Catherine E. de Vries

Tijdens deze avond gaat @catherinedevries.bsky.social, onder leiding van Femke Roosma, in gesprek met @sldelange.bsky.social, Rosan Smits, Coen van de Ven en Merijn Oudenampsen over de politieke, maatschappelijke en culturele wortels van onvrede.

Op 23 maart 2026 presenteert @catherinedevries.bsky.social haar nieuwe boek bij SPUI25. In "De symfonie van onvrede" onderzoekt zij de opkomst van radicaal-rechts in Europa, waarin persoonlijke geschiedenis en politieke analyse samenkomen.

🟠 Registreer hier: lnkd.in/eQNZiWaj

Fall in UK net migration threatens to carve deep hole in public finances Issue is expected to come under the spotlight in chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement

The migration doom loop at work: does anyone in government seriously think that a strategy designed to keep out skilled workers and students makes either economic or political sense?

://www.ft.com/content/7408ad00-e4eb-41c7-8849-36061bc0eac1

So happy that is resonated!

How rightwing rhetoric has risen sharply in the UK parliament – an exclusive visual analysis In the past five years, MPs’ attitudes in the House of Commons towards immigration have swung harder to the right than at almost any other time in the last century

This is a truly exceptional analysis of British parliamentary speeches on immigration by @theguardian.com showing we are living in a uniquely nativist era.

That is of course also an approach! It sounds like me trying to write a review for a journal by the way. :)

📢 Registration Reminder for EPSS Belfast 2026

If you haven't registered already, please note that the registration deadline for the EPSS Belfast Conference is Friday, 13 March 👇🏼

Register here: app.oxfordabstracts.com/register/eve...

Writing Is Disappointing. That’s How You Know It’s Working The Long Carve #3: Learning to love the mess

Writing is disappointing. That’s how you Know it’s working.

Full post here: catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/writing-is...

/end

A reminder I return to often:

You are not your first draft.

The draft isn’t the verdict, it’s the beginning.

Without the messy version, there would be nothing to improve on.

7/

In sculpture, the first cuts don’t reveal the statue. They only remove marble.

Early writing works the same way.

We’re not polishing yet. We’re discovering what we’re trying to say.

6/

This stage feels uncomfortable because we see gaps in our thinking.

But that clarity is progress.

The mess isn’t failure. It’s contact with the material.

5/

Early drafts belong to what scholars sometimes call the logic of discovery.

They exist to help us figure out what we think, not to impress readers (at least not yet).

Clarity isn't the starting point of writing. It’s the outcome.

4/

Nothing has gone wrong.

You’ve simply moved from imagining the work to doing it.

Ideas feel elegant in our heads because they face no resistance. Writing introduces friction, and friction reveals weaknesses we didn’t even know were there to begin with.

3/

Many writers interpret this as a warning sign.

Maybe the idea isn’t good enough. Maybe I’m not ready. Maybe I should rethink the entire project.

But often, the opposite is true.

2/

Your idea is clear.
You’ve defined the structure.
You sit down to write.

And suddenly everything feels shaky.

The sentences disappoint, and the argument looks weaker than it did in your head.

1/

Writing Is Disappointing. That’s How You Know It’s Working The Long Carve #3: Learning to love the mess

Why does writing often feel worse right after we start?

This question behind is my 3rd piece in my Long Carve series on long writing projects.

If your writing suddenly feels worse after you begin, you may be exactly doing it right.

🧵

catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/writing-is...

Absoluut!

Vrijdag jl in @fd.nl @catherinedevries.bsky.social @ieuniversity.bsky.social: “Pas als mensen in hun eigen woonplaats ‘n leven met perspectief kunnen opbouwen, is voltooiing van de Interne Markt duurzaam”. Zeker & waarschuwing voor nieuwe kabinet. Duurzame hervormen vergt gelijke lastenverdeling.

Dank Raquel!

Interne markt floreert pas als iedereen zekerheid heeft De Europese Unie wil de interne markt versneld versterken. Maar voltooiing van die binnenmarkt vereist ook duurzaam politiek draagvlak. Dat is alleen mogelijk als we alle Europese burgers perspectief bieden en regio’s niet uitsluiten, schrijft Europa-expert Catherine de Vries.

Goed regiobeleid, wat is dat? Voor mij is dat beleid waardoor iedereen in de regio kán blijven wonen waar die wil wonen. Dat vind ik uit principe, maar het is ook gewoon heel verstandig, ook als het om de Europese Unie gaat. @catherinedevries.bsky.social legt goed uit waarom. @fd.nl

#elkeregiotelt

Free 📚🚨! I've got 2 great, short monographs for you to download today! Up first, "Conflict and Maternal Health
Linking the Gendered Causes and Gendered Consequences of War" by @fthames.bsky.social + @ladyprofessor.bsky.social. 1/

Abstract of the paper: Women are generally less likely to express an interest in politics, join political organizations, and participate in political activities. Scholars posit that gender-(in)egalitarian attitudes are an important determinant of women’s political engagement. Yet, existing work finds mixed support for this claim. Using the German General Social Survey (1991–2016), we compare citizens’ attitudes toward gender across birth cohorts from East and West Germany. We find that cohorts socialized in the East hold more progressive gender attitudes than West Germans. We then show that traditional gender attitudes are negatively correlated with political interest and participation and that this effect is somewhat greater for women. Importantly, women who hold gender-egalitarian attitudes are nearly as politically engaged as men. We then assess the robustness of these results, show the findings hold in cross-national analyses, and explore an individual-level mechanism underlying our results. Together, our findings reveal an important barrier to political engagement.

Congratulations to our Head of Dept @catherinedevries.bsky.social on her latest publication in @thejop.bsky.social.

The paper studies the effects of being socialized under East Germany on gender norms and the political engagement of women.

Read more here: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....

Dank Roland!

Dankjewel!!! Hoor graag je reactie tzt!

Als ze me vragen zeker!

Mocht dit prachtige boek al lezen, het is geweldige combinatie van het persoonlijke en het wetenschappelijke. Absolute aanrader!

Dank Saskia, dat betekent veel voor me, juist omdat het van jou komt.

Ten slotte, ik sta open voor lezingen in de boekhandel, op de universiteit, op school, etc (zonder betaling).

Mijn boek verweeft mijn academische werk met mijn familie geschiedenis en maakt het thema, opmars van radicaal-rechts in Europa, hopelijk inzichtelijk voor een breed publiek.

end/

Wil je meer weten? Dat kan:

📖 12 maart, 20.00 uur – Boekpresentatie & lezing bij Boekhandel Douwes in Den Haag. Aanmelden: www.boekhandeldouwes.nl/article/boek...

🎤 23 maart, 20 uur – Panelbijeenkomst in SPUI25. Aanmelden: www.spui25.nl/programma/de...

4/

Simon Kuper: ‘Een modelboek voor academici… helder uitgelegd, zonder jargon, ook voor niet-kenners geheel begrijpelijk.’

Daniel Ziblatt: ‘Een zeldzame mix van empathie en analytische scherpte. … Een noodzakelijk boek voor iedereen die geeft om de toekomst van Europa en ... de democratie.’

3/