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Benjamin Yoel

Benjamin Yoel
  • PhD Candidate

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION

Benjamin's main research areas include democratic backsliding, political violence, nonviolent resistance, and authoritarian politics. His dissertation project examines the causes and consequences of opposition to democratic backsliding, both in the Middle East and globally. Using survey experiments, quantitative text analysis, and in-depth fieldwork, he examines the conditions under which opposition movements are likely to succeed in resisting backsliding and mobilizing public support for their cause. Benjamin also has research projects on the determinants of women's representation in cabinets in autocracies and backsliding regimes and data projects introducing novel data on the rise of cultural issues in politics in backsliding democracies as well as data on democratic backsliding as an events-based process.

BIOGRAPHY

Benjamin is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at MSU, a data consultant for the Democratic Erosion Consortium, and a visiting PhD student at the University of Chicago's Center on Democracy.  His research has been generously funded by the College of Social Science at MSU, the Institute for Liberty and Responsibility at Reichman University, and the Institute for Humane Studies, and his work has been published in American Politics Research, the International Journal of Public Opinion Research, and Democratization. In addition, Benjamin is a research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) and was previously an editorial assistant at the Journal of Politics. Benjamin received his B.A. and M.A. in Government (specializing in conflict studies) from Reichman University in Israel (both with honors) and a second M.A. in Political Science from MSU.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Benjamin Yoel

Professional website

benjaminyoel.com

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  1.  Cavari, Amnon, Amichai Magen, and Benjamin Yoel. 2024. “U.S. Democratic Backsliding and the Decline of Democratic Support Abroad.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 36(2): 1-13.,
  2. Cavari, Amnon, Benjamin Yoel, and Hannah Lowenkamp. 2021. “In the Name of the President.” American Politics Research 49(6): 666-680.,
  3. Yoel, Benjamin. 2024. “Review of Resisting Backsliding: Opposition Strategies against the Erosion of Democracy. 2022. By Laura Gamboa. Cambridge University Press.” Democratization 31(3): 681-682.