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Xavier Marquez

@marquezxavier

Associate Professor in Political Science at Victoria University of Wellington | Author of "Non-Democratic Politics: Authoritarianism, Dictatorship, and Democratization"

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09.07.2023
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Latest posts by Xavier Marquez @marquezxavier

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Neon Liberalism #61: What is Personalism? Samantha and guest Professor Xavier Márquez talk the nature of non-democratic politics, and why the concept of "personalism" is the key to understanding the dynamics and dysfunctions of the second Tru...

Neon Liberalism #62: Samantha and guest Professor Xavier Márquez talk the nature of non-democratic politics, and why the concept of "personalism" is the key to understanding the dynamics and dysfunctions of the second Trump administration. www.liberalcurrents.com/neon-liberal...

30.01.2026 15:36 👍 24 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 3
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America's Paths to Personalism The three primary risk vectors of the second Trump administration.

Read @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com applying @marquezxavier.bsky.social’s insights to Trump, published in December 2024 www.liberalcurrents.com/americas-pat...

03.01.2026 13:53 👍 10 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 1

You are required to listen to this @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com interview of @marquezxavier.bsky.social, the Liberal Currents High Council has issued the order, you cannot understand our Party Line without doing so.

30.01.2026 15:38 👍 16 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Access and Manipulate Most Available Democracy Datasets Archives a large number of democracy datasets, many of historical interest. It also provides a number of functions to download these datasets (where available) and determine membership of a country in...

New version (0.6.0) of my #rstats package {democracyData} xmarquez.github.io/democracyData/ with @freedomhouse.bsky.social data to 2024, as well as several other sources, plus minor improvements all around

23.10.2025 04:26 👍 15 🔁 12 💬 2 📌 0

Also tagging @seraphinemaerz.bsky.social @adamprz.bsky.social in case it's of interest

23.10.2025 04:31 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 1

Had procrastinated updating this for like 2 years. But it is now up to date and it fixes several bugs and adds new data, including the Varieties of Political Regimes dataset by Steffen Kailitz

23.10.2025 04:26 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Of potential interest to @skaaning.bsky.social (LIED v. 6.8 is there), @svmiller.com @joenoonan.se @chknutsen.bsky.social

23.10.2025 04:26 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Access and Manipulate Most Available Democracy Datasets Archives a large number of democracy datasets, many of historical interest. It also provides a number of functions to download these datasets (where available) and determine membership of a country in...

New version (0.6.0) of my #rstats package {democracyData} xmarquez.github.io/democracyData/ with @freedomhouse.bsky.social data to 2024, as well as several other sources, plus minor improvements all around

23.10.2025 04:26 👍 15 🔁 12 💬 2 📌 0
Repulsive AI art of Donald Trump and Jesus

Repulsive AI art of Donald Trump and Jesus

"how do you show your loyalty? By paying the costs of humiliation. The more grotesquely over the top your praise, the more credible it is as a signal of support for Dear Leader."
www.programmablemutter.com/p/short-post...

27.08.2025 11:26 👍 62 🔁 20 💬 6 📌 6

I've written a couple of papers: www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1... and openaccess.wgtn.ac.nz/articles/cha...

26.07.2025 08:14 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 1
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On the Political Roots of Academic Freedom It is a fine convention to treat the University of Bologna as the first, degree-granting university in the modern sense that has stayed in continuous operation (see, for example, Wikipedia).

On the Political Roots of Academic Freedom open.substack.com/pub/digressi...

02.06.2025 09:39 👍 21 🔁 12 💬 3 📌 5

Thanks! Glad it's useful

08.04.2025 09:43 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

To @jonrauch.bsky.social, @jeffkopstein.bsky.social, and @frankfukuyama.bsky.social, I say: not *just* patrimonialism, but all the facets of personalism (drawing on @marquezxavier.bsky.social) www.liberalcurrents.com/americas-pat...

06.03.2025 14:16 👍 30 🔁 11 💬 2 📌 2
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Diary Week 1

I am keeping a diary of daily events, as they unfold open.substack.com/pub/adamprze... It is available to everyone. I am new to Substack, so please let me know if something is wrong with the link or the file.

19.02.2025 15:56 👍 444 🔁 164 💬 16 📌 58

Everyone needs to know @marquezxavier.bsky.social theory of 'flattery inflation' (short version here - abandonedfootnotes.blogspot.com/2011/12/flat..., academic version papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... )

16.02.2025 16:37 👍 57 🔁 18 💬 4 📌 1

Sounds like a bug - either with your keyboard/touchpad (sending unintended scrolling signals) or perhaps something with Chrome (update and restart to see if it helps?) Sorry!

16.02.2025 09:54 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Post image

downarrow on the top left should show you all your tabs, with the latest thing you opened listed at the top. It should not autoscroll - maybe some other issue is causing the scrolling behaviour?

16.02.2025 09:23 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Two books I recommend right now:
-Non-Democratic Politics by @marquezxavier.bsky.social
-Waging a Good War by Thomas E. Ricks

I am following the daily coverage though. I try to focus on coverage that talks in detail about what specific things they are doing vs simply repeating what they're saying

05.02.2025 20:06 👍 35 🔁 4 💬 2 📌 0
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The mechanisms of personalization This article draws on Max Weber’s account of legitimate authority to argue that there are three key mechanisms that drive the personalization of power in political regimes: the mobilization of char...

“These regimes are characterized by high levels of de-institutionalization, where formal authority is no longer a good guide to the location of power.” - @marquezxavier.bsky.social on patrimonial regimes, in “The Mechanisms of Personalization” www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

02.02.2025 00:03 👍 25 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 2

This is now officially published open access!

27.01.2025 20:24 👍 9 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Logo of "The Review of Politics" featuring the journal's name in white text on a blue and yellow background, with the hashtag #OpenAccess displayed at the bottom.

Logo of "The Review of Politics" featuring the journal's name in white text on a blue and yellow background, with the hashtag #OpenAccess displayed at the bottom.

#OpenAccess from The Review of Politics -

Ancient Tyranny and Modern Dictatorship - cup.org/4hxkLyk

- @marquezxavier.bsky.social

27.01.2025 09:02 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1

And now this is actually officially out, over a year later, open access here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

27.01.2025 03:02 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
As the political scientist Xavier Márquez explains in his recent paper on the topic:
“The personalization of power is the process through which the relative authority of the ruler and the political elite, and hence the relationships of “horizontal” accountability between them, shifts in favour of the ruler. This process is conceptually distinct from autocratization, the loss of “vertical” accountability that results in ruling elites becoming less accountable to the populations over which they rule.”

As the political scientist Xavier Márquez explains in his recent paper on the topic: “The personalization of power is the process through which the relative authority of the ruler and the political elite, and hence the relationships of “horizontal” accountability between them, shifts in favour of the ruler. This process is conceptually distinct from autocratization, the loss of “vertical” accountability that results in ruling elites becoming less accountable to the populations over which they rule.”

Trump’s threats and actions are not subtle but per @marquezxavier.bsky.social we can treat the authoritarian threat component distinctly from the risk of expanding his personal power in office, the most proximate risk right now www.liberalcurrents.com/americas-pat...

05.12.2024 12:23 👍 56 🔁 19 💬 6 📌 3

Today I draw on @marquezxavier.bsky.social’s recent work on how individuals can turn political systems into systems of personal rule. It provides valuable lens for understanding how Trump operates.

05.12.2024 11:14 👍 14 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 1

You may be looking for something more specific....

26.11.2024 18:50 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Revolution and Dictatorship Why the world’s most resilient dictatorships are products of violent revolution

Not sure! Levitsky and Way have a long and informative chapter on Cuba in their book "Revolution and Dictatorship" (press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...) and Andreas Schedler has some cool papers about leadership transitions in Cuba (www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....), but...

26.11.2024 18:49 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 3 📌 0

And now the paper is officially published, free eprint here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/V8C8T...

14.11.2024 08:35 👍 7 🔁 8 💬 3 📌 0

Pairs with www.programmablemutter.com/p/how-chaoti...

17.11.2024 09:16 👍 39 🔁 19 💬 3 📌 2
Preview
The mechanisms of personalization This article draws on Max Weber’s account of legitimate authority to argue that there are three key mechanisms that drive the personalization of power in political regimes: the mobilization of char...

I agree, great stuff! I've been thinking further about personalism here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/V8C8T...

17.11.2024 12:52 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

And now the paper is officially published, free eprint here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/V8C8T...

14.11.2024 08:35 👍 7 🔁 8 💬 3 📌 0