iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I can only recommend working in this group, the WZB, and (to an extent, at least for some months of the year) Berlin. This is possibly the best job I’ve seen on the 🇪🇺 market in the last few years

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The tour goes on ;) I’m presenting this paper at Sciences Po tomorrow at the UNEQUALMAND Workshop. Thanks to @iguinaudeau.bsky.social @elisadeisshelbig.bsky.social & @theresmatthiess.bsky.social for organizing!

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Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Very much looking forward to presenting this joint project with @markuskollberg.bsky.social and @fraraffaelli.bsky.social at IE this week.

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I’m presenting this project at the @wzb.bsky.social today (Sept. 16) at 2:00-3:15pm. Thanks to @jeyalizade.bsky.social for the invite! I’ll also be at *HU-Berlin* on Thursday and Friday. If you are around and want to get a coffee, don’t be a stranger

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Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

New working paper. We propose a theory of dynamic identity-based linkages between voters and parties. We base this theory on models of expressive voting where voting signifies joining a community of social groups of voters. People have a sense of which parties are associated with which groups.

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Fabrizio Gilardi @fgilardi.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I'm hiring! Three-year postdoc (80%) in my research group at @ipz.bsky.social, starting January 2027. Digital technology and politics, some teaching. Deadline: 30 September 2026. Questions welcome, and please share! www.ipz.uzh.ch/dam/jcr:bbee... (pdf)

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Leonardo Carella @leonardocarella.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Some personal news: in September I will be joining Oxford's DPIR as Lecturer in Comparative Politics. Very happy to be heading back to the Mothership, and grateful to my colleagues in Vienna for a great year!

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

We often focus on what shapes the politics of immigration in the present. This article looks at the long-term consequences of immigration politics. The high immigration salience we see today will shape how *future* voters (i.e., today's kids and teens) will vote in the future.

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Giorgio Malet @giorgiomalet.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

We did it again! A year after our first workshop, @jellekoedam.bsky.social, @tinepaulsen.bsky.social, @nicolaiberk.bsky.social, and I welcomed another fantastic group of researchers to Zurich. Two days of thoughtful discussions, new connections, and lots of fun... 🏊 Thanks to everyone who joined!

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

2027 🇮🇹 elections will be the ultimate test of mainstream parties’ willingness to defend liberal democracy If PD/M5S cannot agree on a leader, they will hand the country to Meloni - AGAIN If FI caves and accepts Vannacci in the coalition, they will normalize fasc… ah well, they did that in ‘94

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

The IPZ is great :) If you have questions on the Department feel free to reach out!

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

I'm presenting this project (w/ @leonardocarella.bsky.social) at @epssnet.bsky.social. If you like cleavage politics, identities, and how people update their class & religious identity to match their immigration preferences, come! Pre-print: osf.io/preprints/so... ⏰ June 19, 17:10 📍 Hall 2A (ICC)

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Thanks to @ccavaille.bsky.social and @alexjabbour.bsky.social for their time chairing and discussing this panel - I am really looking forward to this!

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

"So ... so I said ... why not sign your treaty here, at Versailles?"

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Reto Mitteregger @indubioproreto.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Les jeux sont faits: Thanks to urban municipalities and french speaking regions, Switzerland says NO to the far-right proposal demanding to cap the population at 10 million inhabitants.

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Great to be in Milan at @bocconi.bsky.social's P&I Clinic to present our project (w/ @leonardocarella.bsky.social) on how 🇬🇧🇮🇹 people update their class and religious identity to 'match' their immigration preferences! Updated version of the preprint 👉 osf.io/preprints/so...

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Peter Luca Versteegen @versteegenluca.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

🚨🚨 Job: Please share 🙌 - what? PhD position in my DFG-funded project on how citizens understand their role in democracy. - when? Application deadline Jul 1, job start Sept 1 or soon thereafter - how? www.uni-hamburg.de/en/stellenan...

uni-hamburg.de

Job advertisement

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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

As I have been arguing for almost a decade, populism is a secondary feature for most populist actors. Moreover, the main current threat to liberal democracy comes from the far right, which at least in Europe and U.S., is primarily nativist. In fact, some are barely populist anymore.

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Lena Maria Huber @lenamariahuber.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

📣 New paper out in BJPolS 📣

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Excited to present this project on immigration and group identities *tomorrow* (May 14) at the QPE Early Career Workshop at @kingsqpe.bsky.social Program 👉🏻 sites.google.com/view/kingsqp... For the great London weather 👇🏻

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Institut für Staatswissenschaft / Department of Government @stawi-univie.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Can attitudes change our identities? 🪪 Group-based anti‑immigration appeals nudged participants to newly claim “working‑class” or “Christian” even without strong objective ties or changes to policy views - showing instrumental belief justification. #Identity #Immigration Read the study recap:

staatswissenschaft.univie.ac.at

BLOG: Identity Spillovers

Social identities are often considered to be given facts that define us and our perspective of the world. Especially in politics, they are a driving force mobilizing voters across the political spectr...

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Leonardo Carella @leonardocarella.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Manchester's map looks a bit like Berlin's and Vienna's - green core with social democratic red ring around it, radical right in the poor suburbs, traditional right in the rich ones..

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Leonardo Carella @leonardocarella.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Yup. Cultural conflicts eat up the categories of "old" politics and spit them out as something completely different. @fraraffaelli.bsky.social and I have a paper about this 👇

Identity Spillovers: How the Politics of Immigration
Shapes Class and Religious Self-Categorization∗
Leonardo Carella†
Francesco Raffaelli‡
May 6, 2026
Abstract
Social identities are typically treated as stable antecedents of political preferences. This article shows thatthe causal arrow can also run in reverse: when exposed to narratives that frame immigration as a threat to
a discrete native social group, some individuals ‘update’ their social identity to match their immigration preferences. We theorize that anti-immigration individuals claim membership of these groups as a form
of instrumental belief justification: they ground out-group aversion in concern for in-group interests. We test this framework with two preregistered original survey experiments: one on class identity in Britain
and one on religious identity in Italy. Respondents with anti-immigration preferences are more likely to claim working-class (Study 1) or Christian (Study 2) identities, when presented with political rhetoric
that frames immigrants in opposition to these groups. These identity updates are driven by respondents who lack ‘objective’ markers of group membership. They are also not reflected in changes in support
for policies benefiting these groups, underscoring the instrumental nature of these identity claims. This article contributes to the literature on cleavage realignment, suggesting that when political actors link
‘old’ dimensions of political conflict to a prominent ‘new’ one — immigration — traditional categories of politics such as class and religion can acquire new meanings in people’s minds

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Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Very happy to share that I am going to be the new Director of the Democracy unit at the @wzb.bsky.social Berlin Social Science Center. I am excited to form a new research unit on democratic politics and to engage with people in Berlin and elsewhere to make liberal democracy more resilient.

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EPOP @psaepop.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

The call for papers for #EPOP2026 in Liverpool (17–19 September) is now open! We welcome submissions across all areas of research on elections, public opinion and parties. Deadline: 26 April Submit your proposals here: www.liverpool.ac.uk/politics/eve... @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social

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👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 15/04/2026

god grant me the audacity of a Catholic convert sincerely telling the Pope he’s wrong about theology

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Leonardo Carella @leonardocarella.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Tisza now momentarily with a supermajority (135 seats). (This is a *live count* with 45.71% of the vote counted, not a projection. Some of the outstanding vote from abroad may be less horrific for Orbán.)

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Very hard to give a general rule... but mechanism second if you can use manipulation checks to get to the mechanism (which can be the case sometimes)?. Ofc, one problem might be 'treatment spillovers' on the control group...

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Zach Dickson @zachdickson.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Great opportunity for recent PhD grads looking for a postdoc with solid support for research + teaching development This is my current role, so I'm happy to answer questions if you're interested! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQW831/l...

jobs.ac.uk

LSE Fellow in Advanced Quantitative Methods at London School of Economics and Political Science

An academic position as a LSE Fellow in Advanced Quantitative Methods is being advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Click now to find more details and explore additional academic job opportunities.

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Yes, something that is very underplayed in the national debate is how 'confrontational' with the South Meloni has been to accommodate Lega/FI and their constituencies: e.g., the 'autonomia differenziata' reform (then killed by the ConstCourt) and abolishing the RdC

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Tbf, the same North-South gradient was also there in the 2016 when Renzi was in govt (with some differences in E-R, Toscana, and Milano), so I wonder if this reflects aversion/propensity to change (on top of clearly strong partisan effects, of course)

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Linus Westheuser @lwestheuser.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Spending the day at a fantastic workshop on "Group Identities and Democracy" at HU Berlin, organized by @tabouchadi.bsky.social, @markuskollberg.bsky.social and @fraraffaelli.bsky.social, w @lenamariahuber.bsky.social @indubioproreto.bsky.social @alexprs.bsky.social @juliusk.bsky.social et al.

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

I’m presenting this paper ⬇️ in Berlin at the “Democracy and Identities” workshop organized by @tabouchadi.bsky.social & @markuskollberg.bsky.social to conclude our Einstein Research Group project 🥺

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Leonardo Carella @leonardocarella.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

The founder of Lega died yesterday. His (early) thoughts on alliances with post-fascists: "Never, never, never. We in Lega are those who continue the fight for liberation of the partisans, [...] Never with the fascists, never with the grandchildren of the fascists." www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WUB...

youtube.com

Bossi antifascista

YouTube video by Mario Pazzaglia

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Also, super fascinating line up of interviews to (old) party supporters attending the funeral. No one mentions immigration, but they are all obsessed with taxes and govt size…

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Bonus track: additional analysis on 🇮🇹🇪🇸 (ESS, 2023) Similar countries in cultural (Catholic, Southern European) and economic terms The 🇪🇸 Left legalized marriage equality and same-sex adoptions in 2005. The 🇮🇹 Left is silent This is how their public opinions on same-sex adoptions look like today

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

2️⃣ Individual-level salience is such higher on immigration than on gender & sexuality issues, esp. among anti-immigration folks ➡️ As a result, a platform's positions on traditional morality issues do not moderate the effect of its immigration stances on the probability of being chosen by voters

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

1️⃣ Anti-immigration people have moderate-to-progressive positions on issues such as abortion or "LG" rights BUT ➡️ They remain significantly conservative on new issues such as affirmative action, "LGBTQIA+" rights, inclusive language, and self-ID laws

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

This project was generously funded by the Einstein Stiftung Berlin within the framework of the Einstein Research Group at HU-Berlin led by @tabouchadi.bsky.social

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Bonus track: a depressing add-on about 🇮🇹🇪🇸 (ESS, 2023) Similar countries, in cultural (Catholic, Southern European) and economic terms The 🇪🇸 Left legalized marriage equality and adoptions for same sex couples in 2005. The 🇮🇹 Left remains silent This is how their public opinion looks like today:

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Francesco Raffaelli @fraraffaelli.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

2️⃣ Individual salience is much higher on immigration than on traditional morality issues, esp. among anti-immigration folks ➡️ As a result, a platform's positions on gender & sexuality issues do not moderate the effect of its positions on immigration on the probability of being chosen by voters

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