{"id":187602,"date":"2026-02-16T08:45:56","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T07:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/hvad-har-ph-d-studerende-og-ice-agenter-tilfaelles-karrierepres\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T13:14:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T12:14:26","slug":"what-do-phd-students-and-ice-agents-have-in-common-career-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/what-do-phd-students-and-ice-agents-have-in-common-career-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"What do PhD students and ICE agents have in common? Career pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span>t is a pattern repeated throughout history. A dictator comes to power. He quickly sets up a secret police force. It has no scruples. It murders, tortures, and makes people disappear.<\/p>\n

Researchers have for many years tried to explain what kind of people would volunteer to do the dirty work in the service of a dictator. The assumption is often that it has to be a job for a particularly ruthless type of person with a dubious moral compass. But according to Adam Scharpf, an associate professor of political science at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH), this assumption is rarely true. More often, there is a completely different, and very banal, reason why people sign up to commit such atrocities. The reason is deeply human. In fact, it can all be boiled down to something as simple as career pressure.<\/p>\n

Our democracies are eroding. We see this both in young and established democracies.<\/p>\n

Adam Scharpf, associate professor of political science<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00bbEven the most brutal, illegal, or immoral actions committed by organisations are carried out by individuals who go through career problems,\u00ab says Adam Scharpf.<\/p>\n

Together with his colleague Christian Gl\u00e4\u00dfel from Hertie School, Adam Scharpf has set out to investigate what it is that has ordinary people committing atrocities. On 13 February, they published the book Making a Career in a Dictatorship: The Secret Logic behind Repression and Coups<\/em>, where they explain the phenomenon.<\/p>\n

\u00bbHannah Arendt described it in her famous work Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil<\/em>. In our book, we show how this banality is generated.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Dictatorships are making a comeback<\/h3>\n

In their research, Adam Scharpf and his colleague Christian Gl\u00e4\u00dfel focus\u00a0on autocratic regimes.<\/p>\n

\u00bbWe found it hard to think of any organisations that are more evil than the security services in dictatorships. That is why they are the focus of the book.\u00ab<\/p>\n

READ ALSO: <\/strong>As Trump tears up the rulebook, academics use a new concept<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

PROFILE<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/picture><\/p>\n

Adam Scharpf is an associate professor of comparative politics<\/strong> at the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH). His research focuses on autocracies, specifically, their security apparatuses.<\/p>\n

He studied<\/strong> Politics and Public Administration at the University of Konstanz (2005\u20132012) and completed a PhD in political science at the University of Mannheim (2012\u20132018).<\/p>\n

The book<\/strong> Making a Career in a Dictatorship: The Secret Logic Behind Repression and Coups<\/em> is authored by Christian Gl\u00e4\u00dfel (Hertie School) and Adam Scharpf and will be published on 13 February 2026 by Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It is of particular importance to do research on autocracies now, according to Adam Scharpf. 70 per cent of the world\u2019s population live under autocratic regimes, and autocracies are on the rise globally.<\/p>\n

\u00bbDictatorships are making a global comeback<\/em>. Our democracies are eroding. We see this both in young democracies and in more established democracies. Some of them are even shifting directly from being democracies to becoming autocracies.\u00ab<\/p>\n

With dictatorships comes violence directed against the population. And that violence is carried out by specific people.<\/p>\n

\u00bbSo the question practically asked itself. Who is willing to do these things, and why do they do them?\u00ab<\/p>\n

Autocratic regimes are rarely interested in being investigated by a couple of researchers. So they had to dig into historical data to uncover what the incentives are for volunteering for a security service. They looked closely at historical cases and found data from the Argentine military stretching back to the 1800s and all the way up until the 1970s, when the country was under a military dictatorship.<\/p>\n

\u00bbBy examining historical dictatorships, we were able to uncover the entire logic behind career pressure. We could then apply this logic to the current trends we see in several countries today.\u00ab<\/p>\n

The material from Argentina contained information on every officer who had ever served in the country\u2019s army. Data on the officers\u2019 lives and careers had been recorded in a highly systematic way. This allowed researchers to build up an extensive dataset with enough information on individuals to be able to examine who did what, and why they did it.<\/p>\n

No organisation is uncrackable<\/h3>\n

Career pressure exists in virtually all organisations, according to Adam Scharpf. It exists in the military, gangs, banks, and in universities. For career pressure to arise in an organisation, three elements need to be present: A hierarchy, a system of promotion, and a pyramid structure. Any normal workplace, in other words, where you can work your way up. And where people gradually drop out the higher up the system you go.<\/p>\n

\u00bbIt\u2019s almost impossible to imagine an organisation that does not have these three components,\u00ab says Adam Scharpf.<\/p>\n

The problem occurs when employees reach a level where they can no longer climb higher up the career ladder. They get stuck. One shady character at the top of the system can then decide to exploit the employees\u2019 desperation. There will always be employees willing to carry out the boss\u2019s dirty work if a promotion is offered in return.<\/p>\n

Leaders who choose to recruit career-pressured individuals can secure a loyal, personal, unit whose professional progress and career prospects are tied to the leader. This is the reason the employees never say no to tasks, no matter how illegal they may be.<\/p>\n

The mechanism is so powerful because, deep down, we are driven by the pursuit of status<\/p>\n

Adam Scharpf, associate professor of political science<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00bbInstead of focusing only on leaders, which is what we most often do, it may be at least as important to look at the employees in the middle or at the bottom who sustain the leader\u2019s power.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Adam Scharpf points to ICE agents in the United States as a contemporary example. Many of the agents have a criminal background \u2014 they may, for example, have tested positive in a drug test. According to the official recruitment website for ICE agents, they do not need a university degree to be hired.<\/p>\n

\u00bbThis fits perfectly with the logic that we uncover in the book. These people are willing to carry out any illegal and violent order. They do everything their political leader asks of them, because the state essentially provides them with a professional lifeline.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Career pressure explains both why some individuals are extremely loyal to autocratic leaders, and why others choose the most disloyal act that you could imagine \u2014 to take part in a coup.<\/p>\n

\u00bbUltimately, individuals who experience career pressure have two choices. If no leader offers them a promotion, the other option is to carry out a coup and hope for career advancement in the new regime.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Economic downturn increases the pressure<\/h3>\n

According to Adam Scharpf, anyone can end up in a situation where, under career pressure, they can be persuaded to do things they otherwise would not have done.<\/p>\n

\u00bbThe mechanism is so powerful because, deep down, we humans are driven by the pursuit of status. We need something that makes us stand out. It doesn\u2019t matter whether you seek power, authority or recognition,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n

\u00bbThe higher the position, the more status you gain. That\u2019s why most people want to climb the organisational hierarchy.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Most people will go a long way to achieve their professional goals, according to the researcher. Adam Scharpf uses the university as an example of an organisation where the number of positions quickly decreases higher up. This leaves a large group of people competing for very small number of professorships:<\/p>\n

\u00bbIf you ask any PhD student, many would probably say that they are willing to do anything, and that they are happy to work both day and night to reach the next step.\u00ab
\n
\nEconomic downturns increase the career pressure. When the job market has dried up and there are few vacancies, it becomes difficult for individuals under career pressure to switch jobs or sectors.<\/p>\n

Adam Scharpf offers an example from the book. During the Weimar Republic, there were many public-sector employees with university degrees. Despite their high education level, they were still willing to serve under Hitler\u2019s regime. This was because the labour market in the Weimar Republic was saturated with university graduates. As a result, many well-educated, ambitious, young people went along with upending the system.<\/p>\n

\u00bbCareer pressure can in this way lead to public servants being willing to take part in anti-democratic work, or even to completely undermine the system.\u00ab<\/p>\n

READ ALSO:<\/strong> Rector: Academic recruitment is now more fragile<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Needs to be stopped early<\/h3>\n

According to Adam Scharpf, there is no simple solution to the problem of employees being persuaded to carry out actions that may ultimately undermine democracy. It is difficult to build an organisation without generating career pressure. And when a system is built like a pyramid, it will always produce winners and losers. This is unavoidable.<\/p>\n

\u00bbNo organisation is uncrackable \u2014 there is no state or security apparatus that cannot be taken over and used in a harmful way to do terrible things.\u00ab<\/p>\n

But something can be done, the researcher says. And it is necessary to intervene before things go wrong. You have to first find out what level of an organisation it is where the career pressure is particularly intense.<\/p>\n

\u00bbYou have to detect them before the act, because once you realise that there are enough people for, or against, a system, it is already too late.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Once the career-pressured individuals have been identified, they can then be offered a favourable exit. This will allow them to switch career paths without excessive hardship.<\/p>\n

\u00bbWe know that career pressure oils the machinery of autocratic political machines. We have to deprive autocratic leaders of the opportunity to have people that they can single out to carry out their dirty work.\u00ab<\/p>\n

This article was first written in Danish and published on 5 February 2026. It has been translated into English and post-edited by Mike Young.<\/em>
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Career pressure"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/","name":"University Post","description":"Independent of management","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#\/schema\/person\/01dc6a59ff1fda55a380ff01dc1f4457","name":"Johanne Dahl Karlsen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d4d9b5dddb77cea2ac19e3e80ebf0aadc7ed5310ede7f93de099f384be5e40cd?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d4d9b5dddb77cea2ac19e3e80ebf0aadc7ed5310ede7f93de099f384be5e40cd?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d4d9b5dddb77cea2ac19e3e80ebf0aadc7ed5310ede7f93de099f384be5e40cd?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Johanne Dahl Karlsen"},"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/author\/johanne_dk\/"}]}},"advancedCustomFields":{"expression":{"term_id":18,"name":"Feature Article","slug":"feature_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":18,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":1200,"filter":"raw"},"enable_comments":true,"align_content":"aligncenter","feature_color":"#170082","article_updated":"","layout_group":[{"acf_fc_layout":"Headline","use_post_title":true,"headline":"","style":"default","highlighted_words":"","text_size":"small"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":187555,"id":187555,"title":"Johanne collage (1)","filename":"johannecollage1.jpg","filesize":1486353,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/johannecollage1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/hvad-har-ph-d-studerende-og-ice-agenter-tilfaelles-karrierepres\/johanne-collage-1\/","alt":"","author":"107","description":"","caption":"Forskere p\u00e5 Statskundskab har unders\u00f8gt, hvad der f\u00e5r mennesker til at melde sig til sikkerhedstjenester i diktaturer. ","name":"johanne-collage-1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":187553,"date":"2026-02-05 09:45:02","modified":"2026-02-05 10:45:46","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1750,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/johannecollage1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/johannecollage1-480x296.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":296,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/johannecollage1-768x474.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":474,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/johannecollage1-1280x790.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":790,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/johannecollage1-1536x948.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":948,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/johannecollage1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1750,"2048x2048-height":1080,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/johannecollage1-290x179.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":179,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/johannecollage1-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/johannecollage1-700x432.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":432,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/johannecollage1-990x611.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":611}},"style":"full","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"Researchers at the Department of Political Science have tried to find out what it is that gets people to volunteer for security services in dictatorships."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Standfirst","subject":"Banality of evil","text":"People who are under pressure in their professional lives are willing to act brutally to climb the career ladder. And this can be exploited. In a new University of Copenhagen study, political science associate professor Adam Scharpf has examined data from from the Argentine armed forces.","use_post_excerpt":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":true,"contributors":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p><span class=\"dropcap\">I<\/span>t is a pattern repeated throughout history. A dictator comes to power. He quickly sets up a secret police force. It has no scruples. It murders, tortures, and makes people disappear.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers have for many years tried to explain what kind of people would volunteer to do the dirty work in the service of a dictator. The assumption is often that it has to be a job for a particularly ruthless type of person with a dubious moral compass. But according to Adam Scharpf, an associate professor of political science at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH), this assumption is rarely true. More often, there is a completely different, and very banal, reason why people sign up to commit such atrocities. The reason is deeply human. In fact, it can all be boiled down to something as simple as career pressure.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Our democracies are eroding. We see this both in young and established democracies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">Adam Scharpf, associate professor of political science<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u00bbEven the most brutal, illegal, or immoral actions committed by organisations are carried out by individuals who go through career problems,\u00ab says Adam Scharpf.<\/p>\n<p>Together with his colleague Christian Gl\u00e4\u00dfel from Hertie School, Adam Scharpf has set out to investigate what it is that has ordinary people committing atrocities. On 13 February, they published the book <em>Making a Career in a Dictatorship: The Secret Logic behind Repression and Coups<\/em>, where they explain the phenomenon.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbHannah Arendt described it in her famous work <em>Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil<\/em>. In our book, we show how this banality is generated.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>Dictatorships are making a comeback<\/h3>\n<p>In their research, Adam Scharpf and his colleague Christian Gl\u00e4\u00dfel focus\u00a0on autocratic regimes.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe found it hard to think of any organisations that are more evil than the security services in dictatorships. That is why they are the focus of the book.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ ALSO: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/as-trump-tears-up-the-rulebook-academics-use-a-new-concept\/\"><em>As Trump tears up the rulebook, academics use a new concept<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"factbox\">\n<p class=\"factbox-header feature-color\">PROFILE<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"700\" class=\"alignnone size-narrow wp-image-187562\" src=\"http:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/adamscharpf_1003-700x700.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/adamscharpf_1003-700x700.jpg 700w, https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/adamscharpf_1003-480x480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/adamscharpf_1003-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/adamscharpf_1003-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/adamscharpf_1003-290x290.jpg 290w, https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/adamscharpf_1003-990x990.jpg 990w, https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/adamscharpf_1003.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Adam Scharpf is an associate professor of comparative politics<\/strong> at the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH). His research focuses on autocracies, specifically, their security apparatuses.<\/p>\n<p><strong>He studied<\/strong> Politics and Public Administration at the University of Konstanz (2005\u20132012) and completed a PhD in political science at the University of Mannheim (2012\u20132018).<\/p>\n<p><strong>The book<\/strong> <em>Making a Career in a Dictatorship: The Secret Logic Behind Repression and Coups<\/em> is authored by Christian Gl\u00e4\u00dfel (Hertie School) and Adam Scharpf and will be published on 13 February 2026 by Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>It is of particular importance to do research on autocracies now, according to Adam Scharpf. 70 per cent of the world\u2019s population live under autocratic regimes, and autocracies are on the rise globally.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbDictatorships are making a global <em>comeback<\/em>. Our democracies are eroding. We see this both in young democracies and in more established democracies. Some of them are even shifting directly from being democracies to becoming autocracies.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>With dictatorships comes violence directed against the population. And that violence is carried out by specific people.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbSo the question practically asked itself. Who is willing to do these things, and why do they do them?\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>Autocratic regimes are rarely interested in being investigated by a couple of researchers. So they had to dig into historical data to uncover what the incentives are for volunteering for a security service. They looked closely at historical cases and found data from the Argentine military stretching back to the 1800s and all the way up until the 1970s, when the country was under a military dictatorship.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbBy examining historical dictatorships, we were able to uncover the entire logic behind career pressure. We could then apply this logic to the current trends we see in several countries today.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>The material from Argentina contained information on every officer who had ever served in the country\u2019s army. Data on the officers\u2019 lives and careers had been recorded in a highly systematic way. This allowed researchers to build up an extensive dataset with enough information on individuals to be able to examine who did what, and why they did it.<\/p>\n<h3>No organisation is uncrackable<\/h3>\n<p>Career pressure exists in virtually all organisations, according to Adam Scharpf. It exists in the military, gangs, banks, and in universities. For career pressure to arise in an organisation, three elements need to be present: A hierarchy, a system of promotion, and a pyramid structure. Any normal workplace, in other words, where you can work your way up. And where people gradually drop out the higher up the system you go.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt\u2019s almost impossible to imagine an organisation that does not have these three components,\u00ab says Adam Scharpf.<\/p>\n<p>The problem occurs when employees reach a level where they can no longer climb higher up the career ladder. They get stuck. One shady character at the top of the system can then decide to exploit the employees\u2019 desperation. There will always be employees willing to carry out the boss\u2019s dirty work if a promotion is offered in return.<\/p>\n<p>Leaders who choose to recruit career-pressured individuals can secure a loyal, personal, unit whose professional progress and career prospects are tied to the leader. This is the reason the employees never say no to tasks, no matter how illegal they may be.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The mechanism is so powerful because, deep down, we are driven by the pursuit of status<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">Adam Scharpf, associate professor of political science<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u00bbInstead of focusing only on leaders, which is what we most often do, it may be at least as important to look at the employees in the middle or at the bottom who sustain the leader\u2019s power.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>Adam Scharpf points to ICE agents in the United States as a contemporary example. Many of the agents have a criminal background \u2014 they may, for example, have tested positive in a drug test. According to the official recruitment website for ICE agents, they do not need a university degree to be hired.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThis fits perfectly with the logic that we uncover in the book. These people are willing to carry out any illegal and violent order. They do everything their political leader asks of them, because the state essentially provides them with a professional lifeline.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>Career pressure explains both why some individuals are extremely loyal to autocratic leaders, and why others choose the most disloyal act that you could imagine \u2014 to take part in a coup.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbUltimately, individuals who experience career pressure have two choices. If no leader offers them a promotion, the other option is to carry out a coup and hope for career advancement in the new regime.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>Economic downturn increases the pressure<\/h3>\n<p>According to Adam Scharpf, anyone can end up in a situation where, under career pressure, they can be persuaded to do things they otherwise would not have done.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe mechanism is so powerful because, deep down, we humans are driven by the pursuit of status. We need something that makes us stand out. It doesn\u2019t matter whether you seek power, authority or recognition,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe higher the position, the more status you gain. That\u2019s why most people want to climb the organisational hierarchy.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>Most people will go a long way to achieve their professional goals, according to the researcher. Adam Scharpf uses the university as an example of an organisation where the number of positions quickly decreases higher up. This leaves a large group of people competing for very small number of professorships:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIf you ask any PhD student, many would probably say that they are willing to do anything, and that they are happy to work both day and night to reach the next step.\u00ab<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Quote","quote":"We know that career pressure oils the machinery of autocratic political machines","quotee":"Adam Scharpf, associate professor in political science","style":"extended"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>Economic downturns increase the career pressure. When the job market has dried up and there are few vacancies, it becomes difficult for individuals under career pressure to switch jobs or sectors.<\/p>\n<p>Adam Scharpf offers an example from the book. During the Weimar Republic, there were many public-sector employees with university degrees. Despite their high education level, they were still willing to serve under Hitler\u2019s regime. This was because the labour market in the Weimar Republic was saturated with university graduates. As a result, many well-educated, ambitious, young people went along with upending the system.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbCareer pressure can in this way lead to public servants being willing to take part in anti-democratic work, or even to completely undermine the system.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ ALSO:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/rector-academic-recruitment-is-now-more-fragile\/\"><em>Rector: Academic recruitment is now more fragile<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Needs to be stopped early<\/h3>\n<p>According to Adam Scharpf, there is no simple solution to the problem of employees being persuaded to carry out actions that may ultimately undermine democracy. It is difficult to build an organisation without generating career pressure. And when a system is built like a pyramid, it will always produce winners and losers. This is unavoidable.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbNo organisation is uncrackable \u2014 there is no state or security apparatus that cannot be taken over and used in a harmful way to do terrible things.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>But something can be done, the researcher says. And it is necessary to intervene before things go wrong. You have to first find out what level of an organisation it is where the career pressure is particularly intense.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbYou have to detect them before the act, because once you realise that there are enough people for, or against, a system, it is already too late.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>Once the career-pressured individuals have been identified, they can then be offered a favourable exit. This will allow them to switch career paths without excessive hardship.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe know that career pressure oils the machinery of autocratic political machines. We have to deprive autocratic leaders of the opportunity to have people that they can single out to carry out their dirty work.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p><em>This article was first written in Danish and published on 5 February 2026. It has been translated into English and post-edited by Mike Young.<\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Newsletter","lang_select":"en","identifier":"Newsletter","headline":"Get an email with upcoming events and top University of Copenhagen stories","button_text":"Sign up here","class":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":46,"name":"Science","slug":"science","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":46,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":831,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":18,"name":"Feature Article","slug":"feature_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":18,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":1200,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[{"term_id":5468,"name":"Optional","slug":"optional-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5468,"taxonomy":"translation_priority","description":"","parent":0,"count":673,"filter":"raw"}]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/johannecollage1-1280x790.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187602"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187918,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187602\/revisions\/187918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}