Robert A. Huber

Administrative democratic defence: Under what circumstances do civil servants counter autocratisation? | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge Core Administrative democratic defence: Under what circumstances do civil servants counter autocratisation?

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Administrative democratic defence ⚔️

@jmvanlit.bsky.social uses elite interviews from the Netherlands to argue that administrative democratic defence requires continued awareness and action to prevent #Autocratisation and sustain resilience 🛡️

Keep positive and defend democracy: Framing democratic messages under authoritarianism | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge Core Keep positive and defend democracy: Framing democratic messages under authoritarianism

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Keep positive and defend democracy 🛡️

@aykutozturk.bsky.social, Steven E. Finkel, @anjaneundorf.bsky.social & Ericka Rascón Ramírez conduct online experiments in Turkey to understand the effect democratic framing within educational interventions has on #PublicOpinion 📚️

How voter availability shapes parties’ policy priorities Political parties often adjust their policies to address emerging issues, or to attract — or regain — support. However, warns Fabian Habersack, such strategic pivots carry significant risks,…

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Political parties often adjust their strategies on emerging issues to broaden their support or 🗳️ regain lost voters

⚠️ However, this can be a risky move, especially if parties misjudge their electoral potential, writes @fabianhabersack.bsky.social

👉 bit.ly/41Yx1TL
@ecprpovb.bsky.social

Mainstreaming vs. normalisation: Towards more conceptual clarity on how mainstream parties legitimise the far right | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge Core Mainstreaming vs. normalisation: Towards more conceptual clarity on how mainstream parties legitimise the far right

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Mainstream or normalised? 🤷‍♀️

@asheinze.bsky.social & @gefjonoff.bsky.social look at the meaning of mainstreaming and normalisation in existing literature on the #FarRight and discuss an expanded framework for future research

System trust is key to explaining Covid-19 attitudes and behaviours During the Covid-19 pandemic, many citizens put full faith in 'the system' to keep them safe. Others were inherently mistrustful. Louise Halberg Nielsen argues that such trust, or the lack of it, was…

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😷 During the Covid-19 pandemic, many put faith in the political system to keep them safe. Others were less trustful.

🗣️ @louisehalberg.bsky.social argues that such trust, or the lack of it, was a key explanation for pandemic-era political disagreement.
➡️ bit.ly/3ChHhMs

How welfare policy affects immigration attitudes Social policies shape public opinions on immigration. A study by Alina Vrânceanu and Bilyana Petrova shows that in Western Europe, generous welfare systems – perhaps counterintuitively – make natives…

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👣 @alinavranceanu.bsky.social & @bpetrova.bsky.social show that in Western Europe, generous #welfare systems – perhaps counterintuitively – make natives more favourably inclined toward #immigrants.

💸Indeed, cutting benefits risks exacerbating anti-immigrant sentiment
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Some professional news, as they say: Ich habe einen neuen Job – und was für einen! 🥳

Seit Montag arbeite ich in der Transfer Unit Wissenschaftskommunikation an der @bbaw.bsky.social. Wer mich in den letzten Jahren getroffen hat, weiß, dass ich unbedingt in die Wissenschaftskommunikation wollte.

ECPR Methods School 2026 Get early access to our summer programme

✨ #IWD2026 spotlight ✨

In 2025, ECPR has achieved or exceeded #GenderParity in 16 of 27 key areas of participation (59%)

Our Methods School is leading the way:
👩‍🎓62% female participants
👩‍🏫 100% female Teaching Assistants

📊 More in our forthcoming Annual Report

Conceptualizing and Measuring Geopolitical Alignments A vast literature examines how geopolitical alignments influence militarized conflict, trade, investment, aid, and other outcomes in international relations. Yet, considerable ambiguity remains regard...

Conceptualizing and Measuring Geopolitical Alignments - www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

The honest, the efficient, and the trustworthy: National stereotypes and public support for EU redistribution | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge Core The honest, the efficient, and the trustworthy: National stereotypes and public support for EU redistribution

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The honest, the efficient, & the trustworthy 🕊️ 🏭️ 🚓

@adinaakbik.bsky.social & Christina L. Toenshoff examine the relationships between national stereotypes and #Policy preference within the EU, uncovering the influence of stereotypes in #PublicOpinion

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

🚨 Happy to see this article with the wonderful David Schweizer out online first at European Union Politics!

We examine who is aware of European funding and how citizens prefer these funds to be allocated.

The article is available open access here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology The Swedish Institute for Social research (SOFI) is part of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Stockholm University. The institute is an internationally leading research institute in the field of socia

📢 We are hiring a Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology at SOFI, Stockholm University.

Interested in research on the causes and consequences of social policy for individuals and society?

Apply by 13 April 2026.

More information and application:
su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

#postdoc #sociology

EPSS Travel Grants for 2026 Belfast conference:

PhD students & junior scholars @ institutions in European countries that are often underrepresented, can apply for full fee waiver & £500 stipend

Apply: lnkd.in/ehXjhCgf
Deadline: March 8, 11:59pm GMT.

More details: lnkd.in/eZTP5sWR

How Covid-19 border closures shaped attitudes in Europe Covid-19 border closures were intended to protect public health, but their symbolic effects reached far beyond controlling the virus. Lisa Herbig argues that temporary closures significantly weakened…

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😷 #Covid19 border closures were intended to protect public health, but their symbolic effects reached beyond controlling the virus

🚫 @lisaherbig.bsky.social argues that closures weakened support for European unity and increased hostility toward immigrants in the short term
👉 ow.ly/hF1w50W0Caa

Six portraits of women at various ECPR events, with text 'International Women's Day #GiveToGain #IWD2026' and ECPR logo.

🎉 Get ready to mark #InternationalWomensDay with us!

🌟 Over the coming week, we're celebrating women shaping #PolSci – and reflecting on how supporting gender parity strengthens our global research community

✨ Expect exclusive insights, data, and special research collections

#IWD2026 #GiveToGain

This is a fantastic teaching resource for anyone covering Zaller (and I sincerely hope it still is many of us)

Policy-specific information and voter competence in direct democracy: Panel evidence from Danish EU referendums | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge Core Policy-specific information and voter competence in direct democracy: Panel evidence from Danish EU referendums

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#VoterCompetence in direct democracy

Jannik Fenger looks at 4 Danish EU referendums to find out whether #Voters are more aware of policy during campaigns, and does this help with informed choices? ↔️

🔮 According to populists, who are ‘the people’ and ‘the elite’? Populist rhetoric often pits a virtuous people against a corrupt elite. But when populist leaders invoke these definitions, do they always mean the same thing? Maurits Meijers, Robert A. Huber, and…

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🔮 #FutureOfPopulism No.94

🗣️ #Populist rhetoric often pits a virtuous people against a corrupt elite.

But @mauritsmeijers.bsky.social, @robert-a-huber.bsky.social and Andrej Zaslove ask: who exactly are the people and the elite in #PopulistParties’ eyes 👀?

➡️ ow.ly/lz4450VZQNg

🤷Why publish #OpenAccess?

🔎 Increase the discoverability of your research
🎓 Make an impact beyond the academy
🌍 Freely share your work with anyone, across the globe
📜 Comply with funding mandates

👉 bit.ly/4mqhVyg

Middle class, civic activism, and local politics: Evidence from Russia | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge Core Middle class, civic activism, and local politics: Evidence from Russia

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The mobilizing middle-class

Denis Ivanov, Alexander Libman & @alexeizakharov.bsky.social use Russian survey data to find out people are more likely to take part in #CivicActivity in areas with larger middle-class population 👥
buff.ly/53LaruS

Coalition bargaining failures lead to more productive cabinets Austrian parties have finally formed a new government – on their third bargaining attempt. The failure of the previous rounds drew media criticism of timewasting. But Matthew E Bergman and Wolfgang C…

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⏱️ After media criticism of timewasting, Austrian parties have finally formed a new government – on their 3rd bargaining attempt.

📈 @mebergman.bsky.social and Wolfgang C Müller argue that time spent bargaining is an investment in future government policy productivity.

👉 bit.ly/4jK0Zku

Panel details: title, keywords, co-chairs, discussant and section information.

🥳 Early announcement yet super happy to see this panel with @dianaluciahofmann.bsky.social approved at the @ecpr.bsky.social GC this September! From Big Tech & immigration to populist attitudes, democratic preferences, & the ambivalent political role of conspiracism. events.ecpr.eu/Events/Event...

🧺 Paper Picnic 2.0 is here! More journals. New features. An easier way to keep up with the latest research in political science and adjacent fields. 🧵👇

Disinformation as repression signaling: the cost of dissent in Russia Despite growing research on transnational digital repression (TDR), the role of disinformation in targeting extraterritorial populations remains underconceptualized. This article addresses this gap...

1/ So happy that my article “Disinformation as repression signaling: the cost of dissent in Russia” is out in @ersjournal.com! I show how autocrats use disinformation as part of the transnational digital repression toolkit to signal their capacity to repress.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Screenshot from the first page of the PDF showing the title, author names and abstract of the paper. Title: Between “Cancel Culture” and Campus Culture: Debate and Dissent in the Discursive Space of the University.

Based on a representative survey of academics at German universities, Christiane Thompson and I find little support for "canceling" controversial views on campus. Instead, universities are widely expected to facilitate debate on controversial issues. Our two main findings:
doi.org/10.1007/s110...

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...

A family with 3-d glasses shocked by what they see on their mobile devices screens

The far right in Spain and Portugal didn’t go mainstream alone.

The Iberian media system played a key role in their normalization 📺📻📰

2 new publications out now🔥

This marks the closing chapter of my project POLAR, a research journey that began in 2021.

A 🧵on how Vox and Chega became mainstream 👇

Why citizen groups outpace business in EU agenda-setting We often consider business groups to be the dominant lobbying force in Brussels. But, based on his latest research, Frederik Stevens shows the opposite: citizen groups are more likely to influence…

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💼 We often consider business groups to be the dominant lobbying force in Brussels.

📘 But, based on @ejprjournal.bsky.social research, @frederikstevens.bsky.social shows the opposite: citizen groups are more likely to influence what gets on, or stays off, the #EU’s agenda.

👉 buff.ly/f5AAtfG

New publication in @ejprjournal.bsky.social! 🥳
It was lots of fun writing this with the great @asheinze.bsky.social! I hope this article can contribute conceptual clarity and new ideas to research on far-right normalisation and mainstreaming.