One down, one to go!

Last punches to see if academia blesses or rejects me 🫣

My wish for 2026 is that politicians and political analysts realize that public opinion is endogenous to elite behavior, that polling single issues tells us nothing about electorally successful strategies, that politics means shaping public opinion and that popularism is the death of progressivism.

Trump’s America and a clash of civilisations with Europe The White House sees mass immigration as a bigger threat than Russia — and it is pressuring Europe to agree

"The Trump administration view of “western civilisation” is based on race, Christianity and nationalism. The European version is a liberal view founded on democracy, human rights and the rule of law, including international law."

That might be what EUrope says, but not what EUrope does!

Amazing how blind centrists are to the foundational nativism of European politics. There is more outcry over the U.S. Southern border than over the European Mediterranean border.

How about the actual treatment of non-white citizens and non-EU immigrants or LGBTQIA+ community in many EU states?

POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success

Far-right agenda setting: How the far right influences the political mainstream | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge Core Far-right agenda setting: How the far right influences the political mainstream

Far-right agenda setting: How the far right influences the political mainstream doi.org/10.1017/S1475676525100066 far right; mainstream parties; political communication; agenda setting; automated text analysis
@dasalgon.bsky.social · @tevoelker.bsky.social
@ejprjournal.bsky.social

Will be speaking at this a week today along with the brilliant @minakshidahal.bsky.social!

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/periods-ar...

Abstract

New paper out with @dasalgon.bsky.social: “Far-Right Agenda Setting: How the Far Right influences the Political Mainstream” doi.org/10.1017/S1475676525100066 #openaccess in @ejprjournal.bsky.social🧵

FreeKoulchi! ✊

Doing critical research in academia can be lonely and alienating, particularly when it's about an already grim topic like reactionary politics

The engagement with the network so far shows how spaces for solidarity are needed

As ever so incredibly proud to be working with the RPRN team ❤️

RPSS banner next to the stairs towards the room

That's a wrap!

The second edition of the Reactionary Politics Summer School is over!

Once again, it was incredibly energizing to share this space with critical, committed researchers from all over the world ❤️‍

More info about the RPSS below

1/

reacpol.net/summer-schoo...

Antisemitismus in der Kindheit Gegen Antisemitismus in der Kindheit – Empfehlungen für die pädagogische Praxis in der (früh)kindlichen Bildung.

My chapter, Zwischen Unsichtbarkeit und Externalisierung, explores pedagogical perspectives on Jewish life and antisemitism in kindergartens.

BOOK OPEN ACCESS: www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-7...

✨Thrilled to announce the publication of our edited volume Antisemitismus in der Kindheit.

The book concludes the research project RelcoDiff (Religiös codierte Differenzkonstruktionen), initiated by Prof. Dr. Isabell Diehm (✝).

@sabanurcheema.bsky.social

"Das extremistisch-arabische 'Nakba'-Vokabular" - die deutsche Verzerrung palästinensischer Geschichte findet kein Ende.

BJPolS abstract discussing the effects of extensive media exposure on public perceptions and normalization. It references specific research surveys conducted on Sky News UK and Australia, analyzing changes in public attitudes and policy effects due to media strategies.

NEW -

Media Platforming and the Normalisation of Extreme Right Views - cup.org/4mmVIAL

"exposure to uncritical interviews increases agreement with extreme statements and perceptions of broader support in the population"

- @dianebolet.bsky.social & @florianfoos.bsky.social

#OpenAccess

BJPolS abstract discussing the dynamics of mainstream and radical political rhetoric regarding anti-immigrant policies, highlighting differences in societal responses and enforcement norms based on the source of the rhetoric.

NEW -

How Mainstream Politicians Erode Norms - cup.org/4lfeHvD

"we find that statements by mainstream politicians lead to more norm erosion than similar statements by radical-right politicians"

- @valentimvicente.bsky.social, Elias Dinas & @dziblatt.bsky.social

#OpenAccess

Most read three months in a row in JLP journal; 9th most read on JB. Last few months were full of professional disappointments so Ill take this as a little win 🙆

‘We faced hunger before, but never like this’: skeletal children fill hospital wards as starvation grips Gaza For months Israel kept food shipments to Gaza far below starvation rations. Now the death toll is rising rapidly * Starvation in Gaza is destroying communities – and will leave generational scars Mohammed’s skeletal arms stick out of a romper with a grinning emoji-face and the slogan “smiley boy”, which in a Gaza hospital reads as a cruel joke. He spends much of the day crying from hunger, or gnawing at his own emaciated fingers. At seven months old, he weighs barely 4kg (9lbs) and this is the second time he has been admitted for treatment. His face is gaunt, his limbs little more than bones covered in baggy skin and his ribs protrude painfully from his chest. Continue reading...

‘We faced hunger before, but never like this’: skeletal children fill hospital wards as starvation grips Gaza

You can find Mohamed's research article, which this interview is based on, here: brill.com/view/journal...

Interview: Reinventing the Right in Morocco (Mohamed Salhi) - Reactionary Politics Research Network This interview is based on Mohamed Salhi's article 'Reinventing the Right in Morocco: Right-Wing Populist Discourses and Sentiments in Moroccan Online Spaces ' (2025)

📣New interview📣

@uselesssimo.bsky.social discusses reactionary digital cultures in Morocco and their links to the global far right. Check it out below!

reacpol.net/right-morocco/

Observer cartoon mocking Jeremy Corbyn

While the threat of the far right gets euphemised (populism, left behind etc) and their politics legitimised, any alternative left of centre gets exaggerated and ridiculed so that we are left with the bad and the worse as alternatives

Happy to share my first published article based on my PhD in Party Politics with @journals.sagepub.com in open access!

doi.org/10.1177/1354...

Allow me please to throw this one here, as it discusses the EP elections from a different angle, namely symbolic and visual populism? Thank you ☺️ doi.org/10.1075/jlp....

I am exceptionally not sharing this on Twitter but resharing it here since hypernationalist groups can be very vindictive 😅

Finally out!

"Reinventing the Right in Morocco" now appears in the Special Issue on Populism in the Arab World. 😍

doi.org/10.1163/18763375-20251449

This is a real—yes real—post for the One Big Beautiful Bill by the official White House account on Instagram

It’s giving MAGA makeover

This picture 💔 #Gaza

( 📷 The Guardian )