Today, the principal challenge to democracy is coming not from coups but from democratic erosion driven by elected leaders. What is behind this shift, and how can prodemocracy forces push back? muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

Those who love to pity Russia for the 1990s economic crisis never consider why East-Central Europe dipped less and recovered faster. First, because ECE rejected communism decisively. Second, because it democratized, unlike Ru. Neither explanation suggests we should be mourning the Soviet demise.

if you only follow #Hungarian politics every four years, you might be wondering who is suddenly voting for #TISZA. My @eepolitics.bsky.social article comes to the rescue: doi.org/10.1080/2159...

"By debunking myths and addressing grievances, democratic leaders will not eliminate authoritarian nostalgia altogether...[but they can] make it harder for former dictators and their children to ride authoritarian nostalgia to high office." muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

Great news on gradual roll out of paid parenting and medical leave. Now my social protection slides need an update...

Tragischer Unfall am Bau fordert vier Todesopfer #wien

Unconditional Basic Income for artists may well pay for itself as the Irish case indicates: "for every euro the government spent on supporting artists, society received €1.39 in return" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

DALP II: “Kosovo exhibits a higher level of programmatic effort than most post-communist cases overall…” sites.duke.edu/democracylin... sites.duke.edu/democracylin...

Happy to see this article published: Exploring the link between democratisation and citizenship: comparing Kosovo and Albania www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

From February 2026 - Adolescent Exposure to Economic Inequality and Belief in the ‘American Dream’ on Entering Adulthood - https://cup.org/4rmfyyE - @sldemora.bsky.social & Benjamin J. Newman #OpenAccess

I added my 10c to this bio of Vučić for @aljazeera.com www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

📢NEW PUBLICATION: Do you think work-family challenges are limited to advanced economies, where many women work in the formal sector? Our review article disagrees (w @aysegulkayaoglu.bsky.social ). doi.org/10.1016/j.wo...

Today Bulgaria marks Communist Regime Victims day. OTD in 1945, dozens of politicians and intellectuals were executed on death sentences handed by an ad hoc, extra-constitutional "People's Court". The court delivered ~10K sentences for fascism/Nazi collaboration. They deserved it, you'd think, but..

❗ Social policy may not be the EU’s top priority, but it matters. 💡 Anna Kyriazi & Marcello Natili show that a weak social dimension fuels Eurosceptic challenges. By contrast, prioritising bonding and social security may help sustain the EU 👇 🔗 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Kosovo, UBO Consulting exit poll: National parliament election LVV-S&D: 45.7% (+3.4) PDK-RE: 22.0% (+1.1) LDK-EPP: 15.6% (-2.7) AAK-*: 5.3% (+5.3) NISMA-*: 1.7% (+1.7) +/- vs. Last election result ➤ europeelects.eu/kosovo

First time writing for Broadstreet blog! With @apvjustino.bsky.social and @andrearuggeri.bsky.social, we wrote about the Special Issue just published at Comparative Political Studies: www.broadstreet.blog/p/legacies-o...

This is a brilliant piece on the restructuring of political competition in Western Europe and goes far beyond the question of populism. Great also for teaching.

In this blog post, I explore the ongoing restrictions on Finnish citizenship, examining their causes as well as implications for applicants and the Nordics. Thank you @globalcit.bsky.social @koneensaatio.fi and @vetenskapsradet.bsky.social

In our November special issue on anti-governance, @erik-jones.bsky.social explores the reasons for the revolt against institutions in advanced industrial democracies. online.ucpress.edu/currenthisto...

🔴NEW ARTICLE🔴 a topic that is neglected: School food politics in Africa: Two Nigerian school feeding programs in comparative perspective" by Tim Dorlach, Ugbedeojo Sule and Nathaniel Umukoro. @journals.sagepub.com #socialpolicy #foodpolicy Check it out here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

New UN report warns that welfare cuts can fuel far-right support. It features my work on public service deprivation with @paularettl.bsky.social @catherinedevries.bsky.social @marcocappelluti.bsky.social and on climate-related disasters and far-right incumbents with @pstanig.bsky.social

Study links greater inequality to structural changes in children’s brains. Researchers say findings show inequality creates toxic environment and reducing it is ‘a public health imperative’: www.theguardian.com/science/2025... ➔ Rakesh et al. (2025): www.nature.com/articles/s44...

📖 Leader-driven democratic decline 📉 Creating a 'toolkit' of over 400 actions used by would-be autocrats, @jmvanlit.bsky.social & Carolien van Ham make it easier to compare cares, spot patterns and understand when and why #autocratization succeeds 📖

My new article on structural oppression, its perpetuation, and why it constitutes an injustice - is out in Journal of Social Philosophy! Link: doi.org/10.1111/josp.... Open access thanks to @eui-eu.bsky.social and @euilibrary.bsky.social agreements.

📢 Nueva publicación 🥳 Our article with Alex Schmotz and Michael Zürn (WZB Berlin Social Science Center) on diverse global governance outcomes under regime complexity is out #openaccess at #EJIR. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

🎉 Nice way to end the week. Just learned Floris Peters & I received an honorable mention for the Best Article Award 2025 from @migcitizenapsa.bsky.social for our APSR paper Heterogeneous Naturalization Effects of Dual Citizenship Reform in Migrant Destinations. What a nice recognition!

And Excel file for 2023 to 2025 is here: osf.io/t7sw4/?fbcli...

Albania has become the first country in the world to have an AI minister — not a minister for AI, but a virtual minister made of pixels and code and powered by artificial intelligence.

Kosovo country note from the “21th International Review on Leave Policies and Related Research 2025” www.leavenetwork.org/fileadmin/us...

Great to see @globalcit.bsky.social’s Rainer Bauböck at the launch of the @internationalidea.bsky.social Global State of Democracy Report 2025. Emphasising the important implications of out-of-country voting in times of democratic recession both in migrant origin countries and destination countries.

✨ Now published in the @scmrjems.bsky.social: our paper on the "Pathways of external citizenship: the global extension of dual citizenship and voting from abroad", with the great @sumpierrez.bsky.social! You can access 50 free online copies here: lnkd.in/dvaNmTWR See 🧵 for summary of our 📝

🆕 publication alert ✨ I’m delighted our paper on Waves of Securitisation: The Rise, Fall and Resurgence of Citizenship Stripping Regulations in Europe, with Luuk vd Baaren & Maria Gerdes is out now in Statelessness & Citizenship Review! 🔗 statelessnessandcitizenshipreview.com/index.php/jo...

2.5%? 5%? More? 🧐 What does #Trump actually expects of Europe when it comes to #security & #defence? ➡️ Find out in our latest #Europechats episode on the past, present & future of transatlantic relations 🔗 youtu.be/MtGQ3WP1CEs?... @eui-schuman.bsky.social @erik-jones.bsky.social

So you want to be a systems leader? www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

I love everything about @andrewroberts.bsky.social’s review of four recent books on the postcommunist transition. We know a LOT about the 90s that goes beyond facile references to “neoliberalism” or the “Washington Consensus.” Anyone tempted to work on the period would do well to start with this 👇.

That’s a Wrap 🎬 David Owen & Rainer Bauböck respond to 13 entries in the Citizenship as Reparations Debate 🤔 Does why a state offers reparative citizenship matter as much as to whom? 🎭 Can symbolic reparation mask selective immigration? ⚖️ When is it a moral duty, not just a choice? 🔗 t.ly/UPMSb

Concerned with conflicts over political liberties & the regime in federal states? Just out in @democratization.bsky.social - A new, regime-change driven „genotype of secession“. - How it mattered in the breakup of the Soviet Union & Yugoslavia. Is California next? www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

If you want to better understand power and privilege in academia, ask yourself the following question: Who is allowed to write what?

Together with my brilliant colleagues Stacie E Goddard, Ronald R Krebs, and Berthold Rittberger, we published a piece in #ForeignAffairsMagazine: "Liberalism Doomed the Liberal International Order"! www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

⚙️ Matthew Bergman, Wolfgang C. Mueller and @hannaeback.bsky.social on how ideology and contextual factors shape labour market reform

Our special issue of the Journal of European Social Policy on bridging the continental divide in social policy research is out: journals.sagepub.com/toc/espa/35/3 We have an amazing line up of contributors and great papers that feature both European and North American cases. Must read :-)

What a great article and I couldn't stop once I started reading. We often blame private pension failure on too little regulation. This paper flips the causality: the real culprit is too much. Regulatory intrusiveness, not absence, is what causes the failure. qjae.mises.org/article/1248...

An insightful contribution by @jdzankic.bsky.social to another stimulating @globalcit.bsky.social exchange on difficult #citizenship questions. > Should the victims of historical injustice be offered citizenship as reparation? #MigCitSky

🎙️ Europe’s welfare states proved resilient through crisis after crisis. Why? @eui-sps.bsky.social Prof. Hemerijck explains how social investment became central to economic strength—even amid inflation, populism & rising defence costs 🔗 https://loom.ly/HlDb98M

The Recent Illiberal Turn and Social Policy in the Western Balkans cadmus.eui.eu/server/api/c...