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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · 20h

Congratulations to our consortium leader, Yves Steinebach, on his promotion to full professor! 🎉 Today he delivered his inaugural lecture, “The Balance Challenge: Navigating Policy Responsiveness and Effectiveness,” at the @statsvitenskap.bsky.social @uio.no

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Electoral Studies @electoralstudies.bsky.social · 22h

...in contrast to the study above, @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social @hannawass.bsky.social and Johanna Peltoniemi find that in Finland, the implementation of postal voting had a negligible effect on turnout across low-participation areas

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · 4d

🌍 ANALYZING (CLIMATE) POLICY PORTFOLIOS
New paper in @jcpaicpa.bsky.social introduces an analytical approach to systematically map what governments do on (climate) policy along two dimensions:

🎯 Targets – goals governments address
🛠️ Instruments – how they pursue them

🔗 doi.org/10.1080/1387...

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · 7d

📜 One way governments try to cut regulatory burden is #offsetting: for every new rule, an old one (or more) must go.

🗺️ The map and table show which OECD countries have used these schemes.

👉 Can you spot your country?

(from Steinebach, Hinterleitner & Fernández-i-Marín doi.org/10.1111/puar...)

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · 16d

The SUPA project has a new webpage! 🌐
👉 www.supa.uio.no/english/inde...

There you’ll find:
🌍 project background & goals
👩‍🔬 team members & institutional partners
📢 news, events & publications (with more coming soon!)

Check it out — and let us know what you think!

SUPA.html - Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies

Read this story on the University of Oslo's website.

www.supa.uio.no

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · 23d

🤔 What makes a law complex—and why does it matter?
In his talk, Steffen Hurka @steffenhurka.bsky.social (a close friend of SUPA) explains:
📏 how to measure legislative complexity
⚖️ why it varies across laws & policy areas
🏛️ how it shapes institutions & implementation
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gclb...

Policy complexity - Measurement, Origins and Consequences, Steffen Hurka,

YouTube video by Theories of Regulation & Governance

www.youtube.com

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Tadeas Cely @celytadeas.bsky.social · 27d

In the working paper (with @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social and others), which will soon be available, we show that such politicization can harm democratic norms and fuel affective polarization. However, we also find that it does not translate into greater support for political violence.

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · Sep 10

Policies, rules & regulations keep on growing. 📈🚨
Have you ever wondered how quick that growth is? 🤔

Hinterleitner, Knill @cknill.bsky.social & Steinebach in @reggovjournal.bsky.social empirically demonstrate the swelling complexity of legislative rulebooks!

📚 Read: doi.org/10.1111/rego...

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · Sep 5

💥 Publication ALERT 💥
Steinebach, Fernández-i-Marín, Hinterleitner & Knill examine #environmental policy in 21 democracies and find:
- 1/3 of measures could be streamlined
- Effectiveness preserved (sometimes improved!)

Not crude cost-cutting ➡️ Smarter rules > fewer rules.
🔗 doi.org/10.1080/1350...

Towards ‘better deregulation’: from crude cost-cutting to the targeted pruning of policy activities

Deregulation is a prominent theme, but difficult to implement. Current approaches either focus only on ‘new’ rules without considering already existing policies, or fail to differentiate between ef...

doi.org

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Miroslav Nemčok @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social · Sep 3

Introduction of 🤟 #SUPA 👇🚨⬇️

SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · Sep 3

[1/6] What is SUPA about? A thread 🧵👇

The #SUPA Project addresses rule growth - the rapid expansion of laws and regulations - and its implications for governance.

Through five research-focused Work Packages (WPs), we generate data, theory, and tools to help sustain an effective democracy.

SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · Sep 3

[1/6] What is SUPA about? A thread 🧵👇

The #SUPA Project addresses rule growth - the rapid expansion of laws and regulations - and its implications for governance.

Through five research-focused Work Packages (WPs), we generate data, theory, and tools to help sustain an effective democracy.

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Miroslav Nemčok @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social · Sep 1

SUPA's social media accounts are now active, and posting is about to begin. Follow us for thoughtful insights on administrative overburdening and science-based suggestions on how to address it!

SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · Sep 1

📈 More laws, more policies, more regulations. But administrations aren’t growing at the same pace 🚨 This mismatch risks poor services, unequal treatment & frustration. That’s where #SUPA comes in: from 2025–2028, we’ll study how to improve rule design & strengthen modern democracies 🏛️✨

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SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies @supaproject.bsky.social · Sep 1

📈 More laws, more policies, more regulations. But administrations aren’t growing at the same pace 🚨 This mismatch risks poor services, unequal treatment & frustration. That’s where #SUPA comes in: from 2025–2028, we’ll study how to improve rule design & strengthen modern democracies 🏛️✨

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Department of Political Science, University of Oslo @statsvitenskap.bsky.social · Aug 14

📢 New article 🌟
👥 Miroslav Kreos-Nemcok @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social (ISV), Hanna Wass @hannawass.bsky.social & Juho Vesa
🔎 Partisan Influence on Policy Preferences in Retrenching the Welfare State
📖 Open access in Public Opinion Quarterly
doi.org/10.1093/poq/...

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Miroslav Nemčok @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social · Aug 12

As global population growth starts to hit the brakes, Rein Taagepera and I consider what this means for our future and look for lessons from the past.
🔽👇⬇️

The Loop @ecprtheloop.bsky.social · Aug 12

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 As #PopulationGrowth slows, @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social & Rein Taagepera draw on a striking demographic stall 2,000 years ago that preceded political fragmentation and imperial collapse.
🌍 Can modern states withstand the pressures of a post-growth world?
👉 buff.ly/BQCQ8Vj

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The Loop @ecprtheloop.bsky.social · Aug 12

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 As #PopulationGrowth slows, @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social & Rein Taagepera draw on a striking demographic stall 2,000 years ago that preceded political fragmentation and imperial collapse.
🌍 Can modern states withstand the pressures of a post-growth world?
👉 buff.ly/BQCQ8Vj

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Miroslav Nemčok @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social · Jul 26

What’s the app. share of invitations you send to your network (i.e., scholars you know from somewhere) as opposed to total strangers?

Just thinking that acceptance rates may decline over time, as you might resist the temptation to keep reaching out to friends.

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Miroslav Nemčok @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social · Jul 23

This is very interesting! Thank you, Gregorio, for your fine contribution to the special issue!

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Gregorio Buzzelli @gregoriobuzzelli.bsky.social · Jul 23

Rearmament challenges modern welfare states, pitting military vs. social spending.
In our new #OA article in @jeppjournal.bsky.social, Stefano Sacchi, Caroline de la Porte and I show that citizens prioritize the welfare state—though important divisions emerge
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

‘Guns versus butter’ in public opinion: the politicization of the warfare-welfare trade-off

The intensification of military conflict is leading to sharp increases in military spending across advanced democracies. As public budgets are constrained, the welfare state is a candidate for savi...

www.tandfonline.com

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Miroslav Nemčok @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social · Jul 22

Special shout-out to @celytadeas.bsky.social, the driving force behind this work, its promotion, and outreach to journalists - just too humble to be the one interviewed.

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Miroslav Nemčok @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social · Jul 22

Slovak society has become even more divided after the assassination attempt on PM Fico.
In this @denikn.cz interview [in Czech], I discuss findings from a study co-authored with @celytadeas.bsky.social (@au.dk), Peter Spáč, and Michal Tóth (@masarykuniversity.bsky.social).

denikn.cz/1783201/nesn...

Nesnášenlivost mezi Slováky po atentátu na Fica stoupla. Až polovina vládních voličů viní média a opozici, říká výzkumník

Od útoku na slovenského premiéra Roberta Fica uplynul více než rok. Politická rétorika ale zůstává stále vyostřená, říká výzkumník Miroslav Nemčok z Univerzity v Oslu. S kolegy z univerzity v dánském ...

denikn.cz

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Miroslav Nemčok @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social · Jul 16

When parties cut welfare, voters don’t rebel, even if it goes against their ideology or interests. Instead, they update their preferences to stay aligned with the party.

Read our new paper in @poqjournal.bsky.social ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Public Opinion Quarterly - POQ @poqjournal.bsky.social · Jul 15

Why do people support policies that go against their interests?

Miroslav Nemčok and coauthors show that voters shift their views to match their party, even when that means supporting painful welfare cuts.

Out now in POQ: doi.org/10.1093/poq/...
@miroslavnemcok.bsky.social @hannawass.bsky.social

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Public Opinion Quarterly - POQ @poqjournal.bsky.social · Jul 15

Why do people support policies that go against their interests?

Miroslav Nemčok and coauthors show that voters shift their views to match their party, even when that means supporting painful welfare cuts.

Out now in POQ: doi.org/10.1093/poq/...
@miroslavnemcok.bsky.social @hannawass.bsky.social

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JEPP Journal @jeppjournal.bsky.social · Jun 30

🏛️ @liserodland.bsky.social on which interest groups parties give access to

Some policies matter more: party salience and interest group access to political parties in Western democracies

Political parties and interest groups play important roles in incorporating societal interests into democratic decision-making. Recent studies have analysed the causes of interactions between indiv...

www.tandfonline.com

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Miroslav Nemčok @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social · Jun 2

First?! You were so smooth I figured you'd been means-testing POQ submissions for years. Thanks a lot for all your work!

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Miroslav Nemčok @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social · Jun 2

[3/3] What we found: Despite opposing the cuts initially, government voters became more supportive of the retrenchment reform after their party implemented it. Support grew even when the policy hurt them materially and contradicted their ideology.

So: voters adapt instead of rebelling.

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Miroslav Nemčok @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social · Jun 2

[2/3] Natural quasi-experiment setup:
In 2020, a center-left government cut income-based unemployment benefits for older laid-off workers (a classic retrenchment), while expanding compulsory education (a progressive investment).

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Miroslav Nemčok @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social · Jun 2

[1/3] Retrenching the welfare state is unpopular—yet parties that do it often escape electoral punishment. Why don’t voters punish parties for cutting welfare?

@hannawass.bsky.social, Juho Vesa & I investigate this puzzle in @poqjournal.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1093/poq/...

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Miroslav Nemčok @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social · May 16

These guys are very useful (and credible): www.instagram.com/tasteofpragu...

Enjoy Prague! I'll be sending greetings from holidays in Spain 😇

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Pål Røren @palroren.bsky.social · May 9

I dagens @aftenposten.no skriver jeg og @miroslavnemcok.bsky.social om hvorfor Slovakia has blitt EUs hodepine. Statsminister Fico reiser til Moskva og lar seg bruke i russisk propaganda. Det setter både EUs troverdighet og enigheten om Ukraina-støtte på spill
www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kro...

Kronikk: «Slovakia er nå det svakeste leddet i EUs utenrikspolitikk»

Glem Ungarn, skriver kronikkforfatterne.

www.aftenposten.no

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