Ben Yoel
@benyoel.bsky.social
On the market! PhD candidate in Political Science at MSU | Predoctoral Fellow @ SNF Agora | IPPSR Fellow | resistance to democratic erosion | Past: UChicago Visiting PhD student, Reichman University alum, EA @ Journal of Politics | benjaminyoel.com
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Ben Yoel
@benyoel.bsky.social
· Aug 15
Benjamin Yoel | Department of Political Science | Michigan State University
polisci.msu.edu
Now that it's up online, I guess it's official: I'm on the job market! I study democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, and nonviolent resistance. My dissertation focuses on the nexus of domestic and international factors in shaping opposition to democratic erosion: polisci.msu.edu/graduate/hir...
Reposted by Ben Yoel
Now that it's up online, I guess it's official: I'm on the job market! I study democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, and nonviolent resistance. My dissertation focuses on the nexus of domestic and international factors in shaping opposition to democratic erosion: polisci.msu.edu/graduate/hir...
Benjamin Yoel | Department of Political Science | Michigan State University
polisci.msu.edu
August 15, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Now that it's up online, I guess it's official: I'm on the job market! I study democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, and nonviolent resistance. My dissertation focuses on the nexus of domestic and international factors in shaping opposition to democratic erosion: polisci.msu.edu/graduate/hir...
R&R!!! What a terrific way to end the week.
October 24, 2025 at 9:09 PM
R&R!!! What a terrific way to end the week.
Getting survey data back is always an exciting moment! Huge thanks to @prl.bsky.social for letting @hmridge.bsky.social and I include our conjoint experiment in your larger survey!! Results soon…
October 22, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Getting survey data back is always an exciting moment! Huge thanks to @prl.bsky.social for letting @hmridge.bsky.social and I include our conjoint experiment in your larger survey!! Results soon…
@liampert.bsky.social, @mattgrossmann.bsky.social, and I are thrilled to launch SenateData, a new repository pertaining to the US Senate. We have variables on facets like bills, and members, including original data on senator characteristics and an associated R package. github.com/IPPSR/Senate...
GitHub - IPPSR/SenateData: SenateData: A Functional Tool for the SenateData Dataset
SenateData: A Functional Tool for the SenateData Dataset - IPPSR/SenateData
github.com
October 13, 2025 at 6:19 PM
@liampert.bsky.social, @mattgrossmann.bsky.social, and I are thrilled to launch SenateData, a new repository pertaining to the US Senate. We have variables on facets like bills, and members, including original data on senator characteristics and an associated R package. github.com/IPPSR/Senate...
Reposted by Ben Yoel
Party leaders often face a tough choice: should they join forces with other parties in pre-electoral coalitions or run alone? The stakes are even higher when opposition parties try to unseat an authoritarian incumbent.
October 11, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Party leaders often face a tough choice: should they join forces with other parties in pre-electoral coalitions or run alone? The stakes are even higher when opposition parties try to unseat an authoritarian incumbent.
Couldn't have said this better myself. Thomas's threads are always on point.
Coordination is hard. Broad-based, pro-democracy coalitions are really hard.
Yet, I’ve still been deeply disappointed by civil society—especially CEOs who’ve stayed silent even as their core business are threatened.
But I’ve also been encouraged by the boldness of some local and state leaders.
Yet, I’ve still been deeply disappointed by civil society—especially CEOs who’ve stayed silent even as their core business are threatened.
But I’ve also been encouraged by the boldness of some local and state leaders.
October 10, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Couldn't have said this better myself. Thomas's threads are always on point.
Thanks to @verasight.bsky.social, I was able to include a question at APSA. Given my line of work, I asked respondents (N=1,000, in the US) to weigh the extent to which they believed it was worth allying with groups you strongly disagree with to defend democracy (a common dilemma oppositions face).
October 10, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Thanks to @verasight.bsky.social, I was able to include a question at APSA. Given my line of work, I asked respondents (N=1,000, in the US) to weigh the extent to which they believed it was worth allying with groups you strongly disagree with to defend democracy (a common dilemma oppositions face).
It's been an exciting month working as a predoctoral fellow at JHU's @snfagora.bsky.social with Consuelo Amat! Nice to see my bio up on the SNF website: snfagora.jhu.edu/directory/be...
Benjamin Yoel
Meet the dedicated team behind the SNF Agora Institute, including our esteemed faculty, innovative fellows, and passionate staff. Learn more.
snfagora.jhu.edu
October 6, 2025 at 3:17 PM
It's been an exciting month working as a predoctoral fellow at JHU's @snfagora.bsky.social with Consuelo Amat! Nice to see my bio up on the SNF website: snfagora.jhu.edu/directory/be...
Reposted by Ben Yoel
So happy to see this out! We caution against excessive optimism that the opposition will restore countries back to their democratic trajectories after electoral victory. Weakened institutions and the memory of repression makes it tempting to continue rather than buck the trend of autocratization.
Conventional wisdom says that, once in power, opposition parties will return backsliding countries to the democratic path. In reality, not only is this not true, but it is not uncommon for the opposition to adopt the autocratic habits of the regime they replaced.
muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...
1/2
muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...
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October 1, 2025 at 5:27 PM
So happy to see this out! We caution against excessive optimism that the opposition will restore countries back to their democratic trajectories after electoral victory. Weakened institutions and the memory of repression makes it tempting to continue rather than buck the trend of autocratization.
Shana Tova U Metuka to everyone else celebrating!!
September 22, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Shana Tova U Metuka to everyone else celebrating!!
First in person APSA ✔️! I had the pleasure of presenting my job market research on opposition to democratic backsliding, meeting old and new friends from around the world, and exploring Vancouver.
September 14, 2025 at 5:51 PM
First in person APSA ✔️! I had the pleasure of presenting my job market research on opposition to democratic backsliding, meeting old and new friends from around the world, and exploring Vancouver.
Had the pleasure of presenting my dissertation work on international pressure and opposition to democratic backsliding this morning at APSA in Vancouver. Grateful to attendees, @lgamboa.bsky.social and @orcunselcuk.bsky.social for discussant comments, and an excellent discussion on backsliding!
September 11, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Had the pleasure of presenting my dissertation work on international pressure and opposition to democratic backsliding this morning at APSA in Vancouver. Grateful to attendees, @lgamboa.bsky.social and @orcunselcuk.bsky.social for discussant comments, and an excellent discussion on backsliding!
APSA and Vancouver bound! I’m thrilled to have organized the panel, “democratic backsliding and opposition resistance,” taking place tomorrow at 8am PT. I’ll be presenting findings from my dissertation on international pressure and opposition to democratic erosion along with some great scholars.
September 10, 2025 at 11:49 AM
APSA and Vancouver bound! I’m thrilled to have organized the panel, “democratic backsliding and opposition resistance,” taking place tomorrow at 8am PT. I’ll be presenting findings from my dissertation on international pressure and opposition to democratic erosion along with some great scholars.
I’m pleased to share that my review of @alexislerner.bsky.social’s new book is out @iajournal.bsky.social. It’s an excellent book that draws attentions to street art as a tool oppositions can use in dictatorships but also how dictators can co-opt such strategies. academic.oup.com/ia/article-a...
Post-Soviet graffiti: free speech in authoritarian states
In recent decades, authoritarianism has resurged globally. Yet, scholars still lack a strong sense of the full repertoire of means that opposition actors c
academic.oup.com
September 7, 2025 at 1:03 PM
I’m pleased to share that my review of @alexislerner.bsky.social’s new book is out @iajournal.bsky.social. It’s an excellent book that draws attentions to street art as a tool oppositions can use in dictatorships but also how dictators can co-opt such strategies. academic.oup.com/ia/article-a...
APSA paper submitted! I'm excited to share that I'll be presenting one of my dissertation papers, in which I examine the effect of international rhetoric on opposition movement behavior in backsliding democracies, using an original dataset of US Secretary of State speeches. I'm also on the market!
September 4, 2025 at 11:47 PM
APSA paper submitted! I'm excited to share that I'll be presenting one of my dissertation papers, in which I examine the effect of international rhetoric on opposition movement behavior in backsliding democracies, using an original dataset of US Secretary of State speeches. I'm also on the market!
Reposted by Ben Yoel
🚨 New in Journal of Politics! 🚨
Do radical right parties need to cut ties with old dictatorships to succeed?
👉 @sergipardos.bsky.social and my study of Spain’s VOX says: ❌ Not necessarily.
Do radical right parties need to cut ties with old dictatorships to succeed?
👉 @sergipardos.bsky.social and my study of Spain’s VOX says: ❌ Not necessarily.
August 28, 2025 at 7:55 AM
🚨 New in Journal of Politics! 🚨
Do radical right parties need to cut ties with old dictatorships to succeed?
👉 @sergipardos.bsky.social and my study of Spain’s VOX says: ❌ Not necessarily.
Do radical right parties need to cut ties with old dictatorships to succeed?
👉 @sergipardos.bsky.social and my study of Spain’s VOX says: ❌ Not necessarily.
Today officially marks my first day as a predoctoral fellow @snfagora.bsky.social! I'll be working with @consueloamat.bsky.social on lots of cool things related to nonviolent resistance and democracy. I'm grateful for this opportunity and the many people in my department @ MSU for their support.
August 25, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Today officially marks my first day as a predoctoral fellow @snfagora.bsky.social! I'll be working with @consueloamat.bsky.social on lots of cool things related to nonviolent resistance and democracy. I'm grateful for this opportunity and the many people in my department @ MSU for their support.
Finally, a paper from my dissertation submitted for review!!
August 20, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Finally, a paper from my dissertation submitted for review!!
Now that it's up online, I guess it's official: I'm on the job market! I study democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, and nonviolent resistance. My dissertation focuses on the nexus of domestic and international factors in shaping opposition to democratic erosion: polisci.msu.edu/graduate/hir...
Benjamin Yoel | Department of Political Science | Michigan State University
polisci.msu.edu
August 15, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Now that it's up online, I guess it's official: I'm on the job market! I study democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, and nonviolent resistance. My dissertation focuses on the nexus of domestic and international factors in shaping opposition to democratic erosion: polisci.msu.edu/graduate/hir...
Reposted by Ben Yoel
Before my PhD, I worked mostly in arts and media. Regimes invest lots in AV media, but Pol Sci largely doesn't engage it.
So I was thrilled to see images in the proofs for Film-Making the Nation Great Again with @draege.bsky.social. We analyze autocrats' AV instrumentalizations of history.
So I was thrilled to see images in the proofs for Film-Making the Nation Great Again with @draege.bsky.social. We analyze autocrats' AV instrumentalizations of history.
August 15, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Before my PhD, I worked mostly in arts and media. Regimes invest lots in AV media, but Pol Sci largely doesn't engage it.
So I was thrilled to see images in the proofs for Film-Making the Nation Great Again with @draege.bsky.social. We analyze autocrats' AV instrumentalizations of history.
So I was thrilled to see images in the proofs for Film-Making the Nation Great Again with @draege.bsky.social. We analyze autocrats' AV instrumentalizations of history.
My undergrad RA, Jeanette Dompreh, recently presented some descriptive results from the data collection she's been helping me with for my dissertation on US Secretary of State rhetoric and pro-democracy movements. One of the most exciting parts about working with undergrads. Check it out!
August 12, 2025 at 7:06 PM
My undergrad RA, Jeanette Dompreh, recently presented some descriptive results from the data collection she's been helping me with for my dissertation on US Secretary of State rhetoric and pro-democracy movements. One of the most exciting parts about working with undergrads. Check it out!
Overleaf down for anyone else by any chance?
August 12, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Overleaf down for anyone else by any chance?
Anyone I know have experience solving issues with text data in R or Python? I'm having spillover of my speech data into my metadata cols (e.g., location) and trying to figure out how to merge those back into the actual speech data col. Any and all help much appreciated. Thank you!!
August 8, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Anyone I know have experience solving issues with text data in R or Python? I'm having spillover of my speech data into my metadata cols (e.g., location) and trying to figure out how to merge those back into the actual speech data col. Any and all help much appreciated. Thank you!!
Book review accepted and forthcoming in @iajournal.bsky.social! I had the pleasure of reviewing @alexislerner.bsky.social's book on the role of graffiti in resistance to dictatorship. Lerner makes "a compelling case for expanding the study of dissent beyond mass mobilization and digital activism."
August 7, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Book review accepted and forthcoming in @iajournal.bsky.social! I had the pleasure of reviewing @alexislerner.bsky.social's book on the role of graffiti in resistance to dictatorship. Lerner makes "a compelling case for expanding the study of dissent beyond mass mobilization and digital activism."