🗣 Communication Paper Picnic 🧺: Political Science

I checked 18 political science journals on Wednesday, July 08, 2026 using the Crossref API. For the period July 01 to July 07, I found 54 new paper(s) in 11 journal(s).

American Journal of Political Science

Bureaucrat assignments as instruments of political control: Theory and evidence from land administration officials in India

Anustubh Agnihotri, Aditya Dasgupta, Devesh Kapur

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This paper investigates how politicians use the assignment of officials to geographical posts—a personnel system found in many countries—as a system of incentives to control, and possibly corrupt, bureaucratic behavior. The argument is developed with a matching model and tested with a nationwide survey of Indian officials who administer land, a lucrative asset and source of rents in fast‐growing countries. With an unobtrusive design, we provide evidence that officials prefer geographical posts with urban amenities, good staffing, and hometown proximity. These preferences are intense in salary‐equivalent terms. Ruling parties use this as leverage to exert pressure on officials to bend regulations by assigning them to their preferred posts but threatening transfers should they fail to comply, especially in jurisdictions with high regulatory corruption potential (measured with remote‐sensing data on flow of rural‐to‐urban land transactions). The findings highlight personnel policy as a potent instrument of political control/corruption of bureaucracy.

State surveillance and collective dissent

Gaétan Nandong

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State surveillance facilitates the collection of intelligence on dissidents while simultaneously providing information about the value of the status quo. I study this trade‐off in a context where an uninformed government must decide whether to repress. Because citizens expect more informed governments to enact greater repression, autocratic surveillance can create a climate of fear. However, surveillance can also stimulate dissent when citizens have access to public information. State surveillance gives citizens an opportunity to coordinate, even in the absence of a preference for such coordination. Surveillance can amplify dissent by enhancing citizens' motivations for political activism aimed at drawing the government's attention to political and economic issues. Coordination distorts government learning, resulting in lower expected levels of repression. The analysis further indicates that the effectiveness of advanced surveillance technology depends on expectations regarding repression, thereby underscoring a psychological aspect of state control.

Electoral Studies

Protest and opposition parties’ election strategies

Tobias Böhmelt, Lawrence Ezrow

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Policy or polity? Experimental evidence on voters’ information priorities in European parliament elections

Mathias Wessel Tromborg, Roman Senninger, Andreas Videbæk Jensen

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Hidden or declared? Evidence from a list experiment on homophobic motives in electoral behavior

Jaakko Hillo, Isak Vento, Åsa von Schoultz

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European Journal of Political Research

Place, education, and voting along the transnational cleavage in Europe

Twan Huijsmans, Theresa Kuhn, Bram Lancee

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The transnational cleavage captures a divide between those with cosmopolitan orientations who are more positive about international migration, trade, and governance and those with more nationalist outlooks. Recent research has demonstrated that polarisation along this cleavage in Europe is increasingly linked to urban-rural differences: people living in urban areas tend to be more cosmopolitan than people in rural areas, but existing studies have not yet elaborately analysed differences in voting behaviour. Moreover, education is the most consistent predictor of attitudes related to the transnational cleavage, and higher-educated individuals more often live in cities. Urban-rural political differences may therefore reflect differences in educational attainment between urban and rural inhabitants. We take a longitudinal perspective to assess the degree of overlap between urban-rural and educational differences in voting for parties at the opposite ends of the transnational cleavage (‘GAL’ and ‘TAN’ parties), using data from all 11 rounds of the European Social Survey (2002–2024). We find that urban voters are overrepresented in the electorates of GAL parties and underrepresented in the electorates of TAN parties. These urban-rural differences are growing over time and, only for a small portion, overlap with educational divides in GAL/TAN voting. Although, overall, educational attainment remains more strongly related to GAL/TAN voting, both educational attainment and urban-rural residence have their own explanatory value. These findings underscore that ‘place’ increasingly matters in structuring political conflict across Europe and highlight the importance of further incorporating geography into future research on the transnational cleavage.

Satisfaction with democracy after winning and losing without elections

Miroslav Nemčok, Jean-Francois Daoust, Piret Ehin

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Voters of government parties are systematically more satisfied with democracy than supporters of opposition parties. The dynamics of this winner-loser gap are typically studied in the context of elections. However, it is not clear how changes in government composition that occur without elections midway through an electoral cycle, and that change voters’ winner/loser status, influence satisfaction with democracy. We address this question by examining an unexpected government change in Estonia in 2016, which interrupted the European Social Survey data collection (Round 8). The largest party in a three-party coalition government was replaced by the largest opposition party midway through the 2015–2019 electoral cycle while all other parties retained their government or opposition status. These circumstances enabled us to examine the effect of winning and losing without elections using fixed effects models, including a difference-in-differences design. The results provide suggestive but fragile evidence that losing government status might reduce satisfaction with democracy, whereas the effect of winning is modest at best and statistically inconclusive. Where effects emerge, they do so with a lag of approximately six weeks, coinciding with the implementation of a major tax reform – consistent with policy-based considerations rather than by immediate affective responses.

Elite affective polarization and government formation

Hanna Bäck, Royce Carroll, Johan Hellström, Jonas Lindahl

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Scholars have suggested that polarization among political elites may undermine the functioning of democratic institutions. While extensively studied at the mass level, affective polarization at the elite level and its potential consequences for cooperation and governance remain understudied. This study examines how elite affective polarization influences government coalition formation in parliamentary democracies. We argue that when political elites are highly polarized along affective lines, the barriers to cooperation and compromise are higher, as elites may view other parties not only in terms of policy differences but also in terms of the capacity to act as credible coalition partners. We hypothesize that, holding constant ideological differences, potential coalitions characterized by higher affective distance are less likely to form. We evaluate our hypothesis using elite survey data collected among local politicians in Swedish municipalities. We find that affective distance between potential coalition partners reduces the probability of coalition formation, separate from the effect of left-right ideological disagreement and positions on multiculturalism. The findings suggest that as affective polarization intensifies among political elites, it may hinder parties’ ability to form stable governing coalitions, with potential consequences for democratic functioning.

Journal of Experimental Political Science

How Durable Are Experimental Increases in Women’s Representation?

Alejandra Gimenez Aldridge, Christopher F. Karpowitz, J. Quin Monson, Jessica Robinson Preece

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Do field experimental interventions produce durable changes in gender representation? We examine the persistence of experimental treatment effects in Karpowitz, Monson, and Preece (2017), where a single letter from Republican Party leaders significantly increased women’s election to state delegate positions. Two years later, differences between treatment and control conditions evaporated. Treated precincts largely retained earlier experimental gains, but the treatment effect size was smaller because of increases in the control condition. We examine four possible explanations for this pattern. First, we find considerable evidence of an incumbency effect among women in one treatment condition. Second, increases in women’s representation in the control condition appear to be related in part to larger turnout during the 2016 election cycle. Finally, we find little evidence of lasting attitude changes about women’s representation and few traces of post-experimental spillover.

Party Politics

Affective polarization and the support for populist and technocratic governance

Sarah Engler, Ivo Bantel, Lucas Leemann

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How do citizens differ in their view of democratic governance when they are more affectively polarised? This study examines how the support for different forms of governance in Germany – focusing on populist governance, and technocratic governance – vary at different levels of affective polarization. We argue that heightened affective polarization is linked to support for less pluralist forms of governance. Populist voters, especially from radical right parties, tend to favor direct democracy, which aligns with their majoritarian beliefs, while non-populist voters with high affective polarization favor technocratic governance. Using observational survey data from Germany, we illustrate how preferences for different forms of governance vary at different levels of affective polarization and how this relationship is conditioned by partisan identity. These findings contribute to understanding how political divisions reshape democratic attitudes in multiparty systems.

Bureaucratic appointments and coalition support in presidential systems – An analysis of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies

Koichi Osamura

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How does the provision of political appointments influence coalition support in multiparty presidential systems? While the importance of cabinet portfolios for coalition governments is well-established, lower-tier positions have received less attention being limited to compensations for weak policy-making capabilities. In multiparty presidential systems, however, these appointments also function as bargaining chips during coalition formation. I argue that bureaucratic appointments help sustain coalition support, especially during votes on bills issued by the executive power. Analyzing roll-call data from Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies (2003–2018) across 161 bills, I find that besides ministerial portfolios, lower-tier appointments strongly increase legislative support, highlighting the strategic use of patronage under high political stakes. These findings contribute to understanding coalition management strategies in fragmented presidential systems.

Political Behavior

Close Race: Harnessing Multiracialism to Reduce Racial Prejudice

Jasmine English

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The Political Ramifications of Sermon Rhetoric Among White U.S. Protestants and White Catholics

Paul Lendway

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Political Geography

Stolen and hidden [Ostutako Paisaiak].The material footprint of the Anthropocene on the Biscayan coast

Arantzazu Luzarraga Iturrioz

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Migration and the metropole: The United Kingdom's colonial use of the offshore to externalize and manage migration

Kate Motluk

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“Historically Russian land”. The Russian pedagogies of spatial continuity in geographical textbooks

Sofia Gavrilova

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Interrogating temporary labour migration schemes: A multiscalar perspective on institutional precarity

Ioana Jipa-Muşat, Nicola Piper

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Review forum

Lucian M. Ashworth, Lori Lee Oates, Lucas de Oliveira Paes, Matthew Specter, Gerard Toal

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Realising South Africa's green hydrogen proposition: Finance and its implications for a just transition

Amanda-Leigh O'Connell

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Political Psychology

Devaluation, power, and resistance: The experience of humiliation among Dalits in India

Yashpal Jogdand, Stephen Reicher

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This study reports interview data gathered with Dalits in India on the topic of humiliation ( N = 19). We demonstrate the prevalence of humiliation in their everyday experience and provide novel insights concerning the experience, the conditions, and the consequences of humiliation. First, we show that the experience of humiliation is rooted in the tension between being devalued by others and being powerless to respond. Second, we show that this experience is contingent upon developing a valued sense of self. Third, we show that the responses to humiliating experiences are enacted in a strategic manner and center on the possibility of collective resistance. We conclude by underlining the importance of humiliation in Dalit lives and its collective nature. We therefore argue that a decolonized psychology should pay more attention to humiliation and should also reconceptualize it by paying more attention to identity, power, and resistance.

PS: Political Science & Politics

People Like Me? Enhancing Course Relevance and Political Efficacy

Joshua M. Jansa, Eve M. Ringsmuth

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Scholars, journalists, and educational professionals have called for renewed efforts to make American civics coursework more relatable to students. Relatable coursework should spur students’ sense that the material is relevant to them and yield greater gains in key learning outcomes—namely, increased internal political efficacy. We developed a series of “regular people” profiles that were used to introduce weekly topics in an introductory college-level American Government course. Each profile highlighted the role of an outsider or a behind-the-scenes actor, drawn from disproportionately young and historically marginalized backgrounds, who has made or is making an impact on American politics. We find that students who received the regular people lessons were significantly more likely to rate the course material as personally relevant. Moreover, they exhibited significantly greater growth in internal political efficacy—that is, the feeling that they have the knowledge and skills to make a difference in the political process—during the semester.

Public Choice

Review of Raised to Obey: The Rise and Spread of Mass Education by Augustina Paglayan

Marcus Shera

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Press freedom and government spending efficiency

Bao We Wal Bambe, Jean-Louis Combes, Manegdo Ulrich Doamba, Chantale Riziki Oweggi

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We examine the effect of media freedom on public expenditure efficiency using a panel of 134 advanced and developing countries from 1994 to 2016. Our findings provide robust evidence that greater media freedom significantly enhances government spending efficiency. This effect is more pronounced in countries with higher levels of democracy, per capita income, human capital, internet access, and strong fiscal rules. Furthermore, we show that media freedom primarily influences efficiency through reduced corruption, increased transparency and accountability in the public sector, and stronger electoral competition. These results underscore the vital role of media freedom in fostering good governance and efficient public resource allocation, particularly in a context where press freedom is declining and fiscal constraints are tightening.

Turnout and the distortion of representation: the case of electoral polarization

Alan Al Yussef

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The Journal of Politics

Indirect Influence: How Elite Attacks on Information Providers Affect Public Opinion Formation

Erik Peterson, Allison M.N. Archer, Kishan Bhakta, Sho Izumisawa

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Culture, Institutional Politics, and the Challenge for Higher Education

Elizabeth A. Oldmixon

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The Gender Gap in Political Careers Under Proportional Representation

Tobias Nowacki

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The Answer Was There All Along: Worry About the Dynamics!

Ali Kagalwala, Guy D. Whitten

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Race, Diversity, and the Development of Political Attitudes on College Campuses

Nathan K. Chan, Tanika Raychaudhuri

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The Hidden Universe of Operationalizing Natural Experiments: Navigating Extreme Weather

Franziska Quoß, Lukas Rudolph

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Occupation-Specific Skills, Labor Market Context, and Preferences for Redistribution

Josep Serrano-Serrat

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Does Informing Partisans About Partisan Bias Reduce Partisan Bias?

Diogo Ferrari

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Cutting in Line: How Powerful Organized Interests Hasten and Delay Executive Branch Nominations

Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier, Dino P. Christenson, Lauren Ratliff Santoro, Elizabeth Steffensmeier

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Who’s Persuasive? Understanding Citizen-to-Citizen Efforts to Change Minds

Martin Naunov, Carlos Rueda-Cañón, Timothy J. Ryan

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Universal Mail Ballot Delivery Boosts Turnout: The Causal Effects of Sending Mail Ballots to All Registered Voters

R. Michael Alvarez, Yimeng Li

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Bottom-Up? Top-Down? Determinants of Issue Attention in State Politics

Andreu Casas, Oscar Stuhler, Julia Payson, Joshua A. Tucker, Richard Bonneau, Jonathan Nagler

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The Compleat Economic Voter in Belgium: Channels of Accountability in a Complex Multilevel Government System

Martin Okolikj, Marc Hooghe, Michael S. Lewis-Beck

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A Model of Party Effects on Legislative Behavior Based on Roll Call Data

Fang-Yi Chiou, Guillermo Rosas

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Testing the Compensatory Theory: A Survey Experiment on COVID-19 and Redistributive Preferences in the UK

Mariana Alvarado, Pablo Querubin, Kenneth Scheve, David Stasavage

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Professorial Silence: Academic Freedom, Domination, and Self-Censorship in Contemporary Russia

Evgeny Roshchin

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Differently Divisive: Sexism, Racial Resentment, and Support for Candidates with Incongruent Views

Ryan Bell, Gabriel Borelli, Rafaela Dancygier, Daniel J. Hopkins, Jeremy Roth

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Understanding Resourcing Trade-Offs in International Organizations: Evidence from an Elite Survey Experiment

Mirko Heinzel, Bernhard Reinsberg, Christian Siauwijaya

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Door-to-Door Campaigning in an Electoral Autocracy: Evidence from Hungary

Gábor Simonovits, Ferenc Szucs, Bence Hamrak

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Gendered Targeting: Do Parties Tailor Their Campaign Ads to Women?

Cornelius Erfort

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An Agency Perspective on Immigration Federalism

Asya Magazinnik

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Expectations, Gender Bias, and Federal Reserve Talk: Do Americans Trust Women as Central Bankers?

Cristina Bodea, Andrew Kerner

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Immigration, Public Housing, and Support for the French National Front

Gloria Gennaro

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Revisiting the Link Between Political Trust and Political Participation

Edmund Kelly, James Tilley, Sven Oskarsson

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Soft Power as Constituency Cultivation

Scott A. Tyson, Ethan Kapstein, Audrye Wong

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The Church as Arbiter: A Divided Right in Interwar France

Carles Boix, Jean Lacroix

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The Minimal Effects of Making Local News Free: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Andrew Trexler

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Does School Debating Reduce Vulnerability to Misinformation? A Field Experiment in Poland

Krzysztof Krakowski, Bernhard Clemm von Hohenberg, Davide Morisi

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