🎉 New Open-Access paper in EJPR together with Morten Harmening, Jona Baumert, @martingross.bsky.social, @donyhu.bsky.social & @jvelimsky.bsky.social Geographic representation in local politics: Evidence from PQs in German city councils 👉 dx.doi.org/10.1111/1475...

Geographic representation in local politics: Evidence from parliamentary questions in German city councils

A well-established body of research has highlighted the importance of geographic representation in party-centred political systems. In party-centred systems, geographic ties are commonly expressed th...

dx.doi.org

@martingross.bsky.social @donyhu.bsky.social @sebastianjblock.bsky.social & @jvelimsky.bsky.social deal with issue emphasis 💡Key findings: 1️⃣More attention to issues where municipalities have more legal leeway 2️⃣Effect is moderated by municipalities' financial constraints doi.org/10.1111/spsr...

The Impact of Institutional and Financial Constraints on Party Behaviour in Local Politics

Political parties are not free to choose which issues to focus on in parliament. At the national level, it is mostly economic and societal problem pressures which impact parties' issue attention. In ...

doi.org

Oooopsie.

Noah Barkin@noahbarkin.bsky.social · last yr.

Rubio publicly criticizing an ally for cracking down on right-wing extremism. And Germany hitting back. We are in a new world

Our findings underscore the strategic logic of local representation. But they also raise normative questions: 📉 Are some districts systematically underrepresented? 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Do poorer areas receive less attention? Lots of room for future research.

🔍 In other words, parties are more likely to "speak up" for areas where: – Their voters are concentrated – Their councillors may live – They stand to gain electorally Local politics is strategic—just like national politics.

But parties don’t reference all areas equally. They strategically focus on: ✅ Districts where they have strong electoral support ✅ When their voter base is highly localized ✅ When the electoral system uses districts (vs. citywide) voting

➡️ That’s way more than what’s typically seen in national parliaments. ➡️ Why? Because city politics is inherently spatial—from potholes to park plans.

We analyze over 10,000 parliamentary questions (PQs) submitted across 12 large German cities. We automatically detect geographic references in questions using Wikipedia & OpenStreetMap data. 💡 Key finding: ➡️ Nearly half of all PQs reference a specific geographic location.

📍🏙️ Why do parties focus on *some* districts more than others? ⬇️ Most research on geographic representation focuses on national parliaments & individual MPs. But local politics might be where geography matters most. So we ask: Do parties represent *specific districts* more often and why?

🧵 New paper out in EJPR! Morten Harmening, Jona-Frederik Baumert @sebastianjblock.bsky.social @donyhu.bsky.social @jvelimsky.bsky.social & I examine how parties engage in geographic representation in local politics using parliamentary questions in 12 German city councils. 👉 doi.org/10.1111/1475...

Geographic representation in local politics: Evidence from parliamentary questions in German city councils

A well-established body of research has highlighted the importance of geographic representation in party-centred political systems. In party-centred systems, geographic ties are commonly expressed th....

doi.org

Twitter is too liberal. I am buying it. X amplifies conservative voices I don’t like. I’ll silence them. What happens when critical infrastructure is in the hand of a single person. Example ♾️ www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-...

Elon Musk accused of censoring conservatives on X who disagree with his immigration stances

The claims came after Elon Musk was involved in a public feud with some Republicans over immigration.

nbcnews.com

„Die Studie zu den Auslandsüberweisungen hat sich übrigens auch gezeigt, unter welchen Bedingungen Flüchtlinge dazu tendieren, we­niger Geld ins Ausland zu überweisen. Einer der wichtigsten Faktoren: eine langfristige Bleibeper­spektive.“ zeitung.faz.net/fas/wirtscha...

Including our paper on MPs' occupational backgrounds and why they matter for their issue representation behaviour in parliaments. Joint work with @jvelimsky.bsky.social @donyhu.bsky.social @sebastianjblock.bsky.social doi.org/10.1080/0140... Polisky

West European Politics@wepsocial.bsky.social · 2y ago

💥OUT NOW! Vol. 48, Issue 3 (2025), including research on: 👉🇪🇺issue voting & elections 👉Voter perceptions & alignments 👉Campaign toxicity 👉Party issue salience & parliamentary oversight 👉MPs' occupational background 👉Accountability 👉Elections in 🇫🇷 www.tandfonline.com/toc/fwep20/4... Polisky

Wissenschaft als Beruf in D ist wenn Du gemessen an den Standards des Systems alles richtig machst, fleißig publizierst & Drittmittel einwirbst, Dein Privatleben für Wissenschaft zurückstellst & Dich bis zum Umfallen reinhängst, um dann trotzdem mit Ü40 aus Deinem Beruf rauszufliegen. #IchBinHanna

Online first @spsr.bsky.social: Our new article "The Impact of Institutional and Financial Constraints on Party Behaviour in Local Politics" (w/ @donyhu.bsky.social @sebastianjblock.bsky.social @jvelimsky.bsky.social) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.... #polisky /1

Happening today @gasparugent.bsky.social Very much looking forward to give a broad overview of the project with @donyhu.bsky.social @sebastianjblock.bsky.social @jvelimsky.bsky.social

From our latest issue - Support for Deliberative mini-Publics among the Losers of Representative Democracy - cup.org/3TlJlYq - Jean-Benoit Pilet, Camille Bedock, David Talukder & Sacha Rangoni

Der Entwurf für das #WissZeitVG ist ein "Versagen der Bundesregierung", schreibt @geraldinerauch.bsky.social: www.tagesspiegel.de/wissen/ein-g...

Ein Gesetz wie Hohn für junge Forschende: So wird das nichts mit fairer Arbeit an den Unis

Warum sollten sich gut ausgebildete Menschen in der Wissenschaft engagieren? Die Reform des Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetzes wird keinen Anreiz dafür geben: Ein Versagen der Bundesregierung.

tagesspiegel.de

Gibt offenbar 1 verblüffend starke Tendenz, den Wissenschaftsstandort Deutschland an die Wand fahren zu wollen. Bin gerade unglaublich müde, aber eins möchte ich trotzdem NOCHMAL sagen (es ist das ungefähr 3664577tausendste Mal): 4+2 ist eine Katastrophe. Für #IchBinHanna UND die dt. Wissenschaft.

Am 17. März 2023 ist das Eckpunktepapier herausgekommen. Der Referentenentwurf zum #WissZeitVG liegt seit Juli vor. Danach wurde in der Koalition verhandelt - um diesen nun mehr oder weniger genauso zu übernehmen. Wozu hat man all diese Monate gebraucht? #IchBinHanna

I don't think there's much of a political will to change anything for the better (for postdocs), but if you'd like to support the #IchBinHanna campaign, please consider signing this petition: weact.campact.de/petitions/st...

Thrilled to see our paper on "Reducing Social Stratification Bias in Referendum Participation: Evidence from the German Local Level" out at Political Research Quarterly doi.org/10.1177/1065... The paper is a joint work with my great colleagues Angelika Vetter and AndreBaechtiger

📣Thrilled to see our paper "Electoral Campaigns and Parliamentary Practice: Do Parties Pursue the Issues They Campaigned On?" published in Swiss Political Science Review! This is joint work with @donyhu.bsky.social @sebastianjblock.bsky.social @jvelimsky.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/spsr.1