell protected Trump from punishment. It was not just the refusal to vote to convict. After a swift House impeachment, he pushed to delay the Senate trial. He opposed the Senate joining in a Congressional investigation of Jan 6. He endorsed Trump in 2024, although this matters little except to further diminish McConnell’s dignity, as it was clear by this point that the Republican Party was Trump’s and McConnell’s time of influence was at an end.
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Mai El-Sadany @maitelsadany.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
The fact that we were this close to a Supreme Court ruling that would have allowed the President to amend the constitution by executive order, violating the separation of powers, is a harrowing reminder of the fragility of democracy just days before our 250th birthday.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 30/06/2026
really cannot be emphasized enough that the drafters of the birthright clause very much considered cases analogous to undocumented immigrants and *included them too*
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Dan Nexon @dhnexon.net · 30/06/2026
When this regime falls — at the ballot box or in a failed effort to steal an election — the fact that Trump will have appointed 4 out of 9 justices should settle the question of unpacking the Court. There is no virtue in "respecting norms" when it comes to the legacy of an autocratic fascist.
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Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
5-4 on the plain text of the constitution and the political rights of millions. Shameful.
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The Great Pumpkin Papers 🎃🎃🎃 @professormusgrave.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
To be quite blunt, the Court is undermining the legitimacy of the Constitution itself
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Katalin Halmai @eublogo.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
‼️The CEU is set to become a two-campus university again, HUN media reports. While Vienna will remain its main campus, degree-granting programs are expected to return to Budapest once the necessary approvals are completed. A step toward restoring the university's academic presence in Hungary! 2/1
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Alexander Wuttke @kunkakom.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Are preferences for authoritarian rule individual predispositions—or can they spread socially? Using field + survey experiments in the Norwegian Armed Forces, we show that openness to strongman rule can spread socially. American Journal of Political Science: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
American Journal of Political Science | MPSA Journal | Wiley Online Library
The increasing popularity of strongman rule in democratic societies underscores the need to explore how authoritarian regime preferences might spread socially. We assess the role of social influence ...
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Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 25/06/2026
air conditioning is good and right and a just climate future has zero emissions and also air conditioning and we should build a better world where people don’t die in heat waves
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Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
"An Indiana University instructor who showed a graphic in class that listed the “Make America Great Again” slogan as covert white supremacy has lost her job." www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/u...
nytimes.com
Indiana Professor Who Taught Anti-White Supremacy Lesson Loses Job
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