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Sofia Ammassari

@ammassarisofia.bsky.social

2.1K followers 1K following 250 posts

Research Fellow at Griffith University 🇦🇺 populist radical right • political parties • women’s and youth political participation sofiaammassari.com

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Sofia Ammassari @ammassarisofia.bsky.social · Mar 10

I’m over the moon that my 1st book, based on my PhD, will be published w/ Oxford University Press.

“Grassroots Women in the Populist Radical Right” investigates women’s involvement in PRR parties as party members.

I already have a full draft, so I hope I can share this labour of love w/ you soon 💜

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Sofia Ammassari @ammassarisofia.bsky.social · 1d

It was great to present our research (w/ @duncanmcdonnell.com ) on the transnationalisation of the PRR at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.

It was also a pleasure to chat with their very talented graduate students afterwards, and to stroll around the beautiful campus.

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Duncan McDonnell @duncanmcdonnell.com · 5d

I'm so pleased to see our new article out in Perspectives on Politics.

Since I moved to Australia, I've heard many people say "you'll never publish in a top US journal with Australia as your only case" (and they weren't wrong to think that).

But yesterday, we did.

Thread by Josh about it below:

Josh Holloway @jholloway.bsky.social · 5d

🎉 New publication out in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social with @duncanmcdonnell.com and Michelle Evans!

We expected public bias to work against aspiring Indigenous political candidates in Australia. Instead, we found the opposite - an 'inverted hierarchy' of bias.

Open access: doi.org/10.1017/S153...

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Sofia Ammassari @ammassarisofia.bsky.social · 7d

Yes, the Parliament was indeed very busy!

I was stunned by the architecture, but I'm happy to go back to livelier Rio 😏

Sofia Ammassari @ammassarisofia.bsky.social · 7d

One of the best parts of this job: travelling to places I might never otherwise visit, to talk to people for my research.

Very excited to have conducted interviews inside the National Congress in Brasilia today 🇧🇷

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Duncan McDonnell @duncanmcdonnell.com · 9d

It was a pleasure to present with @ammassarisofia.bsky.social to the faculty and very smart students from IESP in Rio today.

And the view when we came out into the Botafogo afternoon sun wasn’t bad either.

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Cyrill Otteni @cyrillotteni.bsky.social · 15d

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

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 ...

journals.sagepub.com

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Stijn van Kessel @stijntvankessel.bsky.social · 9d

With Andrej Zaslove, I wrote a piece on the recent extreme-right riots in the Netherlands, and what should be learned from them 👇

Illiberalism Studies Program @illsp.bsky.social · 9d

New piece! Stijn van Kessel and Andrej Zaslove on the far-right riots in The Hague, the reaction from political leaders, and lessons for preserving liberal democracy and liberal democratic principles. Check it out!

@ieres-gwu.bsky.social
@stijntvankessel.bsky.social

What Mainstream Parties and Media Should Learn from the Dutch Extreme-Right Riots illiberalism.org |

Stijn van Kessel and Andrej Zaslove on the far-right riots in The Hague, the reaction from political leaders, and lessons for preserving liberal democracy and liberal democratic principles.

www.illiberalism.org

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Eva Anduiza @evaanduiza.bsky.social · 14d

We have a new paper out with @gricoc.bsky.social in @jwpp.bsky.social (this time I swear I am going to post the right link): www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Sexism and the Gender Gap in Support for the Radical Right

Using survey data from Spain we show that the gender gap in the probability of voting for the radical-right party Vox is mainly due to men having higher levels of modern sexism than women. We find ...

www.tandfonline.com

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Sofia Ammassari @ammassarisofia.bsky.social · 15d

Looking forward to kicking off our South America seminar tour in Rio de Janeiro next week 🇧🇷

Many thanks to IESP for hosting us!

Duncan McDonnell @duncanmcdonnell.com · 16d

Next Monday, 29 September, Sofia Ammassari & I will be presenting new research on the transnationalization of the populist radical right at IESP in Rio de Janeiro.

It's the first of a bunch of seminars we'll be doing in South America over the next 6 weeks.

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Sofia Ammassari @ammassarisofia.bsky.social · 19d

Conserva le lacrime per quando devi leggerli sti ringraziamenti 😂

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Sofia Ammassari @ammassarisofia.bsky.social · 19d

Thank you Sarah! Obviously you are among the first names dropped in the acknowledgements 💘

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Sofia Ammassari @ammassarisofia.bsky.social · 19d

This book, based on my PhD, has been over 5 years in the making.

It truly takes an academic village to bring such a project to life, and my heart is full of gratitude for all the support I’ve received along the way.

Out, hopefully, by mid-2026: Grassroots Women in the Populist Radical Right 💕

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Sofia Ammassari @ammassarisofia.bsky.social · 19d

It’s acknowledgements time, as I prepare to re-submit my revised manuscript to Oxford University Press. To mark this important milestone, I’m pairing the task with a delicious Riesling from South Australia.

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Sofia Ammassari @ammassarisofia.bsky.social · 20d

Congratulations Sarah! 😃

Reposted by Sofia Ammassari

Andreas Küpfer @ankuepfer.bsky.social · 25d

👏Applause offers a revealing lens on party competition! In a recent article @wepsocial.bsky.social (w/@[email protected]), we study how applause reflects party and coalition unity, ideological agreement, political exclusion, issue ownership, and the electoral cycle! (1/6)

Cover page of the article:
"The sound of party competition: how applausereflects unity, disagreement, and the electoralcycle in parliamentsAndreas Küpfera , Jochen Müllerb and Christian Steckeraatechnical university of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany; buniversität Greifswald, Greifswald,GermanyABSTRACTThis article studies how applause reflects the dynamics of party competitionduring parliamentary debates. While legislative scholars often emphasise theselection of speakers and content of debates, spontaneous reactions from fel-low MPs remain understudied. Analysing 750,000 instances of applause in thedebates of the German Bundestag (1976–2020), it was found that applausepatterns, although largely spontaneous and immediate by nature, systemati-cally reflect incentives from party competition such as signalling party andcoalition unity, ideological (dis)agreement, and ostracising specific parties.Applause also indicates issue emphasis, especially near elections. The findingssuggest that applause can serve as a nuanced and abundant indicator in thestudy of party competition, complementing more static measures derived frommanifestos and expert judgements. By analysing applause patterns over fourdecades, this study opens new avenues to explore nonverbal reactions asmarkers of party competition in other parliaments."

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Francis Markham @francismarkham.bsky.social · Sep 7

Australian universities are in a governance crisis. VC pay blowouts, scandals, mission drift — these aren’t random, they’re structural.

This new working paper with @marijataflaga.bsky.social & Keith Dowding digs into why the system is broken, and how to fix it.

doi.org/10.25911/MWW...

A thread:

Neither corporate nor government: Why university governance needs to be different, and better
Marija Taflaga, Francis Markham and Keith Dowding.

Preprint, 29 August 2025. https://doi.org/10.25911/MWW4-9781

Abstract
Australian universities face a governance crisis rooted in failures of accountability. Unlike parliaments and corporate boards, university councils lack effective mechanisms for principals to discipline agents. In parliaments, voters can replace elected representatives; in corporations, shareholders can vote out directors. Both systems close the delegation–accountability loop, ensuring alignment between principals and outcomes. University councils, however, are self-perpetuating bodies dominated by external appointees, and in recent decades they are typically from corporate backgrounds. As neither producers nor consumers of universities’ core product—knowledge creation and dissemination—they have minimal intrinsic stake in academic outcomes leaving councils detached from the university’s core mission. This misalignment fosters mission drift, weakens oversight, and contributes to repeated scandals. Because councils largely appoint their own successors, they remain insulated from meaningful scrutiny, unlike boards or parliaments where underperformance is sanctioned externally. Restoring accountability requires giving academic staff and students a renewed oversight role, alongside clear safeguards for the public interest. Because academics and students are both producers and consumers of knowledge, they have a direct and enduring stake in its quality. We recommend two mechanisms to do this are:
1. Academic Senates empowered to appoint and review council members, ensuring councils reflect the university’s purpose.
2. Robust Committee Systems that embed staff and student voices in decision-making, reduce information asymmetries, and align incentives with academic purposes.

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Andrew Heiss @andrew.heiss.phd · Sep 5

I’ve done this for 2 weeks now and it *absolutely rules*. Best class discussions I’ve ever had. Best engagement with readings. They write in this worksheet for 15 minutes, then talk about their responses in groups of 3-4, then groups share with the whole class, and *then* we talk about the readings

Andrew Heiss @andrew.heiss.phd · Aug 19

Updating my comparative public admin seminar class—which was decimated by AI last year—to maybe be a little more LLM-proof by adding a 20–30 minute start-of-class writing & discussion activity. Will it work? Who knows! Full details and PDF here: governancef25.classes.andrewheiss.com/assignment/c...

Worksheet called "Check-in and warm-up" with these questions:

1. Name and date
2. Check in asking about attendance and preparation with readings
3. Write 1–2 paragraphs about (1) what you most want to talk about from the readings today, and (2) why.
4. Write 1–2 paragraphs connecting this week’s topic and readings to a recent or current event.

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Kurt Sengul @kurtsengul.bsky.social · Sep 2

🚨 New article in The Conversation from Callum Jones and myself.

We wanted to focus specifically on how the white nationalist rallies were supported and amplified online by far-right actors like Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson

theconversation.com/how-australi...

How Australia’s anti-immigration rallies were amplified online by the global far right

Prominent figures such as Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson are increasingly using social media to unite far-right groups and causes around the world.

theconversation.com

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Kurt Sengul @kurtsengul.bsky.social · Sep 4

🚨I spoke to Crikey for this story on the need for better media reporting on the far right!

Long story short: stop giving neo-Nazis propaganda wins

www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/05/h...

How to report on neo-Nazis without giving them what they want

Media coverage of the anti-immigration marches was a 'propaganda triumph' for Australian neo-Nazis, who use media-baiting tactics to spread their message.

www.crikey.com.au

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Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte @turnbulldugarte.com · Sep 5

Radical right accommodation really does not work.

New paper out with this exceptionally talented team
@katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk

doi.org/10.31235/osf...

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Léonie de Jonge @leoniedejonge.bsky.social · Sep 3

🏆 Our Extremism & Democracy Best Paper Prize Committee is looking for nominations! Are you an Early Career Researcher? Then nominate yourself! Did you see a great paper presentation in the E&D Section in Thessaloniki by a PhD researcher or post-doc? Send them our way! @ecpr.bsky.social

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Duncan McDonnell @duncanmcdonnell.com · Sep 1

3-year, full-time post-doc position with my ‪@griffith.edu.au‬ friend & colleague, Ferran Martinez i Coma.

Ferran is one of the key people who has made our department the top comparative politics research cluster in Australia.

Please apply, share, etc.

jobs.smartrecruiters.com/GriffithUniv...

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Grade 1

Company Description: Every institution values excellence. What matters most is why. Griffith was created to be a different type of university. You’ll find we’re about leading research, academic excel...

jobs.smartrecruiters.com

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Owen Winter @owenwntr.bsky.social · Aug 29

What factions make up the Republican Party's base? @daniellaraz.bsky.social and I sketched out the five tribes of Republicans who are jostling for influence in Donald Trump's party: www.economist.com/graphic-deta...

The factions jostling for Donald Trump’s favour

We have identified five Republican tribes. This is what they mean for the party

www.economist.com

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Francesco Bailo @francescobailo.bsky.social · Aug 28

We have a 🚨 new open access paper 🚨 with @polcommjournal.bsky.social We show how platforms can simultaneously concentrate and fragment political power. We analysed Italy's Five Star Movement across 5 platforms to understand multi-platform dynamics in political organisations. doi.org/10.1080/1058...

Affording Fragmented Audiences: Multi-Platform Deliberation within the Five Star Movement

We examine how multi-platform digital environments influence intra-party dynamics within political organizations, focusing on the Italian Five Star Movement (M5S) as a paradigmatic case of extreme ...

doi.org

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