Some exciting news: I'm heading back to Europe! In April, I'll be starting a three-year fellowship at the University of Bremen. I will be hosted in the research group of the amazing @sophiahunger.bsky.social, working on wrapping up my first book on identity and writing my second on democracy.
@nilsweidmann.bsky.social @paugrau.bsky.social @meretstephan.bsky.social @charlottekuberka.bsky.social @sophiahunger.bsky.social @dasalgon.bsky.social @swenhutter.bsky.social
as well as helpful feedback from participants at EPSA, MPSA, and workshops at WZB Berlin and Harvard University.
6/6
🙏 Thanks to all those who supported this project — whether through funding, feedback, or the countless hours of coding work that made the data collection possible.
@europeatharvard.bsky.social @wzb.bsky.social @eui-eu.bsky.social @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social
@daadworldwide.bsky.social
5/6
💡 Elections don't just happen in polling booths — they reshape who takes to the streets and why. Protest remains, at its core, a tool rooted in local concerns and civil society.
4/6
1️⃣ Politicians organise more protests during campaigns — but mainly around national & EU elections.
2️⃣ Civil society ramps up nationally, but responds more to state-level than EU elections.
3️⃣ Citizens follow civil society: turnout rises for national & subnational campaigns.
3/6
❓Core question: do elections make political actors and citizens take to the streets more?
Using original protest event data from Germany (2000–2023), we find that campaigns boost street mobilisation overall — but the details are where it gets interesting.
2/6
NEW PUBLICATION 🚨 "Street mobilisation during election campaigns in multilevel systems: a supply–demand analysis" with @leonhardschmidt.bsky.social — now out in @wepsocial.bsky.social
🔗 doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2026.2634027
1/6
We have just advertised a Full Prof position in the Political and Social Sciences department at the EUI (@eui-sps.bsky.social). Here are the details. Please spread the word, and get in touch if you have any questions.
www.eui.eu/Documents/Se...
I can highly recommend this program — amazing people and an inspiring environment. I learned so much during my time @europeatharvard.bsky.social. Reach out to me if you have questions 🚀
Happy to share that I’ve started as a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute @eui-eu.bsky.social this month!
The people are amazing, the architecture is stunning, and the food is delicious 🥐🍝🍕
If you’re at the EUI or in Florence and up for un caffè or uno spritz, let me know! ☕🍷
🚨 New preprint out with @evazschirnt.bsky.social & @jessdaik.bsky.social
We tackle a simple but major question: Are parents discriminated against in hiring?
Check out our meta-analysis results ⬇️
👉 Preprint: osf.io/preprints/so...
Or join the discussion tomorrow at the #ECSR2025 poster session!
I’m very excited to share that my paper “Cleavage theory meets civil society: A framework and research agenda” with @eborbath.bsky.social & Swen Hutter has now been published online in @wepsocial.bsky.social (w/ open access funding thanks to @wzb.bsky.social!)
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Tomorrow 10:45: I'll be presenting a working paper with @lennartschuermann.bsky.social which shows that effective state action against the far right increases public support for democracy. This is part of the great panel by @larboe.bsky.social , @javidibad.bsky.social & @sldelange.bsky.social
📫 Latest special issue: Europe's Changing Protest Landscape, edited by @sophiahunger.bsky.social and Swen Hutter.
In their introductory article, they sketch Europe's ‘new contentious politics’ landscape and preview the issue's articles 👇
🔗 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
🚀 New postdoc position for Platform Data & Computational Social Science
Join us to drive @gesis.org' efforts around the Digital Services Act (DSA) and conduct research with online platform data
💼 TV-L EG 14 | Location: Cologne
📌 Apply now: www.gesis.org/en/institute...
#DSA #CSS #DataScience
🚨New article w/ @eborbath.bsky.social & Swen Hutter
Protest and the rise of left-nationalist challengers: evidence from Germany
📔 Social Movement Studies
🔗 doi.org/10.1080/1474...
In 2022, Germany faced a cost-of-living crisis.
Many expected a “Hot Autumn” of mass protest—but it never happened. Why?
Thinking about using #CSS methods to study #racism, #stereotypes or #hate speech in text? 📐
👉 Check out my first dissertation paper co-authored by @fabiennelind.bsky.social and @hajoboo.bsky.social just published in Annals of the ICA! @icahdq.bsky.social 🥳
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/annc...
4/ Our study sheds light on:
🧠 Protest (non-)mobilization
✊ Party-movement dynamics
⚖️ Political realignment in two-dimensional issue space
And 🙏 to Priska Daphi, @jacobgunderson.bsky.social , @sophiahunger.bsky.social, @dasalgon.bsky.social, @kanol.bsky.social and @tevoelker.bsky.social
3/ ❓Why the failure?
Protest sympathizers held economically left + culturally nationalist views.
But no major party or union spoke to both.
Except... one 👀
➡️ Enter: Sahra Wagenknecht (not yet BSW)
🧩 Her left-nationalist policy package matched the protest potential —
📢 And actually mobilized it.
2/ We combine protest event data 🪧 + a survey experiment 📊
What we find:
➡️ Huge sympathy for protest goals
➡️ Very little actual participation
➡️ Traditional actors (existing parties and labor unions) failed to mobilize
🚨New article w/ @eborbath.bsky.social & Swen Hutter
Protest and the rise of left-nationalist challengers: evidence from Germany
📔 Social Movement Studies
🔗 doi.org/10.1080/1474...
In 2022, Germany faced a cost-of-living crisis.
Many expected a “Hot Autumn” of mass protest—but it never happened. Why?
🚨 New article out in Journal of Civil Society with Swen Hutter!
We explore how civil society organizations (CSOs) mobilized volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic, a moment of both rising need and shrinking organizational capacity.
📖 Open access link: doi.org/10.1080/1744...
I recently presented at INAS2025 in NYC:
“Why women leave academia? A longitudinal study of the leaky pipeline in German sociology”
Thanks to @womensforuminas.bsky.social and the INAS attendees for the inspiring exchange, and @europeatharvard.bsky.social for their support!
📝 Preprint👇
🤩I'm extremely excited to have @laiabalcells.bsky.social at the WZB to discuss secessionism, protest, and affective polarization in Catalonia on June 20 - including findings from her research and my very own book. 📖
The event will be hybrid at the WZB and on Zoom - more info how to register below!👇
My favorite paper from my dissertation, co-authored w @gijsschumacher.bsky.social & @mrooduijn.bsky.social, is now available as a preprint! 🤗 If you work on emotions in politics or if you‘re curious about what we can (not) infer from people‘s emotions, check it out! We‘d love to hear what you think!
Fascinating substack post by @laurenleek.eu on the problem of declining humans and increasing AI agents in survey responses. This is going to become a huge issue in survey research!
open.substack.com/pub/laurenle...
A Tinder Test of Democratic Norms💋
New paper in @thejop.bsky.social with @bertous.bsky.social
We rely on a visual conjoint experiment, cross-sectional data, & panel data to show that affective polarization drives the normalisation of the far right among the centre-right 🇬🇧🇪🇸
doi.org/10.1086/736698
Book cover of the second edition of Foundations of European Politics A Comparative Approach
📢 🇪🇺📘 Exciting news! The second edition of our textbook "Foundations of European Politics: A Comparative Approach" - with @catherinedevries.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social and @jbslapin.bsky.social - is out at Oxford UP! 🧵👇 1/5
Come and join me (online) next week!