iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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🙏 I thank everyone who gave feedback on this and previous versions of the article. I am also very grateful to Michael Jankowski and @simonotjes.bsky.social for providing a Python script and support to analyse the party manifestos.

media.tenor.com

ALT: a man with long hair and a beard is smiling and saying thank you .

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💡 Takeaways: 👉 Local parties are strategic actors making rational choices about which issues to emphasise and de-emphasise. 👉 Contrary to the frequently heard criticism by independent local lists branches of national parties do not act as out of touch subordinates.

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🔍 What do I find? The explanatory regression analysis demonstrates that both the issue salience of the national party organisation and place-based conditions, such as crime and unemployment, drive local parties' issue salience.

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🔍 What do I find? Based on the descriptive data it appears that the local branches put more emphasis on the issues their national party owns.

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🌍 I study local parties in 36 municipalities in Flanders, Belgium. 📄 I measure emphasis on 17 policy issues in 262 local election manifestos. 🖥️ The manifestos were automatically classified at the sentence level using supervised machine learning.

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😊😔 This is a highly pertinent question, because local party branches are "Janus-faced" organisations that must balance two roles: acting as agents for their national party while simultaneously serving as actors within the municipal political arena.

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a woman in a purple dress is sitting on a yellow chair and says i know nothing about this

Although issue salience patterns are extensively examined at the national level, we know surprisingly little about local parties' issue salience. Research has yet to fully explain the key factors that determine which issues are emphasised and de-emphasised.

media.tenor.com

ALT: a woman in a purple dress is sitting on a yellow chair and says i know nothing about this

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Government and Opposition @govandopp.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

😀 Very excited about my new article in Party Politics: "Determined by place or party? Issue salience in local election manifestos" 📖 Read it here in full: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... or this short thread 🧵👇

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New #OpenAccess - "Beyond Numbers: Ideological Motivations in Local Coalition Formation in Flanders" - cup.org/4cqqOF4 by @rafreuse.bsky.social & @martingross.bsky.social #FirstView

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🙏 Thanks to my academic bestie @martingross.bsky.social for the outstanding collaboration. We are also grateful to the editors and reviewers for the valuable comments and smooth publication process. And finally thanks to everyone who gave feedback on an earlier draft of this article!

💡 Takeaway: Ideology plays a limited - though not negligible - role, and other factors like the cordon sanitaire are very important too.

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👉 Preference tangentiality alone does not predict coalition formation. However, it does matter in interaction with policy distance: among ideologically similar parties, coalitions are more likely when parties emphasise different issues.

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🔍 What do we find? 👉 Left-right proximity does increase the likelihood of coalition formation but this effect disappears once Vlaams Belang is excluded.

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2️⃣ Preference tangentiality - the extent to which parties emphasise different issues - is high. Parties with diverging issue salience are actually compatible coalition partners because they can engage in logrolling. We are the first to test this at the local level.

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In our article we test two policy-seeking theories. We argue that coalitions are more likely to form when: 1️⃣ Policy distance on the general, economic, and/or cultural left-right dimension between parties is small

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Eva Platteau @evaplatteau.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Does ideology matter to coalition formation at the local level? In our new article in @govandopp.bsky.social, @martingross.bsky.social and I explore this question by analysing coalition building across 30 municipalities in Flanders. 🧵

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De vakbonden komen terecht op straat. Het deel van de welvaartscreatie dat naar lonen gaat is stelselmatig gedaald. Bovendien is 2/3e van de daling in het loonaandeel te verklaren door de relatieve afname van de socialezekerheidsbijdragen waardoor pensioenen etc. moeilijker te financieren worden.

standaard.be

In tien jaar tijd verschoof 16 miljard euro van arbeid naar kapitaal

De Belgische lonen hebben de afgelopen tien jaar geen gelijke tred gehouden met de economische groei. De kloof tussen beide is aangegroeid tot 15,8 miljard euro. “De verdeling van de geproduceerde rijkdom is radicaal veranderd.”

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Sciencepo ULB @sciencepoulb.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

[OUT] 'Les élections locales du 13 octobre 2024 en Wallonie et à Bruxelles. Une offre politique resserrée face à des dynamiques divergentes ?', nouvel ouvrage coordonné par Caroline Close et Simon Geshef, chercheurs à SciencePo ULB (Cevipol), avec Jehan Bottin et Min Reuchamps, publié aux PUL

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Simon Otjes @simonotjes.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Wie heeft de formatie gewonnen? Wie heeft de formatie verloren? Ik dook in de financiële tabellen om te zien dat D66 een veel kleiner deel van hun beloften hebben gerealiseerd dan de VVD stukroodvlees.nl/wie-heeft-de...

stukroodvlees.nl

Wie heeft de formatie gewonnen en verloren? - StukRoodVlees

Als er een coalitieakkoord gepresenteerd wordt, bladeren de echte nerds naar de bijlagen met de begrotingstabellen. Papier is geduldig: fractievoorzitters kunnen pijnlijke maatregelen verbloemen in pr...

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Check out the full article: authors.elsevier.com/a/1mP2dxRaZr...

authors.elsevier.com

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Key takeaway: Even at the municipal level, ideological party competition plays an important role in shaping voter choice.

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We show that the importance voters assign to environment and safety is significantly associated with the emphasis those issues receive from the local party they support. However, no effect was found for the issue of education.

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We find that the left-right position of voters is significantly related to the position of the local party they voted for: more right-wing voters vote for more right-wing parties.

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We test proximity and issue salience voting in the 2012 & 2018 local elections in Flanders (Belgium). We link exit poll data with local party manifestos, focusing on left-right positions and the importance attached to environment, safety, and education.

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Ideology is seen as a key driver of voting behaviour in national elections. However, what about the local level, where politics is frequently described as less ideological? In this paper we study whether voters' preferences align with the manifesto of the local party they support.

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Raf Reuse @rafreuse.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

📢 New publication out in Electoral Studies! Do voters care about ideology in local elections? Studying the 2012 & 2018 Flemish local elections, @dieterstiers.bsky.social and I find they do. A little thread 🧵

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Only a few days left to submit a paper proposal!

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Martin Gross @martingross.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

LoPaPol is back! 💥 Come join us in Darmstadt for the 3️⃣ edition of the Local Party Politics workshop! ⏰ 24-25 March 2026 🚧 Organizers: @christinajuen.bsky.social Björn Egner @pluggedchris.bsky.social & myself with the help of LoPaPol legends @simonotjes.bsky.social & @rafreuse.bsky.social

Call for Papers for the LoPaPol 2026 workshop in Darmstadt, 24-25 March 2026.

Abstract proposals should be sent until January 11 to Christina-Marie Juen or Martin Gross.

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Simon Otjes @simonotjes.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Out now! I look at the size of municipal and local assemblies in EU/OECD countries and find that in addition to an effect of municipality population, more autonomous local councils are larger www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Patterns of regional and local council size

There is a growing literature that examines how subnational assembly size affects policy outcomes like turnout and women's representation, but also in…

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Raf Reuse @rafreuse.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

I’m thrilled to share that I’ve started a new position as Postdoctoral Teaching Assistant at Ghent University’s Centre for Local Politics 🎉 I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue my research on the role of ideology in local politics and to contribute to our amazing Department 😊

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Raf Reuse @rafreuse.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

Thanks for all your wishes!!! 😊

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Raf Reuse @rafreuse.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Likewise, it was such a great pleasure to work with you @martingross.bsky.social You're one of the kindest and funniest people I know. Your support was indispensable!

Bart Dhondt @bartdhondt.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

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De minister van miserie kent geen ondergrens: samenwerken met de Taliban. Terwijl iedereen weet dat die hun eigen bevolking terroriseren.

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Raf Reuse @rafreuse.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

🎓✨ Officially Dr. Reuse! ✨🎓 After 4 years of hard work, I defended my PhD on ideology in local politics. It was an unforgettable night. Grateful to my supervisors @nicolasbouteca.bsky.social & Kristof Steyvers, colleagues, family & friends for making this possible. ❤️

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Nicolas Bouteca @nicolasbouteca.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Ook in de lokale politiek speelt ideologie een rol. Partijprogramma's verschillen net zoals op het nationale niveau van elkaar en kiezers stemmen ideologisch. Bij coalitievorming is de rol van ideologie beperkt. Dank om dit voor ons uit te klaren @rafreuse.bsky.social. #UGent

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Lieven Deswaef @lievendeswaef.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Vlaams Belang Brugge pakte gisteren in de Brugse gemeenteraad nog fier uit met dit nieuws. Het moge duidelijk zijn wat de toekomst is voor steden en gemeenten die onder hun bewind komen.

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Raf Reuse @rafreuse.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Can't get enough of local party politics after my public defense next week? Join us for a lecture on candidate selection within local parties by @simonotjes.bsky.social

Jan Steurs @jansteurs.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

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Een hele zomer lang in de pers dat ze iets willen doen voor Gaza, maar zelfs het simpelweg erkennen van de genocide, daar worden excuses voor gevonden. Bravo Vooruit en CD&V. Echt. Wauw. 🙄

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Els Hertogen @elshertogen.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

De premier kon kiezen voor fel verzet tegen genocide, tegen het nieuwe offensief, tegen het verhongeren van kinderen, tegen gewelddadige kolonisten, tegen Europese inactie. De premier koos voor verdelen in eigen land en de uitholling van termen als antisemitisme & racisme. Een premier onwaardig.

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Wetenschappelijk Instituut voor Solidariteit @wisolidariteit.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

"Te lang hebben politicologen lokale partijpolitiek links laten liggen. Voor de cruciale groene én sociale thema's laten nieuwe onderzoeken zien dat lokale politieke keuzes ertoe doen." ✍️ @simonotjes.bsky.social in tijdschrift de Helling.

buff.ly

Geen zonnepanelen in mijn achtertuin

Onderzoek wijst uit: de lokale democratie functioneert. Of het nu gaat om zonneparken of lokale belastingen, het maakt uit op welke partij je stemt.

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ECPR Standing Group on Local Government & Politics @ecpr-logopol.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Just a few days to go until the General Conference at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki. We can't wait to welcome you to our section, chaired by Eva Marín Hlynsdóttir & Aldo Paparo. Discover our nine panels 👇

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Vredesactie @vredesactie.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

[English below.] HISTORISCHE OVERWINNING! De Brusselse rechtbank heeft de Vlaamse overheid bevolen hun eigen wetgeving na te leven en álle militaire doorvoer naar Israël te stoppen. De rechter: Vlaanderen voert géén effectief controlebeleid en overtreedt haar wettelijke én morele plichten. ...

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Raf Reuse @rafreuse.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Thank you for the kind wishes! 😍