Clearly defined concepts are overrated. The strange case of European Radical Right Studies

Free Book Chapter

Clearly defined concepts are certainly necessary for any kind of scientific progress, right? Who could possibly disagree with that? Yes, you guessed right: me, your friendly neighbourhood contrarian, begs to differ. In a forthcoming chapter, I argue that conceptual confusion has at least not hampered progress in one field close to my heart: European Radical…

Asyl-Ideen: Stärkt Friedrich Merz die AfD?

Nützen die – rasch revidierten – Bemerkungen von Friedrich Merz der AfD? Darüber habe ich mit dem Handelsblatt gesprochen: [contentcards url="https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/deutschland/analyse-wie-merz-und-spahn-die-afd-staerken/23684460.html" target="_blank"]

Journalologists, AI, Brexit literature, and right-wing terrorism: four links I liked

Brexit is depressing, but the the #LiteraryBrexit tag on twitter is hilariousThere are scientists who use the scientific method to study how science journals work. And their work is actually relevant.Interesting, yet depressing reading: a fact-file on right-wing terrorism in GermanyToday’s AI is not intelligent. Thought so

Rise of the Far Right in Europe?

The other day, I had a chat about the extent of the Far Right’s rise in Europe and the structural factors behind that with Courthouse News. Here’s the article, with some choice quotes by me. [contentcards url="https://www.courthousenews.com/far-right-parties-building-strength-across-europe/" target="_blank"]

Quick hit: personality is back in politics

Quick hit: personality is back in politics 2

Probably it’s never been away. Equally probably, I’m overgeneralising from personal experience (can you see what I’m doing here?): within less than 48 hours: I heard this podcast featuring the excellent John Hibbing (the research discussed in the show was published a while ago) on brain differences and political preferences (red brain / blue brain)…

My six takeaways from the AfD dropout’s report

My six takeaways from the AfD dropout's report 3

Back in August, Franziska Schreiber made quite a splash with her memoir of the four years she spent inside Germany’s not-so-new-anymore Radical Right party. Schreiber was in her mid-twenties when she joined only weeks after the party was founded. She helped building up the AfD’s youth organisation – controversial even within the party – in…