Ben Crum

🚨 New publication alert!

Excited to share my latest article with @audreyvdleene.bsky.social, just out in @govandopp.bsky.social:

"Transcending the National: QCA Insights into Multilevel Party Organization in the EU"

Full open access 👇
🔗 doi.org/10.1017/gov....

An der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main sowie der TU Darmstadt werden im Rahmen des DFG-geförderten Graduiertenkollegs „Ästhetik der Demokratie“ (GRK 3113-1) bis zu zwölf Stellen als Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in (m/w/d) (65%-Teilzeit,... https://www.theorieblog.de/?p=29930

🧨 New revelation in the Pfizergate affair over Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen’s texts with the Pfizer CEO.

The European Commission admitted to the New York Times this week that it lost the texts only after I made an official request for them.

🧵

Haha Frank in de VI!
Dat is toch een jongensdroom

A big loss. Always curious, always sharp. And an important connecter between European law and political science.
Christian Joerges will be missed

Congratulations!
Lovely photo

postdoc EU economic governance Join our research on EU economic governance. Unravel the political dynamics shaping reform capacities with a focus on fiscally conservative member states .

Job alert!
Postdoc position available in my project on EU economic governance — with a focus on fiscally conservative member states.
www.academictransfer.com/en/jobs/3536...

No such a thing as an ‘illiberal democracy' which makes as much conceptual sense as "democratic dictatorship" and in any event, ‘illiberal democracy' in theory = structurally rigged electoral framework, authoritarianism and 'mafia state' in practice
utppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3...

We ran some initial estimates on what today’s EU budget proposal could mean.

The numbers aren’t official yet, so details might still change - but the overall picture looks a lot more positive than I expected.

Three quick takeaways:

Inside Gaza’s ‘death traps’ [FREE TO READ] A US-backed scheme forces hungry Palestinians to trek kilometres for food aid. Many never make it back

Inside Gaza’s ‘death traps’

Extraordinary work by my colleagues here

on.ft.com/4kE1EUn

Some useful additional numbers on yesterday’s Commission censure vote in the European Parliament 👇

Good that @hannecl.bsky.social highlights the absentees, and how many suddenly turned up again at the next vote, a few minutes later
www.politico.eu/article/ursu...

Also two-thirds of The Left party-group rather stayed away than to declare their preference

Most notable on the Commission censure vote:
ECR factions of Fratelli d'Italia and ODS (CZ) simply shunned the vote. Hence, the overwhelming majority of the ECR group supported the censure. Only the Belgian and Dutch ECR members came out in support of von der Leyen

... I get quoted:
“Von der Leyen could not have wished for a better way out of the whole Pfizergate [scandal] than having the radical right hijacking the issue,” said Ben Crum, a political scientist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. “The centre left has happily played along”

Best take on the Von der Leyen censure vote by @eddywax.bsky.social
"By casting the motion as a frenzied far-right push from pro-Putin MEPs [...], she successfully reframed the debate as one of good against evil and democracy against illiberalism"

But I'm partial ..
www.euractiv.com/section/poli...

Party Dynamics in the 2024 European Parliament Elections: How the European People's Party Has Come to Occupy the Centre of Power Click on the article title to read more.

See also my analysis in:
Party Dynamics in the 2024 European Parliament Elections: How the European People's Party Has Come to Occupy the Centre of Power - Crum - JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Will the ECR party-group make 2029?

The 'governmental' factions (IT, B, CZ) have the problem that they don't have a choice (they won't join EPP soon).
In contrast, for the 'extremists' (esp. ROM and POL), the step towards the Patriots or even the ESN group is not too big.

Interesting op-ed by @alemanno.bsky.social 👇
I am not convinced the EU should be turned into a parliamentary-majoritarian system
However, I do agree that the political centre should use this moment to get commitments from von der Leyen, but rather in terms of transparency and accountability

Kan de overheid ‘het’ nog wel? Nee, onze Kamerleden zijn chronisch uitgeput en weten te weinig Maak het parlement groter en bied politici meer ondersteuning: hoogleraar bestuurskunde Paul ’t Hart pleit voor ‘achterstallig onderhoud’ van onze democratie.

Kan de overheid ‘het’ nog wel? Nee, onze Kamerleden zijn chronisch uitgeput en weten te weinig

The political legacy of Nazi concentration camps: the case of the Netherlands - Comparative European Politics Do traumatic events from the (distant) past affect political attitudes in the present day? This paper explores the political legacy of the Holocaust with two empirical studies investigating the effect...

This type or research has already been done in Germany, but so cool to see it about the Netherlands. It shows that “elevated exposure to Nazi concentration camps leads to reduced support for modern-day, far-right politics in the Netherlands” link.springer.com/article/10.1...

To sum up: Poland seems to want the new MFF to look a lot like the old one - just bigger.

That’s unlikely to land well with countries like Germany or the Netherlands, where a budget modernisation agenda is the main starting point of the debate.

The Commission’s big EU budget proposal lands in two weeks.

Now, the Polish government has published its position - and it offer an interesting glimpse into the negotiation drama ahead.

This comparsion in the NYTimes today is pretty stark. China is racing ahead to be a high-tech exporter of 21st century technologies, while the US is doubling down on being a petro-state exporting the technologies of the 19th century: www.nytimes.com/inte...

Trend 4 is that the EPP has a political interest to entertain the possibility of a right-wing majority with ECR and (implicitly) PfE.
While on most issues the EPP aligns with the centre and centre-left, it is likely to float this coalition in domains like environment, migration and culture.

Trend 3 is what the 2024 have taught us about the 'Spitzenkandidaten' process. Von der Leyen played along but faced no serious competition, and I am afraid that bodes badly for the future: the Social-Democrats will have difficulty to come up with a strong candidate if the EPP has one on offer
4/5

The second trend is the increasing presence of the radical right in the EP. Yet, the article shows how this is certainly not a uniform trend across all member states. Also, the radical right is prone to fragmentation.
3/5

First trend is the steady long-term decline of the once dominant party groups in the political centre. Notably, however, this trend is more pronounced and steady for the Social-Democrats, while the EPP turns out to be much more agile
2/5

Party Dynamics in the 2024 European Parliament Elections: How the European People's Party Has Come to Occupy the Centre of Power Click on the article title to read more.

Very pleased to publish my take on the 2024 European Parliament Elections and its consequences in the 2024 Annual Review of the Journal of Common Market Studies

I hope it offers a useful recap (also for teaching) + insight in 4 trends to watch 1/5
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Colleagues with expertise in the study of 'AI' have published an open letter that calls on universities and policy makers in Higher Education to take a more critical stance towards the normalization and adoption of 'AI' in education. Please consider signing this!

openletter.earth/open-letter-...

Zeker 200.000 mensen in Boedapest. Zoals de burgemeester zei: vrijheid laat zich niet wegdrukken.