congratulations to Viktor Orbán's father on his house, which raises no questions at all as.ft.com/r/e20a43e6-e...

New Publication with @lhaffert.bsky.social in @ejprjournal.bsky.social! We study the role of generations in the urban-rural divide, which is increasingly shaping the politics of many democracies. Studying Switzerland, we show: The urban-rural divide is stronger among younger generations. (1/10) 🧵👇

Very interesting paper — and highly relevant to current Swiss politics. 📮 Swiss voters will decide on a 50% inheritance tax for bequests exceeding CHF 50 million (only the portion above 50 million would be taxed) on 30.11.2025.

To be clear: deportations to increase cultural homogeneity is the text book definition of ethnic cleansing. Demands that come even close to this are so far outside any democratic norm and the rule of law. What has happened to a country when this is not condemned in the strongest possible terms?

🚨📢 I am hiring a PhD candidate /research assistant in Swiss Politics and/or Comparative Politics (100%)! 🚨📢 Je recrute un·e assistant·e diplômé·e en science politique en politique suisse et comparée! Please join me @unil.bsky.social, Switzerland! Thanks for sharing! polisky @sspunil.bsky.social

Gesund studieren, lehren & arbeiten: Die @unibe.ch bietet ihren Studierenden, Dozierenden & Mitarbeitenden zum #WorldMentalHealthDay am 10.10.2025 ein vielfältiges Programm an, um zum Austausch anzuregen & Impulse für einen achtsamen, gesunden Universitätsalltag zu geben. So wichtig & wertvoll 💜!

Excited to share our new PEGO publication: Hijacking or helping? We show how crises like COVID-19 can shape narratives, open or close policy windows, and influence climate policy advocacy. 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s110... @policysciences.bsky.social polisky

A milestone today: my first PhD publication, co-authored with Fabio Wasserfallen, is out in the @spsr.bsky.social. The article compares Swiss Euroscepticism—just as the title promises. The article is open access: doi.org/10.1111/spsr...

Really happy to see my work with @dweisstanner.bsky.social published with @bjpols.bsky.social. In this letter, we look at symbolic class signalling through cultural consumption and how effective it is across voters of different parties. A thread 👇 (1/n) #OpenAccess - cup.org/3GSCIKV

Amid wealth tax discussion, it's worth reflecting on recent changes in tax takes across the income distribution. Combining all payments (ie income taxes and VAT etc), the richest and poorest pay the most as a share of their gross income. But rates are down markedly in the middle of the distribution

The far-right SVP continues to frame itself as the voice of the “little man”. Yet it is now the Swiss party with *the highest* number of formal ties between its MPs & the banking lobby. Also, in Switzerland, public skepticism toward deregulatory policies is growing, as shown in my new publication

WZB-Digitalisierungsforscherin @jeah.bsky.social hat auf @libmod.de eine Replik auf den deutsch-amerikanischen Politikwissenschaftler Yascha Mounk zum Thema #Zensur in Deutschland und Großbritannien veröffentlicht: libmod.de/debatte-mein... @hiigberlin.bsky.social @weizenbauminstitut.bsky.social

#POLITKOLUMNE: There are 2 main strategies to counter the far-right: legal means & political responses Courts alone won’t save democracy. What’s needed: 1️⃣firm stance against the far-right 2️⃣protest /civil soc. mobilization 3️⃣public institutions that guarantee equal public service access for everyone

🌍 The PEGO Research Group is now on Bluesky! Follow us for updates, insights, and behind-the-scenes glimpses into our research, events, projects, etc.
 We’d love to connect with you. 🔗 Learn more: www.eawag.ch/en/departmen...
👋 Also connect with us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/pego...

Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive. No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief. 1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.

Post 1: Introduction Do Swiss voters want closer ties with the EU? 🇨🇭🇪🇺 We asked voters if they support the new 🇨🇭🇪🇺 agreement that extends existing bilateral agreements – and how important good EU relations are to them. We also included two survey experiments. Curious what they said? 👇 (1/11)

BlueSky, kannst Du helfen? Bald steht unser Masterseminar zum Vergleich der polit. Systeme 🇩🇪🇨🇭 an, inkl. Studienreise nach Berlin & Austausch mit einem MdB. Nun verpasste es die Wiederwahl. Hat i-jemand einen niederschwelligen Kontakt zu einem MdB? Unsere Studierenden würden sich SO freuen! #btw25

If you've lost track of Swiss-EU relations, Fabio Wasserfallen's piece @republik.ch is highly recommended. Key point: A favorable deal for Switzerland, but it risks failure unless domestic legislation (eg. regional minimum wage) is passed to mitigate the deal's impact www.republik.ch/2025/01/23/w...

Reportedly, the theme of today’s speech was supposed to be «unity»

This Trump speech is scary. Another moment of great polarization.

Extraordinary quote in the FT profile of Alice Weidel - the AFD candidate for German Chancellor. Asked to explain how her being married to a woman fitted with the party's "anti-woke" philosophy an official said: "She is just gay by biology but not by political conviction."

FPÖ-Chef Herbert Kickl steht an der Schwelle zum Kanzleramt. Was kommt da auf uns zu? Nehmen wir ihm beim Wort – ein #Thread mit Kickl-Zitaten.

1/ Die NZZ kritisiert wieder mal, dass zu viele Menschen studieren und erst noch das Falsche: Sozial- und Geisteswissenschaften. Lasst uns anschauen, ob und was die Leute bei der NZZ studiert haben. 🧵

"Was bleibt, ist die Frage für Politik und Gesellschaft, welche Ziele die Politik im Bereich der Finanzierung und der Subventionierung der familienergänzenden Kinderbetreuung anstreben soll." Mehr dazu in meinem Artikel bei CHSS: sozialesicherheit.ch/de/roestigra...

The polarization of European politics:

🧐Do you teach comparative politics? ❓Do your students sometimes struggle to find the right data for their projects? If so, my chapter might be what you need! It offers a collaboratively curated collection of data sets specifically tailored for the study of political institutions polisky

This recent R package is a great contribution! Not only because it allows you to harmonize regional Eurostat data, but it also implements a nice solution to address the issue of regional boundary changes. Also great helper tool to merge Eurostat data with EU-NED data www.eu-ned.com #polisky

Prime science communication with a clear message!

Switzerland might soonish vote on a popular initiative on an inheritance tax of 50%, with the first 50mil tax free. The super wealthy are already threatening to leave. Maybe we should not give this too much weight – even if Zug and other tax haven places cannot be described as vibrant places.

I wanted to try this "starter pack" thing and created one with Swiss political science early career researchers. Shall I make a second one? Is there another one around to merge it with? go.bsky.app/5pzWZQL

Polisky, if you’ve been with me for a while, you know that our institute is particularly committed to the study of Swiss politics, among many more. Discover in our novel clip why Bern is your perfect place to study! 📽️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWRF... @kariningold.bsky.social @goodmirco.bsky.social

For my Causal Inference Lecture Preparation I am looking for really cool papers using Instrumental Variables. Plug your own IV study, share good instruments, or praise anything you would have liked to be introduced to. #AcademicSky #Polisky #Econsky #HigherEd #FollowerPower Thank you!