Jack Dean

Péter Magyar responds to the success of the Students' List in Serbia tonight. Magyar celebrating the Students' List, as Orbán would have celebrated Vucic had the two elections gone differently - truly, it has been a year of change in Central and Southeast Europe.

Dan Tanasă going to court for alleged incitement, Georgescu on 5 separate cases, Simion increasingly in open war with Realitatea and Anca Alexandrescu, Lulea finding a pig's head outside his home. Becali taking every opportunity to insult everyone else involved. Things are not peaceful within AUR.

Of course, should a split come from this, it would not be AUR's first. Mihai Lasca, Diana Șoșoacă, and Claudiu Târziu have all left previously - either joining or founding other parties. Usually this comes shortly after falling out with Simion. He may find it different this time.

As a sidenote to this mess, AUR's Moldovan party has since been renamed to the European National Conservative Party, perhaps unsurprising after how openly the party in Romania was pushing Democratia Acasă instead.

g4media.roSub asaltul socialismului revoluționar. Impactul asupra UEEuropa este din nou sub asalt ideologic. Franța este probabil exemplul cel mai bun, dar nu este singura democrație sub presiune.

Naumescu finding a way to bring unashamed elitism into any subject? Who would have seen it coming?

Mihăiță Baston@bastonmihaita.bsky.social

Commentary on the French protests in my Romanian social-media was a mixture of alien incomprehension, psychopathic libertarian hogwash and plain stupidity. Not worth wasting time on. This piece⬇️ however, was written by the Presidential Adviser for European Affairs. www.g4media.ro/sub-asaltul-...

Please, when discussing the Lab incident in Irkutsk can we get actual epidemiologists, virologists, medical anthropologists, doctors, Russia experts? There is so much great literature and expertise that is being left at the roadside in favour of a writer pushing their book and outright hysteria.

We have fantastic understanding of why COVID-19 progressed as it did. We know a lot about the Sverdlovsk Anthrax leak, on other lab accidents or leaks. You do not need to invite someone on to mass media who is very overt scaremongering to promote a book with poor factual basis.

notesfrompoland.comSpeaker of Polish parliament signs off on service dog's retirement after eight years of "exemplary" service

In the current climate, news stories like this are a welcome reprieve.

Notes from Poland @notesfrompoland.bsky.social

After eight years of service, Cobra, one of the first dogs to serve in the security force of Poland’s parliament, has retired. To mark the occasion, the speaker of the parliament personally informed Cobra of the decision.

Jack Dean reposted

Jochen Müller

@jocmuel.bsky.social

Thinking about doing a PhD in political science? We are looking for people interested in studying politics in the Baltic Sea Region (the Nordic countries, the Baltics, Poland, etc.). Projects may come from a range of subfields, including gender & politics, legislative studies, and party politics.

IRTG Baltic Peripeties@baltic-peripeties.bsky.social

📢 🌊 We are hiring! The University of Greifswald's IRTG “Baltic Peripeties” is offering 10 part-time (65%) Research Assistant positions. 📌 Deadline: 20.11.2026 🗓️ Start: 1 April 2027 ⏳ Duration: Until 31 March 2030 For more info on application: peripeties.uni-greifswald.de/job-advertis...

22 Sept

Never a dull day in Romanian politics.

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20 Sept

Do we think Merz considered the possibility they wouldn't cross the threshold before going so early with the statement?

theguardian.com‘Just cut the wires’: why UK conspiracy theorists are destroying traffic scannersSensors that monitor vehicle volume are said to be ‘electronic assault weapons’ by the ‘Blade Runners’ group

19 Sept

Conspiracy theories pose a significant risk to public health, as shown in the pandemic, but also to the health of democracy. I'm not yet sure much of the political sphere has grasped either how widespread they are or where they are emerging from.

Will Jennings📉🗳️@drjennings.bsky.social

Conspiracy beliefs, misinformation flourish online and pose a major threat to the rule of law in Britain. Government and police are not facing up to these threats...

15 Sept

SSEES has been a fantastic place to spend the last few years, first for MA then PhD - something to be said about being surrounded by incredibly passionate people, from the staff to the undergrads I taught.

UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies@uclssees.bsky.social

🎉 Congratulations to @jackddean.bsky.social who successfully passed his PhD viva! Jack’s Thesis, titled “Medical Populism in Modern Romania”, focuses on how political actors have exploited public fear and discontent about healthcare from 2020-23 in order to advance political goals. buff.ly/Z0g6eo1

14 Sept

Very, very pleased to announce that I have today passed my Viva with minor corrections! Looking forward to implementing the changes proposed by my examiners and discovering what comes!

Broadly, I agree with Eliot here, albeit I think the answer is more nuanced still. We know anti-vax movements skew right, but in certain contexts, shouldn't that be expected for those distrustful of authority? Hofstadter's Paranoid Style comes to mind here - the American left is not going to appeal.

Eliot Higgins@eliothiggins.bsky.social

I think one trap we fall into is treating disinformation as a supply issue, rather than a demand issue. Is this people being converted into skeptics by Fox, or people seeking out media that aligns with their experiences, however flawed it may be?

It continues to astound me how similar the lines you hear from Piers Corbyn or Diana Sosoaca are to those of Del Bigtree, Andrew Wakefield, or figures within the German BSW. A focus on supply risks obscuring the international, the underlying distrust, and often poor political choices from 'elites'.

We also have growing research that COVID vaccine sceptics do not necessarily map neatly onto prior vaccine sceptics, which further complicates the picture. Even six years on from the pandemic reaching Europe, much more research is needed to understand what followed.

Eliot Higgins@eliothiggins.bsky.social

There's also a risk of conflating MAHA and the broader anti-vax movement, much of which is a product of the MMR scandals and Wakefield, with Facebook a common meeting place for like minds - including long before Trump's Ebola tweets or RFK Jr becoming HHS. It is also far more international!

Fantastic to return to Krakow for a week of panels, conversations, and talks. Looking forward to catching up with old friends and hopefully future colleagues and collaborators! #ecprgc26

On Wednesday, I will step into the paper presenter chair to discuss media responses to the use of militant democracy in Romania and Moldova, alongside a fantastic panel on the challenges faced by our current democratic order - who threatens it and how do we defend it?

Finally, on Thursday, I will chair a fascinating panel looking at how leadership styles and authority interact in personalized politics - the paper on Merz may prompt a few extra questions after yesterday's election!

Fantastic to return to Krakow for a week of panels, conversations, and talks. Looking forward to catching up with old friends and hopefully future colleagues and collaborators! #ecprgc26

First, on Tuesday at 9am I will be co-chairing a fantastic panel on how narratives, collective memory, and conspiratorial worldviews shape political attitudes, mobilisation, and radicalisation in Central and Eastern Europe - it is quite the mix of papers, but each contributes to a great panel.

The story of British politics over the last few years can be characterised by an obsessive focus on the far right's polling, whilst never confronting its social manifestations. The riots after Southport, the pogroms in NI, now Dover and Portsmouth. This is not going away.

This was not spontaneous, nor unknown actors. Patriot Platform had been posting publicly regarding numbers, its names and faces are often storied on the UK far right. Groups like Patriotic Alternative and White Vanguard remain free from proscription. The lack of arrests is a green light.

Every time groups like these are described as having legitimate concerns or grassroots; every time these groups remain free from arrest or proscription, this will get worse. The response from the state thus far has been frankly negligent.

The phrase legitimate concerns has become a trope - how are Tice and Farage coming out more strongly against the actions in Dover than Burnham or Mahmood? There is much to be said also about the failure of police and intelligence. Numbers like that are not easy to build nor organise.

Jack Dean reposted

Will Jennings📉🗳️

@drjennings.bsky.social

6 Sept

Ngl, I am increasingly cranky about what seems to be a complete lack of rigour, curiosity, depth of thought across many domains of public life in Britain today. What is going on with far right disorder raises really fundamental questions for the state and society, but nobody seems interested.

Jack Dean reposted

Alexander Clarkson

@aphclarkson.bsky.social

The "legitimate concerns" framing also normalises networks and individuals who are often from the more violent and socially dysfunctional fringes of many communities

Tomas Hirst@tomashirstecon.bsky.social

FWIW I don’t think masked thugs on the street has anything to do with fiscal policy missteps. It’s the softpawing of the extreme right and the tacit acceptance of norm breaches around xenophobia that have emboldened people onto the street. This is why the “legitimate concerns” frame is so dangerous.

Jack Dean reposted

Tarik Abou-Chadi

@tabouchadi.bsky.social

6 Sept

Replying to @tabouchadi.bsky.social

In the 90s S-A saw the best result of a far-right party in Germany before the AfD. 13% for the DVU in 1998. S-A should not be the basis for sweeping conclusion about the electoral sociology of the AfD. The consequences might be far-reaching but your reporting will contribute to these consequences.

4 Sept

Of simple public health measures about drinking, this may be one of my favourites thus far. Free breathalyser, available for public use at Brussels Beer Festival, allowing for a quick and easy way to estimate your blood alcohol level. A reminder that good interventions don't have to be complex.

2 Sept

Nearly four months on, still no government. Yet again, an example of AUR, SOS, and PSD collaborating: this time on parliamentary appointments. PSD increasingly not discounting the possibility of further support from AUR, whilst George Simion of AUR continues calling for new elections.

Jack Dean@jackddean.bsky.social

Latest Romania update: 47 days and counting without a functioning government. The vote for the Veștea government has unsurprisingly failed. After days of the PSD courting the far-right AUR, Simion brought an ultimatum: they will vote for Veștea if Dan withdraws calling AUR extremists.

2 Sept

Meanwhile, the president elected in opposition to AUR and on a seemingly pro-European stance called for a "naționalism sănătos" - a healthy nationalism - whilst at an Orthodox event. Needless to say, Dan has not really convinced anyone of this.

@jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social

2 Sept

The reference to nationalism has not gone through well with those who supported him, whilst the voters who would consider themselves nationalist or sovereigntist continue to distrust Dan and regard this as just another political ploy. Who would have seen it coming? Clearly not Nicușor Dan. Again.

Jack Dean reposted

Jakub Jaraczewski

31 Aug

🇭🇺🇪🇺 Pretty safe to say that we won't be hearing any more from the "Democracy Interference Observatory" that MCC Brussels set up to "monitor Brussels-backed attempts to interfere in European democracy" after my organisation sued X over access to data ahead of the Hungarian elections.

Nicolai von Ondarza@nvondarza.bsky.social

The ripple effect of Viktor Orbán's attempts to 'occupy Brussels' unravelling:

politico.euBoss of Orbán-backed MCC Brussels quits, saying staff have not been paidExecutive Director Frank Füredi resigned Monday alleging salaries were going unpaid following the change of government in Budapest.

Jack Dean reposted

Gabriela Greilinger

@gabrielagreilinger.com

28 Aug

There is this narrative that far-right actors, when in power, will do certain things, but "through legal means". When they say they will act in line with the rule of law, that means they will change the law in specific ways beforehand to suit their interests. Ortbán is a prime example here too. 1/

Jack Dean reposted

Notes from Poland

@notesfrompoland.bsky.social

24 Aug

The split in Poland’s main opposition party is a serious self-inflicted wound which complicates the right’s path back to power. While it provides a boost for the Tusk government, effective cooperation could lead to a comeback, writes @aleksszczerbiak.bsky.social notesfrompoland.com/2026/08/21/h...

notesfrompoland.comHow will the Law and Justice split affect Polish politics?

tandfonline.comTusványos and nation-building: Orbán’s populist performance in TransylvaniaThis article analyses how Viktor Orbán’s annual speeches at the Tusványos summer school in Transylvania construct a transnational Hungarian political community through populist performance. While s...

24 Aug

In my new article in the European Politics and Society Journal, I focus on a specific aspect of Orbán’s illiberal project: Tusványos. I suggest articulation of the nation can build upon and take emphasis from the location it is performed, using Transylvania as a case. Now available Open Access:

Jack Dean reposted

Cristina Maza

@cmaza.bsky.social

16 Aug

A Russian plot to kill a Ukrainian-American citizen in Warsaw was thwarted by Poland before it could be carried out, Poland's PM said, marking the first time in decades that a Western leader has publicly accused Moscow of plotting to kill a U.S. citizen. www.cbsnews.com/news/russian...

cbsnews.comRussian plot to kill American citizen thwarted by Poland, prime minister says: "First situation of its kind"Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the suspect was allegedly recruited by Russia's secret services.

Jack Dean reposted

Ruth Deyermond

@ruthdeyermond.bsky.social

10 Aug

Replying to @ruthdeyermond.bsky.social

I can strongly recommend a holiday in Poland. And if you're in Gdansk (brilliant city), visit the European Solidarity Museum - a fascinating museum of the Solidarity movement and its role in the end of European communist regimes, which also shows solidarity with Ukraine.

m.digi24.roAmbulanţă atacată cu topoarele într-o comună din Cluj, după ce într-un clip pe TikTok s-a afirmat că „fură copii”. Șoferul a fost rănitMedicii chemaţi să acorde îngrijiri unui pacient în comuna Recea-Cristur, judeţul Cluj, au fost atacaţi cu bâte, topoare şi pietre, pe fondul unor zvonuri propagate pe TikTok despre o presupusă „ambul...

I'd started to see social media posts from Romania regarding 'baby stealing ambulances', but presumed it was something fringe or completely nonsensical. In Cluj County, an ambulance crew has been attacked after rumours online (particularly on Tiktok) about its supposed ulterior motive.

Often, they include music from popular horror movies, alongside suggestions that they've seen attempted kidnappings or that the video is from someone actively running from such a vehicle. This is not a new conspiracy, nor a Romanian exclusive urban legend - which aids its traction online.

euronews.comWriter attacked by mob who mistook her van for mythical 'black ambulance'A popular legend holds that black ambulances cruise the streets looking for children to murder in order to sell their organs to wealthy buyers in western Europe.

www.euronews.com/2018/07/09/w... This was a similar incident from 2018, and there's a number of references to similar conspiracies in Czechoslovakia and its successor states. Interested to find out where else it has spread to.

Several political figures including Arafat and Miruța have come out to condemn the actions, with calls for greater action from social media companies. On that front, without wider EU level action I think we're unlikely to see changes.

One of the main Tiktok videos in this case uses a sound from 2022, but videos relating to "ambulanță neagră care fură copii" (black ambulance that steals children) date back further, into 2020 and 2021. These videos, this genre even, feature many of what you see in similar conspiracies.

@jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social

Romania has been no stranger to health conspiracies, but the use of AI to produce/edit images has supercharged this, with real world consequences. In this case, a member of ambulance staff has needed surgery on an eye injury, and the patient has allegedly suffered a panic attack.

Jack Dean reposted

Jakub Jaraczewski

8 Aug

🇭🇺⚖️ Famously, after ousting Baka from the seat of the president of the Hungarian Supreme Court, the Fidesz majority renamed the court to Kuria, so that in case the ECtHR ruled in his favour (as it did), he wouldn't be able to return to the post because new name, new court, who dis? Quite a comeback.

Szabolcs Panyi@szabolcspanyi.bsky.social

💥A longtime ECHR judge and later Hungary’s Supreme Court chief, András Baka was forced out after criticizing Viktor Orbán’s judicial crackdown. In 2016, the ECHR ruled his rights had been violated. Now, PM Péter Magyar’s Tiszta party nominates him for president of Hungary. A well-deserved redress.