Leonhard Schmidt

Leonhard Schmidt

@leonhardschmidt.bsky.social

PhD researcher at @hertieschool.bsky.social. Master from @humboldtuni.bsky.social in Social Sciences. Researching populist parties, protest and social movements.

192 followers226 following23 posts

Leonhard Schmidt reposted

Denis Cohen
@denis-cohen.bsky.social

Replying to @denis-cohen.bsky.social

▶️ This highlights an underappreciated form of competition: valence. Challengers gain when voters lose confidence in mainstream parties’ ability to deliver and credit challengers with superior capability. Lacking executive experience need not prevent them from winning this reputational contest.

Leonhard Schmidt
@leonhardschmidt.bsky.social

The AfD has refined its mobilization strategy. They have moderated their campaign activities (which started much earlier than for any other party) and essentially used a mass party approach. BBQs, moped rides, outreach to local communities. That signals a willingness to be politically active.

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Leonhard Schmidt
@leonhardschmidt.bsky.social

In the minds of their voters, the AfD is a party that credibly signals a capability and willingness to enact change. It promises a future. The moderate campaign and movement character helps many voters to discard the racist platform and neo-Nazi personnel.

Leonhard Schmidt
@leonhardschmidt.bsky.social

Mainstream parties need to realize the demand there is for mass party politics that engages continuously with local communities and projects a willingness to engage in politics, especially in regions with limited civil society resources.

Leonhard Schmidt
@leonhardschmidt.bsky.social

The AfD has refined its mobilization strategy. They have moderated their campaign activities (which started much earlier than for any other party) and essentially used a mass party approach. BBQs, moped rides, outreach to local communities. That signals a willingness to be politically active.

Leonhard Schmidt
@leonhardschmidt.bsky.social

It also contributes to further far-right normalization, since the campaign was, overall, professional and less contentious. This allows them to keep the platform highly radical, preventing potential splits and competition á la Vannacci in Italy.

Leonhard Schmidt reposted

Bastian Becker
@beckerbastian.bsky.social

💡Do populism and protest go hand-in-hand? Maybe not. ➡️ @leonhardschmidt.bsky.social & @bcastanho.bsky.social in @ejprjournal.bsky.social

SciLove@scilove.bsky.social

🔥 Trending on SciLove today 🔥 🔬 Populism, radicalism, and protest mobilization by parties in Europe 👤 Schmidt & Castanho Silva, 2026 📖 European Journal of Political Research @ejprjournal.bsky.social 🔗 https://www.scilove.app/article/10.1017/s1475676526101686 #PoliSci #AcademicSky #AcademicChatter

scilove.app🔥 Trending today: Populism, radicalism, and protest mobilization by… (Schmidt & Castanho Silva, 2026) - 31/08/26Radical parties, not populism itself, drive protest mobilization by European MPs on social media. 🗳️📱✊
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Leonhard Schmidt
@leonhardschmidt.bsky.social

Our findings reaffirm the importance of disentangling populism from thick ideologies. Populist parties are not fundamentally different in their street mobilization behavior than other parties, they are simply more often radical.

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Leonhard Schmidt
@leonhardschmidt.bsky.social

Using a comprehensive dataset of Facebook posts by national MPs across Europe between 2018 and 2021, we extract references to protest and calls for protest mobilization. The importance that parties afford to protest politics differs vastly.

Leonhard Schmidt
@leonhardschmidt.bsky.social

We find that radicalism emerges as a much more consistent predictor of protest mobilization than populism, with radicalism increasing mobilization. Populism partially amplifies this pattern, but only on the radical left do we find significant differences between populist and non-populist parties.

Leonhard Schmidt
@leonhardschmidt.bsky.social

While a lot of literature links populism and protest mobilization, there is always the issue of separating the role of populism from its host ideology. Are populist parties simply more involved in street protest because they also tend to be on the radical left or right? 🤔

Leonhard Schmidt reposted

Francesco Vittonetto
@fravittonetto.bsky.social

It is out in the world! 🎉 'The online transnationalisation of populist radical right publics' is published open access in the @ejprjournal.bsky.social. In this, I ask: which factors explain transnational online engagement with PRR communications?🧵 [1/7]

doi.orgThe online transnationalisation of populist radical right publics | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge CoreThe online transnationalisation of populist radical right publics

Leonhard Schmidt reposted

Annina Hermes
@anninahermes.bsky.social

Do far-right parties gain electoral support by embedding their members in sports clubs, cultural societies and volunteer fire brigades? Excited to present my research on far-right infiltration of civil society at #EPSS2026 tomorrow! 🗓️ Saturday, 3:20 - 5:00 pm 📍Broadway (Hilton)

Leonhard Schmidt reposted

Daniel Saldivia Gonzatti
@dasalgon.bsky.social

💥 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...

zeit.deKlimaaktivismus und Klimaschutz: Schadet die Letzte Generation wirklich dem Klimaschutz?Demos, Kartoffelbrei, Blockaden: Eine neue Studie untersucht, wie sich Protestformen auf das Ansehen von Aktivisten auswirken – und den Anspruch an Klimapolitik.
Lennart Schürmann@lennartschuermann.bsky.social

❗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

Leonhard Schmidt reposted

Bastian Becker
@beckerbastian.bsky.social

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scilove.appSciLove — Discover new research on the goA personalized feed of the latest peer-reviewed papers — swipe to save, skip, and make connections in minutes a day.
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Leonhard Schmidt
@leonhardschmidt.bsky.social

Civil society orgs prioritize more localized elections where institutional access may be easier and issues more concrete. Protest participants follow their lead and are also larger during regional campaigns 🗣️

Leonhard Schmidt
@leonhardschmidt.bsky.social

This demonstrates that protest is partially used as a tool for electoral mobilization to which theories of electoral mobilisation (e.g. second-order elections) can be applied and that incentives differ between politicians and civil society.

Leonhard Schmidt
@leonhardschmidt.bsky.social

But not all elections matter equally to organizers. Everyone increases mobilization before national elections. But parties, civil society and also crowd sizes diverge for second-order elections (EU and regional elections). Politicians go for high-profile EU campaigns, 🇪🇺

Leonhard Schmidt reposted

Anna Stansbury
@annastansbury.bsky.social

📢now forthcoming in ECMA! The Class Gap in Career Progression: Evidence from US Academia Class is rarely a focus of research or DEI in elite US occupations. Evidence suggests it should be: we find a large class gap in at least one occupation - tenure-track academia...🧵

Leonhard Schmidt
@leonhardschmidt.bsky.social

Thanks so much for organising this @rlachat.bsky.social and @rdassonneville.bsky.social! It was such a pleasure to spend the week with all these wonderful reseachers and generally nice people. Also thanks to all the (actually!) inspiring guest lecturers. Paris also helped, I guess 😉

Romain Lachat@rlachat.bsky.social

The CERIUM-FMSH summer school comes to an end. Thanks to this fantastic group of promising young scholars: @annasawallisch.bsky.social @anninahermes.bsky.social @francescayton.bsky.social @gaetanoinglese.bsky.social @galron3.bsky.social @ginaaniano.bsky.social Isolde Hegemann

Leonhard Schmidt reposted

Kai Koddenbrock
@kaikodden.bsky.social

Kai Wegner stramm auf Trumplinie. Erste Deportationen von Studierenden angedroht, wenn die 4 Iren, Polen und US-Amerikaner*innen nicht bis 21.4. das Land verlassen haben.

Hanno Hauenstein@hahauenstein.bsky.social

Germany Turns to U.S. Playbook: Deportations Target Gaza War Protesters - my latest @theintercept.com theintercept.com/2025/03/31/g...

theintercept.comGermany Turns to U.S. Playbook: Deportations Target Gaza War ProtestersFour Gaza protesters in Germany are set for deportations despite objections from an immigration official that none were convicted of crimes.

Leonhard Schmidt reposted

Daniel Saldivia Gonzatti
@dasalgon.bsky.social

💥 Wir suchen eine studentische Hilfskraft (10-19 Std./Woche) für das Projekt WZB ProtestMonitoring! @wzb.bsky.social 📅Deadline: 12. März! + Infos & Bewerbung: wzb.eu/de/jobs/stud... Gerne stehe ich für Fragen zur Verfügung!

wzb.eustudentische Hilfskraft (m/w/d) (ZZ) (ID 321)Das Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung gGmbH (WZB) sucht für die Mitarbeit in einem Forschungsprojekt zu politischem Protest und politischer Radikalisierung in Deutschland für das...
Leonhard Schmidt
@leonhardschmidt.bsky.social

Next to social media, the German Left's other major mobilization story was their commitment to actual grassroots campaigning. While AfD had mostly taken over the image of "caretaker" party in the East, this shows that progressive parties can reclaim this identity by being active on the ground

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