Max Heermann
@maxheermann.bsky.social
Political Scientist at ETH Zürich. Previously University of Konstanz.
Digital policy, European integration, International solidarity.
Digital policy, European integration, International solidarity.
Pinned
Max Heermann
@maxheermann.bsky.social
· May 19
📣 Happy to announce the publication of our article (w @sharonbaute.bsky.social & @leuffen.bsky.social) on democratic backsliding and public opinion @jeppjournal.bsky.social!
📌https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2025.2503973
Study funded by @excinequality.bsky.social
📌https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2025.2503973
Study funded by @excinequality.bsky.social
Reposted by Max Heermann
"Brussels’ focus on market influence has become a dangerous blind spot. For instance, officials may treat digital protections as bargaining chips rather than a crucial bulwark of European democracy or a defence against foreign influence. That would be a terrible mistake." 👌
Europe in dangerous territory. Putting democratic protections on the chopping blocks for trade concessions invites a slippery slope. Increasingly tariff negotiations cuts at the heart of European national security.
www.ft.com/content/5820...
www.ft.com/content/5820...
November 24, 2025 at 5:24 PM
"Brussels’ focus on market influence has become a dangerous blind spot. For instance, officials may treat digital protections as bargaining chips rather than a crucial bulwark of European democracy or a defence against foreign influence. That would be a terrible mistake." 👌
Reposted by Max Heermann
📣 We're hiring a postdoc in political science for our ReJust project @uni-konstanz.de!
Project with Dirk Leuffen @leuffen.bsky.social and Urs Fischbacher
3-year position | Deadline: Dec. 15, 2025 | Start: April 2026
Please share widely 🙏
Project with Dirk Leuffen @leuffen.bsky.social and Urs Fischbacher
3-year position | Deadline: Dec. 15, 2025 | Start: April 2026
Please share widely 🙏
Postdoctoral Research Position
Deadline: 15.12.2025
stellen.uni-konstanz.de
November 24, 2025 at 5:39 AM
📣 We're hiring a postdoc in political science for our ReJust project @uni-konstanz.de!
Project with Dirk Leuffen @leuffen.bsky.social and Urs Fischbacher
3-year position | Deadline: Dec. 15, 2025 | Start: April 2026
Please share widely 🙏
Project with Dirk Leuffen @leuffen.bsky.social and Urs Fischbacher
3-year position | Deadline: Dec. 15, 2025 | Start: April 2026
Please share widely 🙏
If it wasn't a sign: Yesterday's German-French "digital sovereignty summit" took place right during the Cloudflare outage.
Chancellor Merz: "We want to speak with one European voice, and we work together toward one goal: that is European digital sovereignty."
www.politico.eu/article/germ...
Chancellor Merz: "We want to speak with one European voice, and we work together toward one goal: that is European digital sovereignty."
www.politico.eu/article/germ...
Germany wakes up to US tech dominance
Paris and Berlin signal new united front on Europe’s technological independence.
www.politico.eu
November 19, 2025 at 10:08 AM
If it wasn't a sign: Yesterday's German-French "digital sovereignty summit" took place right during the Cloudflare outage.
Chancellor Merz: "We want to speak with one European voice, and we work together toward one goal: that is European digital sovereignty."
www.politico.eu/article/germ...
Chancellor Merz: "We want to speak with one European voice, and we work together toward one goal: that is European digital sovereignty."
www.politico.eu/article/germ...
Reposted by Max Heermann
🤩 Party positions in the 2024 European Parliament 🇪🇺!
I merged the CHES expert survey with EP composition data to visualize the political space of the current EP. The graphs make the center of gravity in the EP quite clear, on multiple dimensions and policy issues.
dimiter.shinyapps.io/ches/
I merged the CHES expert survey with EP composition data to visualize the political space of the current EP. The graphs make the center of gravity in the EP quite clear, on multiple dimensions and policy issues.
dimiter.shinyapps.io/ches/
November 19, 2025 at 8:33 AM
🤩 Party positions in the 2024 European Parliament 🇪🇺!
I merged the CHES expert survey with EP composition data to visualize the political space of the current EP. The graphs make the center of gravity in the EP quite clear, on multiple dimensions and policy issues.
dimiter.shinyapps.io/ches/
I merged the CHES expert survey with EP composition data to visualize the political space of the current EP. The graphs make the center of gravity in the EP quite clear, on multiple dimensions and policy issues.
dimiter.shinyapps.io/ches/
Reposted by Max Heermann
📊 𝗘𝗨𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗫 dataset update!
💻 We updated complexity data to 𝟭,𝟬𝟯𝟮 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀, including entirely new data on 𝟴𝟭𝟱 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀. The dataset now includes legislative procedures from 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟯 𝘁𝗼 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱.
📎 The data are now available for download at www.euplex.org/data
💻 We updated complexity data to 𝟭,𝟬𝟯𝟮 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀, including entirely new data on 𝟴𝟭𝟱 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀. The dataset now includes legislative procedures from 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟯 𝘁𝗼 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱.
📎 The data are now available for download at www.euplex.org/data
Latest dataset - EUPLEX
EUPLEX is a DFG-funded research project at the Geschwister-Scholl-Institute for Polittical Science at LMU Munich. The project, led by Dr. Steffen Hurka at LMU Munich, is dedicated to the questions of ...
www.euplex.org
November 19, 2025 at 7:31 AM
📊 𝗘𝗨𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗫 dataset update!
💻 We updated complexity data to 𝟭,𝟬𝟯𝟮 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀, including entirely new data on 𝟴𝟭𝟱 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀. The dataset now includes legislative procedures from 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟯 𝘁𝗼 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱.
📎 The data are now available for download at www.euplex.org/data
💻 We updated complexity data to 𝟭,𝟬𝟯𝟮 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀, including entirely new data on 𝟴𝟭𝟱 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀. The dataset now includes legislative procedures from 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟯 𝘁𝗼 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱.
📎 The data are now available for download at www.euplex.org/data
Reposted by Max Heermann
Was für Post Apocalyptic, das is legit jede zweite deutsche uni zwischen november und mai
November 15, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Was für Post Apocalyptic, das is legit jede zweite deutsche uni zwischen november und mai
Keep thinking about the long established right-wing voting coalitions, too. But now ALDE/Renew is replaced by Patriots, so there is a qualitative differences. Another difference is that in years past there where options of centre-left majorities and ALDE was the pivotal group.
Surprised everybody buys the centre-left's story that yesterday's vote in the EP was a decisive departure from the cordon sanitaire vis-à-vis the far right. Analyses of voting patterns by people like @simonhix.bsky.social indicated that there were already common votes with the far right 2019-2024 🤔
November 15, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Keep thinking about the long established right-wing voting coalitions, too. But now ALDE/Renew is replaced by Patriots, so there is a qualitative differences. Another difference is that in years past there where options of centre-left majorities and ALDE was the pivotal group.
Great primer on today's breakdown of the cordon sanitaire in the EP including the prehistory of the vote and its implications.
Today’s Omnibus vote has rolled over an already perforated cordon sanitaire in the European Parliament. For the first time, the EPP sided with far-right groups on a file key to the Commission’s agenda. Make no mistake: this was no accident and it’s unclear whether the centrist coalition can recover🧵
November 13, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Great primer on today's breakdown of the cordon sanitaire in the EP including the prehistory of the vote and its implications.
Reposted by Max Heermann
🚨 New article out in @jeppjournal.bsky.social with @svenhegewald.bsky.social
“The changing geography of support for European integration in the shadow of the Ukraine war."
How did Russia’s invasion reshape public support for EU policies?
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
“The changing geography of support for European integration in the shadow of the Ukraine war."
How did Russia’s invasion reshape public support for EU policies?
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
October 21, 2025 at 8:06 AM
🚨 New article out in @jeppjournal.bsky.social with @svenhegewald.bsky.social
“The changing geography of support for European integration in the shadow of the Ukraine war."
How did Russia’s invasion reshape public support for EU policies?
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
“The changing geography of support for European integration in the shadow of the Ukraine war."
How did Russia’s invasion reshape public support for EU policies?
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Max Heermann
Tariffs might be the word of 2025.
Given the state of *looks around* we asked: is there demand for tariffs in Europe?
@grahn.bsky.social @katharinalawall.bsky.social @sophiemainz.bsky.social Maria Nordbrandt & I show the answer is a resolute no
@jeppjournal.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/1350...
Given the state of *looks around* we asked: is there demand for tariffs in Europe?
@grahn.bsky.social @katharinalawall.bsky.social @sophiemainz.bsky.social Maria Nordbrandt & I show the answer is a resolute no
@jeppjournal.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/1350...
A game of tariffs: is there demand for tariffs in Europe?
In April 2025, the United States introduced sweeping tariffs on imports from the European Union and the United Kingdom, raising transatlantic tensions and prompting debate over Europe’s response. T...
doi.org
October 13, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Tariffs might be the word of 2025.
Given the state of *looks around* we asked: is there demand for tariffs in Europe?
@grahn.bsky.social @katharinalawall.bsky.social @sophiemainz.bsky.social Maria Nordbrandt & I show the answer is a resolute no
@jeppjournal.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/1350...
Given the state of *looks around* we asked: is there demand for tariffs in Europe?
@grahn.bsky.social @katharinalawall.bsky.social @sophiemainz.bsky.social Maria Nordbrandt & I show the answer is a resolute no
@jeppjournal.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/1350...
Reposted by Max Heermann
Out now in Competition & Change
@compchange.bsky.social
“Dependent development in digital
capitalism: The politics of startup
policies in the new periphery”
@journals.sagepub.com
#polisky
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
1/n
@compchange.bsky.social
“Dependent development in digital
capitalism: The politics of startup
policies in the new periphery”
@journals.sagepub.com
#polisky
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
1/n
October 6, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Out now in Competition & Change
@compchange.bsky.social
“Dependent development in digital
capitalism: The politics of startup
policies in the new periphery”
@journals.sagepub.com
#polisky
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
1/n
@compchange.bsky.social
“Dependent development in digital
capitalism: The politics of startup
policies in the new periphery”
@journals.sagepub.com
#polisky
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
1/n
Reposted by Max Heermann
🇪🇺🇨🇭For a long time, most voters in Switzerland hardly cared about the country’s relationship with the EU.
Now, in the wake of Trump’s 39% tariff bombshell, it has surged to become the 3rd most important issue for voters!
Healthcare costs remain top concern
Just revealed by @leewas.bsky.social
Now, in the wake of Trump’s 39% tariff bombshell, it has surged to become the 3rd most important issue for voters!
Healthcare costs remain top concern
Just revealed by @leewas.bsky.social
𝗚𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗵𝗲𝗶𝘁𝘀𝗸𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 – 𝗱𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝗔𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗿ä𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗮𝘀 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝗵ä𝗹𝘁𝗻𝗶𝘀 𝘇𝘂𝗿 𝗘𝗨 𝗻𝗲𝘂 𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗧𝗼𝗽3: Das und vieles mehr zeigt die neue @20min.ch -/Tamedia-Wahlumfrage von @leewas.bsky.social
cc @lucasleemann.bsky.social
cc @lucasleemann.bsky.social
October 2, 2025 at 4:58 AM
🇪🇺🇨🇭For a long time, most voters in Switzerland hardly cared about the country’s relationship with the EU.
Now, in the wake of Trump’s 39% tariff bombshell, it has surged to become the 3rd most important issue for voters!
Healthcare costs remain top concern
Just revealed by @leewas.bsky.social
Now, in the wake of Trump’s 39% tariff bombshell, it has surged to become the 3rd most important issue for voters!
Healthcare costs remain top concern
Just revealed by @leewas.bsky.social
Reposted by Max Heermann
Residential mobility also matters: Urbanites who grew up in rural areas but later moved to cities are less polarised. Divided loyalties dampen affective divides — helping explain why ruralites are consistently more polarised than urbanites. 5/7
October 1, 2025 at 6:58 AM
Residential mobility also matters: Urbanites who grew up in rural areas but later moved to cities are less polarised. Divided loyalties dampen affective divides — helping explain why ruralites are consistently more polarised than urbanites. 5/7
Reposted by Max Heermann
Missed it over the summer? For those interested in legislative behavior, multinational societies or Imperial Austria:
Check out our (not so new) article in @lsqjournal.bsky.social. Thrilled to have written this with my two amazing co-authors Phil Howe & Christina Zuber.
doi.org/10.1111/lsq.70029
Check out our (not so new) article in @lsqjournal.bsky.social. Thrilled to have written this with my two amazing co-authors Phil Howe & Christina Zuber.
doi.org/10.1111/lsq.70029
September 30, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Missed it over the summer? For those interested in legislative behavior, multinational societies or Imperial Austria:
Check out our (not so new) article in @lsqjournal.bsky.social. Thrilled to have written this with my two amazing co-authors Phil Howe & Christina Zuber.
doi.org/10.1111/lsq.70029
Check out our (not so new) article in @lsqjournal.bsky.social. Thrilled to have written this with my two amazing co-authors Phil Howe & Christina Zuber.
doi.org/10.1111/lsq.70029
It was a great keynote indeed in an amazing venue last week at #sisp in bella Napoli.
"science fictional visions of the earth being devoured by machine intelligences and transformed into paperclips are not nearly weird enough to capture what is happening all around us, right now." www.programmablemutter.com/p/understand...
September 12, 2025 at 3:42 PM
It was a great keynote indeed in an amazing venue last week at #sisp in bella Napoli.
Reposted by Max Heermann
We already had a fifth freedom, the Freedom of Movement of Non Personal Data. What, you hadn’t heard?
September 10, 2025 at 12:46 PM
We already had a fifth freedom, the Freedom of Movement of Non Personal Data. What, you hadn’t heard?
Reposted by Max Heermann
As if the whole academic publishing business wasn't squeezing authors (and taxpayers) enough.
Journal publishers *are* bundling your papers up in "data licensing agreements" for big tech companies to use for AI model training. Our publisher, T&F, got £75m from Microsoft for that last year alone.
September 7, 2025 at 8:00 AM
As if the whole academic publishing business wasn't squeezing authors (and taxpayers) enough.
Reposted by Max Heermann
This has important implications:
1) Creating a common front (or, "firewall" / "cordon sanitaire") against a radical right challenger requires a mainstream-party consensus. Once one party leaves this broad coalition, the effects of elite messaging weaken significantly.
1) Creating a common front (or, "firewall" / "cordon sanitaire") against a radical right challenger requires a mainstream-party consensus. Once one party leaves this broad coalition, the effects of elite messaging weaken significantly.
September 3, 2025 at 10:14 AM
This has important implications:
1) Creating a common front (or, "firewall" / "cordon sanitaire") against a radical right challenger requires a mainstream-party consensus. Once one party leaves this broad coalition, the effects of elite messaging weaken significantly.
1) Creating a common front (or, "firewall" / "cordon sanitaire") against a radical right challenger requires a mainstream-party consensus. Once one party leaves this broad coalition, the effects of elite messaging weaken significantly.
Reposted by Max Heermann
Interesting speech by European Council president Costa at the Bled Forum today
Confirms security / Ukraine aspect of EU US deal that VDL pushed back strongly against. Clear break here
Confirms security / Ukraine aspect of EU US deal that VDL pushed back strongly against. Clear break here
September 1, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Interesting speech by European Council president Costa at the Bled Forum today
Confirms security / Ukraine aspect of EU US deal that VDL pushed back strongly against. Clear break here
Confirms security / Ukraine aspect of EU US deal that VDL pushed back strongly against. Clear break here
"The Brussels effect began to sputter. Now, the world that it was crafted for is to all intents and purposes dead." @abenewman.bsky.social
1/New in @financialtimes.com w/ @himself.bsky.social on the Brussels Defect. Europe's longstanding path to power -- market regulation -- now a source of vulnerabilities. Europe's national security and democracy are at risk. Defection might be the only escape.
www.ft.com/content/5820...
www.ft.com/content/5820...
Europe urgently needs a remedy for the ‘Brussels defect’
The EU must stop thinking it can turn thorny political controversies into solvable technical issues
www.ft.com
August 25, 2025 at 1:48 PM
"The Brussels effect began to sputter. Now, the world that it was crafted for is to all intents and purposes dead." @abenewman.bsky.social
Reposted by Max Heermann
Thrilled to share this 16-country conjoint experiment with @catherinedevries.bsky.social & @simonhix.bsky.social. We find strong support for majoritarian reforms and tougher legal enforcement, even when paired with policies people dislike. Policy-inelastic institutional preferences exist! A 🧵...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
August 22, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Thrilled to share this 16-country conjoint experiment with @catherinedevries.bsky.social & @simonhix.bsky.social. We find strong support for majoritarian reforms and tougher legal enforcement, even when paired with policies people dislike. Policy-inelastic institutional preferences exist! A 🧵...
Reposted by Max Heermann
www.bostonreview.net/articles/hen... "Yet the door to Joe’s apartment—which argues with him and refuses to open because he has not paid it the obligatory tip—sounds ominously plausible. Someone, somewhere, is pitching this as a viable business plan to Y Combinator"
August 19, 2025 at 12:27 PM
www.bostonreview.net/articles/hen... "Yet the door to Joe’s apartment—which argues with him and refuses to open because he has not paid it the obligatory tip—sounds ominously plausible. Someone, somewhere, is pitching this as a viable business plan to Y Combinator"
Reposted by Max Heermann
The 2024 CHES included for the first time questions to measure positions on executive constraints & judicial independence, key features of horizontal accountability. Here, the rad right party family stands out as much less likely to support constraints on executives & judicial independence 4/
August 14, 2025 at 9:04 AM
The 2024 CHES included for the first time questions to measure positions on executive constraints & judicial independence, key features of horizontal accountability. Here, the rad right party family stands out as much less likely to support constraints on executives & judicial independence 4/
Reposted by Max Heermann
I detect confusion between a Trumpian trade “deal” and a real trade agreement. A Trumpian deal is based on the assumption that governments can simply tell companies what transactions they will do, whether in trade or investment. Most governments cannot do that. 1/
August 5, 2025 at 12:07 AM
I detect confusion between a Trumpian trade “deal” and a real trade agreement. A Trumpian deal is based on the assumption that governments can simply tell companies what transactions they will do, whether in trade or investment. Most governments cannot do that. 1/
Reposted by Max Heermann
Important takeaway for the next round of this: by itself, COM isn’t equipped to manage the domestic politics of this, it needs stronger backing from capitals. Convenient for member states to hide behind it and then blame it for the outcome (sometimes more than they blame the US I feel).
I agree, but COM was also caught between a rock and a hard place: I am not sure member state governments, and in particular the one in Berlin, would have had the polical stamina for a full-scale trade war. And of course they would have blamed the COM for all the collateral damage it would have had.
I think European leaders - both national and in the EU - are underestimating what it will do to their publics to be humilated by Trump.
Like the NATO summit and Rutte's 'Daddy' strategy, mabye the outcome could have been worse. But losing pride and being humilated is also a price that is paid.
Like the NATO summit and Rutte's 'Daddy' strategy, mabye the outcome could have been worse. But losing pride and being humilated is also a price that is paid.
July 28, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Important takeaway for the next round of this: by itself, COM isn’t equipped to manage the domestic politics of this, it needs stronger backing from capitals. Convenient for member states to hide behind it and then blame it for the outcome (sometimes more than they blame the US I feel).