Aleksandra Sojka
@alesojka.bsky.social
Associate Professor, Dept. Social Sciences UC3M, Madrid European politics & society macies.bsky.social Member ic3jm.bsky.social Previously @EuropeAtHarvard EU citizen, Feminist, #firstgen
Poland voted out its illiberal government in 2023. Then lost the presidency to them in 2025. The story isn't over & it raises questions for all of Europe. Hear from Stanley Bill & Ben Stanley as they unpack their new book, with expert @alesojka.bsky.social next Monday: zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Very much looking forward to visiting BCN this week!
TransDeM@transdem.bsky.social · 3mo ago📢 Upcoming TransDeM-EUGov joint seminar! We're pleased to have Aleksandra Sojka (@alesojka.bsky.social - @uc3m.es) presenting her paper in our seminar next week. We hope to see you join us for this timely event! 📅 Friday, May 8, 13:00 📍 Seminari C, Fac. CCPP (UAB) @eugovresearch.bsky.social
📢 Upcoming TransDeM-EUGov joint seminar! We're pleased to have Aleksandra Sojka (@alesojka.bsky.social - @uc3m.es) presenting her paper in our seminar next week. We hope to see you join us for this timely event! 📅 Friday, May 8, 13:00 📍 Seminari C, Fac. CCPP (UAB) @eugovresearch.bsky.social
🚨🚨 "Surprise, surprise": The U.S. is reorienting its foreign funding program to export #MAGA ideology to Europe — and a growing set of far-right and conservative think tanks and political groups are lining up to take Washington’s money. 🧵 www.politico.eu/article/maga...
The MAGA-friendly European think tanks Trump wants to fund
The Heritage Foundation identified European groups for U.S. backing.
politico.eu
Our #Horizon proposal got rejected as well, my experience with the evaluation process is v similar to what @silkegoubin.bsky.social describes. Maybe time to think of improving the format to reduce the waste of resources of so many who are left with a críptic review that does not help them improve?
Dr. Silke Goubin@silkegoubin.bsky.social · 6mo agoMake research calls phased: why not a two- or even three-step phase? With only the best each time moving forward (7/)
The event will also feature a roundtable of scholars deeply connected to Juan Linz and his work. On June 11-12 we will follow up with the first IJL biennial conference. 10/12
🎉 🎉 We will hold the official launch of the IJL, dedicated to Juan Linz and his work, marking the 100th anniversary of his birth on June 10, 2026 :) Invited scholars, including Steve Levitsky, Pablo Beramendi, Milan Svolik, and Anne Meng will reflect on “the Breakdown of Democracies”. 9/12
We have a very exciting series of events planned for 2026, and beyond. In addition to our many internal events, our landmark permanent seminar hosts scholars from around the world and from around the social sciences. Here is the program for this Spring (Spring 2026): 8/12
Today the President of the European Parliament @president.europarl.europa.eu came to #Madrid to answer some tough questions from the Spanish youth 🇪🇦 Much appreciated that she would use her time to create this possibility of a real dialogue with a key leader of the EU, much needed! 🇪🇺🇪🇺
@ilketoygur.bsky.social & @alesojka.bsky.social: Does climate policy backlash fuel Eurosceptic vote? Exploring the link in the European Parliament elections 🔗 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Happy to be featured alongside other colleagues in this end of the year piece on the #Trump's effect on European politics in @politico.eu
The Trump Effect: How One Man’s Politics Rewired Europe
From defense to trade to climate policy, Trump’s second term has shaken Europe’s foundations and forced leaders across the continent to adapt to a new transatlantic reality.
politico.eu
Cards on the table: By locking in the Russian assets for good, the European Union is finally playing hardball. And it offers a preview of what life could look like without unanimity in foreign policy. My weekend analysis.
By locking in Russian assets for good, the EU finally plays hardball
In an audacious move, the EU has decided to indefinitely immobilise the Russian sovereign assets, pushing back against external pressure to release the funds before Moscow agrees to pay war reparation...
euronews.com
The EU just decided to indefinitely immobilise Russian assets. This ensures that up to €210 billion in Russian funds stay on EU soil, unless Russia fully pays reparations to Ukraine for the damage it has caused. (1/2)
If European Digital Sovereignty is to mean anything, it ought to mean NOT posting on a platform owned and run by a fascist intent on undermining the EU! And don't give me the bullshit you have to be there for "balance" or "reach" - the rules are stacked against you from the outset
New paper! @william-dinneen.bsky.social @guygrossman.bsky.social Yiqing Xu and I use GPT to code 91k articles from 174 polisci journals (2003–2023)and track research designs, transparency practices, and citations. How has the credibility revolution reshaped the discipline? doi.org/10.31235/osf... 🧵
Scathing view on the first year of vdL II: "Today the only tangible result [von der Leyen] consistently produces is the dismantling of what she built in her first term—above all the Green Deal, but also Europe’s economic and digital sovereignty."
David Carretta@davidcarretta.bsky.social · 8mo agoWe are testing the Morning Post Europe Today’s analysis by me: “Von der Leyen II: A Year of Slow Agony”. Don’t miss our brief: a new delay on the Russian assets, the Uk will not be in Safe. With @cspillmann.bsky.social and @grimmse.bsky.social👇 europemorningpost.substack.com/p/copy-lack-...
🚨 Job Alert! Postdoc in POLITICAL TEXT ANALYSIS in the MULTIREP project You do quant text analysis? You are interested in political representation? Enjoy working in teams? Would like to live in a great city? Consider joining us in Vienna! ⏱️ Apply by 15/12/2025 wratil.eu/files/MULTIR... 1/4 🧵
🌟 JOB ALERT! 🌟 I’m hiring 1 postdoc for my ERC project ECONENGAGE (@ Gothenburg 🇸🇪)! Starting ca. Aug '26! Congenial colleagues + int'l & supportive environment. 💸 for conferences + workshops! Lots of professional networking opportunities with scholars! Deadline Jan 7th. Apply! (see more below 🧵)
Postdoctoral Fellow in Political Science PAR 2025/838
The Department of Political Science is an international academic environment that welcomes students, researchers and
web103.reachmee.com
It's corruption only it comes from the Corruptian Mountains of Eastern Europe, otherwise it is just a sparkling gold bar.
Anne Applebaum@anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 9mo agoTo negotiate a trade deal with the President of the United States, the Swiss government arrived with a "special Rolex desktop clock" and "a 1-kilogram personalized gold bar" www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
Not hard to make profit margins over 30% if you don't pay people who produce the content you sell, and their employers pay you for access
Paolo Crosetto@paolocrosetto.bsky.social · 9mo agoWhat is the most profitable industry in the world, this side of the law? Not oil, not IT, not pharma. It's *scientific publishing*. We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing. Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_... Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇
🚨🚨"Welcome to the new European Parliament". In the year and a half since the far right surged at the EU election, Brussels’ mainstream forces have been anxiously wondering if the center can hold. Yesterday, they discovered it couldn’t. 🧵 www.politico.eu/article/euro...
In Brussels, the far right can no longer be ignored
EU conservatives working with the far right have signed the death warrant of the cordon sanitaire.
politico.eu
Yesterday will mark a major turning point – the collapse of the European Parliament's decades-old centrist governing majority. It's the end of an era, and the beginning of another.
The EU Parliament now has a right-wing majority
President von der Leyen's centre-right EPP yesterday broke the centrist coalition, joining with the far right in order to pass the climate deregulation demanded by Trump.
davekeating.substack.com
The outcome illustrates the willingness of the center-right @eppgroup.bsky.social to abandon its traditional centrist allies and press ahead with the support of far-right groups to pass its deregulation agenda, setting a precedent for future lawmaking in Parliament for the rest of the mandate. /2
🚨🚨Breaking and bad #EU news: Lawmakers in @europarl.europa.eu agreed today to exempt more companies from green reporting rules after the center-right, right-wing and far-right groups allied to pass the EU’s first omnibus simplification package. #omnibus 🧵 www.politico.eu/article/epp-...
EU conservatives vote with far right to approve cuts to green rules
The outcome highlights the EPP’s willingness to abandon its traditional centrist coalition allies.
politico.eu
And here is the second, 'Mr. Hyde' part of today's votes - where the EPP sides with the far-right, ranging from the ECR, to Orban & Le Pen's 'Patriots for Europe' and the AfD's 'Europe of Sovereign Nations' for a centre-right to far-right majority on the Omnibus 'deregulation':
First part of today's partially shizophrenic votes in - where the EP plenary, based on the 'von der Leyen' majority against the far-right, voted in favour of the 90+% carbon reduction goal for 2040.
If today’s vote on Omnibus I passes with EPP+ECR+Patriots support, it establishes the operational majority for the rest of von der Leyen's term This will have major economic and societal consequences at the time these groups chose Trump over the EU thegoodlobby.eu/the-eu-far-r...
The EU Far-Right Tracker: Exposing when the EPP sides with the Far Right | The Good Lobby
Despite repeated reassurances from Commission the EPP continues to rely on the far right to pass legislation or secure political wins.
thegoodlobby.eu
I consider myself super lucky to live in #Madrid, a city which is both beautiful and sunny AND is home to #MESS - a top notch community in empirical social sciences. Thanks to the organizers of #MESS2025 for 2 very intense days of discussing great research and networking w/ lovely people 🥰
Amuitz Garmendia Madariaga@amuitz.bsky.social · 10mo agoSo proud and happy of our #MESS2025 — growing in size, diversity, quality, and good vibes every year! See you all tomorrow! 😎 #SocialScience #Conference #Madrid @amaliaab.bsky.social @emmylindstam.bsky.social @sergio-galazgarcia.bsky.social
‼️On Friday, Alberto López on "How Group Affinities Explain the Rise of Conservative Gays"‼️ Join us at 12.30 -- is open to everyone!! 🧐🤗
![[We see a close up of a young white male, tanned, white teeth, coiffed hair clearly an influencer on social media. It is an image such as you see when social media posts are shown on the news. In the corner of the screen is named a location: DUBAI. He is staring slightly off-camera for several silent panels of the comic strip. His eyes move slightly. He is having a thought.]
From off-screen a newsreader’s commentary comes:
NEWSREADER:
Extraordinary images here
of an expat in Dubai
[The influencer’s eybrows raise slightly]
…Having their first ever geopolitical thought.
[CUT TO a BBC news scene. The BBC newsreader CLIVE MYRIE is talking to an interviewee next to the screen showing the social media influencer’s face. The interviewee’s name is David Jones].
CLIVE MYRIE:
To explain the significance of this moment we’re joined by David Jones, our Expat Thoughts correspondent
DAVID JONES:
Clive, this is momentous
It was caught on film at the end of an Instagram post titled: ‘Dubai Is Brilliant’.
[Pointing at the screen, the influencer’s expression still the same]
You can clearly see in the eyebrows here, the dawning realisation that there *might* be something in the world beyond his dickhead self.
It marks a *huge* departure from all the Dubai Expat’s previous thoughts.
CLIVE MYRIE:
Which are…?
DAVID JONES:
You've Got To Get Yourself Out Here Mate, Everything Is So Clean, I Don't Have To Pay Taxes,
I Am Incurious As To Why I Do Not Have To Pay Taxes, and Spa.
CLIVE MYRIE:
And might we see an expansion of these new Thoughts in coming days?
DAVID JONES:
I think we can expect to see:
“I Deserve To Be Airlifted By A Country I Pay No Tax To”
CLIVE MYRIE:
Mmm.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreibu6vuc7ofetq5hla3gfcknocotbfl3yk2ajczk6qfd2hnjxrav6q)