Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 9m

Upcoming workshop 👇

Joe Noonan @joenoonan.se · 5d

My department is hosting a workshop on democracy and social media (12-13 March, 2026).

Papers are welcome covering comparative regulation of social media, empirical papers on the effects of social media, and work on democratic theory and social media. Deadline: Nov 1st.

www.su.se/english/rese...

Call for papers: Workshop on Democratic Political Orders & the Governance of Social Media Platforms - Stockholm University

www.su.se

Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 17m

”By nationality, Chinese women comprised the single biggest group of foreign mothers followed by women from the Philippines and Brazil.”

Nipponists, is ”replacement theory” on the PRR agenda (yet)?

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Record number of babies born to foreign parents in Japan amid political row over migration

More than 20,000 children were born to non-Japanese couples, accounting for more than 3% of all newborns

www.theguardian.com

Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 15h

Important resource 👇

Migration Policy Institute @migrationpolicy.bsky.social · 15h

Trying to get a grip on a particular country’s migration trends, policies & history?

Start with our country profiles. They’re a great introduction to situations in countries around the world

https://bit.ly/MPISource

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 15h

Timeline cleanser 👇

Eve Neuhaus @eveneuhaus.bsky.social · 16h

Enjoying Amsterdam with friends and family. Such a tolerant, creative place.

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 17h

I’m sure there’s a German word for this unfolding of events.

Joshua "The Crypt" Keep(er) @jekeep.bsky.social · 19h

The far-right mouthpiece who told young men to clean up their place while in front of his very clearly messy home, now has contracted an illness from all the mold in his home.

If you wrote such a fascist character in a story it would be deemed a silly caricature.

Jordan Peterson diagnosed with chronic condition after exposure to mold

Peterson's daughter said her father has a "genetic predisposition that causes the immune system to have an inability to identify and detoxify mold."

www.newsweek.com

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Reposted by Pontus Odmalm

Elizabeth (Bit) Meehan, PhD @elizabethbitmeehan.com · 2d

help your #polisky colleagues out in this rough market year y'all

Michelangelo Landgrave @landgravephd.bsky.social · 13d

Just want to thank folks contributing to the #psjminfo job status update section of the site. It's a small thing, but I know people appreciate knowing the status of jobs.

www.politicalsciencejobs.org/status-updates

PS Jobs - Status Updates

This is a listing of job market updates. You can submit updates here.

www.politicalsciencejobs.org

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 19h

Important read 👇

Klaudia Wegschaider @wegschaider.bsky.social · 2d

🚨 New Working Paper with R.Bauböck + @sumpierrez.bsky.social

We introduce the concept of incongruent suffrage.

This describes when there are voting rights but no candidacy rights for a group. Or vice versa.

The paper includes descriptive data & exploratory case studies.

doi.org/10.33774/aps...

Title: Incongruent Suffrage
Authors: Klaudia Wegschaider, Rainer Bauböck, Sebastián Umpierrez de Reguero
Abstract: Candidacy rights and voting rights are not always congruent. Although voting rights are extensively studied, historical and contemporary incongruencies in suffrage have been widely overlooked. We propose a typology of suffrage incongruency that we apply to the enfranchisement of non-citizen residents and non-resident citizens—two categories recently at the center of enfranchisement scholarship and reform efforts. Using an original dataset that covers 165 countries and 61 years (1960-2020), we identify past and present voting-only incongruencies and candidacy-only incongruencies. Existing theories of suffrage extension focus on the voteshare maximizing logic of incumbents. However, these explanations cannot account for why only one part of suffrage is extended. With two exploratory case studies of Switzerland and the United Kingdom, we inductively arrive at potential explanations for why voting-only and candidacy-only incongruencies arise and resolve in democracies. We conclude with a research agenda on the causes and consequences of suffrage incongruencies.

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 22h

Important read 👇

Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 23h

New post just out:

The relationship between Russia and the European radical right goes well beyond Reform's Nathan Gill being bribed.

In this post I trace the history back to the 1990s and look at the threat it poses now.

(£/free trial)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/r...

Russia and the rise of the radical right

Marine Le Pen meets with Putin before the 2017 French Presidential election (Photo credit Mikhail Klimentyev/AFP via Getty Images)

open.substack.com

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 22h

”But I don’t think it’s dishonest. I’m mostly me on the dating app – just maybe asking better questions.”

Still ”academic misconduct”, no?

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

‘I realised I’d been ChatGPT-ed into bed’: how ‘Chatfishing’ made finding love on dating apps even weirder

Where once people were duped by soft-focus photos and borrowed chat-up lines, now they have to watch out for computer-generated charm. But it’s one thing to use a witty phrase – another thing entirely...

www.theguardian.com

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 22h

With blue passports, however.

Brendan May @brendanmay.bsky.social · 1d

Absolutely superb effort by all those who voted for this, many of whom are now dead.

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 1d

academics exchanging stories about what radicalized them

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 1d

👀

Notes from Poland @notesfrompoland.bsky.social · 1d

Poland has secured an exemption from accepting relocated migrants under the EU's new migration pact, says the government.

"I said that there would be no relocation of migrants in Poland, and there won’t be!" celebrated Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Poland says it will be exempted from EU migrant relocations

notesfrompoland.com

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 1d

👌

Board of Deputies of British Jews @boardofdeputies.bsky.social · 2d

Faith leaders and Politicians standing together to bridge divides following Heaton Park attack and suspected arson on Peacehaven mosque.

Last night we welcomed the new Minister for Faith & Communities Miatta Fahnbulleh to our latest event of the Optimistic Alliance.

Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 1d

Mood.

Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 1d

”[#Takaichi’s] election may also blunt the rise of Sanseito, a right-wing populist party that surged in July on an anti-immigration platform.” Or it may boost the PRR. Why go for the milder mainstream copy?

www.cnn.com/2025/10/10/a...

Japan’s aspiring leader drums to relieve stress. She has many reasons to reach for her sticks | CNN

Staunch conservative and longtime lawmaker Sanae Takaichi is days away from becoming Japan’s first woman prime minister, and she inherits a daunting list of challenges.

www.cnn.com

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 1d

🤔

Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 2d

The picture of Farage with the T shirt from Gill’s briber’s wife, taken the day Gill appears her Pro Russian TV channel, is taken in Gill’s office

Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 2d

Farage on Gill and Pro Russian media bribes” I told him not to go. He defied me and went. I was completely unaware of any statements that he made."

Farage with pro Russian media (and wife of briber) on the day Gill made his statements in 2018

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 1d

30+?!? 😂 #YouWin

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 1d

Granted, attendance drops towards the end of the course but ”near-empty” uh-uh.

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

'It is no secret that student attendance has plummeted in recent years, with near-empty lecture halls a staple of the post-pandemic world.'

Really? I lecture to all our 1st years. Lecture hall is full, not near-empty. Student engagement picked up last year and (early days) seems stronger again. 1/2

Fiction ‘brings lectures to life’ as academics face empty classes

University ‘whodunnit’ inspired by attempts to tackle poor attendance as scholars look for novel ways to engage mainstream audiences

www.timeshighereducation.com

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 1d

Important event 👇

Aaron Winter @aaronwinter.bsky.social · 1d

Really looking forward to participating in this event:

Theology, Churches & the Mainstreaming of the Far Right

15 October 2025
7:00-8:30 pm
Online
Register using the QR code

Theology, Churches & the Mainstreaming of the Far Right

15 October 2025
7:00-8:30 pm
Online
Register using the QR code

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 1d

“Migrants who come here have everything going for them,” he said. “They share two-bedroom flats with 10 people. ”

”Everything going for them” doing some heavy lifting here.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

‘The Algarve is Chega’s kingdom’: resort city’s voters tempted by far-right party

Chega voters in Albufeira hope party can use Sunday’s local elections as springboard for nationwide takeover

www.theguardian.com

Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 2d

Blur (2), Railroad Jerk (2) and Teenage Fanclub (3) (ping @benrosamond1.bsky.social @misterdavidwelsh.bsky.social @jackmusso.bsky.social)

Lady4Freedom @sassylassiein2024.bsky.social · 2d

My all time favorite band since the 80s, Depeche Mode (5x). 🖤🌹

How about you??!! 😎

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 2d

Point 👇

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 2d

Nothing says “America First” like letting another country put an Air Force base in Idaho

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Pontus Odmalm @podmalm.bsky.social · 2d

Just had a very interesting (albeit slightly depressing) conversation with @polphilpod.bsky.social for his ”Political Philosophy Podcast”. Topics covered: the politics of migration; 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿; challenges to liberalism; creeping authoritarianism, end of the world (sort of). Thanks for the invite for Toby!