SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies
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supaproject.bsky.social
SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies
@supaproject.bsky.social
SUPA tackles administrative overburdening in advanced democracies, where rule growth outpaces capacity. Its insights aim to boost efficiency. Funded by Horizon Europe. https://www.supa.uio.no/
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📈 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 🏛️✨
📢 CfP: Regulatory Growth in the EU

The 2026 SG-EU @ecprsgeu.bsky.social Biennial Conference
1–3 July | Università di Catania

Brigitte Pircher @brigittepircher.bsky.social and Nir Kosti invite papers on the drivers and consequences of EU rule growth.

📬 Submit by 8 Dec 2025 → [email protected]
November 21, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Wow 🤯 Rules keep on growing.
Thank you, Steffen Hurka @steffenhurka.bsky.social and the #EUPLEX team, for providing such valuable to demonstrate how rising legislative complexity imposes real challenges on public administration and governance in modern democracies.
📊 𝗘𝗨𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗫 dataset update!

💻 We updated complexity data to 𝟭,𝟬𝟯𝟮 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀, including entirely new data on 𝟴𝟭𝟱 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀. The dataset now includes legislative procedures from 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟯 𝘁𝗼 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱.

📎 The data are now available for download at www.euplex.org/data
Latest dataset - EUPLEX
EUPLEX is a DFG-funded research project at the Geschwister-Scholl-Institute for Polittical Science at LMU Munich. The project, led by Dr. Steffen Hurka at LMU Munich, is dedicated to the questions of ...
www.euplex.org
November 20, 2025 at 8:15 AM
What brings the SUPA scholars together? Turning laws into data to ask why rules multiply, how to streamline without hurting democracy, and how to help policymakers make sense of it.

In the posts below ⬇️👇🔽 we show how each partner tackles a different angle. It really fits together, doesn’t it? 💡
November 18, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies
We are hiring PhDs and postdocs to work on the ERC project GETGOV, where I am the PI.

We will investigate governing elites since 1789. I am sure that it will be a lot of fun and result in great research!

Postdocs: www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

PhDs: www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...
Postdoctoral Fellow in Political Science (3-4 years) (288628) | University of Oslo
Job title: Postdoctoral Fellow in Political Science (3-4 years) (288628), Employer: University of Oslo, Deadline: Monday, November 17, 2025
www.jobbnorge.no
October 20, 2025 at 3:27 PM
🏆 Slide of the Year 2025 goes to @steffenhurka.bsky.social — absolutely unbeatable!
Currently preparing a lecture on policy implementation. This slide's for you, @supaproject.bsky.social :-)
November 6, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies
Currently preparing a lecture on policy implementation. This slide's for you, @supaproject.bsky.social :-)
November 6, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Two SUPA @uio.no scholars made it into the TOP100 of #Khrono’s TOP500 list of Norway’s most productive researchers (2023–24)!
🏅 Yves Steinebach (40)
🏅 Miroslav Nemčok (82)
www.khrono.no/disse-500-fo...
Disse 500 forskerne publiserer mest i Norge
— Antall artikler er ikke så viktig, sier Ole Andreassen, Norges mest publiserende forsker.
www.khrono.no
November 3, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Don’t forget to submit your paper proposals for our EPSS @epssnet.bsky.social 2026 panel 👇 and join us in Belfast to discuss why rules keep growing – and what the implications are when they do.
⏰ Deadline in two days!
📢 CfP | EPSS 2026 @epssnet.bsky.social (Belfast, 18–20 June 2026)
Why do rules keep growing—and what happens when they do?
Join our panel “Rules Growth: Dynamics, Drivers, and Implementation Challenges in Advanced Democracies”.

📅 Deadline: 5 November 2025
📧 Submit proposals to [email protected]
November 3, 2025 at 10:10 AM
🛑 The EU’s Better Regulation agenda risks cutting rules that protect workers, consumers & the environment.
A policy brief by Brigitte Pircher @brigittepircher.bsky.social calls for stronger oversight, transparency & reclaiming regulation: library.fes.de/pdf-files/bu...
October 29, 2025 at 1:47 PM
We invite papers on:
🧩 Drivers and patterns of rule growth
⚙️ Implementation and administrative capacity
🔄 Deregulation and simplification efforts
📊 Methods for measuring complexity
📢 CfP | EPSS 2026 @epssnet.bsky.social (Belfast, 18–20 June 2026)
Why do rules keep growing—and what happens when they do?
Join our panel “Rules Growth: Dynamics, Drivers, and Implementation Challenges in Advanced Democracies”.

📅 Deadline: 5 November 2025
📧 Submit proposals to [email protected]
October 22, 2025 at 8:10 AM
📢 CfP | EPSS 2026 @epssnet.bsky.social (Belfast, 18–20 June 2026)
Why do rules keep growing—and what happens when they do?
Join our panel “Rules Growth: Dynamics, Drivers, and Implementation Challenges in Advanced Democracies”.

📅 Deadline: 5 November 2025
📧 Submit proposals to [email protected]
October 22, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Yves Steinebach is bringing policy talk to #Beijing!
First stop: Tsinghua University @tsinghuauniversity.bsky.social
Topic: how to balance responsiveness and effectiveness in policymaking.
October 16, 2025 at 5:14 AM
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
October 9, 2025 at 6:45 PM
🧠 Are democracies trapped by their own complexity—or strengthened by it? New study from the SUPA team in @jeppjournal.bsky.social shows that openness builds resilience, not overload.
doi.org/10.1080/1350...
October 9, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Reposted by SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies
🎉 As a partner of the @supaproject.bsky.social
project, we’re proud to announce the launch of the official website!

ECAS’s role in this project is to support crowdsourcing efforts, organise events, & share project findings with CSOs and national partners.

🔗 Learn more: buff.ly/ZXqO1EJ
October 6, 2025 at 3:11 PM
🌍 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...
October 5, 2025 at 6:37 PM
📜 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...)
October 3, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Tired of ‘red tape’? UK planning reforms echo past failures like the "one-in, three-out" scheme.

One of our rerearches in progress shows why they fail:
➡️ Narrow Focus
➡️ Weak Enforcement
➡️ Political Reality

Result? Rules keep growing. Lasting reform needs smarter governance for true growth.
#SUPA
Bureaucratic burden lifted to speed up building in growth agenda
The government has confirmed further reforms to overhaul the planning system and put growth at the heart of the statutory consultee system.
www.gov.uk
September 26, 2025 at 1:07 PM
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
September 24, 2025 at 12:33 PM
🤔 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
September 16, 2025 at 3:50 PM
"‘Better deregulation’ doesn’t mean removing as many regulations as possible. It means eliminating the right ones while preserving effective rules," argue M. Hinterleitner, C. Knill @cknill.bsky.social & Y. Steinebach in a guest opinion for @nzz.ch

🔗 www.nzz.ch/meinung/dere...
Bürokratie abbauen, aber mit System
Deregulieren mit System: Wie Politik Bürokratie sinnvoll reduzieren kann
www.nzz.ch
September 11, 2025 at 12:46 PM
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...
September 10, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Reposted by SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies
On 10–11 Sept, I’ll be presenting at the University of Valencia workshop on Political Agency between Human & AI. Looking forward to debating how AI is reshaping politics, democracy & civil society. #AI #Democracy
September 10, 2025 at 5:58 AM
Reposted by SUPA: Sustaining Public Administration in Modern Democracies
💥Your country may have a deregulation potential of 36% -
argue Yves Steinebach, Xavier Fernández-i-Marín, Markus Hinterleitner & @cknill.bsky.social. Find out more 👇

🔗 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
September 2, 2025 at 2:29 PM
💥 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
September 5, 2025 at 12:46 PM