New in Advance Articles in Communist and Post-Communist Studies:

Lukashenka’s Constitutional Plebiscite and the Polarization of Belarusian Society

by Fabian Burkhardt & Jan Matti Dollbaum

#Belarus #autocracies #protest #polarization

https://online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article/doi/10.1525/cpcs.2023.1990500/196997/Lukashenka-s-Constitutional-Plebiscite-and-the

Don’t Count the #Dictators Out
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/china/putin-xi-khamenei-dictators-way
The Underappreciated Resilience of Today’s #Autocracies

Bing continued. In #autocracies, religion can be used to consolidate the autocrat's #power over the people. Autocrats within countries adopt formal regulations to consolidate their hegemonic control over the people⁴. However, moderate religious restriction is likely to engender religious civil #war⁴. The transition from tight restriction to moderate restriction is likely to trigger religious #civilWar⁴. Therefore, moderate religious restriction is dangerous enough to spark religious civil war and religious laissez-faire helps to generate religious #peace ⁴.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Just published with David Stroup in Perspectives on Politics, and it's Open Access!

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592722004182

Our article combines insights from research in #Russia and #China over the years. We argue that conducting ethnographic research in #autocracies makes outsider roles more desirable for identifying the unspoken rules, assumptions, and taken-for-granted aspects of everyday politics in autocracies. Moreover, outsider roles provide ethical advantages in consent, value, and risk.

@charlesmok

Good talk and good to see the point of #democracies having common interests vs #autocracies now having become something *obvious*, well, at least for the #Taiwanese.

Any technology, funding/investment, knowhow, data from democracies exposing potential weaknesses... still flowing into dictatorships makes the despots more belligerent and all democracies less safe.

I am a guest member on @CommonsForeign today from @CommonsEd
RT @CommonsForeign: 🗣 We are now speaking to @FQuimbre , @viviennestern , @HeathershawJ , Sir Anthony Finkelstein, Dr Tim Bradshaw and Alan Mackay in our session on UK universities' engagement with #autocracies

📺Watch live: https://parliamentlive.tv/home/_404?aspxerrorpath=/event/index/61802b36-d10b-4ccc-85ff-5cb8378b57e0

🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/ALewerMBE/status/1630578575983230976

@Euan_MacDonald

"#Russia is now a fascist state. (...) Do you really want their blood money?"

#Authoritarians welcome all money, and blood money helps create 'blood ties', even a 'blood community'.

But why are *democracies* still dealing with this bloody network of #autocracies who crave to undermine #democracy everywhere?

"Strategic investments" from #CCP #PRC and oil-rich arab dictatorships aren't for the long-term success of democracy or universal human rights.

"Taliban-Led Afghan Administration Says Female Students Suspended From Universities"

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-12-20/taliban-led-afghan-administration-says-female-students-suspended-from-universities #autocracies @education #humanrights

It has come to my attention that there is a grave problem with the #fediverse - specifically #mastodon #instances

The #admin has zero accountability for their actions. Who admins the admin?

Instances are little #autocracies. Some will have despots in control.

The only difference - we can leave the instance (as the owner of #scicomm likes to remind me)

We need instances that are #democratically #accountable The #citizens should be making collective decisions how to manage the instance.

It has come to my attention that there is a grave problem with the #fediverse - specifically #mastodon #instances

The admin has zero accountability for their actions. Who admins the admin?

instances are little #autocracies. Some will have despot's in control.

The only difference - we can leave the instance (as the owner of #scicomm likes to remind me)

We need instance's that are #democratically #accountable The #citizens should be making collective decisions how to manage the instance.

https://mas.to/@anjansun/109355997890251547

The next #UNCOP will be in #Dubai. Stop bringing world platform events to #humanrightsabuse nations, to #moneylaundering capitals, to unsustainable oil fuelled #autocracies

Great to speak at @ChathamHouse #CHLondon.

“I want the internet to be a fully open & neutral venue for #innovation, learning and collaboration. Unfortunately, #autocracies have other plans. We must now take steps to protect our own values online.”

🐦🔗: https://nitter.eu/EvaMaydell/status/1540003709249273858