Reposted by Spencer MckayArndt Leininger @aleininger.bsky.social · 24/08/2026 📢 A new resource for referendum research is now online! We're excited to launch RefSurv – an infrastructure for facilitating comparative research on referendum voting. 🔎📊 Explore it here: referendumsurveys.org 1/referendumsurveys.orgWelcome to RefSurv! - RefSurvThis website presents RefSurv - an infrastructure for facilitating comparative research on voting in referendums. RefSurv is short for referendum surveys and made for scholars who want to research re… 12715
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 12/05/2026I have historical context videos for a bunch of these thinkers that I ask students to watch before they read the work. Happy to share material if you'd like (e.g. you want to pilot the approach before investing the not-insignificant time making them yourself). 110
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 06/11/2025"The victim's last words were 'look at minifig Riker's little trombone!'" 030
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 18/08/2025I just checked and I did 4 reviews as ABD, for a variety of poli sci journals (some better, some worse). Plus a couple reviews for top journals very shortly after I defended. FWIW. But I never did a review for a prof under their name - I agree that would be inappropriate. 120
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 08/07/2025This new report looks great. Lots of alignment with what we found last year in our GenAI and Elections report for @ubcdemocracy.bsky.social . We apparently have terrible SEO for it but it's here for anyone interested: open.library.ubc.ca/media/stream...open.library.ubc.ca 000
Reposted by Spencer MckayAlice el-Wakil @anewq.bsky.social · 10/06/2025CfA: PhD scholarship in political theory @ucph.bsky.social Part of my project "Citizens' Agenda-Setting in Democratic Systems," which will explore how citizens should participate in making political agendas Apply by Aug. 3, 2025 ➡️ employment.ku.dk/all-vacancie... #PolTheory #demoinnoemployment.ku.dkPhD Scholarship at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen (UCPH): Citizens’ Agenda-Setting in Democratic Systems (CASDS) 01516
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 13/05/2025From my vantage point, he looks pretty good in comparison to the couple guys who followed him! Maybe not a ringing endorsement, but, hey, this is politics we're talking about. 330
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 13/05/2025Not obvious Robertson will be terrible in this portfolio (although he might be). From someone who is v. good on Vancouver housing: bsky.app/profile/pwal... 170
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 18/04/2025'Viewpoint diversity' is affirmative action for incompetent and malicious people. 020
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 17/04/2025I suspect the Commission is twice bitten, third time shy. The Commission refused to accredit Rebel in both 2019 and 2021 and both times Rebel got an injunction. The Commission wrote it up a bit here: www.debates-debats.ca/en/report-20... . As for 2025, Justin Ling wrote it up in the Star: 151
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 17/04/2025The Commission refused to accredit them in both 2019 and 2021 and both times Rebel got an injunction. The Commission wrote it up a bit here: www.debates-debats.ca/en/report-20... . As for 2025, Justin Ling wrote it up in the Star: 000
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 17/04/2025"Canada's old relationship with the United States is over, except for the safe 3rd country agreement" - Carney, probably 020
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 17/04/2025All the pundits who already filed their 'French debates should be called the Quebec debates' columns can rest easy now. 000
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 07/04/2025Came to say the same thing. It's a stop sign E-W on 10th. If they mean to say entering the intersection when it's not clear, say that. But the very conception of 'crossing against the signal' doesn't exist here unless you're moving NB or SB on Clark and you don't have a green light. 000
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 16/03/2025Yes, for sure. Some of what I know re: protest and DD has had a different substantive focus (IIRC, advancing racial justice in Anna Drake's work) rather than defending the 'normal structure' pieces. But I was attracted to DD for similar reasons so happy to continue to chat! 010
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 16/03/2025I've never been - I'm potentially interested though. Please send me an email (spencer.mckay at ubc.ca ) and we can discuss! 110
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 16/03/2025Yeah, that sounds right. To put a finer point on it, I think in some sense DD is ill-prepared to fight (too adversarial) for parties, elected legislatures, civil service, news media etc b/c it has pointed out their 'deliberative' faults. But maybe democracy's future does lie somewhere different! 🤷🙏 110
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 16/03/2025(All that being said, it may be unsurprising that I have increasingly focused attention on material that is not so clearly tied to DD and so maybe I've missed something in the last couple years, or forgotten something else important). 210
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 16/03/2025This ended up much longer than expected but I guess what I'm saying is that I think DD remains useful, but the 'normal structure' pieces seem to have been of less interest to deliberative folks and more to those who may be sympathetic to DD but who are thinking about 'democratic systems' 110
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 16/03/2025Moreover, I'm unaware of a really good explanation in the DD lit for what to do with unrepentant, bad faith interlocutors, esp in the current attention economy. When people self-select into mini-publics, you don't really have these problems. So empirical lit on deliberation is positive! 110
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 16/03/2025For instance, undermining of the press is an attack on deliberative ideals of publicity. But I think deliberative democracy in its current form is somewhat ill-placed to address this because I think 'the press' has become a bit of a neglected topic in the field. 120
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 16/03/2025Of course, minipublics =/= "deliberative democracy". Roughly, where I'm at is that DD and deliberative systems are helpful as a kind of normative democratic theory of political communication. It's striking how much of the current crisis is explicitly anti-deliberative: no [good] reasons given! 210
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 16/03/2025I've also increasingly suspected that deliberative minipublics are attractive to a) technocratic/academic types who want to make some kind of feasible contribution in the short-term and b) empirical researchers. I've done some of this work myself - like deliberation, it has its place... 110
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 16/03/2025Mini-publics are great at certain things but I'm still not convinced that they work as a replacement for legislatures without some kind of legitimation through large scale participation via elections or referendums. & I can't recall how or if any of them do a good job of theorizing executive branch 110
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 16/03/2025On #1&3, I think one way of reading the systems turn (to deliberative, but esp. democratic systems) is as an attempt to reassert importance of some of the 'normal structure' of liberal democracy (parties, elections, etc) in face of potential tunnel vision around mini-publics. 110
Reposted by Spencer MckayBrendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 01/03/2025www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/o... 17821202
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 20/02/2025I like the 'You Forgot it in People' replies, but pre-hockey game? Fully Completely by the Hip? 110
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 04/02/2025One of my final exam questions last semester asked students to write a response to Musk and Ramaswamy's WSJ op-ed that took aim at 'unelected bureaucrats'. Many of them landed here too, asking: who elected Elon? 020
Reposted by Spencer MckayDavid Moscrop @davidmoscrop.com · 02/02/2025Canada is a country worth fighting for against anyone who’d roll up and sock us in the kisser, goddamn them. I will still stand up for my country and our right to decide for ourselves how we want to live. www.davidmoscrop.com/p/confession...davidmoscrop.comConfessions of a Reluctant NationalistI'd throw a punch to fight for Canada's sovereignty while reserving and exercising my right to criticize this country. That's a fine form of patriotism. 561398384
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 30/01/2025Great thread, with a bunch of pieces I teach in my 'political theory and public policy' class. Seems particularly relevant right now. 011
Reposted by Spencer MckayDemocratic Innovations APSA @di-apsa.bsky.social · 27/01/2025👋 Hi, we have just migrated here from you know where. Give us a follow for news and events about democratic innovations. We are currently putting together our newsletter, so if you have publications or events you want us to share, put them in the replies. 01610
Reposted by Spencer MckayHenry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 07/01/2025We're getting the social media crisis wrong The bigger problem isn't disinformation. It's degraded democratic publics. On Zuckerberg today and Musk over the last few weeks. www.programmablemutter.com/p/were-getti...programmablemutter.comWe're getting the social media crisis wrongThe bigger problem isn't disinformation. It's degraded democratic publics 51662258
Reposted by Spencer MckayJoanna Massie @joannacm.bsky.social · 19/12/2024Delighted to announce a new (open access) paper the wonderful @meganmattes.bsky.social and me - Failure to Launch: Tracing the Trajectory of Democratic Innovation Adoption in Canada #polsky #demoinno www.cambridge.org/core/journal... (1/?)cambridge.orgFailure to Launch: Tracing the Trajectory of Democratic Innovation Adoption in Canada | Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique | Cambridge CoreFailure to Launch: Tracing the Trajectory of Democratic Innovation Adoption in Canada 192
Reposted by Spencer MckayInessa De Angelis @inessadeangelis.bsky.social · 10/12/2024Excited to share that my article "Torrential Twitter? Measuring the Severity of Harassment When Canadian Female Politicians Tweet About Climate Change" has been published at Social Media + Society! doi.org/10.1177/2056... 3176
Reposted by Spencer MckayNicole Curato @nicolecurato.bsky.social · 10/12/2024🤩 The CfP for the 7th Deliberative Democracy Summer School is out now 🤩 A toast to our colleagues from the University of Zurich for hosting the European version of the summer school. Grants available for students with limited institutional support. www.ipz.uzh.ch/en/study/doc... 12617
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 28/11/2024If there's any truth in advertising, it's easy access to Taco Bell. 010
Reposted by Spencer MckayRikki Dean @rikkidean.bsky.social · 11/11/2024Seems lots of new people joined Bluesky over the weekend, so I'm re-upping this starter pack I created of people working on democratic innovations for a more participatory and deliberative politics. Still room for others to be added, so give me a shout if I missed you. go.bsky.app/LX11yEA #polisky 207845
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 18/11/2024Tempted to mail him a bag of spaghetti and some assorted candy. 000
Spencer Mckay @spencermckay.com · 10/11/2024Thanks for putting this together. Would love to be added, if possible. 010
