There is no ‘hard right’, AI slop is actually good but AI is terrible, and why democracies need enemies: 4 links I liked
Definitions! The Plagiarism Machine (twice!)!! Democracy and its enemies!!!
Category: Political Science
An enduring anti-fascist legacy in Italy
I am normally rather sceptical of historical explanations for far-right mobilisation and counter-mobilisation, but this podcast episode from The Conversation is very nuanced and quite convincing: 24 minutes of your time well spent. https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/86c1fdc7-dc5c-44b5-a86c-72eed7fb3190.mp3
Podcast Wehrhafte Demokratie
Mit Lawrence Meinig habe ich für den Forschungspodcast der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität über wehrhafte Demokratie, Rechtsextremismus, Islamismus und die Polizei gesprochen. Die Episode kann man sich direkt hier anhören oder unten im Transkript nachlesen EinleitungRechtsextremismus, Rechtsradikalismus, RechtspopulismusRegionale UnterschiedePolizeiforschungAndere Gefahren für die Demokratie: Linksextremismus, Islamismus, Reichsbürgerbewegung Einleitung Lawrence Meinig Demokratie bedeutet Vielfalt, Offenheit und auch Meinungsverschiedenheit. Doch…
Islamophobia in Western Europe is linked to far right Attitudes, not religiosity: new research
New publication: In Western Europe, Islamophobia overlaps with far right attitudes, but is unrelated to religiosity. This is consistent with the “Christianist” strategy employed by many far right actors in the region.
Interview with Kathimerini on Merkel’s legacy
Believe it or not, today, Angela Merkel is travelling to Athens again, and this time, she will be discussing …. her autobiography, which has been translated into Greek. Over at Kathimerini (organising the event), Xenia Kounalaki kindly asked for my opinion on various matters connected in one way or another to Merkel’s tenure. We had…
ME at the Margins: Average Marginal Effects, Marginal Effects at the Mean, and margins in Stata
Stata’s margins command can be a bit confusing Stata’s margins is a postestimation command which does all sorts of amazing things. Margins is incredibly powerful, and the accompanying marginsplot command nearly always does just the right thing. Margins and marginsplot have almost singlehandedly changed the way people interpret the way model estimates (particularly estimates from…
Germany’s 2025 election and its aftermath
Germany’s 2025 early election was a political earthquake. How did we end up in this mess, and what does it mean for Germany and Europe? Here is my attempt at an answer.
May is the new April: the Spring 2025 update of the radical right bibliography
Life is full of unforeseen, yet entirely predictable obstacles: over-committing, over-optimism, and yes, occasionally, over-indulgence. As a result, this year’s spring edition of the Eclectic, Erratic Bibliography on the Extreme Right (in (Western) Europe)™ is late, but here it comes. With 180 new titles, this is the second-biggest update ever, which just goes to show…
I Can’t Believe It’s Not B̶u̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ Academic Spam
I get a lot of Academic Spam. Is this the next level?
Seymour Martin Lipset wrote about the Radical Right – in 1955
In this house, every day is S.M. Lipset Appreciation Day. Most of what we do and think today is not much more than an elaboration of the old stuff, plus some new data and fancy methods. And still, I took some sort of mental double take when I stumbled across this article. Somewhat depressingly, he…