A selection of photos from our International Seminar at CCCB

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We’d like to thank everyone who attended and look forward to engaging with the research that will emerge from these conversations. 🙂

@emreamasyali.bsky.social @janschlebusch.bsky.social

A selection of photos from our public symposium at IBEI

Last week, we held the final event of the EthnicGoods project in Barcelona, featuring three days of fruitful discussions. The panels, hosted at @ibei.org and the CCCB, brought together diverse perspectives on nationalism.

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The Challenges of Diversity Management Today Search

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🎟️ Free admission with reservation.

For more information and to reserve: www.cccb.org/en/w/activit...

#PoliticalScience #Nationalism #Diversity

20 March 2026 | 12–13.30 h | CCCB, Barcelona THE CHALLENGES OF DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT TODAY In a context marked by the resurgence of exclusionary policies, this seminar reflects on the recognition of diversity rights and their impact on public policy and international relations. All states face the challenge of managing ethnic and cultural diversity within their territories. Responses to diversity have varied widely, but recent research by IBEI and the ETHNICGOODS project shows that between 1945 and 2020 there was a global trend toward recognizing specific rights for minorities. Can we still assume that this trend continues amid the intensification of exclusionary policies worldwide?

📍 Join us TOMORROW at the CCCB for an International Seminar bringing together experts in peace and conflict studies, populist far-right movements, #nationalism and #governance to examine the current challenges and future horizons...

🎟️ Free admission with reservation, link below 1/2

#Diversity

2/2 More information here: www.ibei.org/en/symposium...

Varieties of Nationalism: A Research Agenda Symposium: 18 March, 18–19:30 h @IBEI How do states turn their population into “a nation”? From language policies and affirmative action to forced resettlement and ethnic cleansing, governments have pursued very different nation-building policies—often with major consequences for diversity, public services, and conflict. Join our public symposium for first findings from a new research program on varieties of nation-building and what drives them. We will also introduce the Nation-Building Policies (NBP) Dataset—the first global, longitudinal dataset tracking nation-building over time. Commentaries from Anna Grzymala-Busse, Ruud Koopmans, and Maya Tudor will place the project in wider debates on nationalism, state formation, and diversity governance.

How do states turn populations into “a nation”?

A reminder that our public symposium on new research into #nation-building policies worldwide is tomorrow! Featuring the launch of the #NBPDataset.

🗓 18 March, 18:00–19:30
📍 Auditori Mercè Rodoreda, @ibei.org

#AcademicSky 1/2

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Our Nation-Building Policies Research Platform hosts the ETHNICGOODS #NationBuilding Policies (NBP) Dataset and NBP country profiles.

We invite you to explore the site: nation-building-research.github.io

#AcademicResearch #PoliticalScience #AcademicSky

Our Nation-Building Research Website is Now Live! HOSTING THE ETHNICGOODS NBP DATASET The platform features an interactive NBP Shiny app, where you can explore the four aggregate nation-building policy indices we have developed. A world map displays the prevalence of these four types around the globe in a selected year. The Country-section shows the groups present in a country in a given year, indicating the degree to which they have been targeted by accommodation, assimilation, segregation and eradication. Plus, first batch of individual Country Profiles is now available. The Group-page visualizes the trajectories of all four indices for a selected group, usually from 1945/independence to 2020. The NBP Platform will serve as the legacy website of the ERC- funded ETHNICGOODS project and will remain active after the project concludes in April 2026. It will be regularly updated with future research outputs based on the NBP Dataset.

📣 We are pleased to announce the launch of our Nation-Building Policies Research Platform.

We hope the research & analysis we have conducted over the last few years, will be a public good for the academic community for many years to come!

[Link below] 1/2

#NationBuilding #Research #AcademicSky

Varieties of Nationalism: A Research Agenda Symposium: 18 March, 18–19:30 h @IBEI How do states turn their population into “a nation”? From language policies and affirmative action to forced resettlement and ethnic cleansing, governments have pursued very different nation-building policies—often with major consequences for diversity, public services, and conflict. Join our public symposium for first findings from a new research program on varieties of nation-building and what drives them. We will also introduce the Nation-Building Policies (NBP) Dataset—the first global, longitudinal dataset tracking nation-building over time. Commentaries from Anna Grzymala-Busse, Ruud Koopmans, and Maya Tudor will place the project in wider debates on nationalism, state formation, and diversity governance.

How do states turn populations into “a nation”?

Join our public symposium on new research into #nation-building policies worldwide, featuring the launch of the #NBPDataset — the first global, longitudinal dataset tracking nation-building over time.

🗓 18 March, 18–19:30
📍 @ibei.org

#AcademicSky

Els reptes de les polítiques de la diversitat avui | Activitats | CCCB En un context de retorn de les polítiques excloents, aquest seminari internacional organitzat amb l’IBEI reflexiona sobre el reconeixement dels drets de la d

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...whether the nationalist revival is reshaping state policies and international relations, and the possible future contours of diversity management.

More info here: www.cccb.org/ca/activitat...

#Populism #Nationalism #NationBuilding #RefugeeCrisis

INTRODUCING OUR EXPERT PANEL: DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN THE FACE OF EXCLUSIONARY NATIONALISM [Photos of Panellists] Viviane Ogou Corbi Spanish Congress of Deputies Martin Shaw IBEI Research Professor, expert on Genocide/War Kristian Herbolzheimer International Catalan Institute for Peace Matthias vom Hau IBEI Associate professor, EG Principle Investigator Daphne Halikiopoulou University of York Professor, expert on the Far-Right

How do we manage ethnic and cultural diversity in the face of rising exclusionary #nationalism?

With major conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza, and increasingly restrictive policies worldwide, our panel will discuss how these opposing dynamics interact...
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#Populism #NationBuilding

Across three panels, scholars explored Baltic identity politics, digital nationalism, textbooks, minority languages, and late-Soviet activism. We closed with publishing insights from Luca Anceschi, editor of Europe-Asia Studies. Thanks to all participants for an inspiring exchange!

#AcademicSky 2/2

Last week in Amsterdam, EthnicGoods co-organized the workshop “Ethnicity, Indigeneity, and Identity in Soviet & Post-Soviet Contexts” with the University of Amsterdam. A keynote by Pål Kolstø set the stage for rich discussions on identity, nationalism, and memory.

#AcademicSky 1/2

EXPERT PANEL: 12–13.30 H, 20 MARCH 2026 | CCCB, BARCELONA DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN THE FACE OF EXCLUSIONARY NATIONALISM All states must manage ethnic and cultural diversity — while approaches to diversity management can vary widely, from violent to integrative — research shows a global shift toward recognizing group-specific rights between 1945 and 2020. Yet today this trend appears challenged by a renewed rise in exclusionary nationalism, visible in major conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza, and restrictive policies worldwide. This panel brings together an international group of experts on peace and conflict, the populist far-right, nationalism, and diversity governance. They will discuss how these opposing dynamics interact, whether the nationalist revival is reshaping state policies and international relations, how diversity recognition may be linked to the rise of the “right against rights”, and to examine possible future contours of diversity management.

As EthnicGoods comes to an end, we’re excited to announce an open expert panel to examine the rise of #populism, exclusionary #nationalism and the future of #diversity management.

Join us on March 20th, 12-13:30, at the CCCB in Barcelona.

For more info: www.cccb.org/ca/activitat...

#AcademicSky

How do wars make states, and why do their effects last centuries? Join EULAS for a webinar on "Bringing War Back In" with expert and author Dr. @llschenoni.bsky.social + discussant Dr. Matthias vom Hau.

📅 24 Feb 2026, 15:00 CET: zoom.us/webinar/regi... @ucl.ac.uk @ibei.org @ethnicgoods.bsky.social

ETHNICITY, INDIGENEITY, AND IDENTITY IN SOVIET AND POST-SOVIET CONTEXTS Keynote: Prof. Pål Kolstø, University of Oslo International Workshop 13 FEBRUARY 2026 9:00-18:00 UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM KLOVENIERSBURGWAL 48 ROOM BEAMER This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 864333)

We’re delighted to welcome Professor Pål Kolstø as keynote speaker for our interdisciplinary workshop in Amsterdam tomorrow; where we will be exploring how #Soviet and post-Soviet identities are contested, renegotiated, and transformed across time and space.

#PoliticalScience #AcademicSky

Program | Workshop: Ethnicity, Indigeneity, and Identity in Soviet and Post-Soviet Contexts - EthnicGoods Please see the full program here and below! Workshop: Ethnicity, Indigeneity, and Identity in Soviet and Post-Soviet Contexts Exploring how Soviet legacies continue to shape identity, belonging, and…

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This interdisciplinary workshop brings together scholars examining how Soviet and post-Soviet identities are contested, renegotiated, and transformed across time and space.

See the full program here: ethnicgoods.org/program-work...

#AcademicSky

WORKSHOP: 13 February 2026 | University of Amsterdam ETHNICITY, INDIGENEITY, AND IDENTITY IN SOVIET AND POST-SOVIET CONTEXTS CHAIRING THE PANELS: Emre Amasyali is the lead postdoctoral researcher for the ERC-funded ETHNICGOODS project, where he oversees the development of the Nation-Building Policies (NBP) dataset, the first systematic global coding of state policies toward ethnic minorities. Gulnaz Sibgatullina is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History, European Studies, and Religious Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on Islam in Europe, contemporary Islamic thought, state-church relations, and minority issues in Russia. Andrei Tarasov is a research fellow for the ERC-funded ETHNICGOODS project, hosted by the Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals. Andrei's research interests include the nation-building policies towards national minorities, particularly in the Eurasian region.

📝 The #SovietUnion profoundly influenced how ethnicity and nationality were categorized, governed, & lived. The state embedded these identities deeply into social & political life.

Yet these categories were never fixed; they were constantly contested, negotiated, & reimagined... 1/2

#AcademicSky

Thanks for the interest! The paper hasn't yet been published, but it will be presented at the EthnicGoods symposium in March 2026, and we hope for it to be published soon.

*taps the sign* AI cannot write, because writing is more than stringing words together in a specific order. #AcademicSky

Our team recently highlighted the abuse of the CDC WONDER dataset, with a significant increase in the number of publications since 2023 (GenAI onset). In the first month of 2026, 276 new papers have been published, ~20% of the output in 2025 and ~79% of 2024 already.

A caption: Academics: 'This paper addresses a gap in research that has been bedevilling scholars for years... ' The gap: An image of two cars parked extremely close together in a lot, with barely any space between them

Really interesting roundup from Hilda.
Thanks!

As states acquire the capacity to count, tax, and educate their populations, they also acquire the means to suppress cultural distinctiveness in systematic, non-lethal ways.

4/4 #SocialScience #NationBuilding
@emreamasyali.bsky.social

This substitution of lethal force with administrative control suggests that contemporary atrocity risks cannot be assessed through body counts alone.

3/4 #SocialScience #NationBuilding

... yet more likely to pursue cultural elimination.

Rather than relying on overt violence, high-capacity states deploy institutional pathways—schools, courts, registries, and census instruments—to reconfigure or erase group identities through policy.

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[Graph] The State Capacity Paradox: Strong states swap the bludgeon for the scalpel. "As administrative infrastructure matures, states shift from physical violence to more sophisticated cultural elimination."

We often assume that strong state institutions and administrative capacity constrain atrocities. In our latest paper, however, we identify a countervailing pattern: states with greater capacity are less likely to engage in mass killing...

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2/2 .... as pathbreaking. He also provided invaluable guidance to the ETHNICGOODS project, especially during the early stages of dataset construction.

Our deepest sympathies go out to his family, friends, colleagues, and students. We will remember him with gratitude and fondness.

Photograph of Matthias Koenig (1971–2026)

We are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of our colleague Matthias Koenig (1971–2026), Professor of Sociology at Heidelberg University.

Matthias was at the forefront of comparative research on diversity governance, and his empirical and theoretical contributions were widely recognized... 1/2

ICE detains five-year-old Minnesota boy arriving home, say school officials Superintendent says Liam Ramos and his father were taken into custody while in their driveway and sent to Texas

‘Terrible things are happening outside… Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared. Women return… to find their families gone.’
Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...