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Elizabeth Nugent @ernugent.bsky.social · 14h

🧵 on my paper, ‘System Justification in Authoritarian Regimes’ (recently accepted at @thejop.bsky.social)

Mark Rubin @markrubin.bsky.social · 3d

System justification predicts support for authoritarian governance and the Sisi regime in two samples of Egyptian adult citizens.

Thought-provoking new work by @ernugent.bsky.social

Preprint: osf.io/preprints/so...

What explains the enduring popularity of authoritarianism and authoritarian leaders? In addition to theories rooted in regime performance, propaganda, and punishment, I propose system justification,
a well-established socio-cognitive motive favoring established systems and stability, as a novel explanation for authoritarian support. I theorize the relationship between system justification and political behaviors in authoritarian contexts and test this in data from two original surveys of Egyptian citizens. After validating that the system justification scale reflects needs for certainty and structure in an authoritarian political setting, I show it is strongly associated with preferences for authoritarian governance. An embedded experiment shows that security, infrastructure, and identity systemic threats mobilize high system justifiers, further increasing support for authoritarian governance. Finally, additional analyses reveal that system justification predicts attitudinal and behavioral support for a specific authoritarian regime. The findings suggest a central role for individual psychological motivation in authoritarian persistence.

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Elizabeth Nugent @ernugent.bsky.social · 14h

This is fascinating and I’m so glad to learn of this paper. Some of my other research on repression looks at what actual/threatened violence does to political identities, at the level of superordinate ‘opposition’ identity and/or the level of specific group identities. Thanks for posting!

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Reposted by Elizabeth Nugent

Amanda Sahar d’Urso @asdurso.bsky.social · 12d

Labels can impact politics. My paper @apsrjournal.bsky.social "What Happens When You Can't Check the Box?" shows when Middle Eastern & North African (MENA) Americans are excluded from identity categories, they assert MENA identity when answering relevant political questions.
doi.org/10.1017/S000...

What Happens When You Can’t Check the Box? Categorization Threat and Public Opinion among Middle Eastern and North African Americans | American Political Science Review | Cambridge Core

What Happens When You Can’t Check the Box? Categorization Threat and Public Opinion among Middle Eastern and North African Americans

doi.org

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Reposted by Elizabeth Nugent

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 16d

Egyptian authorities announced the presidential pardon of prominent activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah after six years in prison, according to his lawyer Khaled Ali and an announcement by state TV.

Egypt announces pardon for top activist who's spent 6 years behind bars

Egyptian authorities on Monday announced the presidential pardon of prominent activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, according to his lawyer Khaled Ali and an announcement by Egypt’s state TV.

bit.ly

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Reposted by Elizabeth Nugent

Princeton University Department of Politics @princetonpolitics.bsky.social · 29d

Introducing our 2025 job market candidates! We’ll share more about each student and their work in the days ahead, but in the meantime, you can meet all of our candidates here: politics.princeton.edu/graduate/job...
#PSJMInfo

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Reposted by Elizabeth Nugent

Rory Truex @rorytruex.bsky.social · 23d

This Thursday at noon EST I'll be joined by @adamprz.bsky.social, Sue Stokes, Steve Levitsky (stevelevitsky.bsky.social), and @dziblatt.bsky.social on a webinar to talk about the state of American democracy. Please come! Registration here: www.crowdcast.io/c/civicforum.... Please share.

The Civic Forum - S1E11 - Season Finale: The State of American Democracy

Register now for The Civic Forum - S1E11 - Season Finale: The State of American Democracy on crowdcast, scheduled to go live on September 18, 2025, 12:00 PM EDT.

www.crowdcast.io

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Reposted by Elizabeth Nugent

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · Aug 25

No one wanted to hear this years ago when @tompepinsky.com said it. Maybe now.

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Elizabeth Nugent @ernugent.bsky.social · Aug 25

Tried to explain this to a senior colleague recently, who suggested I was overreacting - thanks to @abuaardvark.bsky.social for saying it more clearly and eloquently

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Elizabeth Nugent @ernugent.bsky.social · Aug 25

I hope you’re right 🤞

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Elizabeth Nugent @ernugent.bsky.social · Aug 25

Ugh exactly. I think public opinion matters in non-democracies, and I know it doesn’t determine (all) outcomes.

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Elizabeth Nugent @ernugent.bsky.social · Aug 25

I really want to believe that American public opinion still matters. It makes me feel better that most Americans don’t support these policies. But other non-democracies demonstrate that once institutions have been politically weaponized, public opinion matters significantly less.

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Reposted by Elizabeth Nugent

Isabelle DeSisto 🇺🇦 @isadesisto.bsky.social · Jun 25

My latest piece in @goodauth.bsky.social about how targeting international students is bad not just for the U.S. economy & innovation, but also 🇺🇸 reputation globally. goodauthority.org/news/targeti...

Targeting international students cuts into U.S. soft power

Here’s how the Trump administration’s visa restrictions erode the U.S. image abroad.

goodauthority.org

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Reposted by Elizabeth Nugent

Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · May 29

From Przeworski:

"There are currently more than 1 million foreign students in the US, they support 378 thousand jobs, and contribute $43.8 billion to the economy. But these numbers dwindle in importance in comparison to the scientific and cultural impact of US universities around the world."

WEEK 15

adamprzeworski.substack.com

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Reposted by Elizabeth Nugent

Daniel Tavana @danieltavana.bsky.social · May 14

Our article on legislative cooptation and opposition in the Kuwait National Assembly is finally out at @bjpols.bsky.social!

Key findings: bsky.app/profile/dani...

Article link: doi.org/10.1017/S000...

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Reposted by Elizabeth Nugent

Layna Mosley @laynamosley.bsky.social · Apr 18

The Niehaus Center at Princeton is hiring a Research Specialist. We hope to hire someone to start this summer. Information here:

main-princeton.icims.com/jobs/20778/r...

Careers | Human Resources

main-princeton.icims.com

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Elizabeth Nugent @ernugent.bsky.social · Apr 15

Per usual, @roxanegay.bsky.social saying what I’m thinking

Roxane Gay @roxanegay.bsky.social · Apr 15

Feel free to recruit me international university even though I am not a scientist. I have other skills.

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Reposted by Elizabeth Nugent

Grigore Pop-Eleches @grigopop.bsky.social · Apr 5

Great turnout at the Hands Off protest in Princeton (despite the weather). It's festive, but there's also palpable anger.

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Reposted by Elizabeth Nugent

PS: Political Science & Politics @pspolisci.bsky.social · Apr 5

Now online!

"During moments of political crises, there may be good reasons to avoid discussing current events & controversial topics in the classroom. Yet, it is precisely during these challenging times that students may want to be entrusted with difficult conversations" #polisky

shorturl.at/dOKWu

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Reposted by Elizabeth Nugent

Diana B. Greenwald @dbgreenwald.bsky.social · Mar 18

Check out this webinar next Monday: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
and call for abstracts for an expense-paid June conference in Cairo:
www.arabpsn.org/events/call-...
both on the theme of the "politics and war" in MENA, convened by @arabpsn.bsky.social, CEDEJ, and Middle East Studies at AUC.

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Reposted by Elizabeth Nugent

Democratization @democratization.bsky.social · Mar 16

How do counterrevolutions shape collective memory? In their latest article, @ernugent.bsky.social and Michael T. Hoffman explore disappointment & demobilization in Egypt. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Remembering the counterrevolution: disappointment, denial, and demobilization

While scholars carefully study when revolutions succeed and how they are overturned, far less attention has been paid to the public’s experience of revolution and counterrevolution as well as their...

www.tandfonline.com

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Elizabeth Nugent @ernugent.bsky.social · Mar 6

Congratulations, Laia! Please celebrate it :)

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Reposted by Elizabeth Nugent

Daniel Tavana @danieltavana.bsky.social · Feb 21

Excited to share my new article in the American Journal of Political Science (@ajpseditor.bsky.social)! "Endogenous Opposition: Identity and Ideology in Kuwaiti Electoral Politics" explores how authoritarian elections generate opposition to incumbent autocrats. Link: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ukrer...

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Elizabeth Nugent @ernugent.bsky.social · Feb 20

Still buzzing from last night’s Workshop on Arab Political Development talk by @dbgreenwald.bsky.social! Such important work, done so well, about local governance in occupied Palestine. cup.columbia.edu/book/mayors-...

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Elizabeth Nugent @ernugent.bsky.social · Feb 20

We've got page numbers: "Remembering the Counterrevolution: Disappointment, Denial, and Demobilization" with Michael Hoffman, drawing on evidence from Egypt. doi.org/10.1080/1351...

Remembering the counterrevolution: disappointment, denial, and demobilization

While scholars carefully study when revolutions succeed and how they are overturned, far less attention has been paid to the public’s experience of revolution and counterrevolution as well as their...

doi.org

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Francesc Trillas Jané @francesctrillas.bsky.social · Feb 16

"The only hope lies in the sheer enormity of the threat; it might awake us out of our slumber before it is too late"

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