Citizens hear about democratic backsliding on the news, but they meet it in interactions with street-level bureaucrats. A @Gov_Journal SI, co-edited with @NadineRaaphorst and @gabilotta, explores how populism and democratic erosion shape the work of the frontline public sector🧵.

(3) I know that I semi-consciously favour beautifully written and formatted essays. But genAI is great at generating very fluent output. This means that it becomes particularly important for me to pay attention to the essay content.

(2) Boring, formulaic essay questions are easy to paste into genAI and get boring answers. But they also don't allow creativity to shine (see: (1)).

(1) I know from colleagues in humanities, that they already use creativity as a grading criterion. Might be a good chance to learn from them.

This event by Jonathan Cardoso-Silva gave me 3 lessons about essays as assessment: .1⃣Bump up originality as a grading criterion. 2⃣Use creative essay prompts. 3⃣When grading, pay esp attention to the content, don't be fooled by the beautiful language.

More research is needed. We propose an agenda focusing on: .1⃣ understanding the heterogeneity in populist government strategies, .2⃣ how political pressures translate into implementation behavior, and .3⃣ how citizens perceive and respond to SLBs during democratic erosion.

@AnatGofen conceptually distinguishes between the policy sphere vs. the politics sphere and “SLOs-as-takers” vs. “SLOs-as-makers.” The study highlights how SLOs’ choices—reactive or proactive—can both influence and be influenced by populist strategies.

My paper focuses on Poland and estimates a key factor for SLB resistance: their support for parties leading democratic backsliding. I find that, at least in the early years of PiS rule, SLBs' average support levels were comparable to those in the general population.

@gabilotta, @EvaThomann, @Jan_Vogler, Leandro, @michellevferna2, and Garcia Corrêa explore how populist government responses affect SLBs during crises: a lack of federal and local government support ⬇️ SLB self‐efficacy, whereas resources and managerial support can mitigate this.

Stauffer, Sager, and @jo_kuenzler investigate resilience in public agencies during democratic backsliding. They find that organizational structure, collaboration, and professional standards enhance resilience by mitigating "blame‐avoiding policy implementation".

William Resh, @YongjinAhn1, and @donmoyn study US government shutdowns triggered by anti-statist populism. Shutdowns undermine the quality of government in the eyes of those closest to the work & damage employee morale hindering both immediate and long-term policy implementation.

Gonzalez‐Vazquez and @RikPeeters2 analyze Mexico’s “Servants of the Nation,” a parabureaucracy employed to bypass formal administrative structures. It is used to consolidate control on the ground, esp in settings w/ limited state capabilities and a politicized civil service.

@EDrapalova examines the strategies used by populist governments in Prague, Warsaw, and Budapest to undermine local public administration. The national level exerts control through increased oversight, budget cuts, and administrative obstacles to curb local autonomy.

In a bid to widen the geographic reach of PA research, this issue includes studies from Brazil, Mexico, Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Switzerland, and the US, revealing how SLBs are pressured during crises, how they cope (or don't), and the reciprocal nature of backsliding pressures.

The relationship between SLBs and democratic backsliding is dynamic and reciprocal, as they choose to resist or support backsliding, potentially affecting its outcome. This forced choice itself adds significant stress to their roles.

Research on SLBs in the context of democratic backsliding is crucial for two reasons: .1) SLBs pose a distinct threat to populist governments, separate from the Civil Service. 2) Populism impacts SLBs in ways beyond typical policy misalignments.

Recently, there's been a lot of interest in how democratic backsliding affects government bureaucracies. But populism affects SLBs differently than it does the Civil Service. SLBs aren't behind the scenes—they are the face of the state to most citizens.

Wordle 1,192 1/6. 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩. The word "genius" shouldn't be used lightly.

I've just finished this course on using genAI to amplify critical thinking and it really is worth the 1hr it takes to complete. I'm already thinking of ways to apply the PIQPACC framework to my modules