Sokol Lleshi

Pro-EU party secures majority in high-stakes Moldovan election The parliamentary election comes amid reports of an “unprecedented” Russian hybrid interference campaign.

www.politico.eu/article/poll...

"While this playbook has done little to advance Hungary as a country, it has worked from the regime’s perspective. The strategic goal of exporting illiberalism is to secure the long-term survival of Orbán’s political system by shaping a foreign policy environment favorable to it."

Milei suffers heavy defeat in Buenos Aires legislative elections Cristina Kirchner’s party defeated the far-right candidates by more than 13 points in Sunday’s vote in a key Argentine province

english.elpais.com/internationa...

A Russian drone attacked the Cabinet of Ministers building in #Kyiv last night.

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko has shown the aftermath of the attack. She called on Ukrainian Allies to increase sanctions against Russia and help #Ukraine close our skies.

Very much this. In the US, AP operates very much as a subfield of pol sci in its own right. The case for making it a sub-sub-field of comparative politics grows stronger each day.

I keep saying this but it remains true: Dems have not learned the central lesson of Reconstruction, that multiracial democracy cannot survive when those working to overthrow the rule of law & fair elections are allowed to operate with impunity.

What it's like being a political communication professor right now Misgivings, Grievances, and Thanks as I look ahead to my fifteenth year.

I enjoyed reading this reflection on “Teaching under Trump” by @davekarpf.bsky.social

I wish more colleagues would reflect on the growing gap between what we teach our student about politics and the real-world politics students live in.

Please share this thread. It is important that political scientists, in Europe and across the world, understand why EPSS exists and why we are encouraging people to attend our inaugural conference, in Belfast next June.

Lánczi Tamás feljelenti Fleck Zoltánt, szerinte a Tisza Pártnak kellett volna a hatósághoz fordulni A Szuverenitásvédelmi Hivatal elnöke szerint a „forradalomra van szükség, nem kormányváltásra” kijelentés alkalmas az alkotmányos rend erőszakos megváltoztatása bűntett előkészületének megállapítására...

Autocracy in Hungary (latest): Orban's Soviet-reminiscent "Office for the Defence of Sovereignty" is targeting a law professor (for 1st time tbomk) for the "crime" of speaking at a roundtable on what could happen should the opposition win the next parliamentary elections...
telex.hu/belfold/2025...

Dimensions of polarization, realignment and electoral participation in Europe: The mobilizing power of the cultural dimension MORGAN LE CORRE JURATIC

🌅📙 64.3

How does polarization influence voter turnout? 🤝

@morganlcj.bsky.social uses two studies 📊 to determine whether #Polarization brings forward more voters by giving them clearer choices ⚖️

Are #EuropeanPolitics shifting? 🇪🇺

🔗 buff.ly/SZi2lfa

We have just rejected an(other) article for the use of AI. The AI had hallucinated a publication apparently written by a certain J.E. Richardson, and another (by G. Mautner) apparently published in CDS 16(2). Funnily enough, I recognised both were fictional.
A reminder: AI generates slop.

I really think universities underestimate how true this is for a lot of students and their parents. They don’t want us to try to pretend to be cool. They want us to be a bit dusty, and very serious. Enthusiastic, definitely! But also nerdy. We’re selling them ACADEMIA.

Ukraine’s Cronyism Crisis Offers a Warning to the ‘De-risking’ World A series of scandals has put Kyiv’s public institutions under the microscope.

I have a piece on Foreign Policy, arguing that Ukraine's recent cronyism and corruption crisis is as much about the changing global order as it is Ukraine's own political-economic history.

🧵/1

foreignpolicy.com/2025/07/29/u...

LISTAT E MURRME Në vendet ku rrëzimi  ose mosngritja ndodhin pa zhurmë, ku koha nuk matet me orë, por me heshtje, edhe ligji ka një mënyrë të veçantë se si ecën përpara – si një udhëtar i lodhur që s’mb…

korridore.com/2025/07/27/l...

nga Den Minxhozi

Imagine being disappeared in one dictatorship, making it to America, and then being disappeared again

The EU’s Waning Attractiveness The Georgian and Serbian leaders’ pivots away from the path to EU accession show the bloc’s waning appeal. To keep EU enlargement on track, Brussels should focus on candidate countries that are making...

The Georgian & Serbian leaders' pivots away from the EU accession path show the bloc's waning appeal.

To keep #enlargement on track, the EU should focus on candidate countries that are making genuine progress toward membership, says @dimitarbechev.bsky.social.

carnegieendowment.org/research/202...

Teaching and Democracy in America Every year, hundreds of thousands of college students enroll in a course whose title is something like “Principles of Comparative Politics” or “Introduction to Comparative Government.” These are bread...

libertiesjournal.com/online-artic...

A fascinating reflection piece by Thomas Pepinsky on quandaries and merits of teaching comparative politics. Discussing current & controversial events in the classroom that affect students as citizens as much as communities is no liberation theology.

🚨 Big News for European Political Science 🚨

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the European Political Science Society (EPSS): a new, member-led, not-for-profit association built to support our scholarly community.

🔗 epssnet.org

Here’s a thread with everything you need to know.

🧵

Can the MAGA message work in the Balkans? For all the talk of a US-Europe split, US President Donald Trump’s supporters are rather invested in elections on the continent.

www.gzeromedia.com/news/analysi...

It was indeed a pleasure talking to Zachary Weisz of GZERO Media on the May 11th parliamentary elections in Albania.

(1/4) Do people sanction their own political party for engaging in electoral malpractice?

Check out this recent article in the British Journal of Political Science @bjpols.bsky.social by Laurits F. Aarslew: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
#polisky

Canadians bombarded with rightwing content on Musk’s X ahead of election FT analysis finds network of social media accounts attacking Liberal leader Mark Carney

Elon Musk used his Twitter platform to bombard Canadians with absurd propaganda in support of his candidate, Pierre Poilievre. It didn't work, but heightened suspicions among Canadians about Twitter and Musk's abuse of it. www.ft.com/content/743c...

Why the Civil Service Matters And how it is under threat by DOGE.

www.persuasion.community/p/why-the-ci...

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Join us next week! Polisky Dictatorsky
On Tuesday April 8 at 11:00-12:00pm EST/5:00-6:00pm CET Ahmed Ezzeldin Mohamed (Toulouse) will present "Monopolizing Clientelism During Regime Transition" followed by comments by @shalaby12.bsky.social (Wisconsin-Madison) and @biffpm.bsky.social (@harvard.edu)

European Parliament to establish Western Balkans office in Albania | News | European Parliament The European Parliament will open an office in Albania to further strengthen its engagement with the Western Balkans.

www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pres...

Orban blocks EU Unity on Ukraine, siding instead with Russia and Trump. Time to build a new European defense alliance modeled on Schengen with most but not all EU states as members along with some non-EU states. UK and Norway in; Hungary out. Ukraine deserves solid support without vetoes.

Broader implications: How states, embedded in post-liberal governance practices and transnational policy networks, define and transform state identity when interacting with externally diffused norms from global or regional actors and institutions. 7/End of 🧵

The EU’s appeal is insufficient for the efficiency of diffusion of external norms. Instead, institutional or discursive affinities between local elites and EU policy discourse matter most. Representatives of a state go beyond the standard practice of playing a certain foreign policy role. 6/

The article shows that the source of a distinct state identity stems from the interaction of the EU regionalization policy discourse and the domestic post-liberal governance practices of the Albanian state. Practices of norm emulation by the local elites feed into state identity narratives. 5/

A modernizing local elite transforms the state identity by interacting with the EU reg. policy of the Western Balkans. The conventional argument sees continuity in the FP emphasizing national role conceptions & FP roles. Instead, we emphasize FP discourse and state practices of representation. 4/