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Welcome to my website and thanks for stopping by! I am a Reader (Professor or Associate Professor outside the UK) of Comparative Politics in the Department of International Politics at City University of London. I previously worked as assistant and associate professor of political science at Humboldt University Berlin (2009 to 2018), Jean Monnet Fellow at the Robert Schuman Center of the European University Institute (academic year 2015/16), John F. Kennedy Memorial Fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University (academic year 2013/14), Visiting Fellow in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute (from April to August 2022), and lecturer of Political Science and International Studies at Ohio State University (academic year 2008/09). I received my PhD in Political Science from Ohio State University in August 2008.

Using comparative, historical, and individual perspectives, I study how people form preferences about controversial policies, how elites shape opinions and the behavior of citizens through mobilization, persuasion, and information in different political environments, and how these processes relate to critical episodes of major political conflict, such as class politics, regional integration, the transformation of the welfare state, and the current challenge to democracy. To investigate the interaction of individual-level processes with large-scale political developments and events, I combine the macro-analysis of institutions, conflict, and competition with a micro-level political-psychological approach, and I use a range of methods including experiments, comparative case studies, surveys, elite interviews, historical source analysis, and text analysis. My research engages the fields of comparative politics, political development, and political behavior, and the geographical focus of my work is on Europe and the United States. 

This website provides information about my research and teaching as well as examples of commentary and interviews I have provided for the news media. You can also download publications, teaching materials, and supplementary research materials such as data sets and reproductions of experimental treatments.

News

My article "Argument-stretching: (slightly) invalid political arguments and their effects on public opinion" was published in European Political Science Review (EPSR).

On November 24 and 25, 2023, Ellen Immergut and I organized our third "November Workshop" ("Public policy, conflict, and political rhetoric") at the European University Institute (EUI). The workshop program is available here. 

Sebastian Jobelius, Lennart Schulze, and I published a report (in German) on the role of group references and value claims in party communication. We find that the communication patterns of German political parties have remained virtually unchanged during the past six decades, despite massive concurrent changes in public opinion, social structure, and the use of language. The report and the methods appendix as well as additional information are available here from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. The files can also be downloaded from this website here and here.

Ellen Immergut, Diana Burlacu, and I hosted a workshop about "Dynamics of policies, political rhetoric, and political competition" at the European University Institute from November 17 to 18, 2022, with a long list of exciting presentations. The program is available here. More info on some of the research presented at the workshop is available on the website of the "forging solidarity" project.

Together with Jimena Valdez, I am hosting a lecture series at City University of London, entitled "New Research about Political Change. Comparative, individual, and historical perspectives.” The schedule for the February to April 2022 term (and the registration link) are available here. The lectures take place on Tuesdays from 4 to 5.30 pm (London time) online via Zoom Webinars. The series is a continuation of the "New Research in Comparative Politics" lecture series I hosted with Allyson Benton. Click here to access the schedule for the past term (February and March 2021). Click here for recordings of these lectures, by Cassandra Emmons and Tommaso Pavone, Rosario Aguilar, Diana Burlacu, and Johannes Gerschewski. 

Together with David Blunt, I am hosting the City Politics Podcast, a roundtable discussion on politics, international relations and current affairs. We have completed 21 episodes so far, on a wide range of topics such as "Covid-19 and global inequality", "Race and American politics", "Social democracy", "The American presidential election", "Politics of Protest", "The ethics of war," and "Conspiracy theories."  

I wrote an article, together with Sebastian Jobelius, about the development of British and German social democracy. The article is entitled "Social democracy, party of values", and it was published in Renewal. We argue that social democratic parties should abandon the social compromise model and become parties of values. 

I did an online lecture on "Political Rhetoric and Public Opinion" in the lockdown lecture series at City University. The slides are available here and a video recording here. Some of the research on which the lecture is based, can be found here, here, here, here, here, and here.

I published two short articles, together with Sebastian Jobelius, about the transformation of social democracy into a party of values, one in English and one in German.

The article "The quality of political information" was published in Political Studies Review. 

The article "Shaping public opinion about regional integration: the rhetoric of justification and party cues" was published in Political Studies. 

The article "How politicians ought to talk about Europe" was published in a volume edited by Richard Rose, "How referendums challenge European democracy"

I did an online lecture on "the past, present, and future of social democracy" in the lockdown lecture series. The slides are available here, and a video recording here 

My book "How leaders mobilize workers" is now out in paperback format 

"How leaders mobilize workers" was recently reviewed in Perspectives on Politics (by Ruth Collier) and American Journal of Sociology (by Doowon Suh)