Daniel Tavana
danieltavana.bsky.social
Daniel Tavana
@danieltavana.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Political Science, Penn State. I work on elections, identity, and political behavior in the Middle East and North Africa.

danieltavana.com
Pinned
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...
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
OK Sunday 8 am is not the best panel time. I get it.

BUT tomorrow I'm presenting idealstan alongside 3 other banger papers on ideal points & measurement modeling.

You want to know the latest & greatest in quantitative measurement, this is it.

West 120 @ 8 am 🫡

#apsa2025
September 13, 2025 at 8:21 PM
It was my great pleasure to celebrate @natalie-letsa.bsky.social's "The Autocratic Voter: Partisanship and Political Socialization under Dictatorship" today at @apsa.bsky.social. Buy, read, and cite this incredibly important book!

www.cambridge.org/core/books/a...
September 14, 2025 at 3:57 AM
For those in Vancouver, the Democracy and Autocracy Section will be holding our business meeting tomorrow (9/11) from 6:30-7:30pm at the Convention Center (West) Room 115. Our reception will be right after from 7:30-9:30pm at Steamworks Brewpub (375 Water Street). Come join us!
September 10, 2025 at 10:59 PM
The Department of Political Science at Penn State is hiring in CP/IR, for a position focused on non-democratic politics. Link to apply: psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/PSU_Ac...
Assistant Professor, Political Science
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, a...
psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
September 8, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
Vicente Valentim, Elias Dinas, & I came together to do this paper because we have all long shared an intution: mainstream center-right rhetoric shapes democratic norms. The hard part? Showing it empirically. We make some headway in this new paper. Grateful to @bjpols.bsky.social for publishing.
NEW -

How Mainstream Politicians Erode Norms - cup.org/4lfeHvD

"we find that statements by mainstream politicians lead to more norm erosion than similar statements by radical-right politicians"

- @valentimvicente.bsky.social, Elias Dinas & @dziblatt.bsky.social

#OpenAccess
August 12, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
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.
August 25, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
"Political brokers use social networks to identify & target reciprocal non-copartisans for vote buying. Parties recruit brokers central in networks to sway persuadable voters."

From @rduartegonzalez.bsky.social, Finan, @hlarreguy.bsky.social and Schechter:

www.restud.com/brokering-vo...

#Econsky
August 22, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
I had the fortune to help organize, speak at, and participate in, the second Open Scholarship Bootcamp at Penn State. The sessions emphasize resources that are helpful to maintaining open scientific workflows. Materials are openly available here! penn-state-open-science.github.io/bootcamp-202...
August 17, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
Apply to EuroWEPS 12/13! We're organizing the next EuroWEPS workshops at Bocconi (Nov 14) and EUI (Dec 15) to discuss designs/papers focusing on causal inference. No presentations, just constructive discussions. Early career scholars are especially welcome to apply! Submission deadline is Sep 30
August 14, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Call for applications now open! @apsamena.bsky.social Methods Workshop on Engaged Research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) web.apsanet.org/mena/
MENA
APSA MENA Workshops
web.apsanet.org
August 8, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
New preprint with @cmparreira.bsky.social and Lindsay Walsh posted to @socarxiv.bsky.social: "From Protest to Parliament: Lebanon’s October Revolution and the Rise of Movement Parties." Link: osf.io/preprints/so...
July 22, 2025 at 10:06 PM
New preprint with @cmparreira.bsky.social and Lindsay Walsh posted to @socarxiv.bsky.social: "From Protest to Parliament: Lebanon’s October Revolution and the Rise of Movement Parties." Link: osf.io/preprints/so...
July 22, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
From May 2025 -

Legislative Cooptation in Authoritarian Regimes: Policy Cooperation in the Kuwait National Assembly - cup.org/4iVKa4R

- @danieltavana.bsky.social & Erin York

#OpenAccess
July 15, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
If you’re curious the assassination of the IRGC commanders creates a rally around the flag. I suggest reading my recent coauthored article. #IRGC is not a liked in #Iran due to its participation in repression of oppositions. Some of Iranians actually celebrating it.

academic.oup.com/fpa/article/...
Who Rallies Round the Flag? The Impact of the US Sanctions on Iranians’ Attitude toward the Government
Abstract. While politicians often argue that economic sanctions can induce policy changes in targeted states by undermining elite and public support for th
academic.oup.com
June 13, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
A scary development in world politics is that dictators tend to stick around for longer
June 7, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
Last month, Lebanon held its first local elections since 2016. Over the past nine years, the country has experienced a series of upheavals and crises - yet the most remarkable feature of these elections was (mostly) how much they resembled previous ones. Some key takeaways /1
June 2, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
OPM memo: Fed job applicants must now pledge in writing to implement Trump's political agenda.

The final step in the Authoritarian playbook on the civil service:

✅ Purges disguised as "efficiency"
✅ Gut oversight agencies
✅ Weaken regulatory enforcement
➡️ Replace experts with loyalists ← UNDERWAY
The DOGE Purge: Empirical Evidence of Politically Motivated Firings
And what it means for American Democracy
open.substack.com
May 30, 2025 at 3:55 AM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
*DEADLINE TOMORROW!* ⚠️
The Call for Papers for our Fall 2025 Workshop series is now OPEN! Polisky Dictatorsky
To apply complete this form by May 31st: forms.gle/SvZv98ke4QUT...
You can find more information here on the CfP: apsg.work/cfp/
Apply to Present Your Work!
Complete the form to be considered for the Authoritarian Political Systems Group Fall 2025 Season. Read the Seminar Rules before applying.
forms.gle
May 30, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
Please circulate!
@wpmarble
and I are looking for a part-time RA to help with various data tasks. This is a remote-work position that is ideal for recent graduates who are considering applying for a social science PhD. Apply here: forms.gle/EN3JLUiNm8m4...
Research Assistant Position with Malik and Marble
Prof. Mashail Malik (Harvard) and Dr. William Marble (Stanford) are searching for a part-time research assistant (RA) primarily for a project on the political integration of immigrants in the United S...
forms.gle
May 28, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
New Article from our latest issue (Issue 7, 2025): "Mobilization Capacity and Violence Against Local Leaders: Anticlerical Violence During the Spanish Civil War" by Paloma Aguilar, @fdelacuesta.bsky.social, Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca, and @franvillamil.bsky.social

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
May 23, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
In our new article, we show that groups that claim credit for attacks have shorter lifespans. Not because of government crackdowns, but likely from internal breakdowns.

These findings raise questions about how state threats shape terrorist behavior and whether the logic of deterrence really holds.
May 22, 2025 at 7:03 PM
For those interested in fieldwork and research ethics, this is a must-read by @separkinson.bsky.social: "Indiana Jones & the Institutional Review Board: Disciplinary Incentives, Researcher Archetypes & the Pathologies of Knowledge Production." Link: doi.org/10.1162/daed...
May 20, 2025 at 5:15 PM
The Doha Institute is hiring a post-doc with experience in network analysis, statistics, and information technology. Link: www.dohainstitute.edu.qa/en/Careers/P...
Doha Institute for Graduate Studies
The Doha Institute for Graduate Studies (DI) was founded in Qatar in 2015 as a Doha-based independent institution of higher education.
www.dohainstitute.edu.qa
May 17, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
NEW -

Legislative Cooptation in Authoritarian Regimes: Policy Cooperation in the Kuwait National Assembly - cup.org/4iVKa4R

- @danieltavana.bsky.social & Erin York

#OpenAccess
May 14, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Reposted by Daniel Tavana
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...
May 14, 2025 at 4:12 PM