@marcsinanwinrow
Research Assistant @LSE IR. Teaching Fellow @SOAS. Interested in international and political theory and the normative and historical sources of international order with a focus on Turkey/MENA/eastern Mediterranean.
๐ NEW REPORT: Britain is entering a decade of danger. The post-war order is fracturing, US leadership is uncertain, and Europe is re-arming.
In this paper, Mark Leonard makes the case for a new grand strategy.
Read here: www.ippr.org/articles/bri...
![Voting in Authoritarian Elections
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2025
TURKULER ISIKSEL
Open the ORCID record for TURKULER ISIKSEL [Opens in a new window]
and
THOMAS B. PEPINSKY
Open the ORCID record for THOMAS B. PEPINSKY [Opens in a new window]
Show author details
Article
Figures
Supplementary materials
Comments
Metrics
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]
Abstract
Democratic theorists hold that voting contributes to some political good: individual and collective autonomy, equality, justice, pluralism, stability, better policies, and many others. But elections are common under authoritarianism, and empirical research finds that holding elections can stabilize authoritarian regimes. This creates what we term the democratโs dilemma, where citizens who vote in authoritarian elections may bolster the regimes they wish to unseat, even when they cast a vote for the opposition. We identify three major ways of thinking about the democratic value of electoral participationโjustice-based, epistemic, and proceduralist approachesโand use them to examine the complex moral considerations that confront voters in authoritarian regimes. We contend that authoritarian electionsโ residual democratic value can justify voting, even when doing so could further entrench the autocrat. Our argument also implies that the democratic principles that justify voting in authoritarian elections oblige citizens to choose the most democratic alternative.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2c4hmyxdfk4aky3jeoulhog5/bafkreig6uaxlnavb3rnzc65gpm4f7rlwassqjaqgx5spnhay25qlar6h2y@jpeg)
Voting in Authoritarian Elections Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2025 TURKULER ISIKSEL Open the ORCID record for TURKULER ISIKSEL [Opens in a new window] and THOMAS B. PEPINSKY Open the ORCID record for THOMAS B. PEPINSKY [Opens in a new window] Show author details Article Figures Supplementary materials Comments Metrics Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window] Abstract Democratic theorists hold that voting contributes to some political good: individual and collective autonomy, equality, justice, pluralism, stability, better policies, and many others. But elections are common under authoritarianism, and empirical research finds that holding elections can stabilize authoritarian regimes. This creates what we term the democratโs dilemma, where citizens who vote in authoritarian elections may bolster the regimes they wish to unseat, even when they cast a vote for the opposition. We identify three major ways of thinking about the democratic value of electoral participationโjustice-based, epistemic, and proceduralist approachesโand use them to examine the complex moral considerations that confront voters in authoritarian regimes. We contend that authoritarian electionsโ residual democratic value can justify voting, even when doing so could further entrench the autocrat. Our argument also implies that the democratic principles that justify voting in authoritarian elections oblige citizens to choose the most democratic alternative.
Alarmingly relevant new paper out in @apsrjournal.bsky.social by Turku Isiksel and @tompepinsky.com. They take on the question of whether citizens of authoritarian states should vote in their often unfair elections, & find reason to do so.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
This is the real culture war. Implementing its National Security Strategy the US govt. will directly fund political groups in U.K./Europe to oppose regulation of digital media (online safety act, digital services act etc.). Nationalists ensuring our political, intellectual & cultural subordination.
โThe last two weeks have 'ruptured' world order in the words of the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney. Success will be hard to achieve unless Europe, Canada and a new coalition of middle ranking nations stand up to Trumpโ, writes Francis Ghilรจs
If Starmer does fall, Labour will have one chance to reset. It will have to make the right, decisive calls on leadership and direction.
Donald Trumpโs threat has laid bare the risks of this new era of economic coercion. The UK should urgently shore up ties with others โ not least the EU โ and take steps to protect itself.
Published as part of a special issue on Austro-Marxism, with several excellent contributions and including a translation of Otto Bauer 'Marx's Theory of Economic Crisis' from 1904.
"Is antiliberalism a sufficient cause for communion between the Far Left and the Far Right? Or do such alliances signal a deeper convergence of political passions, reminiscent of the 1930s?"
"But what are we to make of the contemporary alliances between the anti-imperialist Leninist Far Left andthe postcolonial Far Right?"
read.dukeupress.edu/boundary-2/a...
"Returning to Marx, the essay posits (contra Polanyi) that capital demands the constant reassertion of fundamental value, even while it works to undermine all historically specific instances of foundation."
Many thanks again to Michael Cottakis for chairing, and Craig Encer and everyone else from the Anglo-Turkish Society.
It was a great pleasure and privilege to present research from my completed PhD thesis, 'Reconstituting sovereignty: the Young Turksโ efforts to secure external recognition and the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey, 1908 - 1923'. www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1gJ...
New paper on "Representative Democracy Against Oligarchy" in New Political Science by @lawrencehamilton.bsky.social
Read it here: read.dukeupress.edu/nps/article/...
Good quality polling to show that @andyburnham.bsky.social, more than any other senior Labour politician, wins voters back from Reform, so this is significant and to be welcomed. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Our timeline just keeps on giving..
A short while ago this scenario would have seemed over the top, even for a work of fiction.
Yes, Europe has cards on Greenland. Here are 10 of them. @ecfr.eu
Norwayโs Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide: "International law is universal and binding for all states. The American intervention in Venezuela is not in accordance with international law."
Q. Isnโt rage bait two words? A. The Oxford Word of the Year can be a singular word or expression, which our lexicographers think of as a single unit of meaning.
"word" in WOTY is always meant as a single unit of meaning, see
corp.oup.com/news/the-oxf...
We need to start talking about the radicalisation of the older generation by the internet: perhaps we should have upper age limits on social media like Facebook, or an age-related ban on owning mobile phones.
On the left, it is associated with tepidity and compromise. On the right, diversity and national weakness. Can @jerusalem.bsky.social make liberalism cool again?
UK to hold inquiry into foreign financial interference in domestic politics
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
The analysed benefits of staying in the ECHR are: - Safeguarding basic rights in workplaces, courtrooms, hospitals, care homes and newsrooms. - Protecting people at risk, including children, people in care, and victims of domestic violence and modern slavery. - Defending privacy in an age of mass surveillance and data harvesting (e.g. DNA retention limits and bulk interception safeguards). - Enabling accountability after major failures such as the Hillsborough disaster. - Protecting free speech and democracy, and respecting parliamentary sovereignty. - Providing increased protection compared with common law protections, including by providing an external source of accountability through the European Court of Human Rights - Providing rights protections that stand the test of time, adapting to new circumstances and new threats. - Supporting peace and stability in Northern Ireland. - Enabling cooperation on border control, security, data sharing and tackling cross-border crime.
NEW: A report from Oxford's @bonavero.bsky.social identifies, examines, and addresses the counter-arguments for ten key reasons for the UK to remain in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Find out more โฌ๏ธ
#HumanRightsDay
One theme here is the speed of American institutional collapse.
โIt took Erdoฤan 15 years to do what Trump did in 100 days. If [Americans] do not accept the fact that this is a long game, and it will be brutal, I think you wonโt have the patience and stamina to bear it.โ
The joint American and Russian attack on Europe is ideological and if Europe is going to succeed in fighting back - rather than be reduced to an unhappy collection of vassal states - it needs to decide whether it is willing and able to defend its own liberal democratic ideals. My latest
ICYMI: @cihantugal.bsky.social 's analysis on the movement dynamics of HTS and Syria's current political conjunction is still live on our website.
The theory of populism needs to be reconstructed by attention to some of the cases neglected in generalizing debates: India, Turkey, South Africa, China, and Iran. I point out in this article that the dominant theories of populism are based on the West 1/
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
๐ฏ
"Groypers cosplaying as Kennan" indeed: www.programmablemutter.com/p/america-ha...
ii) alliances and partnerships follow market logic, iii) the world is divided into spheres of influence and the US should be the first among equals, iv) radical right and autocratic politics are to be celebrated, if not promoted.