The key implication: people have a general tendency to personal favoritism in professional selection, even in highly formalized bureaucracies. If autocrats can instrumentalize this tendency to select people who are in line with regime objectives, it stabilizes the regime instead of threatening it.

🚨 New publication alert! 🚨 Our article "Cadre networks and bureaucratic careers in autocracies" has just been published online first in @thejop.bsky.social 🎉 — joint work with Alexander De Juan & Jan Pierskalla www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... Short summary thread below 👇

Ok first try.

For anyone interested, here is the syllabus for my graduate-level course on "Computational Methods for Area Studies" hegghammer.net/assets/docum...

I am looking for a postdoc to join my team at the University of Bremen. 5-year-contract, top-up to 100% possible for most of the contract period. Apply by 04 May 2026. If you have questions about the position, send me an email! www.uni-bremen.de/en/universit...

Det ble vedtatt å utrede lobbyregister i går. I den anledning har @ma1ken.bsky.social og jeg skrevet om utsiktene for å faktisk få det på plass. Politikerne har ikke vist at de er villig til å innføre sterkere regulering av seg selv, så vi er ikke kjempeoptimisiske. www.altinget.no/artikkel/det...

The dept of Economic History in Lund is hiring a new Senior Lecturer! Ad is here, deadline 17 May: lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

The Welsh Senedd has a new electoral system; replacing MMP with low-magnitude closed list PR (with DM=6), ie. bang in the middle of the Carey-Hix “sweet spot” 😉 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Se...

Viktor Orbán created a new state foundation that forced independent media owners to transfer ownership, changed the state media into a propaganda mouthpiece, and hounded the remaining few free media with tax audits, raids, and surveillance. Over 80% of the media in Hungary is now in his hands.

Har laget podkast. En fascinerende og godt over middels spinnvill historie fra virkeligheten. radio.nrk.no/podkast/radi...

Very happy and proud to have co-authored this paper in @ejprjournal.bsky.social, with @plutscher.bsky.social & @chknutsen.bsky.social 😊 doi.org/10.1017/S147... Please see Philipp's 🧵 below for the main findings 😊

We are launching the dual degree between our Master in Institutions and Political Economy at the University of Barcelona @ubmipe.bsky.social and King's College London www.ub.edu/mipe/#dual @ub.edu

It was an immense honor to contribute to the 30th anniversary issue of Party Politics. Richard Katz and I advocate for the continued relevance of studying party organization, both to understand how politics in democracies actually works and to articulate how it should work. doi.org/10.1177/1354...

Tomorrow I’ll outline a new project on electoral malfeasance in Norwegian history, arguing that fraud was widespread—especially amid heightened polarization and certain electoral rules—despite the “high trust, low corruption” narrative.

Happy to head to bed after getting an acceptance from @worldpolitics.bsky.social .

In what is sadly still a relevant and timely piece, @drjennings.bsky.social, Gerry Stoker and I spoke to those who have served at the ehart of UK governments to understand how they reconcile with low political trust, depressingly finding little motivation to take action to remedy it

Only in Norway m.

Our paper "Partiaization: How National Programmatic Parties Took Hold of Local Politics" using our reconstructed local election dataset (1904-1937) is finally out in draft form in a link below! (with @oskorge.bsky.social )

Our paper "Partiaization: How National Programmatic Parties Took Hold of Local Politics" using our reconstructed local election dataset (1904-1937) is finally out in draft form in a link below! (with @oskorge.bsky.social )

Det er dejligt at være præsident. Trump vil overføre prisen for en Femern forbindelse til sig selv. Og han er derudover igang med at sagsøge det amerikanske skattevæsen for prisen for en til Femern forbindelse.

Er du middelalderhistoriker og har lyst til å bli kollegaen min? www.finn.no/job/ad/45151...

We have a vacant position as Associate Professor in Political Science (International Relations). Deadline April 29. Please apply or distribute. www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

New paper out at @electoralstudies.bsky.social. I show that - contrary to claims that personalised electoral systems are good for participation - Open Lists have no effect on turnout relative to Closed Lists; in fact, they increase rates of voter error. 🗳️ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Norwegian special forces ready for deployment to the Greenland front.

Here's a short write-up of our recently published study: 📰"What People Really Think About Taxing the Rich – the surprising beliefs behind progressive taxation" TLDR: Most believe taxing the rich brings equality & growth! Elite fears are not shared. www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...

Fully funded Ph.D. position in economics open - please apply and/or inform your promising students! Application deadline 28 February. www.oslomet.no/en/work/job-... This is an open-topic fellowship, with research proposals aligned with the economics group's research interests being given priority.

We are happy to announce the call for papers for the third WhoGov Mini-Conference on Political Elites! It will be held on August 20-21st, 2026 in Oslo. We welcome research on political elites broadly understood and not just papers using WhoGov. You can find the call here: bit.ly/whogovminico...

🚨Job alert! 🚨 I'm advertising a PhD position (66%) in Comparative Politics at HU Berlin. Ideal candidates combine a research interest in autocratic politics, conflict, and/or political violence with strong quantitative methods skills. ⏳ 4 (+2) years | 🗓 DL 16.01; Start March/April 26 More info:

Can state-building disrupt rather than stabilize society? In a new @apsrjournal.bsky.social article, @victorgayeco.bsky.social and I show that the expansion of state communication networks spurred rebellion for decades in France before the Revolution 👉 Article: doi.org/10.1017/S000... 🧵1/X

Coffee roasted at soon to be Trump or Putin occupied Svalbard.

Interesting to see how economics as a discipline has now fully embraced papers that are _exclusively_ political science (not some or other variation on “political economy”), but squarely political science. Now the question becomes, should we expect a pay rise, or should they expect a pay cut?

Senior Researcher Positions – NTNU, Norway 🇳🇴 Full-time research roles in Historical Sciences & Cultural History. Eligibility: PhD in History, Economics or related discipline. Deadline: 15 March 2026. Apply: higherjobz.com/senior-resea... #AcademicJobs #HistoryJobs #NorwayJobs #postdoc

There is growing interest in HPE about social conflict in the run-up to the French Revolution. In a new article at Data & Corpus, I describe the Jean Nicolas Database, a database of 8,516 rebellions in France (1661-1789) 👉Article: doi.org/10.46298/dc.... 👉Database: doi.org/10.7910/DVN/... 🧵1/6

Our neighbours at @tcdpoliticalsci.bsky.social are hiring 3 (!) tenure-track faculty members: – Assistant Professor in Political Economy – Assistant Professor in International Politics – Assistant Professor in Political Science Deadline: 15 Jan 2026 More details: jobs.tcd.ie @tcddublin.bsky.social

📢 New article 👥 Francesca R. Jensenius @fr-jensenius.bsky.social (ISV) and 3 others 👉 Indian election data for polling stations and villages: National elections 2009–2019 📗 Open Access in Scientific Data 🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Today - 15 December - is your last chance to apply for our amazing course Advanced Qualitative Methods in Conflict Studies. I can strongly recommend it! www.peaceconflictresearch.org/courses/77?f...

🚨 3-Year Postdoc in Political Science at Aarhus University 🚨 I’m seeking to recruit a postdoc for my @erc.europa.eu research project 𝑬𝑸𝑼𝑰𝑳𝑰𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑼𝑴 on state-citizen interactions. Link and more information in second post. Position Start: Fall 2026 Application Deadline: ‼️ February 5, 2026, 23:59 CET ‼️

We’re trying to raise $1 million for desperately poor people in Rwanda to beat last year’s mark and do more good. www.slowboring.com/p/one-millio...

📢 📢 Call for Papers IV Yale–UB Historical Political Economy Workshop Organized by @Didacqueralt.bsky.social & @Cescamat.bsky.social 🎤 Keynote: Lisa Blaydes (Stanford) 📍 University of Barcelona 🗓 June 29–30, 2026 Submit your papers by Jan 21, 2026: shorturl.at/oZTNy #pleaseRT

Kjære alle, USN lyser nå ut en 100 % fast stilling som førsteamanuensis. Spre gjerne utlysningen til alle dere tenker kan være aktuelle. Dersom dere har spørsmål om stillingen eller om USN, er det bare å ta kontakt med meg.

Norwegian indie startup @lugngames.bsky.social are doing a kickstarter for their game, and super close to reaching their goal! Have a look and see if this could be something for you 😊 www.kickstarter.com/projects/517...

Name assimilation increases immigrants' earnings A LOT. osf.io/preprints/so...

As I reflect on this, three thoughts: 1. This case is only symptomatic of a bigger problem; increasingly broken incentive structures in our disciplines and industry. Our job is *not* to publish for the sake of publishing. It is to produce and advance *knowledge*. This process is hard and slow.

The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure invites applications for a two-week Summer School on ‘Micro-Census Insights into Historical Households, Mortality and Fertility’, held at University of Cambridge from July 6-17th, 2026. Application deadline February 2 2026.

🌟 JOB ALERT! 🌟 I’m hiring 1 postdoc for my ERC project ECONENGAGE (@ Gothenburg 🇸🇪)! Starting ca. Aug '26! Congenial colleagues + int'l & supportive environment. 💸 for conferences + workshops! Lots of professional networking opportunities with scholars! Deadline Jan 7th. Apply! (see more below 🧵)

How did France become one of Europe’s biggest printers of vernacular books, and how did it shape its linguistic and political development? My paper w/Jacob Hall, "The King’s French," shows how a 1539 language mandate changed printing, standardized French, and strengthened national identity. (1/12)

Se også kronikk i DN av Morten Welde, som forsker på store statlige investeringer. www.dn.no/kronikk/samf...

Deadline for EPSS 2026 is this Friday!

🎓 New paper accepted today, on the intergenerational educational mobility among immigrants in Denmark! At first glance, immigrants seem more mobile than natives – but this is largely a data illusion. Poor register data quality drives the pattern. w/ @rlandersoe.bsky.social osf.io/preprints/so...