Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki
@mierkezat.bsky.social
1.7K followers 640 following 62 posts
Political scientist at Vanderbilt; political parties, social groups, Western Europe. Writing a book about identity politics, past and present. Prev: Stanford, EUI, MPIfG, Harvard.
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mierkezat.bsky.social
I’m very excited to share that my paper “Cleavage theory meets civil society: A framework and research agenda” with @eborbath.bsky.social & Swen Hutter has now been published online in ‪@wepsocial.bsky.social‬ (w/ open access funding thanks to @wzb.bsky.social‬!)

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
mierkezat.bsky.social
Thank you so much to @davidattewell6.bsky.social and @dpzollinger.bsky.social for their fantastic stewardship of this great special issue; their introduction here is an excellent read on contemporary puzzles of cleavage formation, highly recommend!
davidattewell6.bsky.social
2/@dpzollinger.bsky.social and I set out 3 puzzles: How does a new cleavage work without strong intermediary orgs? How to reconcile cleavage theory w fragmented party systems? How are structural divides (e.g. ed) mobilized indirectly in political conflict today?

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Updating cleavage theory for the twenty-first century
Contemporary cleavage research has linked ‘socio-cultural’ conflicts mobilised by new left and far right parties to structural divides in post-industrial knowledge societies. Contributions in this ...
www.tandfonline.com
Reposted by Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki
davidattewell6.bsky.social
2/@dpzollinger.bsky.social and I set out 3 puzzles: How does a new cleavage work without strong intermediary orgs? How to reconcile cleavage theory w fragmented party systems? How are structural divides (e.g. ed) mobilized indirectly in political conflict today?

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Updating cleavage theory for the twenty-first century
Contemporary cleavage research has linked ‘socio-cultural’ conflicts mobilised by new left and far right parties to structural divides in post-industrial knowledge societies. Contributions in this ...
www.tandfonline.com
Reposted by Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki
davidattewell6.bsky.social
6/ @mierkezat.bsky.social, @eborbath.bsky.social, and @swenhutter.bsky.social argue that civil society still shapes contemporary cleavage formation, but with a more varied, volatile, and external pressure-based orientation to parties than the membership orgs of old.

bsky.app/profile/mier...
mierkezat.bsky.social
I’m very excited to share that my paper “Cleavage theory meets civil society: A framework and research agenda” with @eborbath.bsky.social & Swen Hutter has now been published online in ‪@wepsocial.bsky.social‬ (w/ open access funding thanks to @wzb.bsky.social‬!)

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki
davidattewell6.bsky.social
@dpzollinger.bsky.social and I are thrilled "Cleavage Politics in Western Democracies" is out as an SI at @wepsocial.bsky.social!

Its papers explore the foundations of the cleavage pitting new left against radical right parties, and how it compares to the classic cleavages of Lipset & Rokkan:

🧵⬇️
mierkezat.bsky.social
Getting organized for the 2026 CES conference (deadline fast approaching); if you have a paper you're planning to present that is either on 1.) group appeals, or 2.) contemporary sources of social closure, lmk and we can see whether there's enough overlap for a shared panel submission! #polisky
Reposted by Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki
ziogas.bsky.social
This.

No TT/non-TT/VAP job will be offered to an int'l candidate, since it requires an H1-B until the green card is issued.

This process takes at least a couple of years.
Reposted by Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki
lwestheuser.bsky.social
Taking a closer look at @mierkezat.bsky.social @swenhutter.bsky.social & @eborbath.bsky.social's paper on cleavage formation and civil society and cannot recommend it highly enough! Really insightful theorizing, e.g. on changes in the form of civil society and its effect on group-party linkages:
Reposted by Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki
lotemhalevy.bsky.social
Here are some #APSA panels that explore the relationship between parties, CSOs, and democracy *in European Politics* featuring papers by brilliant jr women; @francescayton.bsky.social @maajanmor.bsky.social and what are sure to be sharp comments from uber smart and sharp @mierkezat.bsky.social!
Reposted by Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki
indubioproreto.bsky.social
Another European election, another likely record result for a far-right party: Norwegian parliamentary elections show small gains for the social democrats (Ap) and (if the numbers hold as counting goes on) the historically best ever result for the far-right FrP.
europeelects.bsky.social
Norway, 85% of the votes counted:

National parliament election

Ap-S&D: 28% (+1.7)
FrP~ECR: 24.6% (+13.0)
H-EPP: 14.4% (-6.0)
Sp~RE: 5.9% (-7.6)
SV~LEFT: 5.4% (-2.2)
R~LEFT: 5.3% (+0.6)
MDG-G/EFA: 4.5% (+0.6)
KrF-EPP: 4.3% (+0.5)
V-RE: 3.4% (-1.2)

+/- vs.

➤ europeelects.eu/norway
Reposted by Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki
wepsocial.bsky.social
💥 Online first in West European Politics:

"Cleavage theory meets civil society: a framework and research agenda"

by @mierkezat.bsky.social @eborbath.bsky.social & @swenhutter.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1080/0140...
Abstract of the article "Cleavage theory meets civil society: a framework and research agenda" by Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki, Endre Borbáth and Swen Hutter. Published online first in West European Politics. Table 1, displaying the role of civil society across stages of cleavage development. Figure 2, displaying the members of civil society organisations among the electorate of political parties in Austria, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and Switzerland.
mierkezat.bsky.social
Quite on the nose; from A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Reposted by Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki
danieltroberts.com
New Working Paper! Why do policies that reinforce unequal opportunities persist? Some blame elites. I argue less secure families defend these "boundaries" against reform and call this "boundary defense". I test this on a 2010 referendum against school reform in Hamburg. Link: osf.io/preprints/soc...
Reposted by Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki
dpzollinger.bsky.social
Another fantastic piece out in our "Cleavage Politics in Western Democracies" special issue! (co-edited with @davidattewell6.bsky.social )

@mierkezat.bsky.social et al investigate the role of civil society in contemporary cleavage formation. 

There are a few more SI contributions still to come!
mierkezat.bsky.social
I’m very excited to share that my paper “Cleavage theory meets civil society: A framework and research agenda” with @eborbath.bsky.social & Swen Hutter has now been published online in ‪@wepsocial.bsky.social‬ (w/ open access funding thanks to @wzb.bsky.social‬!)

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki
ronjasczepanski.bsky.social
Ever asked yourself how to detect and extract social groups from texts with computational social science? @haukelicht.bsky.social and me have a solution for you out at @bjpols.bsky.social. You can also find the pre-trained models on huggingface!
bjpols.bsky.social
NEW -

Detecting Group Mentions in Political Rhetoric A Supervised Learning Approach - cup.org/45WZppQ

- @haukelicht.bsky.social & @ronjasczepanski.bsky.social

#OpenAccess
BJPolS Abstract discussing a social science research method that uses text analysis for understanding group language patterns and political leanings, mentioning the use of British articles and generating new empirical insights.
Reposted by Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki
lotemhalevy.bsky.social
Interesting new article that fits nicely within "The Building Blocs" research agenda (t.ly/us7kj), which we recently contributed to: t.ly/Dg6zK

We, as scholars of Europe, can learn from scholars of MENA, SE Asia, etc, who have long emphasized the role of civil society for party competition.
Reposted by Alex Mierke-Zatwarnicki
swenhutter.bsky.social
Highly recommend giving it a read! What a fun and insightful writing journey. Also, I’m new here on Bluesky, excited to connect!
mierkezat.bsky.social
I’m very excited to share that my paper “Cleavage theory meets civil society: A framework and research agenda” with @eborbath.bsky.social & Swen Hutter has now been published online in ‪@wepsocial.bsky.social‬ (w/ open access funding thanks to @wzb.bsky.social‬!)

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
mierkezat.bsky.social
That's so nice to hear thank you!! Lots of threads here that could make for good PhD dissertations 👀