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Svend-Erik Skaaning

@skaaning.bsky.social
1.5K followers 383 following 43 posts

Professor of political science, Aarhus University Democratization, autocratization, state capacity, cross-national comparisons, social science history

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Reposted by Svend-Erik Skaaning
Jan P. Vogler @janvogler.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I would like to invite you to VWHPE’s inaugural session of the 2026–2027 academic year on Sep. 17, 2026 (12:30 PM ET). The session will feature a presentation by @alexandermlee.bsky.social and @jackpaine.bsky.social on “Colonial Origins of Democracy and Dictatorship.” Sign-up link right below. 👇
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Kristian Frederiksen @kristianvsf.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
New public pre-print with @aarslew.bsky.social and Martin Bisgaard 🧵 We introduce a perspective on democratic erosion that focuses on quiet anticipation among political elites: what do they think happens to those who cross a strongman that challenges democracy? www.researchgate.net/publication/...
researchgate.net
(PDF) The Imagined Strongman: How Elites Anticipate the Cost of Opposing Trump
PDF | What happens to politicians who speak up against a strongman that challenges democracy? Political scientists typically answer this question using... | Find, read and cite all the research you ne...
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Svend-Erik Skaaning @skaaning.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Come join us in Aarhus at one of Europe’s largest and highest ranking departments of political science. Positions as assistant and associate professors are vacant. Assistant Professor: international.au.dk/about/profil... Associate Professor: international.au.dk/about/profil...
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Svend-Erik Skaaning @skaaning.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
The Myth of Authoritarian Efficiency. Article published with Jørgen Møller in Persuasion. www.persuasion.community/p/the-myth-o...
persuasion.community
The Myth of Authoritarian Efficiency
When it comes to getting stuff done, democracies win every time.
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Søren Torbjørn Svendsen @sorentsvendsen.eurosky.social · 13/06/2026
Meget læseværdig 👇 Historien kan være et anker for at spejle os i. Og bruges tit "historiy doesn't but rhymes" etc. Her om hvordan vi i dag alligevel står anderledes end i mellemkrigstiden, hvor den generelle frygt i den sammenligning er et demokratisk kollaps og potentielt verdenskrig.
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Svend-Erik Skaaning @skaaning.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Article published in Persuasion: No, We’re Not Reliving the 1930s. History shows us that there’s reason for hope. www.persuasion.community/p/no-were-no...
persuasion.community
No, We’re Not Reliving the 1930s
History shows us that there’s reason for hope.
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Political Studies @polstudies.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
IN NEW ISSUE: How do different forms of state capacity protect democracy? D Andersen, @chknutsen.bsky.social & @skaaning.bsky.social argue coercive & administrative capacity affect stability in distinct ways depending on threat: buff.ly/XP4pinB @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social #polsci #polsky
buff.ly
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Svend-Erik Skaaning @skaaning.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
New book on democracy. #OpenAccess Seven Myths about Democracy by Jørgen Møller & Svend-Erik Skaaning, Routledge taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mon.... Challenges (full or partial) misunderstandings about the meaning, trajectory, causes, and consequences of democracy.
taylorfrancis.com
Seven Myths about Democracy | Jørgen Møller, Svend-Erik Skaaning | Tay
This timely book challenges seven widespread misconceptions about democracy that continue to shape public and academic debates about its past, present, and
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Xavier Marquez @marquezxavier.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
New version of my R package {democracyData} available: github.com/xmarquez/dem...
github.com
GitHub - xmarquez/democracyData: Access and manipulate most standard scholarly measures of democracy
Access and manipulate most standard scholarly measures of democracy - xmarquez/democracyData
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Svend-Erik Skaaning @skaaning.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Three 2-year full-time postdoctoral positions in autocratic politics at the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University (in connection to projects headed by Jakob Tolstrup and Alexander Baturo). Flexible start date. Application deadline: June 1, 2026. international.au.dk/about/profil...
international.au.dk
Three 2-year Postdoctoral positions at Aarhus University: Projects on personality cults and strategic communication in autocracies - Vacancy at Aarhus University
Vacancy at Department of Political Science, Aarhus University
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STOA @epstoa.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
At #STOA’s High-Level Conference on #EP4AcademicFreedom on 4/3, policymakers, researchers et al. discussed measures to safeguard scientific independence & #democracy With @president.europarl.europa.eu, Commissioner Zaharieva, MEP Ehler & Prof @skaaning.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zr2...
youtube.com
Academic Freedom in Europe: safeguarding democracy, science and innovation
YouTube video by MySTOA
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Kyle Marquardt @kailmarkvart.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
A 🧵on how the @vdeminstitute.bsky.social accountability indices help us understand how democratic backsliding is occurring in the United States. tl;dr: in principle, vertical constraints on the president remain strong; in practice, horizontal and diagonal constraints have been greatly weakened.
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Kyle Marquardt @kailmarkvart.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
This post raises a several important questions about the @vdeminstitute.bsky.social indices that I'll try to discuss broadly, then specifically in the case of Mongolia. Important caveat: I am not a Mongolia expert, so can't speak substantively about the case; I can discuss the V-Dem methodology.
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V-Dem Institute @vdeminstitute.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
📢 Out Now! V-Dem Dataset v16 & the V-Dem Institute Democracy Report 2026 💾 The V-Dem Dataset: v-dem.net/data/the-v-d... 📰 The Report "Unraveling The Democratic Era?”: v-dem.net/publications... 📈 Explore the new data with the V-Dem Graphing tools: v-dem.net/graphing/gra... #PoliSky #PoliSciSky 1/3
Two map graphs show the state of liberal democracy according to the V-Dem Liberal Democracy index for 2025 and 2024. The higher the score (or darker blue), the more democratic the country. Lower scores (or dark red) mean less democratic. While North and South America, Western Europe and Oceania are mostly in the blue, most parts of Asia and Africa are in the red in 2025. 
In comparison to the map for 2024, the map graph for 2025 shows democratic backsliding in some traditionally stable democracies in Western Europe and North America, in particular the USA, United Kingdom and Italy.
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Carl Henrik Knutsen @chknutsen.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
The V-Dem Steering Committee's release statement for v.16 of the dataset (link in the post below):
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STOA @epstoa.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
In the run-up to Wednesday's high-level #EP4AcademicFreedom conference: 👉Interview with academic keynote speaker Prof @skaaning.bsky.social of @aarhusuniint.bsky.social on #Democracy & #AcademicFreedom: wp.me/panTdn-4vZ #ESMH @ep-eprs.bsky.social @linagalvez.eu @eua.eu @guildeu.bsky.social
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Political Studies @polstudies.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
How do different forms of state capacity protect democracy? D Andersen, @chknutsen.bsky.social & @skaaning.bsky.social argue coercive & administrative capacity affect stability in distinct ways depending on threat: buff.ly/6lpO8S3 @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social @uoypolitics.bsky.social @sagepub.com
buff.ly
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Anja Neundorf @anjaneundorf.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Joint work with the brilliant @kristianvsf.bsky.social @sirianned.bsky.social @aykutozturk.bsky.social Open access article here 👇 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Elections Without Constraints? The Appeal of Electoral Autocracy Across the World | British Journal of Political Science | Cambridge Core
Elections Without Constraints? The Appeal of Electoral Autocracy Across the World - Volume 56
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Kristian Frederiksen @kristianvsf.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Our 32-country conjoint study on which societal characteristics citizens prioritize is now published at @bjpols.bsky.social w. excellent @anjaneundorf.bsky.social @sirianned.bsky.social @aykutozturk.bsky.social
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Jan P. Vogler @janvogler.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
🚨 3-Year Postdoc in Political Science at Aarhus University 🚨 I’m seeking to recruit a postdoc for my @erc.europa.eu research project 𝑬𝑸𝑼𝑰𝑳𝑰𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑼𝑴 on state-citizen interactions. Link and more information in second post. Position Start: Fall 2026 Application Deadline: ‼️ February 5, 2026, 23:59 CET ‼️
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Svend-Erik Skaaning @skaaning.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Does ethnopolitical exclusion cause civil war onset via grievances? In a new article, @lleipziger.bsky.social, Lasse Lykke Rørbæk, and I reassess this relationship based on 15 case studies. Six of the cases followed the grievance/mobilization/rejection pathway proposed by the general theory.
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Marc Sabatier Hvidkjær @marchvidkjaer.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
so well put
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Jacob Edenhofer @jacobedenhofer.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Fascinating paper by @grattonecon.bsky.social, @bartonelee2.bsky.social, and Hasin Yousaf! The paper addresses a fundamental question: Why do some democracies chronically avoid ambitious, long-term reforms even when they have decent institutions? They argue that what matters is not only
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Svend-Erik Skaaning @skaaning.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Happy to announce that I, together with @kristianvsf.bsky.social, have received DKK 3,167,689 from Independent Research Fund Denmark to pursue the project Democratic Tradeoff Perceptions (DEMTRAP). We will explore citizen perceptions of possible tradeoffs between democracy and effective governance.
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Svend-Erik Skaaning @skaaning.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
New article out on the relationship between different dimensions of state capacity and modes of democratic breakdown.
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Xavier Marquez @marquezxavier.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
New version (0.6.0) of my #rstats package {democracyData} xmarquez.github.io/democracyData/ with @freedomhouse.bsky.social data to 2024, as well as several other sources, plus minor improvements all around
xmarquez.github.io
Access and Manipulate Most Available Democracy Datasets
Archives a large number of democracy datasets, many of historical interest. It also provides a number of functions to download these datasets (where available) and determine membership of a country in...
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Lotem Halevy @lotemhalevy.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
And another great potential read for graduate students on the measurement of "waves" of democratization and autocratization by @skaaning.bsky.social especially helpful for students thinking about periodization (including thinking about the contemporary "moment"). doi.org/10.1080/1351...
doi.org
Waves of autocratization and democratization: a critical note on conceptualization and measurement
Huntington famously distinguished between waves of democratization and de-democratization. Based on an alternative conceptualization of waves of regime change and novel data on episodes of democrat...
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Jan P. Vogler @janvogler.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
🚨 Are you interested in Historical Political Economy? 🚨 At the Virtual Workshop in HPE (VWHPE)—organized jointly with @dkofanov.bsky.social & @tinepaulsen.bsky.social—we discuss state-of-the-art research on a regular basis. ‼️ We have just issued a new call for papers. ‼️ Link & info in post #2.
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Political Studies @polstudies.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
How do different forms of state capacity protect democracy? Andersen, @chknutsen.bsky.social & @skaaning.bsky.social argue coercive & administrative capacity affect stability in distinct ways depending on the threat: buff.ly/Q4HDylB @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social @uoypolitics.bsky.social @sagepub.com
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Political Studies @polstudies.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
How do different forms of state capacity protect democracy? D Andersen, @chknutsen.bsky.social & @skaaning.bsky.social argue coercive & administrative capacity affect stability in distinct ways depending on threat: buff.ly/Q4HDylB @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social @uoypolitics.bsky.social @sagepub.com
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Svend-Erik Skaaning @skaaning.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Happy to have been part this new publication on the relationship between different dimensions of state capacity and modes of democratic breakdown!
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Svend-Erik Skaaning @skaaning.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Min bog - Dansk demokrati i perspektiv - skrevet med David Andersen og udarbejdet i forbindelse med Magtudredningen 2.0 er netop udgivet! Gratis E-bog og gratis lydbog er tilgængelige her: unipress.dk/udgiv.../d/d...
unipress.dk
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Roman Senninger @rsenninger.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
📣 Jobs, jobs, jobs! Aarhus University’s Department of Political Science is hiring: 🔹 Assistant Professor 🗓 Deadline: 25 August 🔗 international.au.dk/about/profil... 🔹 Associate Professor 🗓 Deadline: 8 September 🔗 international.au.dk/about/profil...
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Jan P. Vogler @janvogler.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
After 10 years of doing research in Historical Political Economy, this fall I’ll finally get a chance to teach a survey course on the field & I’m really looking forward to it! 😊 I thought this would be an opportunity to create a syllabus with many essential contributions to this growing field.
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Lisa Janssen @lisajanssen.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
What a pleasure to direct this amazing @ecpr.bsky.social Joint sessions workshop on citizens democratic commitment with Hannah Werner - thanks to all participants for the exciting papers and stimulating discussions!
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Kristian Frederiksen @kristianvsf.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
🛎️New WP with @morganlcj.bsky.social @timallinger.bsky.social and @danbischof.bsky.social Against the surge of conjoints and other hypothetical experiments in relation to democratic backsliding, we study the consequences of using hypotheticals versus real-world scenarios. osf.io/preprints/os...
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Danbischof @danbischof.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
🚨 working paper (w. @morganlcj.bsky.social @markuswagner.bsky.social): Protesters are not judged equally - even if tactics of groups are similar. We ran an experiment in 🇩🇪 testing how people react to farmers vs. climate activists blocking roads. What we find is disturbing: osf.io/preprints/os...
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Svend-Erik Skaaning @skaaning.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
My paper, A Global, Historical Rule of Law Index, offering a description and evaluation of the V-Dem Rule of Law Index, has now been published: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
A global, historical rule of law index - Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft
This article introduces the V-Dem Rule of Law Index, capturing formal-procedural aspects of de facto adherence to rule of law principles. It relies on information from fifteen V-Dem indicators based o...
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Alexander Wuttke @kunkakom.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
🚨 We're hiring! Join us at @LMU_Muenchen for the DFG-funded project "Democratic Persuasion: How to Make the Case for Democracy." Interested in making scholarly & societal impact? We’re looking for: 🔹 1 Postdoc (100%) 🔹 1 PhD researcher (70%) Starting: Oct 2025 | Apply by: July 8 More info ⬇️ (1/7)
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Svend-Erik Skaaning @skaaning.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Interested in debates about how to measure democracy and/or the use of observable and judgmental indicators? Then check out this piece.
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Jonas W. Schmid @jonaswschmid.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
Ever felt uneasy about how concepts & measures of "grey zone" autocracies are used interchangeably across the literature? Then check out my 🚨new paper🚨 in @democratization.bsky.social and get some substance to back up your gut feeling: tinyurl.com/ypdm2kna Or at least read the main points below ⬇️
tinyurl.com
Electoral autocracies, hybrid regimes, and multiparty autocracies: same, same but different?
There is a wide range of labels, such as electoral autocracy, hybrid regimes, or multiparty autocracy, and corresponding empirical measures to describe and measure political regimes that combine au...
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Svend-Erik Skaaning @skaaning.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Who supports free speech, and how consistent is the support? Together with @suthank.bsky.social, I’ve conducted a survey of citizens in 33 countries for The Future of Free Speech. A lot of interesting findings (see 🧵 + link): futurefreespeech.org/wp-content/u...
futurefreespeech.org
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V-Dem Institute @vdeminstitute.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
📢 Out Now! V-Dem Dataset v15 and the V-dem Institute Democracy Report 2025 The Dataset: v-dem.net/data/the-v-d... DR25: "25 Years of Autocratization - Democracy Trumped?": v-dem.net/publications... #DR25 #DemocracyReport2025 #VDemDatasetV15 #polisky #PoliticalScienceData #PoliSciSky 🧵1(3)
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V-Dem Institute @vdeminstitute.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
📢Applications Open for New Director of the V-Dem Institute V-Dem Institute and the Dept. of Political Science, University of Gothenburg is looking for a Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Political Science & Director of the V-Dem Institute. To application: shorturl.at/9rvmx 📆 March 27, 2025.
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Michael Albertus @mikealbertus.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
This week's post is on America's New Gilded Age. Inequality in the US is the highest it's been in a century. Why does that matter and what can be done about it? 🧵 1/N
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Carl Henrik Knutsen @chknutsen.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Deadline Feb 3. Open position and research and teaching excellence are main criteria (regardless of research background/topic/methods). But for equally well qualified candidates, it is an advantage if you can teach in one of the areas where the department currently has teaching needs: (1/2)
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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
🚨New Bright Line Watch report showing restored public confidence in elections driven by an upsurge among Rs. Experts perceive numerous threats to democracy in a second Trump term, whose probability we estimate correcting for bias toward pessimism. Report brightlinewatch.org/america-look... 🧵
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Tore Wig @torewig.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
We are hiring at the PolSci department at @unioslo-svfak.bsky.social. Tenure, open to all subfields, can apply for professor promotion immediately (on merits). Top international department, green and buzzing capital city of Oslo, high quality of life, great for families! www.finn.no/job/fulltime...
finn.no
2-4 Associate Professors in Political Science | FINN.no
AboutThe University of Oslo is Norway's oldest and highest ranked educational and research institution with 28 000 students and 7000 employees in abroad range
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Svend-Erik Skaaning @skaaning.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Attractive postdoc positions with a great researcher heading a cool project on democratic commitments
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