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Florian G. Kern

@floriangkern.bsky.social

1.5K followers 2.4K following 120 posts

Associate Professor, political scientist, Dep of Government, Univ of Essex, comparative politics in Africa, mixed methods, Visiting Senior Fellow LSE Dep of Methodology; Co-Director @africasigessex; ESRC MCCRA https://sites.google.com/site/floriangkern

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Florian G. Kern @floriangkern.bsky.social · Jun 8

🚨News from my home town!

Sleestak @sleestak.bsky.social · Jun 8

"In 1642 in the town of Lemgo, Germany, local pharmacist David Welman was accused of witchcraft and being a werewolf. Anonymous hate mail was sent to him, one of which included this sketch."

Cute drawing of a 'werewolf': In 1642 in the town of Lemgo, Germany, local pharmacist David Welman was accused of witchcraft and being a werewolf. Anonymous hate mail was sent to him, one of which included this sketch.

Reposted by Florian G. Kern

Department of Government, Essex @uniessexgov.bsky.social · 10h

🌍 The Africa Special Interest Group (ASIG) meets every Tuesday from 11:00 — the hub for Africa-focused research at Essex!

Co-directed by Prof Hannah Gibson & Dr. Florian Kern, and open to all — staff, students, and anyone interested. Come say hi! ☕

#EssexGov #ASIG

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Reposted by Florian G. Kern

Federica Genovese @fgenovese.bsky.social · 2d

That’s me talking about links between my daily job and climate change for the @leverhulme.ac.uk, thanks to the Expeditions partner which come to speak to me and championed my research 💙

(yes you can tell it is me because that is indeed my house and I‘m zero tv trained but hey at least it‘s not AI!)

Leverhulme Trust @leverhulme.ac.uk · 2d

Professor @fgenovese.bsky.social @politicsoxford.bsky.social, specialises in the politics of climate and crises. She reflects on the need to take responsibility in the fight against climate change. www.joinexpeditions.com/experts/4624

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Reposted by Florian G. Kern

Leverhulme Trust @leverhulme.ac.uk · 2d

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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 7d

extremely well put

An actual pragmatist would evaluate and change course. Someone who understood public opinion might notice that anti-immigrant sentiment responds to media coverage, not objective reality. They might reason that this is not a problem that can be addressed by policy concessions because policy is not what is causing it. They might even consider offering a different narrative and seeing whether that makes a dent. A truly daring politician might consider telling the British public the truth: that they are being lied to by the right-wing press about the cause of the country's problems, and that Reform is capitalising on this for political gain.

The government does not seem inclined to do any of this. Despite understanding themselves as critical thinkers, reactionary centrists are conformists at heart. And they are so unmoored in our current age because, increasingly, there is no social consensus for them to conform to. Affluent countries the world over are balkanising into fascist and anti-fascist factions. One must simply pick a side. There is no longer such a thing as “British public opinion” (if there ever was). Rather, half the country supports socially illiberal parties and half supports (broadly speaking) liberal ones, similar to the split in the Brexit referendum. If we follow international trends, the values of these two sides will only grow more irreconcilable. Starmer is—though you would never guess it—the captain of the liberal team. His job is not to find consensus, but to hold his own coalition together.

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Reposted by Florian G. Kern

Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 12d

For the Guardian, @turnbulldugarte.com and I discuss our research that clearly shows one thing: Labour's anti-immigration strategy will only strengthen Reform and weaken its own electoral prospects. It won't win voters back but ultimately normalizes the far right

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Our research makes it clear: by capitulating to the right, Labour is driving voters to Reform UK | Tarik Abou-Chadi and Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte

Mimicking Farage on immigration is senseless. Labour voters feel betrayed; anti-immigration voters see through the ruse, say academics Tarik Abou-Chadi and Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte

www.theguardian.com

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Florian G. Kern @floriangkern.bsky.social · 14d

Most of the time, I’m outnumbered.

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Reposted by Florian G. Kern

Multilingualism, Conflict and Conflict Resolution in Africa @mccrafrica-essex.bsky.social · 20d

MCCRA team members Angiachi Demetris, Hannah Gibson, and Fiona Tumusiime present research on language and conflict at Makerere University, Uganda.

Most of the team will be in Kampala soon - stay tuned!

@uniessexgov.bsky.social @africasigessex.bsky.social @universityofessex.bsky.social

Angiachi presents at Makerere University

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Reposted by Florian G. Kern

Multilingualism, Conflict and Conflict Resolution in Africa @mccrafrica-essex.bsky.social · 16d

❗This week the MCCRAfrica project team is in #Kampala -planning the next stages of our research.

Today, we kicked off with a planning session for our upcoming field trip in the #DRC led by Dr. Alain Bernard Nseka and Dr. Delphin Kayembe.

More updates to follow, as the workshop unfolds…stay tuned!

A collage of images showing highlights from the project team meeting.

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Florian G. Kern @floriangkern.bsky.social · 19d

It’s that old Arminius and Teutoburg forest spirit.

Florian G. Kern @floriangkern.bsky.social · 19d

Very Bielefeld of Bielefeld train station to cancel all trains to and from Bielefeld.
#DeutscheBahn

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Florian G. Kern @floriangkern.bsky.social · 21d

The vanilla manosphere.

Reposted by Florian G. Kern

Carolina Garriga @carogarriga.bsky.social · Sep 7

I had the pleasure of joining NPR's @planetmoney.bsky.social to talk about central banks, what’s happening with the Fed, & why it matters.

Big thanks to @erikaberas.bsky.social for a fun and engaging interview (+ Carola Binder & Lev Menand).

@uniessexgov.bsky.social
www.npr.org/2025/09/05/n...

What happens to central banks under pressure? : Planet Money

President Donald Trump has been pressuring the Federal Reserve from a few angles. So we wanted to look at other examples of political pressure on central banks, to see what it might mean for us and fo...

www.npr.org

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Reposted by Florian G. Kern

Department of Government, Essex @uniessexgov.bsky.social · 26d

👏 Congrats to Dr Laura Sudulich on completing her Parliamentary Academic Fellowship with @ukparliament.parliament.uk!

Outcome: a global map of parliamentary public engagement 🗺️

📅 Launch Event: 25 Sept, Westminster
🎙️ Chaired by @shane-martin.bsky.social

#EssexGov #EssexImpact #UKParliament

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Reposted by Florian G. Kern

Department of Government, Essex @uniessexgov.bsky.social · 25d

📈 The University of Essex is on the rise!
The Guardian University Guide 2026 ranks us:
🏆 12th overall in the UK
📚 12th for Politics
🌍 9th for International Relations
#EssexGov #EssexImpact #EssexIR #UniversityRankings

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Florian G. Kern @floriangkern.bsky.social · Sep 5

That’s awesome and very much deserved @carlmc.bsky.social! Congrats!

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Florian G. Kern @floriangkern.bsky.social · Sep 5

Congrats @dianebolet.bsky.social! looking forward to seeing what you find.

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Reposted by Florian G. Kern

The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · Aug 27

President Trump’s attempt to remove Fed governor Lisa Cook could undermine the economy -- and amp up inflation.

The Fed’s role is to keep decisions like interest rates tied to data, not short-term political gain. Video from an article by political economists Ana Carolina Garriga and Cristina Bodea

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Florian G. Kern @floriangkern.bsky.social · Aug 28

When you were just one voluntary severance scheme away from sucking at this. #whodathunk

Florian G. Kern @floriangkern.bsky.social · Aug 27

It’s August, but a decently sized @uniessexgov.bsky.social Institutions group met today for our monthly reading workshop to discuss @sascenciob.bsky.social’s super interesting working paper on gender quotas and intraparty battles. No presentation, just reading and discussion. Good group, this.

Florian G. Kern @floriangkern.bsky.social · Aug 27

Ever heard of The Self Sabotage Workshop? @teodannemann.bsky.social @riadsala.bsky.social

Reposted by Florian G. Kern

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · Aug 17

The purveyors of AI want us to believe that AI is the perfect educator. Because they want us to believe that it's more effective to invest tax dollars in private companies than in public services.

newmethos @newmethos.bsky.social · Aug 17

It fucking blows my mind that AI has such a hold on the mind as the perfect educator when it sucks at every pedagogical principle I’ve ever been taught

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · Aug 17

Arrgh. This ad (which came across my FB feed today) encapsulates so much of what's wrong with our culture. It implies that boys are struggling with math because they aren't "man" enough and that the best solution isn't to invest more in public education but rather to have parents pay for AI.

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Reposted by Florian G. Kern

Robert Heinze @rheinze.bsky.social · Aug 15

Es gibt aktuell keinen besseren Journalismus zu afrikanischen Themen als @thecontinent.org und Ihr könnt ihn einfach über Signal und WhatsApp UMSONST abonnieren:

wa.me/27738056068?...

signal.me#eu/_OpoNMfIF...

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Florian G. Kern @floriangkern.bsky.social · Aug 10

Matula, hau mich raus.

Reposted by Florian G. Kern

Thomas Malang @dalangmalang.bsky.social · Aug 10

Das ist der Zeitgeist: aufgeben

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Florian G. Kern @floriangkern.bsky.social · Aug 8

Erklär mir mal einer warum Superpunk‘s Ich weigere mich aufzugeben nur 55k streams of Spotify hat. Unfassbar.

@dalangmalang.bsky.social da muss mehr kommen.