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Benjamin Moffitt

@benmoffitt.bsky.social

2.8K followers 470 following 250 posts

Political Scientist @ Monash University | Author of 3 books | Writing about populism, weird reactionary politics & visual politics | he/him Articles/publications here: https://monash.academia.edu/BenjaminMoffitt

monash.academia.edu

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Benjamin Moffitt @benmoffitt.bsky.social · Mar 28

This has made my day - a totally unexpected and extremely kind shout-out from the guru of populism himself!

Cas Ⓜ️udde @casmudde.bsky.social · Mar 28

Shout out to a great scholar of #populism who deserves a broader audience. @benmoffitt.bsky.social is a pre-Trump populism scholar, who has made many key contributions to the study of populism - like the two books below.

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Benjamin Moffitt @benmoffitt.bsky.social · 7d

Amazing - big congrats you lot!

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Duncan McDonnell @duncanmcdonnell.com · 8d

I'm so pleased to see our new article out in Perspectives on Politics.

Since I moved to Australia, I've heard many people say "you'll never publish in a top US journal with Australia as your only case" (and they weren't wrong to think that).

But yesterday, we did.

Thread by Josh about it below:

Josh Holloway @jholloway.bsky.social · 8d

🎉 New publication out in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social with @duncanmcdonnell.com and Michelle Evans!

We expected public bias to work against aspiring Indigenous political candidates in Australia. Instead, we found the opposite - an 'inverted hierarchy' of bias.

Open access: doi.org/10.1017/S153...

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Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 13d

This is great. Being a political scientist at the moment is a bit like being a climate scientist a few years back. You can see clearly catastrophe is coming, but most people seem blithely unaware of it

Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 13d

An outstanding interview. Patrick Iber of Dissent Magazine has interviewed the legendary Polish political scientist Adam Przeworski about de-democratisation in the USA, and what lessons he’s gleaned from Chile, Peru & beyond.

Iber’s questions are stellar. Przeworski’s answers, chillingly candid.

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Jason Wilson @jasonaw.bsky.social · 25d

Every journalist and anyone at all really should be thinking hard about their personal and digital security. The surveillance powers of the U.S. state are awesome and they’re demonstrating in real time that they will take whatever they find and make up any old shit

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 25d

Getting more sinister by the minute www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/u...

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Dr. Marc-André Argentino @maargentino.com · 11d

It is Book Launch day for @amaramarasingam.bsky.social and My edited volume "Contemporary Far-Right Culture The Art, Music, and Everyday Practices of Violent Extremism"

www.routledge.com/Contemporary...

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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 16d

Another piece of (excellent) research showing that support for the far-right is never going to be driven purely by either 'culture' or 'economics'. Inevitably, both are involved - and they're often inseparable.

Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 16d

Now out in @cpsjournal.bsky.social. In our new article, @denis-cohen.bsky.social @thmskrr.bsky.social and I show that where local rent prices increase more, residents with lower incomes become more likely to support the radical right AfD.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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Benjamin Moffitt @benmoffitt.bsky.social · 17d

I'm completely convinced of it tbh, and increasingly dissatisfied with populist/far/radical right talk - we are missing something, or stuck in another time with that language. Currently working up a new project on the cultural politics of the new global reactionary right!

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Benjamin Moffitt @benmoffitt.bsky.social · 17d

He's baa-aaack! So glad to see you have landed this role, so very well deserved

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Benjamin Moffitt @benmoffitt.bsky.social · 17d

This is an excellent piece on the term "reactionary" - a term I increasingly think is the core notion for understanding what is going on all around us

Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 17d

Core to reactionary politics is a cowardly project that aims to protect and restore privilege and hierarchies of oppression

Some thoughts on terminology and the term reactionary @reacpolrn.bsky.social

reacpol.net/on-reactiona...

Article: On reactionary politics (Aurelien Mondon) - Reactionary Politics Research Network

This article by Aurelien Mondon explores the meaning of reactionary politics and its use in our current context

reacpol.net

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Benjamin Moffitt @benmoffitt.bsky.social · Sep 10

As with anything @lwestheuser.bsky.social has written, this paper is very much worth yr time

Linus Westheuser @lwestheuser.bsky.social · Sep 9

OK, a🧵: Our new paper studies workers' political consciousness in times of class demobilization.

We show there's more to workers' politics than right-wing resentment. Listening to workers, we reconstruct their moral critiques of money, power & recognition.

Link journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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Lee Morgenbesser @lmorgenbesser.bsky.social · Sep 1

My colleague Ferran Martinez i Coma has a three year, full-time postdoc available for his Australian Research Council project "Resilient Elections: How to Strengthen Our Democracies."

Great project ✔️
Awesome supervisor ✔️
Excellent department ✔️
Lovely City ✔️

jobs.smartrecruiters.com/GriffithUniv...

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Grade 1

Company Description: Every institution values excellence. What matters most is why. Griffith was created to be a different type of university. You’ll find we’re about leading research, academic excel...

jobs.smartrecruiters.com

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Benjamin Moffitt @benmoffitt.bsky.social · Sep 5

This is outstanding stuff Kurt!

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Kurt Sengul @kurtsengul.bsky.social · Sep 4

🚨I spoke to Crikey for this story on the need for better media reporting on the far right!

Long story short: stop giving neo-Nazis propaganda wins

www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/05/h...

How to report on neo-Nazis without giving them what they want

Media coverage of the anti-immigration marches was a 'propaganda triumph' for Australian neo-Nazis, who use media-baiting tactics to spread their message.

www.crikey.com.au

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Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte @turnbulldugarte.com · Sep 5

Radical right accommodation really does not work.

New paper out with this exceptionally talented team
@katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk

doi.org/10.31235/osf...

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Liam Gillespie @liamgillespie.bsky.social · Sep 5

New article by me in @aunz.theconversation.com which discusses how explaining March For Australia *solely* in reference to 'extreme' actors provides an alibi to the racism + nationalism of 'mainstream' Australia:
theconversation.com/blaming-extr...

Blaming ‘extremists’ for March For Australia rallies lets ‘mainstream’ Australia off the hook

March For Australia did not occur in a vacuum. There’s a long history of racism and nationalism we’re at risk of obscuring.

theconversation.com

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Benjamin Moffitt @benmoffitt.bsky.social · Sep 2

The chronological feed obviously has implications for people posting in different timezones

Benjamin Moffitt @benmoffitt.bsky.social · Sep 2

It's likely also the fact that BSky has a chronological feed, whereas LinkedIn has a "top content" algorithm. On BSky, people have to 'catch' you when you post; on LinkedIn, posts have numerous ways of reaching people over time.

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Benjamin Moffitt @benmoffitt.bsky.social · Sep 2

Excellent piece guys - important dimension that I haven't seen covered anywhere else

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Kurt Sengul @kurtsengul.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨 New article in The Conversation from Callum Jones and myself.

We wanted to focus specifically on how the white nationalist rallies were supported and amplified online by far-right actors like Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson

theconversation.com/how-australi...

How Australia’s anti-immigration rallies were amplified online by the global far right

Prominent figures such as Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson are increasingly using social media to unite far-right groups and causes around the world.

theconversation.com

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Andy Fleming @slackbastard.bsky.social · Sep 2

Pretty much, yeah.

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

How neo-Nazis used the shield of ‘ordinary mums and dads’ anti-immigration rallies to sell white supremacy

From online grievances about migration to men dressed in black in a sea of Australian flags, far-right groups clearly intended to capitalise on events

www.theguardian.com

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Liam Gillespie @liamgillespie.bsky.social · Sep 1

New article by me: The March for Australia’s racism can’t just be blamed on far-right ‘extremists’ - it’s been enabled by the mainstream | Liam Gillespie www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The March for Australia’s racism can’t just be blamed on far-right 'extremists’ - it’s been enabled by the mainstream | Liam Gillespie

The weekend’s protests provided an alibi to nationalism, obscuring the central place racism has always occupied

www.theguardian.com

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Duncan McDonnell @duncanmcdonnell.com · Sep 1

3-year, full-time post-doc position with my ‪@griffith.edu.au‬ friend & colleague, Ferran Martinez i Coma.

Ferran is one of the key people who has made our department the top comparative politics research cluster in Australia.

Please apply, share, etc.

jobs.smartrecruiters.com/GriffithUniv...

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Grade 1

jobs.smartrecruiters.com

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Australian Journal of Political Science @ausjpolsci.bsky.social · Aug 31

NEW SUBMISSION CATEGORY ADDED!
AJPS invites Reform Notes from practitioners and/or academics that set out proposed innovations about (or relevant to) aspects of Australian politics practice - e.g. proposals for or modifications to existing political institutions, procedures, laws and practices 1/4

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CAMERON WILSON @cameronwilson.bsky.social · Sep 1

same thing happened at the 2022 election where anti-vaccine, anti-lockdown groups had a negligible effect.

for whatever reason — I'll let you speculate — there are big chunks of mainstream media and politics who elevate extreme anti-migration sentiment as if it is a strongly & widely held view.

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Benjamin Moffitt @benmoffitt.bsky.social · Aug 30

C'mon, Norman Price was always heading that way. A weird loner committing arson on a near daily basis, trying to lure and kill firefighters all the time - all the signs were there.