Congratulations, Alex!

Hey Emily! You can find the syllabus for my thesis seminar here (PSC 495/6): www.erinhern.com/teaching.html Happy to chat if you have any questions.

Hi Jenn, I am so sorry you are experiencing this. I had no idea until I just saw this post. Wishing you the very best outcome

8/ Spoiler: siccing the military on protestors is a visible form of autocratization.

7/ I show that, across competitive African elections since 1990, incumbents who carry out more visible forms of autocratization are more likely to be voted out of office. Analysis of survey data shows that perceiving these autocratic actions especially moves the needle for independent voters.

6/ More visible autocratization is more noticeable, more recognizable as a democratic transgression, and harder to rationalize. These acts draw more ire from the public, particularly from independents.

5/ I argue that many types of democratic transgressions are subtle and hard to recognize, and the general public may not notice these actions or understand how they undermine democracy. Where the public does notice, these more subtle actions are easier for incumbents to rationalize.

4/ This research has paid less attention whether the types of transgressions that leaders commit are widely recognizable to the general public as “undemocratic.” In this article, I introduce the concept of “visibility” as it relates to anti-democratic behavior carried out by incumbents.

3/ Why don’t people recognize when democratically elected leaders dismantle democracy? Why don’t they punish them at the ballot box? Great research shows how partisanship prevents electorates from holding leaders accountable after they carry out democratic transgressions. BUT:

2/ TLDR: citizens are far more likely to recognize and react negatively to certain democratic transgressions carried out by would-be autocrats. I term these acts of “visible autocratization,” and show that leaders who do these things are much more likely to be voted out of office.

Congratulations, Natalie! That is wonderful news!

Right? I just finished covering how ISI went for most countries in the 1980s. The idea that he is trying to ISI our way backwards into a manufacturing economy is so unbelievably stupid it hurts.

So prescient.

I have a neighbor who shovels his driveway in this exact getup.

Wait for the reminder email, curse about it, and then squeeze it into the following week 🙃