Yes. The good news is:
Europe already has two fundamental rights charters and two courts protecting them: the EU Charter and the ECHR, enforced by @eucourtofjustice.bsky.social and @echr.coe.int
What these institutions really need is popular support; and that part is on us.
Political cartoon about the Expatriation Act of 1907, which revoked the citizenship of women who married non-citizens.
#ResistanceRoots
#WomensHistoryMonth
Today in history, 1907: Congress passes the Expatriation Act, which stripped American-born women of their citizenship if they married a non-citizen. A woman had to adopt her husband’s nationality, effectively making her a stateless alien in her own country. /1
So what are the politics of a court that insists it has none?
Jay Krehbiel, Matthew Gabel and I take a closer look in European Union Politics:
tinyurl.com/yt6svkn9
If judges’ preferences shape duration and timing, we need tools to observe them.
We share our preference scores for EU in the "Ideology on Both Sides" dataset:
dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtm...
Disagreement is a feature, not a flaw.
It is managed through internal checks, delegation, and timing.
Case law is negotiated, not automatic. Thats how quality emerges.
When judges sit further apart ideologically, cases take longer to decide.
In the EU, such delays are driven mainly by diverging preferences over economic governance - state intervention, markets, regulation - not abstract battles over “more or less Europe.”
@lseeuroppblog.bsky.social
The EU Court isn’t just pro-integration. It’s politically divided.
In nearly 20,000 judgments (1990–2023), realistic shifts in economic left–right polarization among ECJ judges correspond to a ~52% increase in decision duration.🧵
![R coding style alignment chart:
LAWFUL GOOD
y <- x
y[is.na(x)] <- "na"
NEUTRAL GOOD
y = x
y[is.na(x)] = "na"
CHAOTIC GOOD
y = x |>
is.na() |>
ifelse("na", x)
LAWFUL NEUTRAL
y <- ifelse(is.na(x), "na", x)
TRUE NEUTRAL
y = ifelse(is.na(x), "na", x)
CHAOTIC NEUTRAL
y = x %>%
ifelse(is.na(.), "na", .)
LAWFUL EVIL
`<-`(y, x)
`[<-`(y, is.na(x), "na")
NEUTRAL EVIL
y = x
for (i in seq_along(x)) {
if (is.na(x[[i]])) {
x[[i]] = "na"
}
}
CHAOTIC EVIL
x %>%
`[<-`(is.na(.), "na") %>%
``<<-``(y, .)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6fs5x6cofzyz4si2xhqiqj37/bafkreiejbtue3xlvzlpt7ac57osz6jq3suwr32fn556rb5itqairwop7cy@jpeg)
R coding style alignment chart: LAWFUL GOOD y <- x y[is.na(x)] <- "na" NEUTRAL GOOD y = x y[is.na(x)] = "na" CHAOTIC GOOD y = x |> is.na() |> ifelse("na", x) LAWFUL NEUTRAL y <- ifelse(is.na(x), "na", x) TRUE NEUTRAL y = ifelse(is.na(x), "na", x) CHAOTIC NEUTRAL y = x %>% ifelse(is.na(.), "na", .) LAWFUL EVIL `<-`(y, x) `[<-`(y, is.na(x), "na") NEUTRAL EVIL y = x for (i in seq_along(x)) { if (is.na(x[[i]])) { x[[i]] = "na" } } CHAOTIC EVIL x %>% `[<-`(is.na(.), "na") %>% ``<<-``(y, .)
what's a "pipes" ?? #rstats
The Court of Justice of the European Union is often described as a neutral engine of European integration.
Yet as @silje-hermansen.bsky.social Matthew Gabel and Jay Krehbiel show on @lseeuroppblog.bsky.social, behind the Court’s unified voice lies a politically divided institution.
New article out with Ramona Coman & Sergiu Miscoiu! "Political Parties and Dissensus over Liberal Democracy in the European Parliament" — published in Comparative European Politics. 🔗//link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41295-026-00470-x
Russia, Venezuela, Iran, China, the Sahel region, the United States ...
Want to know why state agents carry out brutal repression — or participate in illegal coups?
Our new book "Making a Career in Dictatorship" provides answers — it just got published by @academic.oup.com:
tinyurl.com/ystwm3tf
A sick crew member from a 🇺🇸US submarine was evacuated today by the 🇩🇰Danish warship HDMS Vædderen off 🇬🇱Greenland.
This underlines Denmark’s dedication to assist any seafarer in distress regardless of his nation’s intent (Arctic Command)
Photo not from today’s incident.
Paper on statistical power necessary for interaction effects
doi.org/10.1177/2515...
Today in Encode/Decode @rdanielkelemen.bsky.social and @tommasopavone.bsky.social examine the consequences of #politicizing #international #institutions and the trade-offs facing executives double-hatting as #prosecutors and #policymakers. Read how data played a vital role: doi.org/10.1353/wp.2...
Together with his colleague Christian Gläßel from Hertie School, @ascharpf.bsky.social #UCPH has set out to investigate what it is that has ordinary people committing atrocities: uniavisen.dk/en/what-do-p...
Oslo, Norway
It’s time to Hype that Hypothesis! @magnusrasmussen.bsky.social and @chknutsen.bsky.social develop three hypotheses to examine #state #development to explain how relatively weak political actors can shape national #policy by pursing local #reforms. Read their full article: doi.org/10.1353/wp.2...
The Guardian has a striking map suggesting Trump has pushed the world, especially Europe, toward China.
It’s visually compelling. But misleading. The world isn’t moving away from the U.S. The U.S. is moving away from the world. as I show on @goodauth.bsky.social. goodauthority.org/news/the-wor...
"Zombie citations" of work that was never written are becoming a big problem in academic publishing. After encountering one recently I tried tracking down its source. Instead I found a growing mob of mutant references gathering on Google Scholar codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/2026/01/30/t...
We‘re very excited for the next edition of the Summer School for Women* in Political Methodology in Mannheim! ✨
Join us and apply until 1 March!
More info in @melinscribe.bsky.social‘s thread below and here: summerschoolwpm.org
Application form: sosci.sowi.uni-mannheim.de/wpm/
The CJEU recently ruled that Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal no longer qualifies as a court under EU law.
This is one of the EU’s most decisive legal responses to the capture of Poland’s judiciary under the PiS.
Our @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social and @profpech.bsky.social unpack the ruling 👇
Largely unnoticed outside of Argentina, President Milei is planning a massive expansion of the intelligence service's powers – SIDE.
Among other things, agents would be allowed to arrest citizens.
I spoke with the Buenos Aires Herald about possible consequences and parallels to the country's past.
📢 New book chapter
👤 Øyvind Stiansen (ISV) @oyvindstiansen.bsky.social
🔎 The Courts
📖 Published in Oxford Handbook of Norwegian Politics
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/oxfo...
El Salvador approved two constitutional reforms that eliminate the minimum budget for the Judiciary and modify the term of electoral magistrates. In a year, the ruling party has made six reforms to the Constitution that weaken balances.
beta.elfaro.net/en/el-salvad...
BJPolS abstract discussing the impact of international courts like the European Court of Justice on individual rights and civil society, highlighting their role in promoting legal claims and supporting networks.
From November 2025 -
Leveling and Spotlighting: How the European Court of Justice Favors the Weak to Promote Its Legitimacy - cup.org/4oWD6ZT
- @silje-hermansen.bsky.social, @tommasopavone.bsky.social & @louisabo.bsky.social
#OpenAccess
Studying the role of courts & judicialization in the welfare sector? 📝 Join us at #ecprgc26 in Kraków (September, 2026)! Submit your paper proposal: ecpr.eu/GeneralConfe... (deadline January 9 ⏰) & send an email to karin.leijon@statsvet.uu.se - or, check out the other great panels in the Section👇
If you’re having trouble accessing my book The Taliban Courts: War through Law, feel free to contact me. It’s been unavailable and, since OUP won’t do a paperback, the hardback is very expensive for individuals. I’m happy to help you find a way to read it.
Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵
Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
Congratulations, Michal!
Iseult Honohan Doctoral Scholarship #ECPRMemberJobs
📅 Minimum grade of 2.1 (GPA: 3.6) in a relevant Master's degree
🇮🇪 @ucddublin.bsky.social
⌛ Friday 30 January
buff.ly/0telfWN
#PolSciJobs #PoliSky #AcademicSky
