Very happy to share that I am going to be the new Director of the Democracy unit at the @wzb.bsky.social Berlin Social Science Center. I am excited to form a new research unit on democratic politics and to engage with people in Berlin and elsewhere to make liberal democracy more resilient.
The Royal Liver Building, Liverpool
The call for papers for #EPOP2026 in Liverpool (17–19 September) is now open!
We welcome submissions across all areas of research on elections, public opinion and parties.
Deadline: 26 April
Submit your proposals here: www.liverpool.ac.uk/politics/eve...
@polstudiesassoc.bsky.social
god grant me the audacity of a Catholic convert sincerely telling the Pope he’s wrong about theology
Tisza now momentarily with a supermajority (135 seats).
(This is a *live count* with 45.71% of the vote counted, not a projection. Some of the outstanding vote from abroad may be less horrific for Orbán.)
Very hard to give a general rule... but mechanism second if you can use manipulation checks to get to the mechanism (which can be the case sometimes)?. Ofc, one problem might be 'treatment spillovers' on the control group...
Great opportunity for recent PhD grads looking for a postdoc with solid support for research + teaching development
This is my current role, so I'm happy to answer questions if you're interested!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQW831/l...
Yes, something that is very underplayed in the national debate is how 'confrontational' with the South Meloni has been to accommodate Lega/FI and their constituencies: e.g., the 'autonomia differenziata' reform (then killed by the ConstCourt) and abolishing the RdC
Tbf, the same North-South gradient was also there in the 2016 when Renzi was in govt (with some differences in E-R, Toscana, and Milano), so I wonder if this reflects aversion/propensity to change (on top of clearly strong partisan effects, of course)
Spending the day at a fantastic workshop on "Group Identities and Democracy" at HU Berlin, organized by @tabouchadi.bsky.social, @markuskollberg.bsky.social and @fraraffaelli.bsky.social, w @lenamariahuber.bsky.social @indubioproreto.bsky.social @alexprs.bsky.social @juliusk.bsky.social et al.
We have a great line-up of presentations with @anninahermes.bsky.social @indubioproreto.bsky.social @lwestheuser.bsky.social & Lena Huber
I’m presenting this paper ⬇️ in Berlin at the “Democracy and Identities” workshop organized by @tabouchadi.bsky.social & @markuskollberg.bsky.social to conclude our Einstein Research Group project 🥺
The founder of Lega died yesterday. His (early) thoughts on alliances with post-fascists: "Never, never, never. We in Lega are those who continue the fight for liberation of the partisans, [...] Never with the fascists, never with the grandchildren of the fascists." www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WUB...
Also, super fascinating line up of interviews to (old) party supporters attending the funeral. No one mentions immigration, but they are all obsessed with taxes and govt size…
Bonus track: additional analysis on 🇮🇹🇪🇸 (ESS, 2023)
Similar countries in cultural (Catholic, Southern European) and economic terms
The 🇪🇸 Left legalized marriage equality and same-sex adoptions in 2005. The 🇮🇹 Left is silent
This is how their public opinions on same-sex adoptions look like today
2️⃣ Individual-level salience is such higher on immigration than on gender & sexuality issues, esp. among anti-immigration folks
➡️ As a result, a platform's positions on traditional morality issues do not moderate the effect of its immigration stances on the probability of being chosen by voters
1️⃣ Anti-immigration people have moderate-to-progressive positions on issues such as abortion or "LG" rights
BUT
➡️ They remain significantly conservative on new issues such as affirmative action, "LGBTQIA+" rights, inclusive language, and self-ID laws
This project was generously funded by the Einstein Stiftung Berlin within the framework of the Einstein Research Group at HU-Berlin led by @tabouchadi.bsky.social
Bonus track: a depressing add-on about 🇮🇹🇪🇸 (ESS, 2023)
Similar countries, in cultural (Catholic, Southern European) and economic terms
The 🇪🇸 Left legalized marriage equality and adoptions for same sex couples in 2005. The 🇮🇹 Left remains silent
This is how their public opinion looks like today:
2️⃣ Individual salience is much higher on immigration than on traditional morality issues, esp. among anti-immigration folks
➡️ As a result, a platform's positions on gender & sexuality issues do not moderate the effect of its positions on immigration on the probability of being chosen by voters
⁉️ Are anti-immigration people really "sexually modern"?
No
⁉️ Are people more supportive of anti-immigration platforms when these also include progressive positions on gender and sexuality?
Also no
I explore these questions w/ 🇬🇧🇩🇪 original survey data (+ a conjoint in 🇩🇪)
👉 osf.io/preprints/so...
🚨 New WP w/ @leonardocarella.bsky.social on OSF
doi.org/10.31235/osf...
We usually think that social identities precede preferences
We show the reverse is also true: people update their social identities to match their immigration preferences
Focus: class identity in 🇬🇧 + Christian identity in 🇮🇹
Strongly agree. Though I think it’s even more delusional *AND* instrumental than this: they are aware that “workers are against immigration” does not work with the working class and just use this argument to “class-wash” their appeal to anti-immigration voters…
New working paper!
I examine whether exposure to local unemployment during adolescence shapes immigration attitudes in adulthood, focusing on the long-term imprint of early economic insecurity
doi.org/10.31235/osf...
Yes! We know and love Ronja’s paper on opinion-based groups (rather than identities per se). @ronjasczepanski.bsky.social really helped us at EPSA before the fieldwork in the UK
This project would have not been possible without the generous support of the John Fell Fund at Oxford & @ipz.bsky.social. It also greatly benefitted from feedback at the Chair of @siljahausermann.bsky.social, @univie.ac.at, @behaviour-eui.bsky.social, and SPSA
🌍🏳️🌈 - We contribute to the literature on selective (il)liberalism: people do not only take oppositional stances on political issues to distance themselves from immigrants
They can even claim a different social identity