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Paul Schuler @paulschuler.bsky.social · 1d

We have a new article in @cpsjournal.bsky.social theorizing founding leader personality cult emergence in Vietnam, China and Indonesia. It'll be part of a special issue "Imagining Nations" w/ @eunajo.bsky.social, @deandulay.bsky.social, @jiyoungko.bsky.social

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

Founding Leaders and National Narratives: Anthropomorphism and the Roots of Founding Leader Personality Cults in Three East Asian Cases - Paul Schuler, Trung-Anh Nguyen, Yongfeng Tang, Mohammad Khan, ...

Founding leader personality cults are crucial components of national narratives. Yet, relatively little research examines how they emerge. A small political sci...

journals.sagepub.com

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Reposted by Paul Schuler

Tony Yang @tzyang.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨 Call for Papers: 2026 WPSA Mini-Conference on Authoritarian Politics 🚨

Jun Sudduth, @paulschuler.bsky.social, and I are excited to see y’all in San Diego! We welcome formal and empirical papers on a broad range of topics.

📌 Apply here. Share with colleagues & students:
forms.gle/Dv2SBEduFxSh...

Mini-Conference on Authoritarian Politics, WPSA 2026

April 2-4, 2026 Location: Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego, California Contact us: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

forms.gle

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Paul Schuler @paulschuler.bsky.social · Aug 16

For all Southeast Asianist scholars, please consider submitting a paper proposal for SEAREG at UC-San Diego in December.

dcid.sanford.duke.edu/seareg-thema...

SEAREG Thematic Sessions | Duke Center for International Development

SEAREG Thematic Sessions - Duke Center for International Development

dcid.sanford.duke.edu

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Comparative Political Studies @cpsjournal.bsky.social · Jun 3

In today’s thread, we will revisit the articles published in Issue 2 of our 2024 volume. We hope you find them insightful!

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John Morales @johnmoralestv.bsky.social · Jun 3

Cuts have consequences, illustrated. As seen on TV 📺

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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · May 22

If this stands, and if it spreads, it would be a crushing blow to higher education in America -- and also a major new contributor to our trade deficits.

Higher ed is one of the most reliable surplus drivers that our country can offer.

Free link www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/u...

Trump Administration Halts Harvard’s Ability to Enroll International Students

www.nytimes.com

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Mai Truong @maitruong0526.bsky.social · Apr 29

muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

We started this project nearly five years ago, when we were both graduate students — I had just begun my third year of the PhD program at the University of Arizona. It's incredibly rewarding to see how far this work has come!

Project MUSE - A Warning from Above: How Authoritarian Anti-Protest Propaganda Works

muse.jhu.edu

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Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · Apr 22

“He has simply disappeared,” said a friend.

“I have not heard of a disappearance like this in my 40-plus years of practicing and teaching immigration law.,” said one law prof. “This case represents a black hole where due process no longer exists."

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/u...

A Venezuelan Is Missing. The U.S. Deported Him. But to Where? (Gift Article)

The immigrant does not appear on a list of people sent to a prison in El Salvador, and his family and friends have no idea of his whereabouts. He has essentially disappeared.

www.nytimes.com

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · Mar 25

A fantastically important postscript to this piece: David Graham asks Jeffrey Goldberg about possible retaliation, and Goldberg gives a perfect answer — with perfect swipes. www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

David: Are you concerned about retaliation from the Trump administration because of this story?

Jeffrey: It’s not my role to care about the possibility of threats or retaliation. We just have to come to work and do our jobs to the best of our ability. Unfortunately, in our society today—we see this across corporate journalism and law firms and other industries—there’s too much preemptive obeying for my taste. All we can do is just go do our jobs.

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Page Fortna @pagefortna.bsky.social · Mar 23

Letter to leadership of universities being targeted, to run in Chronicle tomorrow. Academic friends, pls sign if you are a US citizen and tenured (ie it’s safe for you to do so)
“We Must Leverage the Strength of Our Institutions and Stand Together”
Text in replies

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

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Reposted by Paul Schuler

Eric Klinenberg @ericklinenberg.bsky.social · Mar 17

Chilling report from Brown University.

Administration advises all foreign students, staff, and faculty to postpone or reconsider (ie cancel) international travel, due to federal government's crackdown on universities.

Brown also warns against *domestic travel* -since it's unclear what ICE will do.

Brown University advises all international community members to postpone, reconsider travel

One week before spring break, Brown advised international community members, including green card holders and permanent residents, to postpone international travel in a campus-wide email sent on Sunda...

www.browndailyherald.com

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Paul Schuler @paulschuler.bsky.social · Mar 17

Backsliding in the US may be worse than other global cases. Hungary, Poland, and India at least followed Scheppele's "authoritarian legalism" model where laws were manipulated, but followed. Here, the laws are flouted flagrantly. This is more unapologetic and blatant.

www.cnn.com/2025/03/17/p...

Analysis: White House denies ignoring court order halting Venezuelan deportations | CNN Politics

The White House is denying that it violated a judge’s order Saturday to halt the deportations of Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, which, if it did occur, would take legal showdowns over the adm...

www.cnn.com

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Reposted by Paul Schuler

Colin Woodard @colinwoodard.bsky.social · Mar 16

Authoritarianism warning:

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · Mar 16

Texas legislators considering a bill that would put all public university course curricula and faculty hiring in the hands of ruling party political appointees and politicians, effectively ending academic freedom.

Texas bill would increase oversight of universities’ hiring, curriculum and compliance

Senate Bill 37 would create a state office to investigate complaints against universities and require governing boards to ensure courses don’t endorse certain ideologies.

www.texastribune.org

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · Mar 14

If the government can do this to universities, we don't live in a free society. Five alarm fire.

Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · Mar 14

I’m told this is a real letter. It basically says, “We’ll destroy Columbia unless you destroy it first.”

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Popehat Agitates And Irritates @kenwhite.bsky.social · Mar 11

Ok I know this is old-man irritability but I don’t care if Mahmoud Khalil has a pregnant wife, I don’t care if he and his wife are childfree, I don’t care if he’s in a fucking polycule with a hedgehog and a jar of mayonnaise, NOBODY should be detained for protected speech, including singletons.

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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · Mar 9

The White House, not even DHS, the White House itself apparently, is directly deciding which permanent residents should be detained and deported based on their political speech.

If this doesn’t scare you about the state of our democracy and liberties, I don’t know what will.

Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · Mar 9

Breaking: DHS detains Palestinian student from Columbia.

BREAKING: DHS Detains Palestinian Student from Columbia Encampment, Advocates Say

Agents told him his student visa was revoked. But he had a green card. Agents then said that was revoked too.

open.substack.com

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Paul Schuler @paulschuler.bsky.social · Mar 9

I think this would be a good idea. Undergrads are always concerned about timely grading. Perhaps reminding them that grading relies on grad students, which relies on funding

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Paul Schuler @paulschuler.bsky.social · Mar 6

Nice piece by @thiembui.bsky.social on the reduced role of the Vietnam National Assembly. thediplomat.com/2025/03/the-...

For context, my work on the relationship between the party, gov't and VNA helps explain why it's happening
www.amazon.com/United-Front...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

United Front: Projecting Solidarity through Deliberation in Vietnam’s Single-Party Legislature (Studies of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center)

United Front: Projecting Solidarity through Deliberation in Vietnam’s Single-Party Legislature (Studies of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center) [Schuler, Paul] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. United Front: Projecting Solidarity through Deliberation in Vietnam’s Single-Party Legislature (Studies of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center)

www.amazon.com

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Jesse Eisinger @jeisinger.bsky.social · Feb 20

REMINDER: Cutting IRS spending is not a “cost-cutting” move.

Cutting the IRS lowers revenue.

It’s a move to protect the wealthy, like Elon Musk.

Auditing the rich returns $12 for every $1 spent.

www.nber.org/papers/w31376

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Melanie D’Arrigo @darrigomelanie.bsky.social · Feb 8

Tesla paid $0 in federal income tax last year.

2022: $0
2021: $0
2020: $0
2019: $0
2018: $0

Tesla reported $6.7 billion in profit in those years.

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Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · Feb 6

I’ve been studying civil rights protests for 20 years. With new mobilization against Trump’s agenda, I’m sharing a thread summarizing my research on how nonviolent & violent actions by 1960s activists and police influenced media, elites, public opinion & voters. 1/ www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Article title: Agenda Seeding: How 1960s Black Protests Moved Elites, Public Opinion and Voting

Article Abstract

How do stigmatized minorities advance agendas when confronted with hostile majorities? Elite theories of influence posit marginal groups exert little power. I propose the concept of agenda seeding to describe how activists use methods like disruption to capture the attention of media and overcome political asymmetries. Further, I hypothesize protest tactics influence how news organizations frame demands. Evaluating black-led protests between 1960 and 1972, I find nonviolent activism, particularly when met with state or vigilante repression, drove media coverage, framing, congressional speech, and public opinion on civil rights. Counties proximate to nonviolent protests saw presidential Democratic vote share increase 1.6–2.5%. Protester-initiated violence, by contrast, helped move news agendas, frames, elite discourse, and public concern toward “social control.” In 1968, using rainfall as an instrument, I find violent protests likely caused a 1.5–7.9% shift among whites toward Republicans and tipped the election. Elites may dominate political communication but hold no monopoly.

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Paul Schuler @paulschuler.bsky.social · Feb 6

Given the inability for any of these studies to randomize protests and ID the causal effect, the claim that protesting in the streets is "stupid" too certain for the evidence

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Paul Schuler @paulschuler.bsky.social · Jan 17

If you are a Ph.D student studying SE Asia developing your prospectus, please consider this pre dissertation grant for fieldwork. The grant is up to $5000 and sponsored by the Southeast Asia Research Group (SEAREG). Feel free to contact me with any questions.

dcid.sanford.duke.edu/seareg-pre-d...

SEAREG Pre-Dissertation Fellowship | Duke Center for International Development

The Fellowship assists social science Ph.D. students engaged in exploratory research who must travel to Southeast Asia in order to obtain the advanced contextual knowledg

dcid.sanford.duke.edu

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