Together with Attila Vincze, I spoke about the state of the judiciary in Hungary's competitive authoritarian state, based on research we published previously in the German Journal of Comparative Politics.

Ich bin sehr stolz auf dieses Buch! Zusammen mit @fzillessen.bsky.social habe ich das Methodenkapitel über die qualitative Szenarioanalyse geschrieben. Jonathan Schramm und ich haben außerdem das Szenario zu Beförderung und Abordnung von Richtern untersucht – ein Schlüsselszenario, wie ich finde.

Ep. 1 in our mini-series on #Hungary 🇭🇺 is out! Too often we ask what's feasible, rather than what's right, when it comes #RoL enforcement in the #EU. Tune in for a 🎙️ w/ @ascherz.bsky.social about what “doing the right thing” could look like. 🔗 Listen here: open.spotify.com/show/2lyLtQi...

Bald erscheint unsere Studie mit Szenarioanalysen zu Verwundbarkeit und Resilienz der Justiz in Deutschland! ⬇️

This probably sounds weird and technical, but it is crucial that EU member states use Article 259 TFEU to challenge democratic and rule of law backsliding in other member states, as I argue in my book.

Another excellent post on the destruction of academic freedom in Orban's 🇭🇺 focusing on the use of the fake "Matthias Corvinus Collegium", a key part of Orban's propaganda apparatus which recently pushed a Soviet-style "report" attacking individual professors in past or present receipt of EU funding

I contributed a short piece on illiberal GONGOs (Government-Organised Non-Governmental Organisations) to a symposium of @verfassungsblog.de. This is the first output of my re:constitution fellowship. Check it out: ⬇️ verfassungsblog.de/castles-of-i...

Text and image together - pure gold! 😂

This means: the EU 🇪🇺 is betting on a post-Orbán future of Hungary 🇭🇺 next year. EU moves to advance Ukraine’s accession by sidestepping Hungary - on.ft.com/4gNoWa7 via @FT

Exciting news: Patrick Leisure is a re:constitution Fellow 2025/26! 🎉 His project explores states’ positive obligations under the ECHR & schools, inspired by Amy Guttman’s Democratic Education. He follows colleagues @katarinasipulova.bsky.social & @ehanelt.bsky.social from last year. See link below👇

Yesterday @ehanelt.bsky.social & @fzillessen.bsky.social (Verfassungsblog’s Judicial Resilience Project) brought a paper "Analysing Democratic Backsliding Before It Happens: Studying Judicial Resilience in Germany Through Scenario Analysis" 🔗Follow the project on: verfassungsblog.de/justiz-proje...

🚨 The Special Issue 'Rule of Law and Rechtsstaat under pressure' of the German Journal of Comparative Politics (ZfVP) is finally out! It was edited by Hans-Joachim Lauth, Marta Bucholc and Nicolas Hayoz. Check it out the contributions here: ⬇️ link.springer.com/journal/1228...

The Socialists in the EP have leveraged a no-confidence vote put up by the far right to effectively gut a major part of the reform of the EU budget. Stunning development that further imperils the prospect for a major MFF reform. I had hopes that this time would be different. But I was naive. Thread:

Das ist auch vor dem Hintergrund neuer Diskussionen über "Verfassungstreuechecks" mit Regelanfragen beim Verfassungschutz z.B. bei der Einstellung von Richtern, eine sehr interessante Studie.

As part of my re:constitution fellowship I spent time at and worked with the wonderful people of the HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences, especially the Institute of Legal Studies, to study academic freedom (and its boundaries) in Hungary.

MCC, one of Orbán's lavishly-funded, regime-loyal 'think tanks' builds a new campus in Budapest – truly an 'illiberal castle'. I went on a walk to Gellert Hill last night to investigate the site. Not much to see yet, but it's going to be BIG.

Sehr cooler Artikel dazu, wie man mit der russischen Schattenflotte umgehen kann, wenn sie Sabotageakte verübt. Behandelt sie wie Piraten. 🏴‍☠️

Dungeons and Dictators: A Role-Based Simulation of Authoritarian States: @jpseeditors.bsky.social Robert Keener www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...

I'm delighted to be starting my 2nd mobility phase today as part of my re:constitution fellowship. I'm visiting Political Capital in Budapest.

"Voters electing the world leaders who subsequently took their countries down the road of electoral autocracy were in many cases choosing well-known, experienced political figures who were promising to reform democracy, not dismantle it." www.journalofdemocra...

Nach den Beschlüssen des VG Berlin sind die drei beteiligten Richter*innen diffamiert und bedroht worden. Kein Ausnahmefall, meint PHILIPP KÖKER (@philippkoeker.bsky.social), denn autoritäre Populisten arbeiten systematisch daran, die Justiz zu delegitimieren. verfassungsblog.de/delegitimier...

I love creative legal solutions. 😍

"TUSK BETWEEN NAWROCKI AND A HARD PLACE" 🤣 Well done, @politico.eu, well done!

Today, Ministers meet in the Council of the 🇪🇺 (GAC) to discuss the rule of law in Hungary 🇭🇺 for the eighth time under Article 7(1) TEU. Again, there won't be a majority for finding that Orbán's actions constitute a 'clear risk of a serious breach' of EU values. www.euronews.com/my-europe/20...

Yesterday, I spoke at the Institute for Legal Studies of the HUN-REN Centre for Social Science in Budapest & introduced my re:constitution research project 'Castles of Illiberal Thought & Mercenary Thinkers: Academic Legitimation of Authoritarian Politics in 🇭🇺'. I learned a lot from the discussion.

I am very excited to share a new working paper coauthored with @amaliaab.bsky.social. Using a field experiment, we find that, in the real world, it is more costly to express far-right preferences than other political preferences. osf.io/preprints/os... 1/8

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of presenting my project 'Castles of Illiberal Thought and Mercenary Thinkers' at re:constitution in a fellow's talk. Thanks go to @cohelongo.bsky.social, who did an amazing job moderating the session, and @gszd.bsky.social, who gave insightful comments.

For Example: How to Use Examples in Political Science For Example: How to Use Examples in Political Science By John S. Dryzek, University of Canberra. There is a large literature on the use of cases, hardly anything on examples. They are different: cases get analyzed, examples get deployed.…

Just learned: If you want to become a judge or prosecutor in Saxony, you need to submit a handwritten, narrative resumé. 😂 www.justiz.sachsen.de/content/1032...

South Korea has done what the US failed to do. An attempted (and failed) coup d'etat has consequences. One way or another.

In 15 minutes, the verdict in Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment trial will be announced. In the 2017, the judge read the decision for about 20 minutes before delivering the final verdict. Thus, the outcome of Yoon’s impeachment is likely to be revealed between 11:20 and 11:30 a.m. Korea Standard Time.

Yoon is impeached.

In a contribution to @respol.bsky.social, we show that Germans with a Russian or a Turkish migrant background are less in favour of sanctions against Russia. journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.... @himmelrath.bsky.social @dienerjulius.bsky.social @pluggedchris.bsky.social @dezim-institut.de

Noch ein paar Worte zur Abschaffung des #Amtsermittlungsgrundsatz, den CDU, CSU und SPD im Asylprozess planen, denn hier wird massiv am Rechtsstaatsprinzip gesägt. 1. Dieser Grundsatz besagt, dass Behörden und auch Gerichte von sich aus alles wesentliche zu einem Sachverhalt ermitteln müssen.

Last week, 80% of Italy's judiciary went on strike against the government's proposal to reform the judicial administration. Though not a radical overhaul, the underlying aim of the reform is to weaken judicial self-governance, analyses SIMONE BENVENUTI. verfassungsblog.de/divide-and-r...

Most EU officials don't believe the US will deliver a backstop in Ukraine. The US wants to step out. Not in. So there will be no European peacekeeping force. No ceasefire. Just more war. Yet the EU will have no choice but to keep doing “whatever it takes” to support Ukraine 6/

Investors, consumers and companies are showing the first signs of souring on Donald Trump’s vision. With his aggressive and erratic protectionism, he is playing with fire econ.st/41tx87X

🚀 Wir suchen: 🧑‍💻 Redakteur*in für öffentliches Sicherheitsrecht und Strafrecht, 🕛 20 Std./Woche, 📍 Berlin (remote möglich), 📅 Start: 17.03.25, ⌛ Bewerbungsfrist: 02.03.25. Alle Infos zum Bewerbungsprozess: Link in den Kommentaren. 🔗 Bewerben Sie sich jetzt und werden Sie Teil unseres Teams! 🤝 (1/2)

Wir starten das Justiz-Projekt. Wohin man schaut, stehen Attacken auf die Justiz im Mittelpunkt der autoritär-populistischen Strategie. Im Justiz-Projekt fragen wir uns jetzt: Wie verwundbar ist die deutsche Justiz? Alle Infos in unserem aktuellen Editorial: verfassungsblog.de/wir-starten-....

Beim @verfassungsblog.de starten wir das Justiz-Projekt. Mehr dazu in unserem Editorial: ⬇️ verfassungsblog.de/wir-starten-...

We've been busy @verfassungsblog.de! ⬇️

🚨 #Data alert 📣 We just released #ParlLawSpeech – full texts of more than 40k bills, 28k laws, and 3 mio. parliamentary speeches from 7 countries (AT, CZ, DE, DK, ES, HR, HU) and the EU! If you study democracy with #TextAsData / #NLP methods, this is for you! A short 🧵 (1/3) #PoliSkyData #polisky

We took X to court. And we won! ⚖️ The courts ruled that X must urgently grant us access to their publicly available data via their API. This access is critical for our analysis of online public discourse ahead of the upcoming German elections. Read: bit.ly/4gBWGp4 Here's what's happened 1/3 👇

Besser spät als nie 😉 Die DVPW ist nun auch auf Bluesky in Sachen #Politikwissenschaft unterwegs! Wir posten erst einmal zu Aktivitäten der DVPW - Ausschreibungen, Veranstaltungen, #DVPWblog,... - und reposten gerne Calls und Termine, wenn Ihr uns erwähnt. Und dann sind natürlich Listen in Arbeit.

How do autocrats stay in power? Our new research dives into the strategies of political control—repression, co-optation, and indoctrination—used across 229 autocracies from 1946 to 2010. What we found will change the way you think about authoritarian resilience. 🧵👇

Introducing the Centre for Democratic Resilience - world-leading research and educational programmes to understand and promote the resilience of liberal democracy: ow.ly/1sKl50UL7Wn

If Viktor Orban really blocks European sanctions at a key moment for the war, it’ll be absolutely clear that in this big game for the security and future of Europe, he is playing in Putin’s team, not in ours. With all the consequences of this fact.

Having published a book recently, I found it sometimes hard to understand how the process worked (and luckily, had very kind mentors who helped). I have uploaded a short document detailing how my experience went, in case others find it helpful: www.vicentevalentim.com/_files/ugd/a...

First paper in @jeppjournal.bsky.social ❗️ 📝 Carlos Closa and I examine national governments’ preferences on RoL enforcement from 2016 2021 and the factors shaping them www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....