New working paper: Changing Boundaries: Harmonizing Territorial Data for Comparative Subnational Research. 2,070 municipal territorial changes across 35 European countries + a new open-access harmonization infrastructure: LoQoG Dataspace. 🔗 Link in comments!

Our colleague Lena Wängnerud has been awarded the Riksdag Medal (eighth size) for meritorious contributions to the Riksdag. Congratulations Lena! www.gu.se/en/news/poli...

📢 New working paper: Inefficiency is worse for cooperation than corruption Experiments in Germany & Romania show people react more strongly to inefficiency than corruption 🔬🌍 www.gu.se/sites/defaul...

📢 New in World Development: Public support for military conservation in India, Indonesia & South Africa. Survey data shows backing for tougher anti-poaching measures🪖—but non-military approaches are still preferred in some contexts⚖️. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #Conservation #PublicOpinion

📢 We’re hiring! We are looking for an Associate Researcher to join the project “The Local Quality of Government (Lo-QoG) dataset: A hub for local societal indicators across Europe.” web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/103... #AcademicJobs #PoliticalScience #DataScience #QoG #Gothenburg

New QoG working paper out📊 The “winner–loser gap” in democratic satisfaction has nearly doubled since 1995—driven by dissatisfied electoral losers, not polarization 🌍📉 Based on 1.2M+ responses across 92 democracies. #PoliticalScience #Democracy #QoG www.gu.se/sites/defaul...

Congrats to our colleague Aksel Sundström and co-authors 🎉📚 Their article “Youth Representation and Democratic Legitimacy” has won this year’s SPPQ Best Paper Award 🏆—recognizing the top paper on U.S. state politics or policy presented in the past year 👏

Today we congratulate Marina Nistotskaya (PI) 🎉 who has received SEK 250,000 from the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies for the project Academic Autonomy under Regime Change 📚🌍

Read the latest news from the QoG Institute In this newsletter: 📄 QoG Annual Report 2025 📚 New Publications 🎓 Internship at the QoG Institute mailchi.mp/a7958f3a6f14...

How we hire in the public sector shapes competence, independence & resistance to corruption. Marina Nistotskaya & Liz David-Barrett in a talk on merit-based bureaucracy, political appointments, and new research on legal ambiguity & outsourcing. KickBack podcast🎧 soundcloud.com/kickback-gap...

Can droughts shift who we trust to lead? New research shows climate stress can increase support for women political leaders. 🌍🔥👩 www.gu.se/sites/defaul... #ClimatePolitics #GenderAndLeadership

📢 New in Environmental Politics: Harring, Sundström, Jagers & Povitkina on corruption & climate 🌍 Reviewing ~200 studies, they show how corruption undermines mitigation—raising emissions, weakening policy, and harming carbon sinks 🌳🎣 🔗 doi.org/10.1080/0964...

📚 New chapter by our colleague Anna Persson on corruption in the Elgar Encyclopedia of African Politics 🌍 Explores definitions, debates, and recent developments—highlighting ongoing challenges in sub-Saharan Africa 🚫💰 🔗 www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/elg...

We’ve made some updates to our Data Finder 🚀 Take a look and tell us what you think! Spotted an issue or have a suggestion? We’d love to hear from you: [email protected] datafinder.qog.gu.se

Does foreign aid improve human rights? Our colleagues studied 121 countries (2002–2021) to examine how aid may work through donor conditions and the spread of norms. They show a positive link between OECD/DAC aid and physical integrity rights and civil liberties. doi.org/10.1177/1065...

📚 19 peer-reviewed articles 💸 11 new research grants 🌍 14 visiting scholars 📊 60,660 data downloads This and much more you can read about in the The Quality of Government Institute Annual report for 2025! www.gu.se/sites/defaul...

📰 Read the latest news from the QoG Institute! In this newsletter: 📊 QoG Dataset Update 2026 🏆 Winner of the QoG Best Paper Award 2025 🌍 DEMSCORE Conference 2026 📚 New publications 🗳️ Party leaks to the media coincide with internal conflicts ...and more mailchi.mp/c659c9b0950d...

🏆2025 Quality of Government Best Paper Award goes to David Cerero Guerra, Ph.D. Candidate at Yale University, for his paper: "When Criminals Help the State: Winning Hearts and Minds through Facilitation of State Service Provision” 🎖️👏 www.gu.se/en/quality-g...

Call for Papers and Panels DEMSCORE Conference 2026 June 8–9, Gothenburg, Sweden demscore.se/events/demsc...

New article by our colleagues: The impact of corruption on climate change mitigation Reviewing 200 studies, the authors find that corruption increases emissions and weakens climate policy effectiveness. #ClimateChange #Corruption doi.org/10.1080/0964...

Revelations of misconduct within Swedish political parties most often emerge when internal conflicts are at their peak, new study from the QoG Institute shows. www.gu.se/en/news/part...

New in Party Politics: An analysis of 349 insider leaks in Swedish parties (2010–2024) shows that disclosures peak during nomination periods and when parties are losing support—pointing to leaks as strategic tools in intra-party power struggles. doi.org/10.1177/1354...

🚨NEW: Quality of Government 2026 Datasets now available! ✨19 categories of governance data ✨ 200+countries ✨ NEW sources on agri-policies, Chinese development finance, tax transparency & more. Download & visualize at: - www.gu.se/en/quality-g... - datafinder.qog.gu.se #OpenData #Governance #Research

Our colleauge Anna Persson in a talk with Liz David Barrett on why anticorruption reforms fail, systemic corruption as collective action, and why transparency alone isn’t enough.

📄 New article in Governance: “Autonomy or Accountability? How Meritocracy, Patronage and Gender Balance Affect Perceptions of Legitimacy” By Monika Bauhr & Nicholas Charron. doi.org/10.1111/gove...

📰Read the latest news from QoG: 🎓 PhD opportunity in environmental governance&corruption 📢 Call for Expressions of Interest 🗓️ DEMSCORE Conference 2026 🌍 Call for Applications: 10th ICRN Forum 🌱 New research programme on environment and corruption 📚 Publications ✨ and more mailchi.mp/7d7dc00f3e31...

📢 Call for Applications! The 10th ICRN Forum on corruption, (anti-)corruption & tech takes place in Germany, 25–27 June 2026. Early-career researchers especially encouraged to apply. Deadline: Feb 2, 2026. Apply: uva.fra1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Proud to share that our colleagues Monika Bauhr and Nicholas Charron are ranked among the top 20 corruption researchers worldwide by ScholarGPS—placing them in the top 0.5% of scholars globally. Congratulations to both. scholargps.com/top-scholars...

🛑 To mark #AntiCorruptionDay, we recommend: 🎧 The QoG Podcast – insights on corruption, governance & how to build better institutions. 🔗 www.gu.se/en/quality-g... #TheQoGPodcast #GoodGovernance #QoG

📢 Read the latest news from The Quality of Government Institute 📰 In this newsletter: 🏆 QoG Best Paper Award 2025 — Last Call for Papers! 📬 Call for Expressions of Interest 📚 New publications 🔬 Newly awarded research projects 🔗 mailchi.mp/e26cab79edbc...

New QoG research on whistleblowing in political parties: 👉 Fairness vs. loyalty 👉 Party leaks in Swedish media www.gu.se/en/quality-g...

📢 Help build the first pan-European Local Quality of Government (Lo-QoG) Dataset! Join our online workshop hosted by The Quality of Government Institute at the University of Gothenburg: www.gu.se/en/quality-g... #Governance #DataSharing #PolicyResearch #PoliticalScience #QoG #ResearchCollaboration

New in the European Journal of Political Research! Why don’t voters “throw the rascals out”? doi.org/10.1017/S147...

📢 New QoG Working Paper! Climate Shocks, Gender & Incumbency Punishment Do voters judge women leaders differently in climate crises?🌍 ✅ Rewarded more if they deliver relief ❌ Punished harder if they fail 💡 Corruption perceptions skewed by gender 🔍 Read: www.gu.se/sites/defaul...

(in Swedish)🎧 Korruption fördjupar fattigdom & orättvisor – men varför är den så svår att bekämpa? Anna Persson (QoG), Jamie Smith (SIDA) och Númi Östlund (EBA) i nytt EBA-samtal: 👉 soundcloud.com/user-7156653...

🏆 QoG Best Paper Award 2025 🏆 The Quality of Government Institute (Univ. of Gothenburg) is awarding the best paper on QoG-related topics. ⏰ Eligible: Sept 2024 – Sept 2025 (pubs & intl. conferences) 👉 Read more: www.gu.se/korruption-s... #QoG #Research #AcademicAwards

1 year before Sweden’s 2026 election, our colleagues Ann-Kristin Kölln & Jana Schwenk urge stronger transparency & oversight of party financing to safeguard trust in democracy. www.dn.se/debatt/valjarna-maste-fa-veta-vem-som-betalar-partinotan/

QoG's founder Bo Rothstein, in a talk hosted by David Levi-Faur, on his groundbreaking work on trust, institutions & corruption. Featuring three of his major work: 📘 The Quality of Government (2011) 📘 Making Sense of Corruption (2017) 📘 Controlling Corruption (2021) www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vSk...

The clarity of legal language is often overlooked in debates about quality of government. Yet, laws that are difficult to interpret don’t just frustrate bureaucrats — they can undermine impartiality itself. Check out this new working paper by Nilsson and Nistotskaya www.gu.se/sites/defaul...

Populist leaders often claim that bureaucracy stiffles growth - but evidence shows the opposite. Marina Nistotskaya and Palina Kolvani explain how merit-based civil services not only strengthen governments but also boost entrepreneurship and economic dynamism. blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessrevi...

Read the latest news from the QoG Institute. In this newsletter: - New publications - New staff - and more... mailchi.mp/ca3ec604254d...

📘 New in Governance: Anna Persson, Frida Boräng & Ruth Carlitz introduce ideational reach—a fresh take on state capacity. It’s not just about institutions, but about belief in the idea of the state as legitimate authority. 🧠🏛️🌍 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/gove... #StateCapacity #Governance #PoliticalScience

🗳️ New research by Monika Bauhr & Nicholas Charron on the 2023 Polish election reveals a paradox: citizens offered clientelistic incentives were more likely to vote, yet less likely to trust electoral institutions. doi.org/10.1080/1351... #Democracy #PoliticalScience #Clientelism #Poland2023

🧵 New policy brief: "Tackling high-level corruption across Europe". QoG scholars Nistotskaya & Wittberg played a key role in shaping the insights + policy recs. Full brief 👉 www.falcon-horizon.eu/2025/04/poli...

🎉 New study by Palina Kolvani and Marina Nistotskaya: Merit-based recruitment in public admin boosts entrepreneurship by enhancing bureaucratic competence and impartiality. Mechanisms matter. doi.org/10.1017/S174... #Meritocracy #Governance #PublicAdmin #Development

"📢 New Working Paper Alert! "Governing Corporate Accountability: Extraterritoriality and the Effectiveness of NCP Mediation" by Mirja Sund and Marina Nistotskaya. 📝 Read the paper: www.gu.se/sites/defaul...

New report identifies six high-risk areas where corruption threatens to have far-reaching, system-threatening consequences within the EU. One of these is the public procurement sector, which accounts for 14 percent of the EU's GDP. Read the full report: data.europa.eu/doi/10.2837/...

📢 Registration is now open for #DEMSCORE Conference 2025, June 9-10 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Register here: www.demscore.se/events/demsc...

📚 30 peer-reviewed articles 📄 16 QoG working papers 🌍 17 visiting scholars 📊 25,379 data downloads This and much more you can read about in the QoG Annual Report for 2024! www.gu.se/sites/defaul...