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Ben Yoel

@benyoel.bsky.social

1.6K followers 1.1K following 300 posts

PhD candidate in Political Science at MSU | Predoctoral Fellow @ SNF Agora | IPPSR Fellow | resistance to democratic erosion, nonviolence, MENA | Past: UChicago Visiting PhD student, Reichman University alum, EA @ Journal of Politics | benjaminyoel.com

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Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · Aug 15

Now that it's up online, I guess it's official: I'm on the job market! I study democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, and nonviolent resistance. My dissertation focuses on the nexus of domestic and international factors in shaping opposition to democratic erosion: polisci.msu.edu/graduate/hir...

Benjamin Yoel | Department of Political Science | Michigan State University

polisci.msu.edu

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 16h

Looks super cool, Marc! I’m actually working on a similar question right now. Looking forward to reading and citing!

Reposted by Ben Yoel

Marc Jacob @marcjacob.bsky.social · 16h

Party leaders often face a tough choice: should they join forces with other parties in pre-electoral coalitions or run alone? The stakes are even higher when opposition parties try to unseat an authoritarian incumbent.

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 1d

And yes, pro-democracy coalition formation is often so difficult, especially because these movements face strategic tradeoffs about who to include and why. More on this point in one of my dissertation papers where I ran a conjoint experiment to study this: benjaminyoel.com/research

Research — Benjamin Yoel

benjaminyoel.com

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 1d

Couldn't have said this better myself. Thomas's threads are always on point.

Thomas Zeitzoff @zeitzoff.bsky.social · 1d

Coordination is hard. Broad-based, pro-democracy coalitions are really hard.

Yet, I’ve still been deeply disappointed by civil society—especially CEOs who’ve stayed silent even as their core business are threatened.

But I’ve also been encouraged by the boldness of some local and state leaders.

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 1d

Perhaps unsurprisingly, my item is strongly correlated with other items in the survey, such as the extent to which people vote based on cultural vs economic issues and their likelihood of protesting against anti-democratic incumbents. Thanks again to @verasight.bsky.social!

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks to @verasight.bsky.social, I was able to include a question at APSA. Given my line of work, I asked respondents (N=1,000, in the US) to weigh the extent to which they believed it was worth allying with groups you strongly disagree with to defend democracy (a common dilemma oppositions face).

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you for sharing.

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 3d

Good piece, but it misses some important context about attempts to polarize the opposition, which then leads pro-democracy movements to grapple with a strategic tradeoff (something I try to address in my dissertation).

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 5d

It's been an exciting month working as a predoctoral fellow at JHU's @snfagora.bsky.social with Consuelo Amat! Nice to see my bio up on the SNF website: snfagora.jhu.edu/directory/be...

Meet the dedicated team behind the SNF Agora Institute, including our esteemed faculty, innovative fellows, and passionate staff. Learn more.

snfagora.jhu.edu

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 8d

Amen

Reposted by Ben Yoel

Donghyun Danny Choi @dhdannychoi.bsky.social · 10d

So happy to see this out! We caution against excessive optimism that the opposition will restore countries back to their democratic trajectories after electoral victory. Weakened institutions and the memory of repression makes it tempting to continue rather than buck the trend of autocratization.

Journal of Democracy @jodemocracy.bsky.social · 10d

Conventional wisdom says that, once in power, opposition parties will return backsliding countries to the democratic path. In reality, not only is this not true, but it is not uncommon for the opposition to adopt the autocratic habits of the regime they replaced.

muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...
1/2

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 10d

Congrats, Danny! Was great chatting about this at APSA.

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 10d

Awesome, thank you Alex!

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 10d

And @liampert.bsky.social,might be of interest!

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 10d

Congrats, excellent work! Flagging for @mattgrossmann.bsky.social and I for a new repo that we're building on the Senate and would like to include this.

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 19d

Shana Tova U Metuka to everyone else celebrating!!

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 23d

Paper submitted for review!!

Reposted by Ben Yoel

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · Aug 15

Now that it's up online, I guess it's official: I'm on the job market! I study democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, and nonviolent resistance. My dissertation focuses on the nexus of domestic and international factors in shaping opposition to democratic erosion: polisci.msu.edu/graduate/hir...

Benjamin Yoel | Department of Political Science | Michigan State University

polisci.msu.edu

Reposted by Ben Yoel

Thomas Zeitzoff @zeitzoff.bsky.social · 27d

Thanks to the folks at APSA for organizing a great conference, and Vancouver for being a great host city!

cc @janzilinsky.bsky.social

Picture of the Vancouver waterfront

Award from the ITP section for my paper with Jan Zilinsky

View from Cypress Mountain

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · 27d

First in person APSA ✔️! I had the pleasure of presenting my job market research on opposition to democratic backsliding, meeting old and new friends from around the world, and exploring Vancouver.

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · Sep 11

Had the pleasure of presenting my dissertation work on international pressure and opposition to democratic backsliding this morning at APSA in Vancouver. Grateful to attendees, @lgamboa.bsky.social and @orcunselcuk.bsky.social for discussant comments, and an excellent discussion on backsliding!

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · Sep 10

APSA and Vancouver bound! I’m thrilled to have organized the panel, “democratic backsliding and opposition resistance,” taking place tomorrow at 8am PT. I’ll be presenting findings from my dissertation on international pressure and opposition to democratic erosion along with some great scholars.

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · Sep 7

I’m pleased to share that my review of @alexislerner.bsky.social’s new book is out @iajournal.bsky.social. It’s an excellent book that draws attentions to street art as a tool oppositions can use in dictatorships but also how dictators can co-opt such strategies. academic.oup.com/ia/article-a...

Post-Soviet graffiti: free speech in authoritarian states

In recent decades, authoritarianism has resurged globally. Yet, scholars still lack a strong sense of the full repertoire of means that opposition actors c

academic.oup.com

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · Sep 4

This speaks to my broader interest in the intersection of domestic and international factors in shaping democracy. My other dissertation papers assess the role of the composition of protest movements (under review) and the micro-level effects of foreign messaging. Say hi if you're attending APSA!

Ben Yoel @benyoel.bsky.social · Sep 4

APSA paper submitted! I'm excited to share that I'll be presenting one of my dissertation papers, in which I examine the effect of international rhetoric on opposition movement behavior in backsliding democracies, using an original dataset of US Secretary of State speeches. I'm also on the market!