Political Science? No problem et al.!

Viktor Burgi & Julius Kölzer
  • 5.0 (2)
  • SOCIAL SCIENCES
  • UPDATED BIMONTHLY

Welcome to "No problem et al.!" In this podcast, we interview political scientists about their research in the context of bigger developments in politics and society: why were radical right parties in the last 20 years so successful? What are structural divides in contemporary Europe? How do current political events relate to long-term trends? This podcast is hosted by Viktor Burgi and Julius Kölzer. You can find Julius and Viktor on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/juliusk.bsky.social and https://bsky.app/profile/vikburgi.bsky.social) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/Julius_Ktxt and https://twitter.com/V_Burgi). Have fun!

Episodes

  1. Episode 8: Björn Bremer on Austerity Politics and the Debt Brake

    02/17/2025

    Episode 8: Björn Bremer on Austerity Politics and the Debt Brake

    In the eighth episode of “Political Science? No Problem et al.” we talk to Björn Bremer about how the public thinks about austerity politics in the context of Germany's upcoming election. How does public opinion look on spending cuts and what drives these preferences? In what policy areas are spending cuts met with greater resistance and how does the public prioritize debt lending, raising taxes and expenditure reduction? We also talk about how austerity cuts and borrowing affect electoral politics and party branding.  You can find Björns website here: https://www.bjoern-bremer.com/  and follow him on Bluesky here: https://bsky.app/profile/bjoernbremer.bsky.social.   If you'd like to give us feedback, consider rating the podcast wherever you listen to it or send us a message on Twitter (https://twitter.com/V_Burgi & https://twitter.com/Julius_Ktxt). You may also follow us on BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/juliusk.bsky.social & https://bsky.app/profile/vikburgi.bsky.social).

    51 min
  2. Episode 7: Vicente Valentim on the Normalization of the Radical Right

    12/03/2024

    Episode 7: Vicente Valentim on the Normalization of the Radical Right

    In the seventh episode of “Political Science? No Problem et al.” we talk to Vicente Valentim about the role of norms in the normalization of the far-right. How do social norms influence the expression of radical-right political preferences? How do skilled far-right candidates strategically erode social norms through entrepreneurship? How does a norm-based theory of far-right support interact with economic and cultural explanations? Moreover, we talked about what Vicentes research implies for strategies on countering far-right parties.  You can find Vicentes website here: https://www.vicentevalentim.com/  and follow him on Twitter here: https://x.com/ValentimVicente and here on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/valentimvicente.bsky.social.  The book discussed in the episode can be found here: https://academic.oup.com/book/57946?login=false If you'd like to give us feedback, consider rating the podcast wherever you listen to it or send us a message on Twitter (https://twitter.com/V_Burgi & https://twitter.com/Julius_Ktxt). You may also follow us on BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/juliusk.bsky.social & https://bsky.app/profile/vikburgi.bsky.social).

    47 min
  3. Episode 6: Silja Häusermann on the Crisis of Social Democratic Parties

    11/17/2024

    Episode 6: Silja Häusermann on the Crisis of Social Democratic Parties

    In the sixth episode of “Political Science? No Problem et al.” we talk to Professor Silja Häusermann about the crisis of social democratic parties. How have long-term changes in the labor market affected the electoral coalition of these parties? Have social democratic parties lost the working class to the radical right and which programmatic strategies provide these parties with a way out of their current crisis? We also discussed to what degree the electoral crisis of social democratic parties is self-inflicted by the welfare state reforms implemented by center-left governments in the early 2000s.  You can find Silja’s website here: http://siljahaeusermann.org/ and follow her on Twitter here: https://x.com/SiljaHausermann.  The book discussed in the episode can be found here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/beyond-social-democracy/B4C5F9FFAF5FF8142DB2E209E6C5C9D0.  If you'd like to give us feedback, consider rating the podcast wherever you listen to it or send us a message on Twitter (https://twitter.com/V_Burgi & https://twitter.com/Julius_Ktxt). You may also follow us on BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/juliusk.bsky.social & https://bsky.app/profile/vikburgi.bsky.social).

    53 min
  4. Episode 5: Noam Gidron on Public Support for Democratic Backsliding in Israel

    06/05/2024

    Episode 5: Noam Gidron on Public Support for Democratic Backsliding in Israel

    In the fifth episode of “Political Science? No Problem et al.” we talk to Professor Noam Gidron about democratic backsliding in Israel. What ideological motivations lie behind the controversial plans to weaken the Israeli justice system? What attitudes explain public support for these plans and democratic backsliding in general? How can Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and its plans to restructure the justice system be compared with situations in Poland and Hungary? We also discussed the role of affective polarization in Israeli society and how the ongoing war might influence the attempted erosion of Israel's democratic institutions in the long term.  Noam Gidron is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His previous research is especially known for its findings on affective polarization and the link between social status and support for populist parties.  You can find his website here: https://en.politics.huji.ac.il/people/noam-gidron  and follow him on Twitter here: https://x.com/NoamGidron.  Noams work discussed in the episode can be found here: https://osf.io/preprints/osf/zxukm and here: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/900431 . If you'd like to give us feedback, consider rating the podcast wherever you listen to it or send us a message on Twitter (https://twitter.com/V_Burgi & https://twitter.com/Julius_Ktxt)

    46 min
  5. Episode 4: Sabrina Mayer on Immigrant-Origin Voters

    05/05/2024

    Episode 4: Sabrina Mayer on Immigrant-Origin Voters

    In the fourth episode of “Political Science? No Problem et al.” we talk to Professor Sabrina Mayer about the voting behavior of immigrant origin voters in Germany. How can we understand the voting behavior of this heterogeneous voter group and what do we know about their party preferences? Why is there a stronger affinity for the AfD among Russian Germans and to what extent has the party affiliation of Turkish-German voters changed in recent years? Moreover, we discussed whether parties are increasingly trying to appeal to migrant voters, what kind of information environment these voters find themselves in and what the methodological difficulties are in studying their political preferences.   Sabrina is a full professor of Political Sociology at the University of Bamberg as well as associated member at the DeZIM Institute in Berlin.  Her research focuses on group identities, political attitudes and comparative voting behavior and is best known for findings on the voting behavior of migrant voters.  You can find her website here: https://sabrinajmayer.de/ and follow her on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/sabrinajmayer?lang=de. Sabrina´s work discussed in the episode can be found here:https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=r8VOcJYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao If you'd like to give us feedback, consider rating the podcast wherever you listen to it or send us a message on Twitter (https://twitter.com/V_Burgi & https://twitter.com/Julius_Ktxt)

    50 min
  6. Episode 3: Magdalena Breyer on Women's Representation and its Effects on Political Behavior

    03/11/2024

    Episode 3: Magdalena Breyer on Women's Representation and its Effects on Political Behavior

    In the third episode of "Political Science? No Problem et al.", we talk to Dr. Magdalena Breyer about voters' reactions to different representation trajectories of women in politics. Does an increase in the proportion of female politicians trigger a conservative backlash? Can stagnating women's representation mobilize female voters for progressive parties? And what does this tell us about changing gender-related status hierarchies in western societies as a whole? More broadly, we discussed general gender disparities in voting behavior, how older and younger women differ in political preferences and how different parties try to appeal to female voters.  Magda is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Basel and studies the implications of shifting class and status structures for voting behavior and party competition. You can find her website here: https://www.magdalenabreyer.net/ and follow her on Twitter here:https://twitter.com/magda_breyer. Magda's paper discussed in the episode can be accessed here:https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00104140231223745 If you'd like to give us feedback, consider rating the podcast wherever you listen to it or send us a message on Twitter (https://twitter.com/V_Burgi & https://twitter.com/Julius_Ktxt)

    42 min
  7. Episode 2: Nils Steiner on BSW and Left-Authoritarian Voters

    02/25/2024

    Episode 2: Nils Steiner on BSW and Left-Authoritarian Voters

    In the second episode of "Political Science? No Problem et al.!" we talk to Nils Steiner about the new German party "BSW", based on his research on the left-authoritarian supply gap.  What is special about this party? What peculiar positions does it take on cultural and economic issues? What might its electorate look like? And does it pose a threat to the rise of the radical right in Germany? Nils is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Mainz and studies voting behaviour, representation and political attitudes. You can follow him here on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NilsSteiner. If you are interested in Nils' research on left-wing authoritarian voting behavior and parties, here are two papers mentioned in the episode:  https://shorturl.at/BKR27 https://shorturl.at/qxEHO https://ejpr.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1475-6765.12348 The paper by Sarah Wagner, Constantin Wurthmann and Jan Philipp Thomeczek on the voter potential of the BSW can be found here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11615-023-00481-3 The mentioned analysis by Marc Debus, Christian Stecker and Jochen Müller on BSW party positions: https://twitter.com/DebusMarc/status/1744695079011254585 If you'd like to give us feedback, consider rating the podcast wherever you listen to it or send us a message on Twitter (https://twitter.com/V_Burgi & https://twitter.com/Julius_Ktxt)

    53 min
  8. Episode 1: Kai Arzheimer on the Success of Germany's Radical Right

    02/06/2024

    Episode 1: Kai Arzheimer on the Success of Germany's Radical Right

    In the first episode of "Political Science? - No Problem et al." we talk to Kai Arzheimer about the ongoing popularity of the far-right party AfD in Germany. Among other things, we discussed what explains support for the AfD, what the party's electorate looks like, why the party is proving more successful in eastern Germany and to what extent the ongoing mass protests could have an impact on the party's fortunes. Kai Arzheimer is a professor of political science at the University of Mainz and investigates the radical right for decades. He is a leading researcher in his field. Enjoy the podcast! If you want to give us feedback, please rate the podcast wherever you are listening to this or send us a message on Twitter or Bluesky (https://twitter.com/V_Burgi or https://twitter.com/Julius_Ktxt).

    52 min
  • 8 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

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About

Welcome to "No problem et al.!" In this podcast, we interview political scientists about their research in the context of bigger developments in politics and society: why were radical right parties in the last 20 years so successful? What are structural divides in contemporary Europe? How do current political events relate to long-term trends? This podcast is hosted by Viktor Burgi and Julius Kölzer. You can find Julius and Viktor on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/juliusk.bsky.social and https://bsky.app/profile/vikburgi.bsky.social) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/Julius_Ktxt and https://twitter.com/V_Burgi). Have fun!

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