Carl Henrik Knutsen
chknutsen.bsky.social
Carl Henrik Knutsen
@chknutsen.bsky.social

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

Political science 57%
Sociology 20%
Doing Putin's bidding by pretending to be anti-Russian is peak Trump.
God morgen, Norge.
mad king moment

from the PBS Newshour correspondent
mad king moment

from the PBS Newshour correspondent
Back in 2022, we warned that letting Ru get away with anachronistic conquest would unleash other conquests but it did not cross my mind for one second that the US would be the potential perpetrator and its allies the potential victims!
The stakes are real. The choices being made in the coming weeks, months, and years will matter - maybe for the rest of our lives.
These coming years will be the greatest challenge of our lifetime - can Trump consolidate power fast enough, or will pro-democracy forces prevail? In this fight, distinctions between "moderate" and "progressive' are outdated, and we should stop using them. They are meaningless.
A political system in which 1 person's decisions can cause trillions of dollars in losses and a decline in the quality of life for hundreds of millions around the world is simply screwed up.

#US #Trump #Tarrifs

fortune.com/2026/01/17/t...
Just when Wall Street and Corporate America were looking forward to a year without trade fears, the 'Tariff King' strikes again | Fortune
Trump announced tariffs on eight NATO allies and said earlier in the week that countries that do business with Iran would be hit with a 25% duty.
fortune.com
Again, I’m going to keep banging the drum that the fact we are threatening the territorial sovereignty of our closest allies is not only a gross violation of our UN & NATO treaty obligations & poses a massive threat to national security & world order but also should immediately end this presidency.
French troops deploying to Greenland because the United States might try to take it over.

Today in 2026 sentences.
❗️An initial group of 🇫🇷French mountain troops has arrived in 🇬🇱Greenland to prepare for the reception and deployment of the main contingent. French authorities have stated that additional land, aviation, and naval units will be dispatched in the coming days.

Check out our easy-to-use dashboard, which allows you to draw maps, time trends, and other vizualisations on governments and cabinet ministers from across the world 👇
We are happy to release the Paths to Power Dashboard. It is the perfect tool for politics nerds!

You can find it here: ptp.isv.sv.uio.no/ptp/

It allows you to explore governments from 1966-2021 using the PtP and WhoGov datasets. See examples below.

The app has been programmed by Stuart Bramwell.
You can find the article introducing PtP in the link below.

We are always trying to improve, so if you have any suggestions for changes to the app or notice mistakes in the data, then please let us know!
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
We are happy to release the Paths to Power Dashboard. It is the perfect tool for politics nerds!

You can find it here: ptp.isv.sv.uio.no/ptp/

It allows you to explore governments from 1966-2021 using the PtP and WhoGov datasets. See examples below.

The app has been programmed by Stuart Bramwell.
What is happening in America right now. The arbitrary power of a tyrant deployed against his political enemies.
We have cleaned up the crime scene and blocked a local investigation and hidden the perpetrator and invaded the state and that is how you know that we are acting in good faith and that everything was the victim’s fault.
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
Trump Administration Live Updates: Noem Says ‘Hundreds More’ Agents Will Be Sent to Minnesota Over ‘Corruption’
www.nytimes.com
Literal propaganda for the sitting president
The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery removes wall text that referred to Trump’s two impeachments — language that had upset the White House. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/a...
Smithsonian Removes Label Noting Trump Impeachments
www.nytimes.com
The Norwegian Nobel Prize committee has been forced to make a statement, declaring that the prize cannot be transferred.
It's hard even to comprehend how stupid this has become
Im really tired of elites across the spectrum treating Trump with special rules that they apply to no one else.
European Union Finalizes Landmark Trade Deal With South America

Covering Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, the pact highlights the EU’s push for multilateral cooperation amid a U.S. turn toward coercive international policies.
We are happy to announce the call for papers for the third WhoGov Mini-Conference on Political Elites!

It will be held on August 20-21st, 2026 in Oslo. We welcome research on political elites broadly understood and not just papers using WhoGov.

You can find the call here: bit.ly/whogovminico...
Very happy to see this out in CPS! We study class identities and their social and political relevance over several decades in Britain, Denmark, Norway, and the US. A small thread:

journals.sagepub.com/eprint/SIRW4...
What Rs said at the time

Pence: "a dark day"
Rubio: "3rd world style anti-American anarchy"
Cruz: "violence...is ALWAYS wrong"
Graham: Trump's "actions were the problem"
Stefanik: "a truly tragic day"
McCarthy: "undemocratic, un-American and criminal"
McConnell: "a disgrace"

And now we are lied to
According to the White House, this is the "true" timeline of January 6th.
🚨Job alert! 🚨

I'm advertising a PhD position (66%) in Comparative Politics at HU Berlin. Ideal candidates combine a research interest in autocratic politics, conflict, and/or political violence with strong quantitative methods skills.

⏳ 4 (+2) years | 🗓 DL 16.01; Start March/April 26

More info:
Research fellow (m/f/d) in the field of “contentious politics/political violence/autocratic politics” - Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
www.hu-berlin.de
US appears to have begun bombing Venezuela - massive air strikes reported in Caracas and other parts of the country after large explosions reported at a military base.

Maduro gov has now officially blamed US.
By way of preparing for teaching and making sense of current events, I spent today trying to synthesise the demand-side literature on democratic backsliding (see figure below). The starting point of most of this literature is simple: Do voters punish politicians who violate democratic norms, or do
🚨 We’re hiring an Assistant Professor in Political Science

⏰ Deadline 4th January 2026

🙋‍♀️ Any questions, please reach out

👇
🚨 LSE Assistant Professor in Political Science 🚨

We’re hiring a tenure-track assistant professor - any area of empirical political science - to join our wonderful Government Dept @lsegovernment.bsky.social

Any questions, please reach out to me

📣 Please share! 📣

jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
Metaphor alert
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
In this "new" article published in @jeppjournal.bsky.social, Atle Haugsgjerd, @rubenmathisen.bsky.social and I examine how political representation of the populist radical right (PRR) in Europe affects citizens’ satisfaction with democracy.
Populist radical right party representation and satisfaction with democracy in Europe
This paper examines how political representation of the populist radical right (PRR) in Europe affects citizens’ satisfaction with democracy. Earlier research provides conflicting expectations: Som...
www.tandfonline.com

Congratulations with an excellent thesis and impressive defense, Thea! I really enjoyed our conversation :)
Yesterday I defended my thesis and officially became a doctor 🎓
Huge thanks to the committee @chknutsen.bsky.social @hannefjelde.bsky.social for the thoughtful questions and helpful suggestions for future work!
Hi All, Timothy Snyder and I held
a Substack Live a little while ago, and ranged widely on the Russo-Ukraine war. It ended up being divided into two parts. Here is part one where we talk about views of Russia, Ukraine and war in 2022. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...
On the Russo-Ukrainian War with Phillips OBrien
A recording from Phillips P. OBrien and Timothy Snyder's live video
open.substack.com