Guest blogging at Policy Network: Mass migration, terrorism fears, and Germany’s CDU

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So far, Germany’s mainstream parties have resisted the temptation to construct a link between the current mass migration of refugees from the middle east and the growing (?) risk of islamist terror attacks in Europe. In a piece I wrote for Policy Network, I take a long(ish) hard look at the respective positions of Merkel’s…

Where candidates live matters to voters, and they show it in their voting

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Where candidates live matters to voters, and they show it in their voting 1

A bit dated now, but still relevant: Showcasing our research at the Democratic Audit: That voters prefer to elect local candidates is a long-held assumption of British politics. Professor Jocelyn Evans’ research has sought to test that assumption. He found that the geographical distance between candidates’ homes and the constituency had a measurable impact on…

One baby step towards banning the right-wing extremist NPD

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Unbalanced Scale Silhouette

Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court has inched a little closer towards banning Germany’s oldest far-right party. After pondering the issue (and more importantly, the evidence) for a mere two years, the court has formally opened the proceedings that could result in a ban. A previous attempt to outlaw the NPD collapsed in 2003 because of the…

West European Politics Virtual Special Issue on Populist Parties

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West European Politics has released a virtual special issue on (European) populist parties. The collection brings together a host of articles that were published in the journal over the last 20 years or so, including some evergreens by Paul Taggart, Cas Mudde, David Art, Sarah de Lange, and other chums. Disclaimer: My own article on…

AfD party conference votes down exec’s proposal on asylum, adopts more radical resolution

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AfD party conference votes down exec's proposal on asylum, adopts more radical resolution 4

Following the meeting in July that led to a split of the party, the AfD is holding another party conference this weekend. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports that the assembly has just voted down a position paper on asylum drafted by the national exec and backed by the new leader. Internally, the paper was seen as…