Ben Crum
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bencrum.nl
Ben Crum
@bencrum.nl

Political Scientist @vuamsterdam.bsky.social
Democracy, European Union politics, Social justice, Digital governance, Political theory

Political science 82%
Law 9%
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Ben Crum @bencrum.nl · Aug 27
New paper on a new topic in @policyr.bsky.social

I analyse the EU’s AI Act and its place in the global governance of the AI.
Examining the economy of AI + the contents of the Act, I conclude that expecting a ‘Brussels effect’ is neither apt nor useful.
….

policyreview.info/articles/ana...
Brussels effect or experimentalism? The EU AI Act and global standard-setting
Looking at the nature of AI technology and the contents of the EU AI Act, the external impact of the Act is better understood in terms of experimentalist governance than in terms of the much-cited ‘Br...
policyreview.info

Striking weekend reading 👇on the rise and fall of nationalisme studies at CEU
A prism of both European politics and changing academia - and the loss of precious intellectual traditions
As nationalism grows ever more central to international politics, the Central European University — founded by George Soros — is being forced to dismantle the department that studies the topic.

What does that say about the future of Europe and the world?

🔗 politi.co/4jqBKUX

Reposted by Ben Crum

As nationalism grows ever more central to international politics, the Central European University — founded by George Soros — is being forced to dismantle the department that studies the topic.

What does that say about the future of Europe and the world?

🔗 politi.co/4jqBKUX
My new book now out on line with OUP Academic - hard copies available from 22January Defending the Political Constitution url: academic.oup.com/book/61802
I sat in a fucking court room and heard Apple imply that a naked cartoon banana was somehow inappropriate but somehow Grok non consensually undressing women and children is ok?? www.theverge.com/policy/85990...
Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are cowards
Once you’ve traded your principles for proximity to power, do you even run your own company?
www.theverge.com

Reposted by Ben Crum

Excellent piece by @robertshrimsley.bsky.social

Wish it weren't so, but alas
Who is really “running” the European Parliament right now?

On the margins of the geopolitical changes, the shifts in the EU are also accelerating. In my newest EU-Analytics, I dug into all final votes from December 2025 – and the shift of power to the centre-right & far right is accelerating:
EU Analytics December 2025 review
The change of guards at the European Parliament is picking up speed
open.substack.com
Europe’s failure to condemn Trump’s illegal aggression in Venezuela isn’t just wrong – it’s stupid. My piece @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Europe’s failure to condemn Trump’s illegal aggression in Venezuela isn’t just wrong – it’s stupid | Nathalie Tocci
The more European countries act as colonies, unable and unwilling to stand up to Trump, the more they’ll be treated as such, says Guardian Europe columnist Nathalie Tocci
www.theguardian.com
archive.ph

Remarkably tone-deaf statement by the president of the European Parliament 👇

It does give further meaning though to the 'Venezuela majority' in which her European People's Party echoes the radical and extreme right voices of the ECR and the Patriots for Europe
Venezuela será libre.

People in Venezuela deserve to live free after years of oppression.

As the European Parliament has consistently affirmed, we do not consider Nicolás Maduro to be the legitimate, elected leader of Venezuela.
European weakness on full display by these horribly contorted responses from Merz, Macron and Starmer - neither condoning nor condemning US actions in Venezuela

Such weakness only risks making the Europeans more vulnerable (ie Greenland)
International law is not about rewarding virtue or punishing vice.
It exists to restrain power and protect the weak from the strong.
When force replaces rules, sovereignty and legitimacy erode.
2/2
Venezuela será libre.

People in Venezuela deserve to live free after years of oppression.

As the European Parliament has consistently affirmed, we do not consider Nicolás Maduro to be the legitimate, elected leader of Venezuela.
A defining moment for Europe. If it endorses/fails to condemn this flagrant breach of international law, it will have surrendered its core justification for opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
JUST IN: Trump says the U.S. has captured Maduro and his wife and flown them out of the country.

Reposted by Ben Crum

With tightening immigration policies, the EU is moving towards a Eurokafala system where migrants are constantly brought in to make up for labour shortages, but also constantly abused as second-class citizens.

www.ft.com/content/4329...
Europe’s second-class citizens
Countries that looked down on the Gulf’s ‘kafala’ system are edging closer to creating their own
www.ft.com
This report in Nature on the costs of competing for & administering scientific grants is shocking: "In other words, European taxpayers will have spent more on the funding process than on the funding itself, and the scientific ecosystem has been drained." www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪
Point of no returns: researchers are crossing a threshold in the fight for funding
With so little money to go round, the costs of competing for grants can exceed what the grants are worth. When that happens, nobody wins.
www.nature.com

into acquiescence by releasing recovery funds

On the other hand, to have fundamental decisions hinge on enhanced cooperation is a dangerous path for the EU to travel.
It will be unsustainable once Meloni sides with Orbán or Le Pen would come to power in France
. @vkreilinger.bsky.social: "Is the #EU24 the new EU?"

I have mixed feelings about the "solution" used yesterday to provide the 90 bn loan to Ukraine

On the one hand, this is the way that the European Council should have handled the Hungary-problem for long; much better than "bribing" them ...
Article 20 TEU for ”enhanced cooperation“ is mentioned in the Conclusions of the European Council on the reparations loan for Ukraine. A smart move! It allows to go ahead without Orbán, Fico and Babiš. Is the #EU24 the new EU? #EUCO 1/3

Reposted by Steve Peers, Ben Crum

"Suggesting that a state might withdraw from the ECHR or ignore CJEU rulings – even if done insincerely for short-term political gains – only normalises the agenda of the far right and reinforces the impression that euroscepticism and anti-immigrant positions were legitimate from the outset" 💯
As Donald Tusk’s rhetoric increasingly echoes Orbán, WOJCIECH ZOMERSKI sounds a warning for democratic restoration:

No force is immune to populism’s temptations, including those who claim to rescue us from it.

verfassungsblog.de/populism-pol...
It has become received wisdom in Brussels and Washington that there is a new “euro-sclerosis”: that the EU economy is lagging the US

This view is wrong

A little primer on the measurement of productivity – and why reports of the economic death of Europe are greatly exaggerated🧵
It is almost 10 years since Hanspeter Kriesi published his seminal article on the politicization of European Integration @jcms-eu.bsky.social.

A short thread on how things stand as of 2024, with @chesdata.bsky.social, looking at salience, clarity, and unity of party positions towards the EU 🧵:
Morgen de grote HO staking! Tot op de Dam!
Tomorrow the big HE strike! See you at Dam square!

woinactie.blogspot.com/2025/12/prog...
Programma Stakingsactie 9 december / Programme Strike Action 9 December
WOinActie is een beweging van studenten en medewerkers en maakt zich sterk voor de universiteit en haar toekomst.
woinactie.blogspot.com

Reposted by Ben Crum, Greg Linden

X isn’t being penalised for hosting lawful speech. It is being penalised for business practices that make fraud easier and transparency harder. In any other sector, a product that enables impersonation or conceals the identity of advertisers would be recalled.
Interesting find. Obviously, it is difficult for EP party groups to prevent other parties from voting with them
Striking thing is that my colleague Adam Tyler and I identified a similar 'Luddite coalition' against tech-run content filtering in the DSA
Informative thread 👇 by @nvondarza.bsky.social on the shifting grounds of voting in the European Parliament
November was a month of high tension in the European Parliament.

I went through 51 final votes and 10 public Council votes for my latest EU-Analytics review – and found three different working majorities at play:
EU Analytics November 2025 review
The breakdown of the Cordon Sanitaire amid three different majorities
substack.com
November was a month of high tension in the European Parliament.

I went through 51 final votes and 10 public Council votes for my latest EU-Analytics review – and found three different working majorities at play:
EU Analytics November 2025 review
The breakdown of the Cordon Sanitaire amid three different majorities
substack.com
Join us! We are hiring an assistant professor in political and social philosophy at Maastricht University with a focus on contemporary challenges to European democracy

Feel free to contact me, if you have questions #philsky #philjobs

Reposted by Ben Crum

To me this is a depressing theme in modern academia.

There is so much work being produced, and so many competing demands on our time, that people rarely seem able to just closely read work and frankly say "yes, I believe this" or "no, I don't."

If we aren't doing this, what _are_ we doing?!

Reposted by Ben Crum

🚨 New policy paper 🚨

What to learn from the Dublin system for solidarity in EU asylum governance? We recommend more transparency, better pressure assessment & prioritizing relocations from more to less pressured states.

@ftrauner.bsky.social & Philipp Stutz (VUB)

www.epc.eu/publication/...
Towards a Fairer EU Asylum Policy: Lessons from the Dublin system for the EU’s Solidarity Mechanism
On 11 November 2025, the European Commission released its first European Annual Asylum and Migration Report as part of the new policy cycle introduced by the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum. The Commission examined the asylum, migration and reception situation across the EU and found that four member states are under ‘migratory pressure’, and 14 others either ‘at risk’ or facing a ‘significant migration situation’.
www.epc.eu

Reposted by Ben Crum

Geert Wilders wordt ondervoorzitter en dus lid van het presidium. Dat wil hij 'klein maken'. Met koffie en wc-papier. Maar wie het presidium kleiner maakt, maakt ook de Kamer kleiner. Dat komt de partijen ten goede, niet de democratie. Column: watisdemocratie.substack.com/p/ook-de-kam...
Ook de Kamer moet boven de partijen staan
Ondervoorzitter klinkt als een plechtig ambt — maar Wilders' verkiezing ertoe legt vooral bloot hoe rommelig de macht in de Kamer georganiseerd is. En hoe makkelijk Wilders daarvan gebruikmaakt.
watisdemocratie.substack.com
An absolute scandal compounded in this case by failure of French government and EU institutions to forcefully react and sanction in turn those who have sanctioned ICC judges and prosecutors. Makes a total mockery of FR/EU's repeated commitment to the rule of law/ICC

www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...