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) 🧵👇

📣 out now, with @argohdes.bsky.social and Mark Gibney - and in honour of the wonderful Steve Poe, who motivated the 1st edition with @universitypress.cambridge.org tinyurl.com/2s4kh6z3. If you enjoy reading this even a fraction as much as I enjoyed creating it, you’re in for a ride 🤩

Wrote up a little intervention post/explanation for my class about why using LLMs for trying to learn programming (as first time learners!) is bad and detrimental datavizf25.classes.andrewheiss.com/news/2025-11...

In a new paper, we show that "opportunity moves" foster political integration and shift political preferences to the left. Please have a look at @valentinaconsiglio.bsky.social's excellent summary for some more details. 👉 tinyurl.com/46utjj65

I'm very excited to teach this Data Visualization course next week at the German Institute for Global Area Studies (GIGA): lnkd.in/eWBX2EQN (1/n)

This is a remarkable case of Chinese authorities threatening a UK university into halting research on human rights violations, and the university acquiescing.

🚨 EPSS Belfast 2026 Call for Papers - One week to go! 🚨 Don't forget to submit your paper or panel proposal to the European Political Science Society @epssnet.bsky.social 2026 conference - just one week to go before the deadline: epssnet.org/belfast-2026...

Happy to share that our paper on the ideological biases of international organizations is now out in the current issue of the AJPS (@ajpseditor.bsky.social): dx.doi.org/10.1111/ajps... @the-peio.bsky.social @mzesunimannheim.bsky.social @akentikelenis.bsky.social

NEW - Seeking Opportunity in the Knowledge Economy: Moving Places, Moving Politics? - https://cup.org/3LgxVos "moving to opportunity results in... more left-leaning self-identification, and lower support for far-right parties" - @valentinaconsiglio.bsky.social & @thmskrr.bsky.social #OpenAccess

Thanks to the great help by @rstrauch.bsky.social, Gabriele Spilker and the Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality" @excinequality.bsky.social, version 5.0 of the "Mass Mobilization in Autocracies Database" (coverage until 2022) is now available at mmadatabase.org!

NEW - Contentious Rituals and Intergroup Relations: Parading in Northern Ireland - cup.org/3L55Bp7 - Kit Rickard, Giovanni Hollenweger, @swebera.bsky.social & @kristinmbakke.bsky.social #OpenAccess

Ich habe mit @zeit.de über die Reaktionen etablierter Parteien auf den Erfolg der radikalen Rechten gesprochen – warum Anpassung und Einbindung riskant sind und wo Chancen jenseits reaktiver Strategien liegen.

Überraschend, dass das ZDF-Politbarometer diese Umfrage so verzerrt darstellt: Statt nach der Originalaussage von Merz zu fragen, die tagelang diskutiert wurde, wird in der Umfrage seine späte Rechtfertigung ergänzt. In der Grafik wird das aber gar nicht erwähnt. So geht Framing.

🚨 New article out in @jeppjournal.bsky.social with @svenhegewald.bsky.social “The changing geography of support for European integration in the shadow of the Ukraine war." How did Russia’s invasion reshape public support for EU policies? www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

✨NEW PAPER OUT✨ “Far-right challenges to liberal democratic press norms: ‘indexing by proxy’ in a German immigration debate” together with Lance Bennett & @ulrikeklinger.bsky.social in @journal-of-comm.bsky.social. Why do far-right issues keep making the news? 🧵⤵️ academic.oup.com/joc/advance-...

Every academic career is built on rejection, but we don’t show it. 
CVs list publications, grants & awards, not rejected manuscripts, unfunded proposals, or failures. 
But those invisible rejections shape us more than our successes ever do. 👉 catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/fail-bette... 🧵

The Nobel Peace Prize goes to someone trying to peacefully stand up to a dictatorship, not to somebody trying to build a dictatorship. That seems appropriate.

🚨 New(ish) Publication Alert! Delighted to see my article Credit Claiming in the EU @thejop.bsky.social I explore a classic question for accountability in Europe: when and why do govs claim credit for the work of the EU and shift blame onto Brussels to avoid responsibility? doi.org/10.1086/732970

#OpenAccess from July 2025 - The Backlash Against Civil Society Participation in International Organizations: The Case of Human Rights Complaints Mechanisms - cup.org/463Vb1m - @chrisvsteinert.bsky.social#OpenAccess& Hannah Marietta Smidt

🚨 New working paper alert 🚨 Missing summer — and the Tour de France? Don’t worry, we got you covered. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️ In this paper, we show that being on the route of Tour de France reduces far-right voting. osf.io/preprints/so...

Radical right accommodation really does not work. New paper out with this exceptionally talented team @katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk doi.org/10.31235/osf...

I am thrilled to share 'Foreign Aid for Peace and Civilian Victimisation,' recently published in @coco-journal.bsky.social. This study examines the impact of European Union aid on civilian victimisation in Colombia’s post-conflict context. 🔗 Read the full article: lnkd.in/dQUFTq_v

Das bemerkenswerte hier ist, dass die Verschiebung eben nicht 2015 passiert sondern 2017. Genau dann wenn Politik und Medien anfangen sich auf die aufsteigende AfD und ihre Themen einzuschießen. Wenn Migrationspolitik verschärft wird und Migranten dämonisiert werden. Es ist nicht Migration an sich.

Due diligence laws make firms liable for human rights violations and environmental damage in their supply chains. But the business lobby heavily criticizes these laws because of the required bureaucracy and potential compliance costs, which may create economic disadvantages. (1/5)

Our findings call into question the business lobby’s narrative of severe economic harm resulting from due diligence law. For more details, see: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... (5/5)

🚨 New in Journal of Politics! 🚨 Do radical right parties need to cut ties with old dictatorships to succeed? 👉 @sergipardos.bsky.social and my study of Spain’s VOX says: ❌ Not necessarily.

Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics by me & @cooleyoneurasia.bsky.social is now published by OUP in the USA (rest of world soon) If you are interested in why you see so many dictatorships & illiberal leaders influencing world politics then this is the book for you.

Armed conflicts involve governments, rebel groups, militias, communal factions, and foreign forces — all interacting in complex ways. The result? A web of violence that can feel overwhelming to understand. That's why we launch the Conflict Networks Explorer peaceobservatory.com/conflict-networks

🚨 Just accepted at @bjpols.bsky.social! Paolo Bertolotti, Fotini Christia, Ali Jadbabaie, and I use 12 billion Yemeni cellphone records to study the effects of U.S. drone strikes on civilian mobility and displacement. We Find: 🧵: 1/3

We have page numbers 🥳 Independent #judiciaries around the world are under threat from authoritarian #populists - but the threat starts long before these actors enter office! More on the dangers of "populists before power" 👉👉👉 doi.org/10.1080/1351... #OpenAccess @democratization.bsky.social

New paper out in @fpajrnl.bsky.social - tldr: Recipient leadership turnover does not affect the continuation of existing international arms transfers relationships. In the paper, I discuss why this is surprising and how we can make sense of it.

Trump has imposed more sanctions on the International Criminal Court than Russia & Putin (who is wanted by the ICC for war crimes)

I have studied the targeting of journalists for many years, but the scale and public display of these killings is truly shocking: “Israel admits deliberate attack on the journalist, known for frontline coverage, in a strike on a tent outside al-Shifa hospital“ www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Highly recommended new study, check it out:

There it is: call for papers, inaugural conference of @epssnet.bsky.social in Belfast, 2026. Please send your best work and support this new important initiative! epssnet.org/belfast-2026/

Even in times of sociocultural conflict, a progressive left electorate is more averse to sociocultural *and* socioeconomic inequalities than (far) right voters. New paper with @siljahausermann.bsky.social Palmtag @tabouchadi.bsky.social @stefwalter.bsky.social Berkinshaw tinyurl.com/d42wyb79 1/n

New UN ideal point estimates available. These are for the first time based on years rather than UNGA sessions. For more, see here: dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtm...

NGOs are often unsure how to help refugees. For example, when refugees without rights seek help repatriating, NGOs may feel helping makes them complicit in forced returns, but not helping forces refugees to remain. I consider how dilemmas like these can be resolved. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Very happy that the joint paper with Ore Koren on infectious diseases and trust in politics has now been published: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... A nice result of his fellowship at @uni-konstanz.de, funded by the @humboldt-foundation.de!

Due diligence laws make firms liable for human rights violations and environmental damage in their supply chains. But the business lobby heavily criticizes these laws because of the required bureaucracy and potential compliance costs, which may create economic disadvantages. (1/5)

How does filing complaints to the United Nations affect the human rights situation of civil society organizations? To learn more about this question, check out our publication (with the fantastic Hannah Smidt) in the British Journal of Political Science. (1/8) www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

How does participation in the human rights complaint mechanisms of the United Nations affect the situation of civil society organizations? To learn more on this question, please check out our new publication @bjpols.bsky.social

NEW - The Backlash Against Civil Society Participation in International Organizations: The Case of Human Rights Complaints Mechanisms - cup.org/463Vb1m - @chrisvsteinert.bsky.social & Hannah Marietta Smidt #OpenAccess

Can banning political ideologies protect democracy? 🛡️🆚🗣️ Our (w. @valentimvicente.bsky.social) paper finds: punishing individuals might backfire. We study a West German policy banning "extreme left" individuals from working for the state. #Democracy #PoliticalScience 🧵 url: osf.io/usqdb_v2

Our article (with @madselk.bsky.social, @jacobnyrup.bsky.social, @benansell.bsky.social, @aslicansunar.bsky.social, and Laure Bokobza) on why it is so hard to counteract wealth inequality through inheritance taxation is out in @worldpolitics.bsky.social!

(1/5) My article Disintegration and Party Competition is out in the latest issue of @jeppjournal.bsky.social ! I ask how parties in other member states reacted to #Brexit. Do #Eurosceptic challengers frame it as an example to follow? Or do they instead row back on ‘hard’ demands to #leave the EU?

Working on crises in urban setting and wanting to spend some time in Zurich? I have a fellowship for you! Hosted by the UZH Crisis Competence Center: www.crisiscompetence.uzh.ch

Version 2.0 of the National Elections Database is online! nationalelectionsdatabase.com We cover presidential and parliamentary elections 1789–2023, extending the post-1945 data of Electoral Turnovers @reveconstudies.bsky.social (academic.oup.com/restud/advan...) w/ Benjamin Marx and Vincent Rollet

DISINTEGRATION publ #13: IOParlspeech—600k+ parliamentary statements on IOs across 6 countries (1990–2018). @stefwalter.bsky.social & @tommccraehunter.bsky.social show that radical/opposition MPs speak more negatively about IOs, and auhtoritative IOs receive more attention. doi.org/10.1007/s115...

“reliance on ChatGPT for idea generation comes with a trade-off: while enhancing individual ideas' creativity, it reduces the diversity of ideas in a pool of ideas-a critical element for effective brainstorming” www.nature.com/articles/s41...