For my new research unit Politics of Democracy at the Berlin Social Science Center @wzb.bsky.social, we have 3 open research positions.
2 postdocs: 4 + 2 years (100%)
1 doc: 2 years (75%)
Starting date: 1 March 2027 (negotiable)
Application deadline: 1 November
Working on research into far-right mobilisation and what it means for democracy? This call may be for you.
We’re especially keen to see innovative theoretical and empirical work that critically examines the radical–extreme distinction. 📣
In der Politikwissenschaft gibt es einen riesigen Forschungsstrang zum (Nicht-)Umgang mit rechtsaußen Parteien, der seine Konzepte sehr genau definiert und sorgsam formuliert. Zur Abwechselung oder, um im Bild eines zuletzt viel interviewten Politikwissenschaftlers zu bleiben,
Die AfD hat in Sachsen-Anhalt mit 39 von 83 Sitzen die absolute Mehrheit nur knapp verfehlt, ein vorläufiger Höhepunkt in der Normalisierung der extrem rechten Partei.
Deshalb veröffentlichen wir diese Woche ein Special Issue, eine dazu passende Literatursammlung (alle Beiträge im Open Access).
Die AfD hat in Sachsen-Anhalt mit 39 von 83 Sitzen die absolute Mehrheit nur knapp verfehlt, ein vorläufiger Höhepunkt in der Normalisierung der extrem rechten Partei.
Deshalb veröffentlichen wir diese Woche ein Special Issue, eine dazu passende Literatursammlung (alle Beiträge im Open Access).
It's way past time, so here comes the spring/summer 2026 update of the #FarRight bibliography. It's the third-largest ever and brings you 130 shiny new references, most of them published in the last 12 months. Buckle up for a 🧵 (or click the link for the article. Or do both?)
La Sociedad Mexicana de Sociología lamenta profundamente el fallecimiento del Dr. Raúl Pacheco-Vega, profesor del CIDE y FLACSO.
Nuestras más sinceras condolencias a sus familiares, amigos y colegas cercanos.
Descanse en paz
Very excited to present new research with @dasalgon.bsky.social at the University of Barcelona @cpoliticaub.bsky.social
We look at how self-determination protests in Catalonia 2015-2019 were represented in Madrid-based media (El País and El Mundo).
Can't imagine a better place to present this!
📢 Research Seminar | May 21, 14:30
🎤 Jonas Gunzelmann @hajogu.bsky.social (WZB) presents
📄 Debating Self Determination. Media Coverage of Protests in Territorial Politics
📍 Room A-411 @cpoliticaub.bsky.socialweb.ub.edu/ca/web/facul...
Heute in unserer #Forschungswerkstatt:
Jan Schwalbach (GESIS Köln) spricht zum Thema "Movement Parties and Legislative Speech – Analyzing Party Behavior with Text Data"
Beginn (wie immer): 16 Uhr, im P4 (Philosophicum)
Alle sind herzlich Willkommen!
I defended my dissertation last week! 🎉🎉🎉
I examine how mainstream parties & media respond to far-right challengers.
Thanks so much to everyone who supported me along the way. I’m happy to carry on at @humboldtuni.bsky.social & continue ongoing work on reactionary politics & democratic defence.
📢 New article out (co-authored w/ @mportosg.bsky.social), just published in Social Forces (@sfjournal.bsky.social):
"Breaking the mold: The changing modularity of protest forms during cycles of contention" doi.org/10.1093/sf/s...
A 🧵 with the main takeaways from the article 👇
💥 Our paper is now out in Political Behavior - I'm very happy about it!
We show how confrontational protest affects different dimensions of public opinion compared to demonstrative protest 👇
I also talked to ZEIT Online about our pre-print & the context a while ago: www.zeit.de/gesellschaft...
❗Confrontational tactics like street blockades and food attacks on art hurt activists' image, but not their cause.
📄 New paper out in Political Behavior (@polbehavior.bsky.social) w/ @dasalgon.bsky.social@sophiahunger.bsky.social & @swenhutter.bsky.social. 🧵1/7
📢 Out April 16th: Growth, Democracy, or Climate Action? co-authored with Aidan Regan, Cyril Benoit & Tim Vlandas. As fuel prices rise and governments buckle under competing pressures, the book could not be more timely. www.agendapub.com/page/detail/... (1/6)
This is from Keir Starmer’s letter to Labour MPs today. This sort of stuff is shockingly partisan and nasty. It will only backfire with voters who switched to Green or are thinking of switching.
"Instead of a Labour MP who can be a local champion delivering for Gorton and Denton alongside a Labour Government and a Labour mayor, the people of Gorton and Denton now have a representative who is more interested in dividing people than uniting them.
(2/16)
Im Oktober habe ich zusammen mit @w-i-d.de einen Multistakeholder-Dialog am @wzb.bsky.social organisiert. Worüber wir diskutiert und uns ausgetauscht haben, kann man nun hier nachlesen 👇
🆕 Unser neues WiD-Perspektiven-Papier untersucht, welche Rollen Wissenschaft und #Wisskomm in polarisierten Debatten spielen können. Es bündelt sechs Rollen und acht Handlungsperspektiven für Forschende, Wissenschaftseinrichtungen und externe Akteur*innen:
wissenschaft-im-dialog.de/ressourcen/#...
65.1🦋
#FarRight amplifiers 🔊
@dasalgon.bsky.social and @tevoelker.bsky.social show how far-right actors increasingly shape the agendas of mainstream parties, particularly around Islam, migration & cultural issues. #AfD
Ok, this is wild: an AI agent autonomously shames a developer because the latter didn't accept a pull request (we are talking matplotlib here)
theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-...
Interesting: "Findings suggest that the left-right political orientation of journalists affects the use of subjectivity in reporting and political party composition, but in the opposite direction [from what was expected]: [Left-leaning] journalists seem to overcompensate for their individual views."
Das WZB-Projekt „Wirksam gegen Rechtsaußen" hat Strategien von zivilgesellschaftlichen Institutionen in der Auseinandersetzung mit #Rechtsextremismus untersucht und systematisiert. Den neuen Policy Brief dazu gibt es hier: www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10...@chjncke.bsky.social@tevoelker.bsky.social
Two new articles in Party Politics
With
@gessler.bsky.social
Measuring party positions and issue salience with mass media and manifesto data"
doi.org/10.1177/1354...
With Hanspeter Kriesi
"Restructuring party systems in Northwestern Europe"
doi.org/10.1177/1354...
Feedback very welcome!
In just over eight months, Berlin will hold its 20th state election since 1946. While its well known East West divide in voting behaviour is often attributed to the city’s former split into capitalist and socialist halves, these differences existed even before the city’s division. A thread. 🧵
Publication Alert 🚨
Our paper on the effect of Symbolic Policies on Climate Policy Support has been published in the APSR! @apsrjournal.bsky.social Below is a summary of the results
Extremely grateful to have written this with the wonderful @malojan.bsky.social and @theodoretallent.bsky.social 🥳
🎉 NEW PUBLICATION🎉
Our paper on "the effect of symbolic policies on climate policy support" has just been published in the APSR ! @apsrjournal.bsky.social (open access)
The end of a long and rewarding journey with the best co-authors @malojan.bsky.social@luissattelmayer.bsky.social
(1/6)
Das @manifestoproj.bsky.social analysiert seit vielen Jahren politische Texte - aber unser Datensatz ist voll mit Zahlen. In einem Artikel in den neuen WZB-Mitteilungen haben meine Kolleg:innen und ich anhand von sechs Zahlen beschrieben, was wir da eigentlich so machen. 🔍🖥️📄
What do 2 million, 286 and 1979 have to do with party manifestos? Shortly before Christmas, the new issue of the @wzb.bsky.social-Mitteilungen came out. This issue's topic: "Numbers".📊 We are happy to contribute an article on 50 years of manifesto research:
bibliothek.wzb.eu/artikel/2025...
🔔 New paper on party brands with @swenhutter.bsky.social in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social
We study the supply (how parties call themselves) and demand (what voters reward) sides. We pair a new European dataset of party names with conjoint experiments on voter reactions
OA 👉 doi.org/10.1017/S153...
📣 Come work with us! The @wzb.bsky.social Center for Civil Society Research is looking for a research associate/doctoral candidate (75%) for a 3 year period, starting on Apr 1, 2026. The researcher will work in the Manifesto Project. More:
wzb.hr4you.org/job/view/428...
Apply by Jan 25, 2026! 🗓️
BITTE REPOSTEN! Wir brauchen Daten!
Im Rahmen eines meiner Seminare @powimz.bsky.social sollen die Studis eigene Erfahrungen mit der Datenerhebung sammeln. Dazu haben wir eine Umfrage zusammengestellt (ca. 10 Min.). Wir sind dankbar für jede*n Teilnehmer*in :)
survey.zdv.uni-mainz.de/index.php/34...
I’m excited to share that my first book came out this summer! The book looks at how EU state aid cases become politicised (and de-politicised) and what this means for the EU’s legitimacy. At its core, the book shows how competition policy is never just technical, but also deeply political.
we have 5 positions open at @goetheuni.bsky.social in Frankfurt
- a 4,5 year postdoc in my @erc.europa.eu project on the educational cleavage
- 2 postdoc & 2 PhD positions, 4 years, in a research group on Reconfiguration & Internalization of Social Structure
www.uni-frankfurt.de/48794784/FB0...
After 3 years and 5,322 emails (and counting) our Encyclopedia of Political Communication is finally out at @elgarpublishing.bsky.social
📚 Three volumes
⭐ 431 entries
🎓 581 wonderful authors from across the world
A very short 🧵
Two PhD Positions in Project about Protests in Africa
@sophiahunger.bsky.social and I are looking for two PhD researchers in our project „Welfare States and Protest: Understanding the Contentious Outcomes of Social Policy in Africa". Application deadline is 14.1.26:
www.uni-bremen.de/en/universit...
I am thrilled to have welcomed Martin Schulz to my lecture on European integration! The students were very interested in discussing the current challenges and opportunities of the European Union with him.
By the way, it's my first time holding a Vorlesung as a Gastprofessor this semester at FU.
👥 Last week, Martin Schulz delivered a guest talk in Daniel Saldivia Gonzatti's Lecture on European integration. He engaged with students from the MA "European Societies" to discuss current and future challenges and potentials of the EU. We're delighted that Mr. Schulz visited our teaching program!
Join us! Die Abteilung für Innenpolitik & Politische Soziologie sucht zum 01.04. eine*n neue*n Kollegin*en. Wir bieten: volle Promotionsstelle (EG13) für drei Jahre (Verlängerung um 3 Jahre möglich), flexible Arbeitszeitregelungen, kollegiales & forschungsstarkes Team. Mehr Informationen hier👇
Join us at the last Data Science Brown Bag this year for a talk by @ankuepfer.bsky.social “Look Who’s Confronting: Opposition Status, Gender, & the Far Right.”
He’ll share insights on how politicians use eye contact as confrontation in parliamentary debates.
👉 www.hertie-school.org/en/datascien...
Is meritocratic ideology an "opium of the masses" of sorts that tames redistributive demands? Not for lower income strata. The myriad mechanisms through which the rich exert disproportionate influence are probably better explanations of why we do not observe higher redistribution.
Check it out!😊👇
📢New publication:
The poor want redistribution regardless of whether they think society is meritocratic.
🎉 Big congrats to my former supervisees — now co-authors, @irenepaneda.bsky.social, @jonnekamphorst.bsky.social, and Bala Battu!
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
“The U.S. military has killed more than 80 people since the campaign began in early September. But it does not know who specifically is being killed, and the strikes were not designed to take out high-ranking cartel leaders.” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/u...