Humboldt GovLab

Using over 260,000 press releases, they found that even deadly extreme weather events rarely shift party communication toward climate policy, except for a short spike for the Greens. ⚡

➡️ To the blog post: tinyurl.com/3pjhkzy8
➡️ To the study: tinyurl.com/2kffefdc

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📣 Check out the latest post on
@transformecon.bsky.social, a blog by @bertelsmannst.bsky.social. It's by researchers affiliated with Humboldt GovLab: @timwapps.bsky.social, @lstoetze.bsky.social, @heikekluever.bsky.social & @antvalentim.bsky.social. 🎉

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🎉 Today at @humboldtuni.bsky.social the 1st Annual Workshop of the Humboldt Governance Lab!

🚀 Inspiring discussions on the challenges facing democracy & how to strengthen it.

🔗 More information on the GovLab: hu-govlab.de

This was a thoughtful evening with a great crowd and great discussions. Thanks to all who contributed, and a special thanks to @volkswagenstiftung.de for their financial support of the event.

We discussed the insights from these projects with

- @heikekluever.bsky.social (Director GovLab)
- @polenz.bsky.social (f. MdB)
- @kliesenberg.bsky.social (SPD Parteivorstand)
- Felix Arndt (Stabsstelle Bürgerrat)

moderated by Hannah Göppert (@offenegesellschaft.bsky.social)

We presented results from a GovLab project evaluating the effects of hallobundestag.de alongside evidence from @gesis.org on community effects, research on institutionalization by lospfade.de, and the @incitedem.bsky.social project on how citizens want to further develop democratic innovations.

Together with projects from @gesis.org and @uni-muenster.de, we organized a workshop @humboldtuni.bsky.social to evaluate on one of the most promising tools for democratic renewal: #CitizensAssemblies.

📣 It’s official – we launched the Humboldt Governance Lab! 📣

We use innovative methods to deliver evidence-based insights for policy-makers, public admin, and civil society – tackling the key challenges facing democracy today.

🌐 hu-govlab.de
@humboldtuni.bsky.social

ℹ️ More information here:
hu-govlab.de/en/has-russi...

🔍 Study:
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

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📊 The results show a significant increase in support for the EU after the invasion. This effect intensified further in the weeks following the start of the war. While many citizens had more trust in the EU, there was a slight increase in criticism among politically left-leaning people.

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📌 We examine this question using Eurobarometer data collected between February and April 2022 – with over 26,000 respondents from the 27 EU member states.

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📣 Has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed Europeans’ attitudes toward the EU?

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ℹ️ More information here:
hu-govlab.de/en/gender-ga...

🔍 Study:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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📊 The results show that right-wing populist and far-right parties receive significantly more support among young men than among young women. The long-term analysis shows that the gender gap is particularly pronounced among millennials and Generation Z – and continues to grow.

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📌 Using data from the European Election Studies (EES) 2024, which surveyed nearly 25,000 people across Europe, we analyze the gender gap in voting behavior among young voters. This analysis is complemented by long-term comparisons with previous surveys since 1989.

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📣 Young, male, right-wing? Gender gap among young voters

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ℹ️ More information here:
hu-govlab.de/en/influence...

🔍 Study:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

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📊 The results show that influencers can have a significant effect on young people’s voting behavior. Rezo’s video was viewed over 11.5 million times before the election – and led to a measurable loss of votes for the CDU/CSU.

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📌 To answer this question we use the example of YouTuber Rezo. He went viral a few days before the 2019 European elections with a video highly critical of the CDU/CSU.

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📣 Can social media influencers affect elections?

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ℹ️ More information here:
hu-govlab.de/en/extreme-w...

🔍 Study:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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📊 Beyond a fleeting uptick from Green parties, there is no consistent shift in the attention paid to environmental policies. These findings hold across the political spectrum, event type or whether parties are in government or opposition.

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📌 We examined over 260,000 press releases from 68 political parties across nine European countries spanning 2010-2020. We wanted to understand whether exposure to extreme weather events leads political parties to talk more about environmental issues.

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📣 Do extreme weather events spur political action on climate change?

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ℹ️ More information here:
hu-govlab.de/en/what-are-...

🔍 Study:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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📊 The results show that parties that support a minority government without a formal agreement tend to achieve better election results than coalition partners. On the other hand, parties that provide contractual support often suffer similar losses to smaller coalition partners.

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📌 This study examines the effects of supporting minority governments on the electoral chances of parties in 31 countries since 1980.

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📣 What are the electoral consequences of supporting minority governments?

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ℹ️ More information here:
hu-govlab.de/en/public-su...

🔍 Study:
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

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📊 The results show that the majority rejects this inequality and supports significant financial contributions to provide vaccines in other countries. However, these contributions are still below the sums that would be necessary for a successful global vaccination campaign.

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