After years of war, insurgency, and protest, Iraq’s ruling elites now rely less on force and more on control of state institutions to shape the 11 November elections — turning the vote into an exercise in continuity rather than change.

The U.S. warned Iraq not to pick its PM. Iraq did anyway. Arab Barometer data from Iraq provides context: U.S. favorability is low (28%) and declined 7 points between 2022 and 2024. In the meantime, favorability toward Iran increased from 24% to 34%. www.arabbarometer.org/media-news/a...

New paper out w/ @tomwgvdmeer.bsky.social & @hakhverdian.bsky.social in @epsrjournal.bsky.social. We show that political trust dynamics matter for electoral behavior. While stable and variable distrusters behave similarly, declining trust boosts both abstention and anti-establishment voting. 🧵

The Irish government lets refugees spend nights in cheap tents. This is inhumane treatment of people who spent months or years in dire travel to find refuge in Ireland. Please help by donating to volunteers who provide them all the support they can! www.idonate.ie/crowdfunder/...

Great to see the 2024 edition of How Ireland Voted on the book shelves! Get your copy! ;-) link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Who are the experts informing us and our governments about Chinese politics? Happy to see our article presenting the network structure of a snowball sample of experts on Chinese politics published today: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Applications are now open for the UCD Iseult Honohan Doctoral Scholarship 2026. Closing Date: 30 January 2026 ✔️Covers full fees (EU and Non-EU) ✔️Provides a living stipend of €25,000 per year for up to four years ✔️Is open to EU and non-EU applicants 👇 www.ucd.ie/spire/study/...

Mmmh. Yes, Jetten/D66 had a great election and is the largest (mid size) party. But at the same time far right cemented its vote share, just shared across more parties than Wilders/PVV. Important nuance for the 🇳🇱 elections. www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

Better get your paper submissions in for the @epssnet.bsky.social conference in June 2026, as the deadline is 7 November, and we have no intention of extended that (given the submission numbers)! epssnet.org/belfast-2026...

"De media-obsessie met ‘de grootste’ is onnozel en gevaarlijk": www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

Visualized here. Hot tip for journalists: the real question isn’t why Wilders lost, but why the far right has consolidated — despite Wilders's ineffectiveness in government.

It’s not easy to break free from deep dependencies. But it can be done. ICC to drop MS for German alternative ⬇️ www.euractiv.com/news/interna...

Dit dus….

Kevin Saudé is presenting now on a co-authored paper with Rory Costello on negative and positive partisanship. Also using data from the National Election and Democracy Study.

Fascinating social class and voting data from Prof Gail McElroy from the 2024 general election National Election and Democracy Study. #PSAI25

Fascinating analysis by Prof.Dornschneider-Elkink on populist attitudes and voting in GE 2024. #PSAI25 @jelkink.bsky.social

Enjoying the panels of the Specialist Group on Parties, Voters and Elections of the Political Studies Association of Ireland annual conference in Galway - great papers on Irish voting and electoral system!

Are you an expert in peace and conflict studies, and perhaps a recent PhD graduate? The UCD School of Politics and International Relations has a 5-month Teaching Fellow position open to teach in the areas of international security and political violence. my.corehr.com/pls/coreport...

Making final preparations for our conference presentation tomorrow

Paginagrote advertentie KNAW tegen de bezuinigingen met handtekeningen van 511 leden (KNAW en de Jonge Akademie) www.knaw.nl/nl/themas/st...