As a man of the people, I will always defend trail hunting, which I know is a top priority for all my working class constituents who own horses and enjoy simple pleasures like ripping foxes apart for laughs.

X-Mas is near, and like so many of us, I'm going to visit my family, who live down in the Swabian South. So I thought, let's get in the mood by baking a wonderfully crusty Swabian "genetztes Brot". Yum! Happy Holidays everybody!

Journal article: “the data are available on request” The data:

Very happy to share that the Faculty Board has appointed me as the new Head of our Public Administration department, starting in January. I’m really looking forward to this new role, above all because our group is made up of a bunch of fantastic colleagues.

We're looking for a colleague (postdoc) 📢 @politikuhh.bsky.social 3+3 years Doing your own research while teaching 2.5 courses per semester Research agenda with links to our team (democracy, digital politics, political competition/behaviour) DL 🗓️ 05/01 stellen.uni-hamburg.de/jobposting/6...

I guess that's what happens when you take your main musical inspirations from Radio 6 shows like Iggy Confidential or Don Letts' Culture Clash Radio and then spend the whole summer going down the rabbit hole of 1960s Habibi Funk and Ethio Jazz...

Wanna know what happens when small citizen groups aross Europe deliberate about democratic innovations and how the outcomes match the perspectives of political elites and the wider public? Join our final event in Brussels on 27 January 2026!

Tomorrow's politicization class will be on the EU in party politics ... excellent opportunity for plot procrastination ...

Labour MP here explaining bond rates (not Bond rates) with, I thought, a comic little pause on ‘bananas’.

Here's more on how my good friend @murphyami.bsky.social, in an effort to rediscover his long-dormant Irish family roots, went down the rabbit hole of trying to learn Gaeilge. And all that simply because of Brexit. Easy!

(1/5) How can scholars write effective response memos that boost their chances of publishing? 📝 Aksel Sundström shares tips for crafting strong responses to reviewers—an often-untaught skill for grad students–in his article published in @politicsgenderj.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1017/S174... #polisky

Fun fact from the latest Copenhagenize index: Utrecht is more Copenhagenized than Copenhagen itself, taking the top spot in the global ranking of bike-friendly cities. This invites a discussion of the Weberian distinction between ideal types and real types but I'll leave that for another occasion.

What's the most bike-friendly city in Germany? The latest Copenhagenize index has Münster on top of the list (ranked 7th worldwide). Even though not everything is perfect, a huge amount of effort has gone into improving the ageing cycling infrastructure - well done and keep going, Münster!

Ever wondered what the ramblings of a mostly drunken aunt from Ireland, Brexit, and an ingenious English wordsmith have in common? Here's part 1 of a presumably longer series... (and many, many more brilliant stories)

Vergangene Woche war unser Sprecher Ulrich Willems zur Buchvorstellung von "Der Kompromiss. Eine demokratische Lebensform" (@transcript-verlag.bsky.social) am @fkhbadhomburg.bsky.social zu Gast: www.forschungskolleg-humanwissenschaften.de/index.php/ar...

Surprised everybody buys the centre-left's story that yesterday's vote in the EP was a decisive departure from the cordon sanitaire vis-à-vis the far right. Analyses of voting patterns by people like @simonhix.bsky.social indicated that there were already common votes with the far right 2019-2024 🤔

...and more cowbell!

After the @uni-muenster.de's minibus had safely brought us to Enschede, the delegation of @ifpolms.bsky.social couldn't resist and used the UT photo frame to snap a little group pic

The party was kicked off by Vice-Rector Monika Stoll (UM) and Rector Tom Veldkamp (UT). We were also glad to welcome Dean Tanya Bondarouk (UT), Vice-Dean Matthias Freise (UM), as well as students, faculty, and staff from both sides (including @rosema.bsky.social, from whom I stole all the pics)

As the programme director of the Münster side, I handed over a present to my UT counterpart, Veronica Junjan: a German apple tree, to be planted in Dutch soil on the UT campus, symbolizing our commitment to continuing the fruitful collaboration in the future (kudos to my wife for the decoration!)

The former Dutch ambassor to Germany, Ronald van Roeden, gave an entertaining keynote lecture about the changeful history of the relations between the Netherlands and Germany

Yesterday we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the educational collaboration between the University of Twente's Department of Public Administration and the University of Münster's Department of Political Science The programme included two of the founding fathers, Jaap de Wilde and Jörg Waldmann...

Cool new paper by @nschwitter.bsky.social about using AI tools to generate visual vignettes for survey experiments

🎓 We’re hiring! Two researcher / PhD positions in the ERC project DANCE – Dark Nerd Communities at the University of Münster 🇪🇺 🧮 Quantitative: survey, lab + field experiments 🎙️ Qualitative: ethnography, focus groups, interviews Apply by 28 Nov 2025 👇 #AcademicJobs #ERC #PhD #CommunicationResearch

Ich bin nicht ganz so sicher wie Philipp Manow, dass eine Minderheitsregierung unter punktueller Policy-Einbindung der AfD zu einer Mäßigung der AfD führen wird, aber ich stimme zu, dass eine solche Lösung mindestens für die ostdeutschen Bundesländer die am wenigsten katastrophale Option ist.

I grew up in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant of Gundremmingen. Ever since the Chernobyl disaster, seeing the two cooling towers of the plant reminded me of the threat posed by nuclear energy. Yesterday, the towers were finally demolished - what a relief! youtu.be/uiRs4Juuq_0?...

Really pleased to this out as part of special issues on "Cleavage Politics in Western Democracies". Huge thanks to the SI editors, @dpzollinger.bsky.social and @davidattewell6.bsky.social for putting the special together and all of their support during the process.

Diese zwei Ergebnisse des #Politbarometer sollten nicht untergehen, doch genau das passiert gerade...

Den Begriff "manipuliert" finde ich irreführend, aber es wäre schon *sehr* hilfreich gewesen, den genauen Wortlaut der Frage anzugeben und zu berichten, dass große Mehrheiten keine großen Probleme mit Geflüchteten sehen und sich an öffentlichen Plätzen sicher fühlen.

Überzeugende Analyse der Lage vor den Landtagswahlen im Osten. Die Frage ist, ob die CDU in ST den richtigen Zeitpunkt für eine Minderheitsregierung nicht schon verpasst hat. Das Modell wechselnder Mehrheiten ist auf jeden Fall auch für andere Länder (SPD in MV) und für den Bund relevant.

Yep, that's exactly why I've never owned a car and take my bike to go to work everyday

If you are interested in regional economic deprivation and how this shapes what citizens thinking about democracy, @cwegscheider.bsky.social got you covered! Check out his talk tomorrow! 💻 Wed 15 Oct, 13:00–14:00 BST

This has taken some time, but the cover alone makes it worth the wait: 'The Promise of EU Democracy' is due to come out at OUP this spring It collects the very best on EU democracy - promises and disillusions - from the H2000 RECONNECT-project global.oup.com/academic/pro...

@ifpolms.bsky.social, the winter term always sees our lecture series on #sustainability & #democracy! This year's focus is on the perspective of citizens, with a great line-up of external and internal presenters. Participants from other departments @uni-muenster.de & other unis are very welcome!

Viele AfD-Wähler:innen sind keine Sozialpolitik- und Umverteilungsfans - korrekt. Das heißt m.E. aber nicht, dass man mit interventionistischer Politik zur Verbesserung der wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Lage in den Gegenden, in denen sie v.a. leben, nichts erreichen könnte.

Five lessons from the local elections in NRW - a 🧵 1/5 There was no blue wave. The AfD fared worse than in the federal election earlier this year. The party didn’t even have enough people to put up candidates everywhere. The AfD has established itself, but it is still much weaker than elsewhere.

I know I'm a bit late to the party but now that I finally made it to BlueSky, I want to take the opportunity to promote this cool new piece on unelected representation by @andreavik.bsky.social, @pieterdewilde.bsky.social, @leneaaroe.bsky.social and myself in @bjpols.bsky.social

Friends don't let friends give preregistration a bad name. Exploratory findings are fine; you just have to label them!

I wrote a longer essay on how social status matters for far-right support. Many still wrongly associate the far right with the economically left behind. Taking social status seriously also cautions against the idea that deliverism will win back far-right voters. equitablegrowth.org/threats-to-s...

The University of Cologne plans drastic cuts to its Political Science department, potentially abolishing the MSc in Political Science and eliminating the professorships in IR and Comparative Politics. This would severely weaken the social sciences at @unicologne.bsky.social. Petition (de/en) ⤵️