Centre news
20.06.2024

Christian Gläßel's research paper wins APSA’s Best Article Award in Democracy and Autocracy Section

The award recognizes an article co-authored by Postdoctoral Researcher Christian Gläßel in the American Political Science Review on autocratic repression during international sporting events. 

Published in 2023 by Christian Gläßel, Adam Scharpf (University of Copenhagen), and Pearce Edwards (Carnegie Mellon), the article "International Sports Events and Repression in Autocracies: Evidence from the 1978 FIFA World Cup", has been chosen for the annual APSA Best Article Award in the Democracy and Autocracy Section. The prize will be announced at the American Political Science Association (APSA) Annual Meeting & Exhibition in Philadelphia this September. Previous award winners in this category include Milan Svolik (Yale), Fiona Shen-Bayh (then Berkeley), Lisa Blaydes (Stanford), and Daniel Ziblatt (Harvard).

“Among many excellent papers,” explained Democracy and Autocracy judges Jean Hong (University of Michigan), Lisa Mueller (Macalester) and Anibal Perez-Linan (University of Notre Dame), “the committee selected this article for its ability to uncover how autocratic regimes manage repression in the context of prominent sports events.” Through its thorough dissection of repression during the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina, the judges note that the paper contributes both “obvious historical value” as well as timely “insights on the nexus between politics and sports, and on debates about authoritarian stability, the use of preemptive repression, and the effectiveness of naming and shaming”, with potential applications for human rights organizations.

Read the award-winning article here.

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