Key Highlights
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A new global dataset reveals that the most effective way to protect a nonviolent revolution from being overturned may be the use of armed violence, challenging the core assumption that nonviolence alone is the safest path to democracy. This surprising finding from the ROAD dataset opens up critical new questions about how to secure democratic transitions.
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In autocracies where leaders don’t face elections, peacemakers with dovish foreign policy views are more successful than hardline hawks, flipping the script on who can best make peace. This means the popular belief that only tough leaders can make credible peace deals doesn’t hold true in non-democratic settings.
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When cities help immigrants become citizens, those immigrants become more politically active and feel more capable as citizens compared to those who go through the process alone. This shows that local governments can play a powerful role in building an engaged citizenry, even when national policies are hostile.
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The idea that mixed electoral systems automatically boost women’s representation through “compensatory effects” is a myth, according to new research. In reality, it’s the internal organization and rules of political parties, not the system’s design alone, that determine how many women get elected.
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Who tells a policy story matters: people are more motivated to follow health advice when it comes from someone close to them, like a friend, and when the story features people like them. This reveals that effective public communication depends on matching the messenger with the audience’s everyday world.
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