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lmorgenbesser.bsky.social
Political Scientist, Griffith University | Fellow, Australian Research Council | Authoritarian politics, democratization, dictators, election observation, Southeast Asian politics.
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I regret not publishing this warning in a place where more people would have read it 🙁 Bottom line: ICE now meets all five criteria to be classified as a secret police force. theconversation.com/how-ice-is-b...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Same vibes. Denis Nguesso and Donald Trump would be good friends I reckon.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

One explanation for the emergence of personality cults is that they provide dictators with important signals about the "loyalty" and "unscrupulousness" of their subordinates. Are they faithful to the dictator and are they willing to engage in distasteful acts like repression? It's a yes here 🤡

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

So which version of Trump made this decision? The deranged mad king from the 17th century or the highly sophisticated dictator from the 21st century? Both are unhelpful analogies.

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

I've been experimenting with AI-proof assignments for a long time. Last semester, that meant Soviet video games and sci-fi short stories --and it worked pretty well. My latest Substack essay below. "Teaching in the Age of AI: How I avoided a shitty semester" hegemon.substack.com/p/teaching-i...

submitted 10 days ago • 4 comments

Argh there it is, the inevitable emergence of the person too stupid to know how personalist dictatorships function and yet arrogant enough to believe they would be immune to the dictator’s mad impulses. Lolz

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

Before people say this is the red line that marks America's transition from democratic to authoritarian rule, please remember that Rümeysa Öztürk was abducted in broad daylight by masked government agents months ago. That was the red line. Repression is the origin sin of dictatorships.

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

Putin gets too much credit for authorship of the so-called "Dictator's Handbook." He is like a full professor that did no work but is listed as first author. By 2012, when Russia passed its Foreign Agent Law, almost 97 other countries had already done so. Putin was an emulator, not an innovator.

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... A nice acknowledgement from @mehdirhasan.bsky.social here for my article on ICE ☝️ After I wrote it, the agency started arresting Trump's political opponents. It therefore meets every criteria for being a secret police force 👇 theconversation.com/how-ice-is-b...

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

Another way Trump is different to Orban, Putin, Maduro, Erdogan etc is that he is openly corrupt. At least they have the sensibility to hide their corrupt acts; creating just enough ambiguity to deter lawsuits, investigations, and protests. Trump is more Amin, Duvalier, Gaddafi, Marcos, Mobutu etc.

submitted 39 days ago • 1 comment

With his arrest, ICE now meets all five criteria for being classified as a secret police force. Things will get much worse from here. theconversation.com/how-ice-is-b...

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

Despite frequent criticism of the @nytimes.com, it has done an excellent job in the last month warning people about the moment: America transitioned to an authoritarian regime on 25 March Here is a terrific article leaning on research on comparative authoritarianism www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/o...

submitted 42 days ago • 1 comment

If you have "come to realize that benevolent autocracy is a myth," then perhaps your father was never a benevolent autocrat? He jailed opponents without trial; held uncompetitive elections; silenced the media using libel suits; and stifled political rights. 🤮 www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/o...

submitted 50 days ago • 0 comments

The comparativists are making good sense of US politics: a great new piece by my old friend and collaborator @lmorgenbesser.bsky.social

submitted 52 days ago • 1 comment

At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

submitted 52 days ago • 1 comment

PUBLISHED! I initially hesitated to write this article because the reality of it is so frightening, but the evidence became impossible to ignore. So here I argue that ICE is a secret police force in the making, which is not a claim I make lightly. Free Access - theconversation.com/how-ice-is-b...

submitted 52 days ago • 5 comments