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Carl Henrik Knutsen

@chknutsen.bsky.social

5.9K followers 430 following 110 posts

Political science professor, University of Oslo; Research group leader, CIR group; Researcher, PRIO; co-PI, V-Dem

Videos

Political science 57%

Sociology 20%

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, James Q. Wilson, Patrick A. Jansen , and 25 more Ben H. Ansell, James Q. Wilson, Patrick A. Jansen, Nicole Dubilier, Steve Peers, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Michael A. Clemens, Efrén O. Pérez, Juan Cole, John Collins, Jussi T. Eronen, Laurent Pech, David R. Miller, Ben Tonra, Michael D. McDonald, Philipp Sarasin, Henry Jones, Greg Linden, Matthew P. McAllister, Cullen S. Hendrix, Nancy M. Wingfield, Aviel Roshwald, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Francesco Nicoli, Colin Woodard, Andrew Kydd, David Darmofal

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 2d

I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?

Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen

Simon Hix @simonhix.bsky.social · 2d

An excellent (although deeply depressing) piece by Thomas Edsall, with some great interviews with top US political scientists.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/o...

Opinion | Trump Is Not Afraid of Civil War. Neither Is Stephen Miller.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Elena Litchman, Carl Henrik Knutsen , and 8 more Richard S.J. Tol, Elena Litchman, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Daniel W. Drezner, Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Amy W. Ando, Cullen S. Hendrix, Massimo Faggioli, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Virginia Sapiro, Peter Jacobs

Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 19d

Step 1: Cut funding for food stamps
Step 2: Stop measuring hunger
Step 3: There's no evidence cuts to food stamps led to a rise in hunger
www.wsj.com/economy/trum...

www.wsj.com

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Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Richard S.J. Tol, Colin F. Camerer , and 39 more Jonathan Portes, Richard S.J. Tol, Colin F. Camerer, Richard E. Lenski, Robert N. Stavins, Ashish Arora, Elena Litchman, Joshua S. Weitz, Tom Clark, Bryan D. Jones, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Diane Ravitch, David Rothschild, Luca Rossi, Eric Goldman, Peter Holmes, Juan Cole, Orin S. Kerr, Daniel W. Drezner, Iikka Korhonen, Trevon D. Logan, Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Alan Richardson, David R. Miller, Aaron Sojourner, McKenzie Wark, Holger Hestermeyer, Lesley Bartlett, Jacob T. Levy, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Scott A. Imberman, Robert B. Reich, Elizabeth Stevenson, James Goodwin, Wolfgang Huber, Andrew Rudalevige, Nathan Richardson, Alexandra Cirone, Nicole Guenther Discenza, Prakash Kashwan, Timothy D. McBride, Southern Africa

Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 20d

Critical part of the President's new $100,000 charge for H1-B visas: The Administration can also offer a $100,000 discount to any person, company, or industry that it wants. Replacing rules with arbitrary discretion.

Want visas? You know who to call and who to flatter.

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen, Simon Otjes, Jacob Montgomery , and 1 more Carl Henrik Knutsen, Simon Otjes, Jacob Montgomery, David Murakami Wood

MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 @maks23.bsky.social · 21d

🇦🇱 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.

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen, Rosemary A. Joyce, Ryan Enos , and 3 more Carl Henrik Knutsen, Rosemary A. Joyce, Ryan Enos, David R. Miller, Greg Linden, S. Laurel Weldon

George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 22d

Cowards. Shameless, morally bankrupt cowards.

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen

ARENA Centre for European Studies @unioslo-arena.bsky.social · 28d

Velkommen til frokostdebatt fredag 19. september!

Meld deg på her👉 www.uio.no/om/aktuelt/u...

@unioslo-jus.bsky.social @statsvitenskap.bsky.social @unioslo-svfak.bsky.social @uio.no

Portrettbilde av paneldeltakerne Anine Kierulf, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Cathrine Thorleifsson, John Erik Fossum. Tekst: Forskerrollen i en polarisert verden. Hvordan kan forskere bidra til å motvirke autoritære tendenser? 19. september 2025 08.30, Scene Domus Bibliotheca

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen

Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 29d

Let’s go with the idea that these drones over Poland mistakenly ended up there. All the more reason for NATO to announce a no-fly-zone over Western Ukraine in order to prevent such unfortunate mistakes in the future. Simple. Close the skies.

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen, Kate Starbird, Nathan Richardson

Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · Sep 8

For the love of democracy, STOP using "colour revolution" as a slur!! The colour revolutions were real, enthusiastic, domestic social mobilizations against corruption and electoral fraud. The claim that they were malign outside interference is literal russian propaganda.

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Carl Henrik Knutsen @chknutsen.bsky.social · Sep 7

Big congratulations, Amalie!!

Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen

Amalie Nilsen @amalienilsen.bsky.social · Sep 7

I’m very happy to share that the first paper of my PhD, «From the streets to the ballots: Protests, polls and Polarization in Hong Kong» has been published online in @democratization.bsky.social

It is open access, and you can read it here:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

From the streets to the ballots: protests, polls and polarization in Hong Kong

Social movement research indicates that protests can influence voting behaviour through several informational and psychological mechanisms. Yet, we know little about the individual variation in how...

www.tandfonline.com

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen, Daniel W. Drezner, Jacob T. Levy , and 2 more Carl Henrik Knutsen, Daniel W. Drezner, Jacob T. Levy, Samantha Brennan, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · Sep 7

Ezra Klein is right and it matters he's saying this. The question is not "funding the government" or "shutting down the government."

It's funding *this* government versus shutting down *this* government. It's not the definite article existing independent of who's in power. It is who's in power.

Opinion | Stop Acting Like This Is Normal

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen, Anne Norton

Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · Sep 7

One of the most remarkable things of the last 9 months is how many Americans seem to believe the President is all powerful and Congress has no say.
Actually Congress has been ineffective by choice. It has immense power if it had the courage to use it.

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Reposted by Jan W. Mueller, Brian A. Nosek, Carl Henrik Knutsen , and 4 more Jan W. Mueller, Brian A. Nosek, Carl Henrik Knutsen, David R. Miller, Nora V. Demleitner, Greg Linden, Steven S. Taylor

Carl Henrik Knutsen @chknutsen.bsky.social · Sep 4

🥳🍾🥂

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Carl Henrik Knutsen, David Szakonyi , and 1 more Ben H. Ansell, Carl Henrik Knutsen, David Szakonyi, Anton Grau Larsen

𝙅𝙖𝙘🍩𝙗 𝙉𝙮𝙧𝙪𝙥 @jacobnyrup.bsky.social · Sep 4

I am honored to have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant towards my project "Governing elites since the dawn of modern democracy" (GETGOV).

It allows me to continue to advance this research agenda; the goal is to build a database on governing elites from 1789 and up to today + much more.

#ERCStG

Jacob Nyrup awarded EU funds to research political elites - Department of Political Science

Jacob Nyrup from the Department of Political Science has been granted a substantial 18 million Norwegian kroner by the EU's research council to examine political elites in countries before and after d...

www.sv.uio.no

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen

Matthias Dilling @matthiasdilling.bsky.social · Sep 4

Very much looking forward to presenting 'Parties under Pressure' tomorrow @statsvitenskap.bsky.social. Thanks so much to @jacobnyrup.bsky.social for the invitation. If you're around Oslo and wanna talk political parties, please do give me a shout. 😀

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Parties under Pressure

An illuminating investigation into why some parties evolve with their times while others fall behind. Around the world, established political parties face mounting pressures: insurgents on the Left an...

press.uchicago.edu

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen, Roman Senninger

𝙅𝙖𝙘🍩𝙗 𝙉𝙮𝙧𝙪𝙥 @jacobnyrup.bsky.social · Sep 3

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this year's WhoGov workshop on Political Elites! It is amazing to see so much great research presented on political elites and meet so many great people.

And thank you to @inalkristiansen.bsky.social and @jonaswschmid.bsky.social for co-organizing the event

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen, Stefan Müller

Anja Neundorf @anjaneundorf.bsky.social · Sep 1

🚨 New publication alert! 🚨
Why do some people keep voting throughout their lives while others drop out? And how do authoritarian elections - even uncompetitive ones- shape citizens’ habits?
Ksenia Northmore-Ball and I tackle these questions in my new paper, now out in @electoralstudies.bsky.social.

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen

𝙅𝙖𝙘🍩𝙗 𝙉𝙮𝙧𝙪𝙥 @jacobnyrup.bsky.social · Aug 30

Trump er ved at forandre USA til det vi i diktaturforskningen kalder for et personalistisk regime. Det er et regime, hvor lederen siger "hop", så er der kun ét svar: "Hvor højt?". Eller hvis lederen siger, at 2+2 = 5, ja, så er den officielle version, at 2+2 altså er lig fem.

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'Thank You President': Cabinet Meeting Turns Reality TV | The One Where They ALL Just Praised Trump

YouTube video by Mint

www.youtube.com

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Carl Henrik Knutsen @chknutsen.bsky.social · Aug 29

Intervjuet i Aftenposten: Det ser dessverre bare verre og verre ut i USA. Mellomvalget blir nøkkelen for om det amerikanske demokratiet overlever Trump, tror jeg. (Og det kommer ikke til å bli et vanlig mellomvalg)

www.aftenposten.no/verden/i/93R...

Er Trump i ferd med å knekke det amerikanske demokratiet?

– Jeg gir det 50/50 sjanse til å overleve Donald Trump, sier ekspert.

www.aftenposten.no

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen

Haakon Gjerløw @haakongjerlw.bsky.social · Aug 29

Introducing the Opposition Movements and Groups Dataset 1789–2019 in @cpsjournal.bsky.social together with @mariannedahl.bsky.social @chknutsen.bsky.social @sirianned.bsky.social @hannefjelde.bsky.social @torewig.bsky.social

Read about the paper👇

Or dive right into the data👉 www.prio.org/data/39

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Carl Henrik Knutsen @chknutsen.bsky.social · Aug 29

I sincerely second this point! Thank you so much, everyone!!

Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen

Marianne Dahl @mariannedahl.bsky.social · Aug 29

Read the full article in Comparative Political Studies: doi.org/10.1177/0010...

Mass Mobilization in the Modern Era: Introducing the Opposition Movements and Groups (OMG) Dataset, 1789–2019 - Marianne Dahl, Sirianne Dahlum, Hanne Fjelde, Haakon Gjerløw, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Carina Strøm-Sedgwick, Tore Wig, 2025

The nature and consequences of mass mobilization are core topics in the social sciences. How have mass mobilization movements evolved over time? How do key char...

doi.org

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen

Marianne Dahl @mariannedahl.bsky.social · Aug 29

🔑 Key findings:
• Nonviolent campaigns are more likely to foster democratization after 1900— but outcomes depend on who participates and what they want.
• Students, workers & intellectuals drive democratic change.
• Peasants, middle classes & militaries usually don’t.

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen

Marianne Dahl @mariannedahl.bsky.social · Aug 29

We show:
• OMG covers pro-democracy, anti-liberal & pro-regime campaigns.
• Social bases are diverse—no group dominates > 1/8 of movements.
• Ideologies shifted: nationalism, conservatism, liberalism → socialism → democracy & human rights, with nationalism constant.

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Reposted by David Lazer, Steven Van de Walle, Carl Henrik Knutsen , and 5 more David Lazer, Steven Van de Walle, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Mirya R. Holman, Jonathan Birch, Thomas Hegghammer, Nicholas Marsh, Hanne Fjelde

Marianne Dahl @mariannedahl.bsky.social · Aug 29

📊 New dataset and paper alert!
We’re proud to launch the Opposition Movements and Groups (OMG) Dataset, 1789–2019: a global dataset covering 1,452 mass mobilization movements. It was just published in Comparative Political Studies. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Below follows a 🧵

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Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Kim L. Scheppele, Richard S.J. Tol , and 29 more Joanna Bryson, Kim L. Scheppele, Richard S.J. Tol, Brendan Nyhan, Patrick A. Jansen, Tom Clark, John Horgan, Steve Peers, Andrew Scott, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Mark D. White, American Library Association, Thomas Merton, Gernot Wagner, Erwin Dekker, Hans M. Kristensen, Ryan Enos, Sanford F. Schram, Berk Özler, David R. Miller, Michael Jones‐Correa, Mark Priestley, Kate Starbird, Iñaki Aldasoro, S. J. Holmes, Matthew P. McAllister, Eric J. Segall, Nicole Guenther Discenza, Aidan O’Sullivan, Timothy D. McBride, Dunlap, David Darmofal

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · Aug 28

This is a real photograph of Washington, DC this week, where the United States president has ordered military occupation in peacetime, and ordered the display of colossal portraits of himself.

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Washington, DC under military occupation in last August 2025, with banners proclaiming the absolute power of the primus inter pares

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Reposted by Carl Henrik Knutsen

V-Dem Institute @vdeminstitute.bsky.social · Aug 27

Download “Global Trends and Expert Perceptions: Pessimism and the Assessment of Democratic Backsliding”: v-dem.net/media/public...
By @kailmarkvart.bsky.social, @danpemstein.com , Brigitte Seim, John Gerring, @chknutsen.bsky.social, and Yunus Orhan
#Democracy #ExpertCodedData #DemocracyData
6(6)

v-dem.net

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Reposted by Staffan I. Lindberg, Carl Henrik Knutsen

Kyle Marquardt @kailmarkvart.bsky.social · Aug 26

Sidenote: Elsewhere colleagues (incl @acrowinghen.bsky.social , @medzihorsky.bsky.social, @danpemstein.com, @chknutsen.bsky.social, @silindberg.bsky.social) and I find little evidence that bad-vibes among V-Dem’s country experts drive the recent global democratic decline.
doi.org/10.1017/S104...

Abstract: During the past decade, analyses drawing on several democracy measures have shown a global trend of democratic retrenchment. While these democracy measures use radically different methodologies, most partially or fully rely on subjective judgments to produce estimates of the level of democracy within states. Such projects continuously grapple with balancing conceptual coverage with the potential for bias (Munck and Verkuilen 2002; Przeworski et al. 2000). Little and Meng (L&M) (2023) reintroduce this debate, arguing that “objective” measures of democracy show little evidence of recent global democratic backsliding. By extension, they posit that time-varying expert bias drives the appearance of democratic retrenchment in measures that incorporate expert judgments. In this article, we engage with (1) broader debates on democracy measurement and democratic backsliding, and (2) L&M’s specific data and conclusions.

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