Jonas W. Schmid
@jonaswschmid.bsky.social
Researching autocratic politics, finance ministers & international cooperation at Stockholm University.
Pinned
Jonas W. Schmid
@jonaswschmid.bsky.social
· Jun 11
After large-scale disasters autocrats often shift the blame on others to save their popularity. Our 🚨new paper🚨, just accepted at Perspectives on Politics, shows that this tactic is prone to backfire. With @edwardgoldring.bsky.social & @fapaydin.bsky.social . shorturl.at/v6wIV%E2%AC%...
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
Wie lässt sich das brutale Vorgehen von Trump's ICE Agenten erklären? Und warum erinnert es so sehr an Diktaturen und ihre Geheimpolizei? Unser neues Buch liefert Antworten - wie wir heute in der @zeit.de erklären.
Buch: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Buch: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
November 13, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Wie lässt sich das brutale Vorgehen von Trump's ICE Agenten erklären? Und warum erinnert es so sehr an Diktaturen und ihre Geheimpolizei? Unser neues Buch liefert Antworten - wie wir heute in der @zeit.de erklären.
Buch: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Buch: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
Four (!) three-year postdoc positions available at @au.dk: international.au.dk/about/profil...
Join an incredible team & help understand the psychological & political implications of the clash between high-speed society & slow-speed democracy.
Please share! @tboeggild.bsky.social can help with Qs
Join an incredible team & help understand the psychological & political implications of the clash between high-speed society & slow-speed democracy.
Please share! @tboeggild.bsky.social can help with Qs
Four three-year postdoctoral positions in the project Slow-Motion Democracy - Vacancy at Aarhus University
Vacancy at Department of Political Science, Aarhus University
international.au.dk
November 6, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Four (!) three-year postdoc positions available at @au.dk: international.au.dk/about/profil...
Join an incredible team & help understand the psychological & political implications of the clash between high-speed society & slow-speed democracy.
Please share! @tboeggild.bsky.social can help with Qs
Join an incredible team & help understand the psychological & political implications of the clash between high-speed society & slow-speed democracy.
Please share! @tboeggild.bsky.social can help with Qs
In memoriam: youtu.be/KJ1LJvOxo6Q
who is america dick cheney deleted scene
YouTube video by This account has been terminated
youtu.be
November 4, 2025 at 7:41 PM
In memoriam: youtu.be/KJ1LJvOxo6Q
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
This is as bleak as it gets:
‘China intimidated UK university to ditch human rights research, documents show’ www.bbc.com/news/article...
‘China intimidated UK university to ditch human rights research, documents show’ www.bbc.com/news/article...
China intimidated UK university to ditch human rights research, documents show
Sheffield Hallam University apologises to Professor Laura Murphy for restricting her academic freedom.
www.bbc.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:25 AM
This is as bleak as it gets:
‘China intimidated UK university to ditch human rights research, documents show’ www.bbc.com/news/article...
‘China intimidated UK university to ditch human rights research, documents show’ www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
something under discussed is the fact that white house renovations are currently being spearheaded by someone with famously bad interior design taste
October 31, 2025 at 6:29 PM
something under discussed is the fact that white house renovations are currently being spearheaded by someone with famously bad interior design taste
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
The U.S. government right now really hitting that sweet spot of blatant corruption of 1990s Central Asia, the weirdo personality cult of Gaddafi, the bad plastic surgery of Berlusconi’s Italy, the religious zeal of the Taliban, and the thuggish brutality of a right-wing Cold War dictatorship.
October 24, 2025 at 6:11 PM
The U.S. government right now really hitting that sweet spot of blatant corruption of 1990s Central Asia, the weirdo personality cult of Gaddafi, the bad plastic surgery of Berlusconi’s Italy, the religious zeal of the Taliban, and the thuggish brutality of a right-wing Cold War dictatorship.
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
Paths to Power (PtP) is out in @bjpols.bsky.social! It is a database with data on cabinet members' social profile globally from 1966-2021.
This is a great team effort with @chknutsen.bsky.social, @peterla.bsky.social, @inalkristiansen.bsky.social. But many more helped us along the way 🙏
A short 🧵
This is a great team effort with @chknutsen.bsky.social, @peterla.bsky.social, @inalkristiansen.bsky.social. But many more helped us along the way 🙏
A short 🧵
Paths to Power: A New Dataset on the Social Profile of Governments | British Journal of Political Science | Cambridge Core
Paths to Power: A New Dataset on the Social Profile of Governments - Volume 55
www.cambridge.org
October 20, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Paths to Power (PtP) is out in @bjpols.bsky.social! It is a database with data on cabinet members' social profile globally from 1966-2021.
This is a great team effort with @chknutsen.bsky.social, @peterla.bsky.social, @inalkristiansen.bsky.social. But many more helped us along the way 🙏
A short 🧵
This is a great team effort with @chknutsen.bsky.social, @peterla.bsky.social, @inalkristiansen.bsky.social. But many more helped us along the way 🙏
A short 🧵
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
wikipedia's data shows that AI is siphoning traffic away from the site, which is a danger to its sustainability. ironically Wikipedia is more important than ever to users who want reliable information instead of slop, and to AI companies that need it for training data www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors
“With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”
www.404media.co
October 17, 2025 at 1:15 AM
wikipedia's data shows that AI is siphoning traffic away from the site, which is a danger to its sustainability. ironically Wikipedia is more important than ever to users who want reliable information instead of slop, and to AI companies that need it for training data www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
Next time an institution tells you how seriously it takes research misconduct, ask them if it's *this* seriously. www.bmj.com/content/297/...
October 13, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Next time an institution tells you how seriously it takes research misconduct, ask them if it's *this* seriously. www.bmj.com/content/297/...
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
Despite the grim topic, this is a very good paper: monuments that signal white supremacy can substitute performative violence and thus reduce it.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Political Symbols and Social Order: Confederate Monuments and Performative Violence in the Post-Reconstruction U.S. South | American Political Science Review | Cambridge Core
Political Symbols and Social Order: Confederate Monuments and Performative Violence in the Post-Reconstruction U.S. South
www.cambridge.org
October 7, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Despite the grim topic, this is a very good paper: monuments that signal white supremacy can substitute performative violence and thus reduce it.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
Excellent work from my SU colleague Einar Bäckström on the temporal dynamics of the winner loser gap in democracy satisfaction using a regression discontinuity in time design across 21 European countries.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Sore losers on election night? Examining the temporal emergence of the winner–loser gap | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge Core
Sore losers on election night? Examining the temporal emergence of the winner–loser gap
www.cambridge.org
October 3, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Excellent work from my SU colleague Einar Bäckström on the temporal dynamics of the winner loser gap in democracy satisfaction using a regression discontinuity in time design across 21 European countries.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
Very possibly no political official in history has made so much corrupt money at a pace like this. Mobutu and Marcos looted a greater share of their countries’ wealth over decades but in absolute terms and in speed, Trump shamelessly puts them to shame.
“.. no modern American president has positioned his family to make so much money while in the White House. Already, since the early days of his reelection campaign, he’s more than doubled his net worth to about $5.4 billion.”
@bloomberg.com
www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
@bloomberg.com
www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
October 3, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Very possibly no political official in history has made so much corrupt money at a pace like this. Mobutu and Marcos looted a greater share of their countries’ wealth over decades but in absolute terms and in speed, Trump shamelessly puts them to shame.
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
Man, I can't believe the guy who inspired this event 4.5 years ago is declaring war on large swathes of his fellow Americans. I mean, who could have ever guessed it would come to this?
September 30, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Man, I can't believe the guy who inspired this event 4.5 years ago is declaring war on large swathes of his fellow Americans. I mean, who could have ever guessed it would come to this?
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
It's easy to see this speech as just weirdly performative, but there's a lot more—and a lot worse—going on here.
The meeting & speeches are part of a larger project aimed at promoting the military leadership’s partisan alignment with the administration.
How? 1/
The meeting & speeches are part of a larger project aimed at promoting the military leadership’s partisan alignment with the administration.
How? 1/
Hegseth: "If the words I'm speaking today are making your heart sink, they you should do the honorable thing and resign."
September 30, 2025 at 3:55 PM
It's easy to see this speech as just weirdly performative, but there's a lot more—and a lot worse—going on here.
The meeting & speeches are part of a larger project aimed at promoting the military leadership’s partisan alignment with the administration.
How? 1/
The meeting & speeches are part of a larger project aimed at promoting the military leadership’s partisan alignment with the administration.
How? 1/
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
So many echoes from this article for US politics....
September 27, 2025 at 4:43 PM
So many echoes from this article for US politics....
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
🚀 StanDat Database Update & Move!
The database has moved and been upgraded:
solveig.shinyapps.io/standat/
The database has moved and been upgraded:
solveig.shinyapps.io/standat/
StanDat - International Standards Database
solveig.shinyapps.io
September 24, 2025 at 9:14 AM
🚀 StanDat Database Update & Move!
The database has moved and been upgraded:
solveig.shinyapps.io/standat/
The database has moved and been upgraded:
solveig.shinyapps.io/standat/
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
I don't agree with this because I think the wannabe god king being seen to try and fail matters.
the Jimmy Kimmel thing is the most uh (sorry for using this term because i kind of hate it) nothingburger of a big news event. attempts to shift the vibe were unsuccessful so back to normal tv, carry on everyone. maybe good that it was resolved but also it's kind of a hollow/meaningless victory.
September 23, 2025 at 9:11 AM
I don't agree with this because I think the wannabe god king being seen to try and fail matters.
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
Yesterday I posted about how I used comet browser to take a Qualtrics survey almost undetected. Last night, I ran a pilot (N=400) on @joinprolific.bsky.social . I found that almost 10% of "respondents" identified as AI when directly asked.
I added a question in the survey to identify itself as an AI if instructed to be a human. That seemed to work. Though, I imagine I could jailbreak it eventually.
September 23, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Yesterday I posted about how I used comet browser to take a Qualtrics survey almost undetected. Last night, I ran a pilot (N=400) on @joinprolific.bsky.social . I found that almost 10% of "respondents" identified as AI when directly asked.
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
Dass die AfD nicht wegen ihrer politischen Forderungen gewählt wird, ist ein gefährlich bequemer Selbstbetrug der demokratischen Mitte.
(Quelle: aktuelles ZDF-Politbarometer)
(Quelle: aktuelles ZDF-Politbarometer)
September 19, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Dass die AfD nicht wegen ihrer politischen Forderungen gewählt wird, ist ein gefährlich bequemer Selbstbetrug der demokratischen Mitte.
(Quelle: aktuelles ZDF-Politbarometer)
(Quelle: aktuelles ZDF-Politbarometer)
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
at one point Albania was on the brink of civil war after the collapse of pyramid schemes that had sucked up roughly half of GDP, and now that is only the *second* stupidest thing the country has done.
🇦🇱 Albania's AI minister "Diella" addressed the parliament for the first time.
👀 Diella said she has been "hurt" by opposition lawmakers who called her unconstitutional.
👀 Diella said she has been "hurt" by opposition lawmakers who called her unconstitutional.
September 19, 2025 at 8:02 AM
at one point Albania was on the brink of civil war after the collapse of pyramid schemes that had sucked up roughly half of GDP, and now that is only the *second* stupidest thing the country has done.
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
The key problem with what Ezra Klein says here is that he fails – or is unwilling – to grapple with the fundamental reality of the political conflict: The movement that dominates today’s Right fully rejects the very idea of “living here with each other” as equals. That’s their defining position.
"All I can say for me in the work I do is that I want to create a space that takes our disagreements seriously, that takes the stakes of them seriously, the consequences for people seriously, but does so without deepening our divisions irreparably. We are going to have to live here with each other"
September 18, 2025 at 12:10 PM
The key problem with what Ezra Klein says here is that he fails – or is unwilling – to grapple with the fundamental reality of the political conflict: The movement that dominates today’s Right fully rejects the very idea of “living here with each other” as equals. That’s their defining position.
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
Paying respects to Charlie Kirk by going on podcasts and saying that Charlie Kirk wouldn't have died if he hadn't had fentanyl in his system
September 15, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Paying respects to Charlie Kirk by going on podcasts and saying that Charlie Kirk wouldn't have died if he hadn't had fentanyl in his system
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
@pward89.bsky.social and I were delighted to win the Best Article Award from APSA’s Democracy and Autocracy section for our @worldpolitics.bsky.social article “Elite Management Before Autocratic Leader Succession: Evidence from North Korea.” muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
September 13, 2025 at 9:25 PM
@pward89.bsky.social and I were delighted to win the Best Article Award from APSA’s Democracy and Autocracy section for our @worldpolitics.bsky.social article “Elite Management Before Autocratic Leader Succession: Evidence from North Korea.” muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
Reposted by Jonas W. Schmid
Paper alert 📣
Rapid advances in AI has some believe that LLM agents can replace real participants in human-subject research. If true, this would be huge!
Following a growing body of research, we delve deeper into this topic and examine the merits of this claim.
🧵...
arxiv.org/abs/2509.03736
Rapid advances in AI has some believe that LLM agents can replace real participants in human-subject research. If true, this would be huge!
Following a growing body of research, we delve deeper into this topic and examine the merits of this claim.
🧵...
arxiv.org/abs/2509.03736
Are LLM Agents Behaviorally Coherent? Latent Profiles for Social Simulation
The impressive capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) have fueled the notion that synthetic agents can serve as substitutes for real participants in human-subject research. In an effort to evalu...
arxiv.org
September 8, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Paper alert 📣
Rapid advances in AI has some believe that LLM agents can replace real participants in human-subject research. If true, this would be huge!
Following a growing body of research, we delve deeper into this topic and examine the merits of this claim.
🧵...
arxiv.org/abs/2509.03736
Rapid advances in AI has some believe that LLM agents can replace real participants in human-subject research. If true, this would be huge!
Following a growing body of research, we delve deeper into this topic and examine the merits of this claim.
🧵...
arxiv.org/abs/2509.03736