Niklas Bolin

We’ve just released the Youth Wing Membership Survey (YOUMEM) dataset:
dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/ha...

It’s the largest comparative study of party youth wing members ever conducted, with survey responses from over 5,000 members of 12 centre-left and centre-right youth wings in 6 countries. 🧵

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Are you interested in the #RadicalRight in Sweden and Denmark? → N. Bolin. “A Loyal Rookie? The Sweden Democrats" First Year in the European Parliament”. In: The Polish Quarterly of International Affairs 11.2 (2015), pp. 59-77.

The geography of the party on the ground: Local branches in Italy and Sweden in the late twentieth century The idea that the presence of Western European political parties at grassroots level rose and fell in the twentieth century is central to some of the …

🎁 Christmas has come early for @ammassarisofia.bsky.social & me with the publication of our article "The geography of the party on the ground: Local branches in Italy and Sweden in the late twentieth century" in @politicalgeography.bsky.social:

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Nordea prisar engagerad och driven statsvetare Årets mottagare av Nordeas vetenskapliga pris på 100 000 kronor är Niklas Bolin, docent i statsvetenskap vid Institutionen för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap på Mittuniversitetet.

Glad och hedrad!
www.miun.se/kontakt/pres...

@epsjournal.bsky.social has just published the articles of a special issue on "Political parties and youth’s political (under) representation", with an introduction by Daniel Stockemer (@uottawa.ca )

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

🧵

If parties treat youth wings mainly as support teams, they risk attracting only careerists and losing politically driven young people.

Therefore parties need to open up to youth influence, even on issues beyond “youth politics” and provide meaningful opportunities for members to shape party policy.

The study draws on a nationwide web survey of almost 3,000 Swedish youth wing members . The findings reveal that career-oriented members are more likely to view the youth wing as a supportive ally. Politically driven members emphasize influencing the party line.

Influence or support? Member perspectives on youth wings in political parties - European Political Science Political parties maintain connections with various sub-organisations to engage different segments of society. Common among these are party youth wings. These relationships are often described as mutual, where votes are exchanged for policies. However, little research delves into how members of these sub-organisations perceive their roles in relation to the senior party. Based on a web survey of approximately 3000 respondents, this study investigates the views of youth wing members within Swedish political parties. Specifically, it explores whether members believe their youth wing’s primary role should be to influence or support the senior party. Drawing on theories of political engagement incentives, it examines the connection between members’ political and career motivations and their perceptions of these roles. Results suggest that those with career-oriented incentives tend to view the youth wing as supportive, while politically motivated members prioritise influencing the senior party. This research contributes to our understanding of the complex dynamics within political parties and their affiliated organisations, shedding light on how individual motivations shape organisational roles.

🚨New article out 🚨

Party youth wings are often described as partners that trade votes for influence with their senior parties. But how do their own members see it?

In this article I examine whether they think their organizations' mission is to influence the senior party or to support it.

Young radicals, moderates and aligned: Ideological congruence and incongruence in party youth wings The ideological fit between party grassroots and leaderships has long been a concern for political science, with members in general, and young members in particular, thought to be more radical. Howev...

Our article "Radicals, Moderates, & Aligned" is out in the latest issue of @ejprjournal.bsky.social.

[yes, it's been online for months but we all use this (non)milestone to pretend print editions still exist & re-publicise our articles]

So, a thread 🧵

ejpr.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Young radicals, moderates and aligned: Ideological congruence and incongruence in party youth wings The ideological fit between party grassroots and leaderships has long been a concern for political science, with members in general, and young members in particular, thought to be more radical. Howev....

Our article on radicals, moderates, and aligned members in party youth wings is now out in the latest issue of @ejprjournal.bsky.social
ejpr.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

New publication

Huge congrats to Valdemar Holt on his first peer-reviewed publication – as first author! Co-authored with me and Ingela Wadbring.

We analyze Jimmie Åkesson’s speeches in the Swedish parliament (2010–2024) and track how the Sweden Democrats’ populist rhetoric has changed over time.

Klart: Simona Mohamsson föreslås ta över Liberalerna Simona Mohamsson föreslås bli ny partiledare för Liberalerna, meddelar valberedningen i ett pressmeddelande. Mohamsson är just nu partisekreterare.

Partiledarmatchen: ♂️-♀️ 2-5

omni.se/mohamsson-fo...

Thrilled that my article on women's activism in PRR parties has been published open access today in @cpsjournal.bsky.social 💫

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

This is my favourite article from my PhD thesis. I love the topic, its findings, and the literature it draws on.

A quick 🧵:

Mock Elections and the Democratic Mission of Schools This project examines how mock elections are organized and integrated into upper secondary education and their significance for students’ democratic learning and civic engagement.

How do mock elections shape students’ political engagement and democratic understanding? Our new research project explores how mock elections are organized in Swedish schools and what role they play in civic education.

We are hiring a doctoral student in political science at Mid Sweden University.
www.miun.se/en/work-at-t...

We are hiring a doctoral student in political science at Mid Sweden University.
www.miun.se/en/work-at-t...

The Cost of Debating Harassment Against Politicians: Are Women and Men Affected Equally? - Political Behavior Harassment of politicians is a growing global phenomenon, which threatens to erode the quality of democracy and descriptive representation. Past research has examined gender patterns of this violence ...

🚨 Talking about harassment in politics hurts your political career.

Yes, even in 🇸🇪. And, yes, for both women & men.

Here’s what me and @sandrahkansson.bsky.social found in our Political Behavior paper using both experimental and descriptive approaches: link.springer.com/article/10.1... 👇

Coming soon!

Congratulations Sofia! Looking forward to read it.

Svenska lärosäten lämnar X - Universitetsläraren Nästan alla svenska lärosäten har lämnat X, före detta Twitter. Motiveringarna är oftast att antalet följare och interaktioner har blivit allt färre samt att plattformen utvecklats mot alltmer desinfo...

KI: "Vi försöker nu bygga upp Bluesky som vårt nya X. Det är framför allt där vi kommer att redovisa forskningsnyheter på sociala medier".

Nice piece about our recent YOUMEM project article in the European Journal of Political Research about ideological congruence in party youth wings in today's The Australian newspaper.

www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/progr...

Även i demokratiska länder hotas forskningens frihet | Tidningen Curie Den akademiska friheten hotas och angreppen kommer idag inte bara från totalitära regimer. Även i demokratiska stater ifrågasätts och inskränks forskningens frihet. Det skriver Akademiernas kommitté f...

"Även i demokratiska länder hotas forskningens frihet."

Lägsta stödet någonsin för C och L – under spärren De liberala partierna Centerpartiet och Liberalerna samlar tillsammans det lägsta väljarstödet sedan opinionsinstitutet Verian började med sina mätningar för över 50 år sedan, rapporterar SVT Nyheter.

Den smala mitten.

Tack Sirus!

🚨New publication🚨

New article from the YOUMEM project examines ideological congruence in youth wings, introducing a typology of radicals, moderates and aligned members. We find that radicals are more common on the centre-left, tend to have longer membership, but are less politically ambitious.

Teaching on populism, or just thinking about it? Cristobal Rovira Kaltwasser and I have published a symposium in @pspolisci.bsky.social on 'Populism and Democracy' which is now available (open access).

Young Voters, Abstainers and Unregistered: Generation Z Turnout in a Compulsory System - Sofia Ammassari, Ferran Martinez i Coma, Duncan McDonnell, 2025 While young people’s electoral behaviour in voluntary voting systems has been extensively studied, we know little about this in compulsory systems. To investiga...

Our article on Gen-Z turnout in Australia (w/ Ferran Martinez i Coma & @duncanmcdonnell.bsky.social) is now out (open access) in Political Studies 🎉

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

A quick thread 🧵:

Congratulations Reto!

Amerikansk professor i statsvetenskap besökte Mittuniversitetet Amerikansk politik är högaktuell just nu och passande nog har Mittuniversitetet i dagarna haft besök av Christopher Weible, professor i statsvetenskap vid University of Colorado Denver. I rollen som n...

Christopher Weible, professor i statsvetenskap vid University of Colorado Denver och gästforskare vid Mittuniversitetet om sin forskning och Trumps första tid. www.miun.se/kontakt/pres...