Cyrill Otteni

German Politics in Times of Crises: The Success of the Post‐Merkel Conservatives in the 2025 Federal Election Click on the article title to read more.

Now out in the latest Annual Review Issue of the @jcms-eu.bsky.social: "German Politics in Times of #Crises: The Success of the Post-Merkel #Conservatives in the 2025 Federal Election" - an analysis of Germany's federal election in February 2025! 📚

➡️ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Climate action versus environmental protection? How far-right and environmentalist messengers shape public attitudes towards renewable energy infrastructure in forests This article examines how political messengers, and not the message, influence attitudes toward renewable energy infrastructure amid an increasingly polarized climate change debate. Focusing on win...

New publication for everyone interested in climate politics, far-right climate obstruction, and the role of elite cues! 📚

"Climate action versus environmental protection?" now out in @environmentalpol.bsky.social (with Matthias Diermeier).

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... (open access!) (1/5)

From empowerment to participation: How women’s political empowerment shapes non-institutionalized political participation and reduces gender disparities - Cyrill Otteni, 2025 This study examines how women’s political empowerment influences the gender gap in non-institutionalized political participation (protest, boycott and petition ...

🚨 New article out! 🚨
How societal-level women’s empowerment 📣✊ shapes the gender gap in protest, boycott & petition signing 🗳️
👉 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

What this means: narrowing gender gaps takes more than seats in parliament 🏛️. It needs civil rights ⚖️, women’s voices in society 🗣️, and visible role models in politics 👩‍🎓. When young women grow up in such an environment, they stay politically active for life 💪

Line graph showing how the gender gap in non-institutionalized political participation (petition signing, boycotting, protesting) changes with increasing levels of women’s political empowerment. Two lines are plotted: one for empowerment at the survey year and one for empowerment during respondents’ formative years (age 15–20). In all three cases, higher levels of empowerment reduce the gender gap: women become more likely to participate compared to men.

Crucially: empowerment matters most during the formative years (adolescence & early adulthood).

Growing up in societies with empowered women leaves a long-lasting imprint on women’s political behavior, thereby closing the gender gap.

I argue that these gaps shrink as women gain political empowerment, defined broadly as:
1️⃣ Equal civil liberties
2️⃣ Presence & voice in civil society and public discourse
3️⃣ Political representation

From empowerment to participation: How women’s political empowerment shapes non-institutionalized political participation and reduces gender disparities - Cyrill Otteni, 2025 This study examines how women’s political empowerment influences the gender gap in non-institutionalized political participation (protest, boycott and petition ...

🚨 New article out! 🚨
How societal-level women’s empowerment 📣✊ shapes the gender gap in protest, boycott & petition signing 🗳️
👉 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Young men, gendered labour market competition, and opposition to gender equality policy across 27 EU countries Recent studies have shown an increasing divide in political values between young men and women, particularly regarding gender equality attitudes. In this study it is argued that this is due in part...

New publication in @wepsocial.bsky.social!

Are young men becoming more conservative?

This debate requires a) more nuance and b) theoretical explanations for often descriptive results. With Amy Alexander and Nicholas Charron, we try addressing both.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

New article! 📚

"A Normal(ised) Far-Right Party? A Long-Term Perspective on the #FPÖ's Electoral Strength" out in @politicalquarterly.bsky.social. It analyses long-term organizational integration, the 2024 success & growing elite openess towards the FPÖ.

▶️ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

▶️𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬:

If BSW consolidates its presence, it could pull voters from 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐏𝐃 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐃𝐔 — but also open space for 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 with them.

Yet, alongside the AfD, BSW is 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 resonating with 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 and frustrated voters.

Factors explaining the propensity to vote BSW.

3️⃣Support for BSW is strongest among voters who are both 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 and 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 — though the economic dimension matters more.

4️⃣Dissatisfaction with democracy, political distrust, and populist sentiments 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 for BSW in both East and West.

Supporters of German parties in Eastern and Western Germany and their political position in the two-dimensional political space.

▶️𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬:

1️⃣BSW (and AfD) supporters show 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭-𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬, especially on socio-economic left-right positions.

2️⃣Overall, BSW supporters lean 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 (like SPD voters) but are 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 (similar to CDU/CSU voters).

We ask: 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐁ü𝐧𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐚𝐡𝐫𝐚 𝐖𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐭 (𝐁𝐒𝐖)?

Using original survey data from early 2024, we examine the ideological profiles of BSW supporters—focusing on key differences between 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐆𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲.

📢𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

Excited to share our new article (with maikherold.bsky.social‬) in German Politics: "𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 ‘𝐁ü𝐧𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐚𝐡𝐫𝐚 𝐖𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐭’ (𝐁𝐒𝐖) 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐆𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲"
https://shorturl.at/WV2pM

Vortragsreihe "Rechtspopulis­mus, Rechtsextremis­mus und Klimaschutz" im Sommersemester Im Sommersemester findet im Rahmen des Kolloquiums "Rechtspopulismus, Rechtsextremismus und Klimaschutz. Aktuelle Debatten in Forschung und Praxis“ eine Vortragsreihe statt, die Einblicke aus der Fors...

Heute Abend startet die Vortragsreihe "Rechtspopulismus, Rechtsextremismus & #Klimaschutz" an der @tudresden.bsky.social - zusammen mit dem @kbsachsen.bsky.social. Wir freuen uns auf Vorträge von u.a. @akueppers.bsky.social, Jens Marquardt & Dieter Plehwe. Join us! 🌱

tu-dresden.de/gsw/phil/pow...

New end-of-year publication! 📚

I'm glad that "Far-right movement-party activism as #strategy" is out, studying Germany’s self-proclaimed "peace movement" during Russia’s war against Ukraine. Perhaps of interest to some of you.

link.springer.com/article/10.1... #openaccess @actapolitica.bsky.social

After an inofficial kick-off at the Dresden #Christmas market last night, I am glad about the official start and stellar line-up of our very first @rexklima.bsky.social workshop on far-right opposition to climate action. That's gonna be two days full of interesting insights! 📚