🥳Großartig! Herzlichen Glückwünsch liebe Sabine!
@tevoelker.bsky.social analysiert anhand semistrukturierter Interviews mit Redakteur*innen und Journalist*innen den zwischen Brandmauer und Anpassung changierenden medialen Umgang mit der AfD und identifiziert Faktoren für deren effektive Normalisierung:
doi.org/10.1080/2474...
🎉 New publication 😍 The 4th wave of the #farright is marked by #mainstreaming & #normalisation - but how can we distinguish between them? In our new article, @gefjonoff.bsky.social and I map the existing literature, introduce a conceptual framework & outline research avenues. doi.org/10.1017/S147...
Meet @tevoelker.bsky.social, one of our Visiting Scholars from
@wzb.bsky.social. Join her TODAY for a seminar on “Democratic Resilience: How Parties, Civil Society, and the Media Resist Far-Right Politics.”
🗓️ Feb 25 @ 2:00 - 3:15pm
🔗 ces.fas.harvard.edu/events/2026/...
With the upcoming state elections in different parts of Germany, I recommend this paper to all media practioners. This is not about blaming, but ultimately the article shows that journalists play a significant role in the perception of (& support for) far right parties:
Thank you so much Matthias!
Super timely and important paper on how the media cordon sanitaire crumbles in Germany 🔎
Thank you, Jonas!!
I thank the workshop participants "Responding to the demand? Voters’ grievances, PRR success, and mainstream party strategies" at Swansea University,WZB Conference “The Future of Democracy?” & @wzb.bsky.social for open access support &my outstanding research assistant, Mika Bauer.
I am deeply grateful to all interviewees for sharing their time& insights. A special thanks to @leoniedejonge.bsky.social and @matthiasdilling.bsky.social for their support & organising the Special Issue.I also thank @caterinafr.bsky.social , @tiondelisa.bsky.social, @juliareuschenbach.bsky.social
➡️ A short German summary of the findings has been published in the WZB Mitteilungen: bibliothek.wzb.eu/artikel/2025...
💡Key take-away: Journalists work under structural, organisational & strategic constraints — but their choices matter. Reporting can reinforce or contain far-right influence. More self-reflection, internal debate & clearer strategies are needed for critical engagement.
Together, these pressures often lead to "anticipatory fear" and forms of overcompensation in response to both self-imposed & external pressures from the far right.
Journalists’ responses are shaped by three factors:
1. Supply-side factors (far-right strategies, external pressure,internal conflicts)
2. Demand-side factors (societal radicalisation, critical events,polarising issues)
3. Institutional constraints (funding models, resources, economic incentives)
I develop a theoretical framework explaining why the media cordon sanitaire - an approach that denies far-right actors direct platforms and avoids amplifying their ideas - is increasingly weakening.
I conducted interviews with editors-in-chief, political editors, and journalists across different media outlets and regions in Germany. These interviews provide rare insights into journalists’ perceptions, motivations, and the “behind-the-scenes” constraints shaping their work.
Although media reporting on the far right is widely debated, journalists’ underlying motivations are rarely analysed systematically:
How do journalists respond to the far right? And what factors influence these responses?
NEW PUBLICATION
“How the Media Cordon Sanitaire Crumbles: Lessons from Germany” now out in @prxjournal.bsky.social
🔓 doi.org/10.1080/2474736X.2026.2621808
I’m very happy that this paper is out – this project is particularly important to me.
65.1🦋
#FarRight amplifiers 🔊
@dasalgon.bsky.social and @tevoelker.bsky.social show how far-right actors increasingly shape the agendas of mainstream parties, particularly around Islam, migration & cultural issues. #AfD
Very excited to see this out at @bjpols.bsky.social! In this article, I show that contemporary political news coverage makes it challenging for readers to learn information that is helpful for democratic accountability, even for very politically engaged audiences.
A brief summary:
Für Medienschaffende ist der Umgang mit der extremen Rechten zugegebenermaßen nicht immer einfach. Aber ein Lifestyle-Interview mit Chrupalla sprengt jeden journalistischen Rahmen. Hier wird nicht nur eine Plattform geboten, sondern extrem rechte Politik aktiv normalisiert. 🤯
Must-read on democratic resilience!
How can illiberalism be countered, which strategies are available, what trade-offs do they entail, and under what conditions are they effective?
Das WZB-Projekt „Wirksam gegen Rechtsaußen" hat Strategien von zivilgesellschaftlichen Institutionen in der Auseinandersetzung mit #Rechtsextremismus untersucht und systematisiert. Den neuen Policy Brief dazu gibt es hier: www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10...
@chjncke.bsky.social @tevoelker.bsky.social
Why did antisemitism rise in Germany during the Covid pandemic? And why was this increase concentrated among political centrists, rather than on the fringes?
doi.org/10.1017/S153...
@kanol.bsky.social @wzb.bsky.social @uni-hamburg.de @politikuhh.bsky.social @socfub.bsky.social
🚨 Join us for the next edition Summer School for Women* in Political Methodology in Mannheim 🚨
7 days of hands-on advanced methods + networking for PhDs, postdocs & early-career researchers.
Free of charge (limited travel support).
Deadline 1 March 2026: summerschoolwpm.org
#methodsky #polisky
🚨New publication on cleavages in party competition in Central and Eastern Europe 🚨
CEE party systems are famously volatile, but does that mean that they are unstructured?
❓I ask whether competition has become programmatically organized around enduring cleavages
🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1354...
Thread 👇
Excited to start as a Postdoctoral Visiting Scholar at Harvard University @europeatharvard.bsky.social, @dziblatt.bsky.social! Over the next 6 months, I’ll be working on democratic resilience,really looking forward to joining this vibrant research community.Let me know if you would like to catch up!
🚨NEW PAPER
The Logic of Connective Faction:
How Digitally Networked Elites and Hyper-Partisan Media Radicalize Politics
w/ @yunkangyang.bsky.social & @mikecowburn.bsky.social
Online radicalization doesn't just affect the public.
It also reshapes how elites & parties behave. doi.org/10.1080/1058...
we have 5 positions open at @goetheuni.bsky.social in Frankfurt
- a 4,5 year postdoc in my @erc.europa.eu project on the educational cleavage
- 2 postdoc & 2 PhD positions, 4 years, in a research group on Reconfiguration & Internalization of Social Structure
www.uni-frankfurt.de/48794784/FB0...
📣 The latest edition of our e-Extreme Newsletter is out! It will be of interest to anyone studying extremism and democracy.
☄️ You can join our @ecpr.bsky.social Standing Group on Extremism & Democracy here: ecpr.eu/Group/extrem...
📫 You can also sign up for our mailing list and newsletter.
