Lise Rakner

@liserakner.bsky.social

940 followers 300 following 13 posts

Political Scientist. Democracy, autocratization, Human Rights, African politics.Recent research projects: Rights Activism Under Political Uncertainty. Program Director Politics and Governance of Global Challenges, Master's, 2 years | University of Bergen .. more

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Political science 42%

Sociology 28%

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Lise Rakner @liserakner.bsky.social · Nov 26

This is a note of hope- Norwegian students realize that EU membership makes sense for a liberal democracy with an open economy sharing a border with Russia... go figure- smart kids! www.khrono.no/studenter-me...

Studenter mer EU-vennlige enn resten av befolkninga

Det er svært jevnt løp mellom nei og ja til EU blant studentene, viser ny meningsmåling. — Vi har behov for å være del av et større fellesskap enn vi er i dag, sier student og ja-mann Petter Hov Jacob...

www.khrono.no

Lise Rakner @liserakner.bsky.social · 1d

Chilling- indeed.

Reposted by Lise Rakner

ProPublica @propublica.org · 1d

NEW: Civilians have had apparent seizures. One had his eyes roll back. Another had ribs broken.

“I felt like I was going to pass out and die,” said a 16-year-old citizen put in a chokehold.

The government won’t say if any agents have been punished.

We Found More Than 40 Cases of Immigration Agents Using Banned Chokeholds and Other Moves That Can Cut Off Breathing

Civilians have had apparent seizures. One had his eyes roll back. Another had ribs broken. “I felt like I was going to pass out and die,” said a 16-year-old citizen put in a chokehold. The government ...

www.propublica.org

Reposted by Stephan Lewandowsky, Lise Rakner

Kat O’Brien @lavidagata.bsky.social · 1d

Chilling.
“For MAGA America, ICE is an instrument for cleansing violence.” And “Failure to heed the MAGA campaign to redistribute respect is insolence punishable by death.”

For MAGA America, ICE is an instrument for cleansing violence. Visit ICE social-media accounts and you'll see, again and again, videos of armed force against unarmed individuals, against a soundtrack of pumping music. There's a montage of aggressive arrests in Minnesota of unarmed, nonwhite men, many of them thrown to the ground and cuffed, set to the 1977 hit
"Cold as Ice": "Someday you'll pay the price." A dozen heavily armed and armored agents round up a single unarmed woman in a T-shirt and two similarly defenseless men in California. In Indiana, armored agents throw handcuffs and ankle chains on a big haul of men and shove them in a cell, where they can be seen pacing, weeping, or with their heads plunged in their hands.
Rarely do these videos present a situation that couldn't be managed with a couple of plainclothes officers bearing holstered sidearms. The point is to prove that the fearsome power of the American state is being wielded by righteous MAGA hands against despised MAGA targets.

This is how we arrive at a moment when the country's highest-ranking officials are endorsing a lethal shooting on the basis of claims refuted by the evidence. Failure to heed the MAGA campaign to redistribute respect is insolence punishable by death.

Lise Rakner @liserakner.bsky.social · Nov 11

Oh, he´ll get there!

Reposted by Lise Rakner

Alex Dukalskis @alexdukalskis.bsky.social · Nov 10

“The Golden Age of Transnational Repression”

by @nateschenkkan.bsky.social in @jodemocracy.bsky.social (2025)

#AutumnReading

The Golden Age of Transnational Repression | Journal of Democracy

Authoritarian regimes are targeting exiles and diaspora communities in more places than ever before. Activists, journalists, and regular people living abroad must watch their backs…

www.journalofdemocracy.org

Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen, Lise Rakner

Department of Political Science, University of Oslo @statsvitenskap.bsky.social · Aug 17

📢 New article
👥 @oyvindstiansen.bsky.social, @haakongjerlw.bsky.social & @liserakner.bsky.social
🔎 The politics of litigating and adjudicating electoral disputes: Evidence from Zambia.
📖 Open access In Electoral Studies
🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.el...

Reposted by Terrence Lyons, Siri Gloppen, Lise Rakner , and 1 more Terrence Lyons, Siri Gloppen, Lise Rakner, Staffan Kumlin

Johanna Söderström @jsoderstrom.bsky.social · Jan 24

Finally out! Together with @liserakner.bsky.social we discuss notions around taxation and solidarity! “Imagined solidarity around tax practices: a two-dimensional framework based on motivating logic and group boundaries”
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Imagined solidarity around tax practices: a two-dimensional framework based on motivating logic and group boundaries | The Journal of Modern African Studies | Cambridge Core

Imagined solidarity around tax practices: a two-dimensional framework based on motivating logic and group boundaries - Volume 62 Issue 2

www.cambridge.org

Lise Rakner @liserakner.bsky.social · Jul 3

Yay! New article our with @haakongjerlw.bsky.social and @oivindstiansen.bsky.social

Haakon Gjerløw @haakongjerlw.bsky.social · Jul 2

The ability to challenge flawed elections in independent courts can be crucial for democratization

Spoiler: It can also be used by ruling parties to consolidate control of the legislature

New article w/ @oyvindstiansen.bsky.social & @liserakner.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 1/

The politics of litigating and adjudicating electoral disputes: Evidence from Zambia

Elections are increasingly judicialized in many multiparty regimes. The ability to challenge flawed elections in independent courts can be crucial for…

www.sciencedirect.com

Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen, Lise Rakner

Haakon Gjerløw @haakongjerlw.bsky.social · Jul 2

The politics of litigating and adjudicating electoral disputes: Evidence from Zambia

Elections are increasingly judicialized in many multiparty regimes. The ability to challenge flawed elections in independent courts can be crucial for…

www.sciencedirect.com

Lise Rakner @liserakner.bsky.social · Apr 4

Listen to this great conversations between two amazing scholars if you a) want to understand what is going on in the US and b) what to DO about it! And as an extra bonus to us Europeans- yes- parliamentary systems will protect us against the tyranny of the minority. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS-n...

Backsliding and Resistance in the United States

YouTube video by Harvard Ash Center

www.youtube.com

Lise Rakner @liserakner.bsky.social · Feb 20

I recommend following Adam Przeworswki´s diary- when this is over and the history of the demise of America´s democracy is to be written- we will need daily accounts. This is scary. adamprzeworski.substack.com/p/diary?subs...

Diary

Week 1

adamprzeworski.substack.com

Lise Rakner @liserakner.bsky.social · Feb 6

Please consider joining!

Siri Gloppen @sirigloppen.bsky.social · Jan 31

Climate Politics & Autocratization #PhdCourse /Conference 26-26 March at @unibergen.bsky.social and @lawtransform.bsky.social @bergenglobal.bsky.social
Applications by 10 February.
Check it out here www.lawtransform.no/climate-poli...
@liserakner.bsky.social

Reposted by Lise Rakner

Siri Gloppen @sirigloppen.bsky.social · Jan 31

Lise Rakner @liserakner.bsky.social · Jan 24

thank you my dear for beating me to it!

Reposted by Lise Rakner

Siri Gloppen @sirigloppen.bsky.social · Jan 24

Congratulations to @jsoderstrom.bsky.social and @liserakner.bsky.social on having this very interesting article published!

Johanna Söderström @jsoderstrom.bsky.social · Jan 24

Imagined solidarity around tax practices: a two-dimensional framework based on motivating logic and group boundaries | The Journal of Modern African Studies | Cambridge Core

Imagined solidarity around tax practices: a two-dimensional framework based on motivating logic and group boundaries - Volume 62 Issue 2

www.cambridge.org

Reposted by Lise Rakner

Siri Gloppen @sirigloppen.bsky.social · Jan 21

On a day when resistance to autocratization seems particularly urgent, Lise Rakner @liserakner.bsky.social and I are pleased that our article on "Legalized resistance to autocratisation in common law Africa" is out - and open access. @lawtransform.bsky.social
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Legalised resistance to autocratisation in common law Africa

Since the 1990s, African incumbents have engaged in forms of rule-bending that weaken democratic institutions. The democratic backsliding witnessed weaponises law through processes of autocratic la...

www.tandfonline.com

Reposted by Lise Rakner

kim yi dionne (she/her) @dadakim.bsky.social · Nov 29

Congratulations on securing the grant and bravo for doing such important work!

Lise Rakner @liserakner.bsky.social · Nov 29

www.uib.no/en/svf/17450...

UiB Master’s Programme Secures NOK 3 Million Grant for Global Classroom Initiative

«We will teach the courses at five universities in different ways. We will create shared teaching materials, and students at all five institutions will participate through teacher and student mobility...

www.uib.no

Lise Rakner @liserakner.bsky.social · Nov 29

A dream come true and I mean it! Cannot wait! www.uib.no/en/svf/17450...

UiB Master’s Programme Secures NOK 3 Million Grant for Global Classroom Initiative

www.uib.no

Reposted by Frank Biermann, Daniel Cassany, Ari Hyytinen , and 3 more Frank Biermann, Daniel Cassany, Ari Hyytinen, Ralf Martin, Guido Heineck, Lise Rakner

Jay 🦋 @jay.bsky.team · Nov 19

Bluesky now has over 20M people!! 🎉

We've been adding over a million users per day for the last few days. To celebrate, here are 20 fun facts about Bluesky:

Lise Rakner @liserakner.bsky.social · Apr 17

When are politicians willing to liberalize abortion laws? Check out of new article in CPS- the latest from the Bergen-Berkeley gang!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Lise Rakner @liserakner.bsky.social · Jan 3

congrats, @rubenmathisen.bsky.social !

Reposted by Lise Rakner

Megan Stevenson @meganstevenson.bsky.social · Jan 2

So pleased to see my paper out!

It surveys 50+ years of randomized control trials in criminal justice and shows that almost no interventions have lasting benefit -- and the ones that do don't replicate in other settings. 1/

www.bu.edu/bulawreview/...

#econsky #polisky #metascience #philsci

Reposted by Lise Rakner

Governance and Local Development Institute @gldinstitute.bsky.social · Nov 21

GLD's Research Seminar Series introduces the research process and covers 3 stages of research:
Refining a research question
Selecting methodology
Presenting findings.

All 15 videos are free to use and available on our website with English & Arabic subtitles: gld.gu.se/en/education...

Reposted by Lise Rakner

Lawfare @lawfaremedia.org · Nov 18

@benjaminwittes.bsky.social talked to @rparloff.bsky.social and @annabower.bsky.social about Judge Cannon's cryptic order in the Mar-a-Lago case, the latest in the Section 3 litigation, and the release of proffer videos in Fulton County on Trump's Trials and Tribulations. Listen now:

The Lawfare Podcast: Trump’s Trials and Tribulations: What Is Judge Cannon up to Now?

www.lawfaremedia.org

Lise Rakner @liserakner.bsky.social · Nov 9

Professor of Government, University of Bergen. Head of MA program in Politics and Governance of Global Challenges www.uib.no/en/studies/M...

Reposted by Uganda, Lise Rakner

Thalia Gerzso @thaliagerzso.bsky.social · Nov 9

Working on political institutions and democracy in Africa? We're calling for participants for a mini-conference during the next APSA.

Scholars from the continent and early-career scholars are particularly encouraged to apply.

Submit your abstract by Dec. 4: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...