Ben Crum
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bencrum.nl
Ben Crum
@bencrum.nl

Political Scientist @vuamsterdam.bsky.social
Democracy, European Union politics, Social justice, Digital governance, Political theory

Political science 82%
Law 9%
Pinned
Ben Crum @bencrum.nl · Aug 27
New paper on a new topic in @policyr.bsky.social

I analyse the EU’s AI Act and its place in the global governance of the AI.
Examining the economy of AI + the contents of the Act, I conclude that expecting a ‘Brussels effect’ is neither apt nor useful.
….

policyreview.info/articles/ana...
Brussels effect or experimentalism? The EU AI Act and global standard-setting
Looking at the nature of AI technology and the contents of the EU AI Act, the external impact of the Act is better understood in terms of experimentalist governance than in terms of the much-cited ‘Br...
policyreview.info

Reposted by Ben Crum

With tightening immigration policies, the EU is moving towards a Eurokafala system where migrants are constantly brought in to make up for labour shortages, but also constantly abused as second-class citizens.

www.ft.com/content/4329...
Europe’s second-class citizens
Countries that looked down on the Gulf’s ‘kafala’ system are edging closer to creating their own
www.ft.com

into acquiescence by releasing recovery funds

On the other hand, to have fundamental decisions hinge on enhanced cooperation is a dangerous path for the EU to travel.
It will be unsustainable once Meloni sides with Orbán or Le Pen would come to power in France
. @vkreilinger.bsky.social: "Is the #EU24 the new EU?"

I have mixed feelings about the "solution" used yesterday to provide the 90 bn loan to Ukraine

On the one hand, this is the way that the European Council should have handled the Hungary-problem for long; much better than "bribing" them ...
Article 20 TEU for ”enhanced cooperation“ is mentioned in the Conclusions of the European Council on the reparations loan for Ukraine. A smart move! It allows to go ahead without Orbán, Fico and Babiš. Is the #EU24 the new EU? #EUCO 1/3

Reposted by Steve Peers, Ben Crum

"Suggesting that a state might withdraw from the ECHR or ignore CJEU rulings – even if done insincerely for short-term political gains – only normalises the agenda of the far right and reinforces the impression that euroscepticism and anti-immigrant positions were legitimate from the outset" 💯
As Donald Tusk’s rhetoric increasingly echoes Orbán, WOJCIECH ZOMERSKI sounds a warning for democratic restoration:

No force is immune to populism’s temptations, including those who claim to rescue us from it.

verfassungsblog.de/populism-pol...
It has become received wisdom in Brussels and Washington that there is a new “euro-sclerosis”: that the EU economy is lagging the US

This view is wrong

A little primer on the measurement of productivity – and why reports of the economic death of Europe are greatly exaggerated🧵
It is almost 10 years since Hanspeter Kriesi published his seminal article on the politicization of European Integration @jcms-eu.bsky.social.

A short thread on how things stand as of 2024, with @chesdata.bsky.social, looking at salience, clarity, and unity of party positions towards the EU 🧵:
Morgen de grote HO staking! Tot op de Dam!
Tomorrow the big HE strike! See you at Dam square!

woinactie.blogspot.com/2025/12/prog...
Programma Stakingsactie 9 december / Programme Strike Action 9 December
WOinActie is een beweging van studenten en medewerkers en maakt zich sterk voor de universiteit en haar toekomst.
woinactie.blogspot.com

Reposted by Ben Crum, Greg Linden

X isn’t being penalised for hosting lawful speech. It is being penalised for business practices that make fraud easier and transparency harder. In any other sector, a product that enables impersonation or conceals the identity of advertisers would be recalled.
Interesting find. Obviously, it is difficult for EP party groups to prevent other parties from voting with them
Striking thing is that my colleague Adam Tyler and I identified a similar 'Luddite coalition' against tech-run content filtering in the DSA
Informative thread 👇 by @nvondarza.bsky.social on the shifting grounds of voting in the European Parliament
November was a month of high tension in the European Parliament.

I went through 51 final votes and 10 public Council votes for my latest EU-Analytics review – and found three different working majorities at play:
EU Analytics November 2025 review
The breakdown of the Cordon Sanitaire amid three different majorities
substack.com
November was a month of high tension in the European Parliament.

I went through 51 final votes and 10 public Council votes for my latest EU-Analytics review – and found three different working majorities at play:
EU Analytics November 2025 review
The breakdown of the Cordon Sanitaire amid three different majorities
substack.com
Join us! We are hiring an assistant professor in political and social philosophy at Maastricht University with a focus on contemporary challenges to European democracy

Feel free to contact me, if you have questions #philsky #philjobs

Reposted by Ben Crum

To me this is a depressing theme in modern academia.

There is so much work being produced, and so many competing demands on our time, that people rarely seem able to just closely read work and frankly say "yes, I believe this" or "no, I don't."

If we aren't doing this, what _are_ we doing?!

Reposted by Ben Crum

🚨 New policy paper 🚨

What to learn from the Dublin system for solidarity in EU asylum governance? We recommend more transparency, better pressure assessment & prioritizing relocations from more to less pressured states.

@ftrauner.bsky.social & Philipp Stutz (VUB)

www.epc.eu/publication/...
Towards a Fairer EU Asylum Policy: Lessons from the Dublin system for the EU’s Solidarity Mechanism
On 11 November 2025, the European Commission released its first European Annual Asylum and Migration Report as part of the new policy cycle introduced by the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum. The Commission examined the asylum, migration and reception situation across the EU and found that four member states are under ‘migratory pressure’, and 14 others either ‘at risk’ or facing a ‘significant migration situation’.
www.epc.eu

Reposted by Ben Crum

Geert Wilders wordt ondervoorzitter en dus lid van het presidium. Dat wil hij 'klein maken'. Met koffie en wc-papier. Maar wie het presidium kleiner maakt, maakt ook de Kamer kleiner. Dat komt de partijen ten goede, niet de democratie. Column: watisdemocratie.substack.com/p/ook-de-kam...
Ook de Kamer moet boven de partijen staan
Ondervoorzitter klinkt als een plechtig ambt — maar Wilders' verkiezing ertoe legt vooral bloot hoe rommelig de macht in de Kamer georganiseerd is. En hoe makkelijk Wilders daarvan gebruikmaakt.
watisdemocratie.substack.com
An absolute scandal compounded in this case by failure of French government and EU institutions to forcefully react and sanction in turn those who have sanctioned ICC judges and prosecutors. Makes a total mockery of FR/EU's repeated commitment to the rule of law/ICC

www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...
🤩 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/

Reposted by Ben Crum

NEW: at the Summit, 3 investigations into the two main cloud monopolies - Microsoft and Amazon, AND the whole market structure.

A good start; ask any tech founder in Europe. But CMA has studied cloud in detail. Lock-in is clear. Will EC summon the will to enforce?

ec.europa.eu/commission/p...
Commission launches market investigations on cloud computing services under the Digital Markets Act
The European Commission opened three market investigations on cloud computing services under the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
ec.europa.eu

Reposted by Ben Crum

EU leaders "are not being honest with us, and we are all paying the price. If Democracy Shield cannot accurately describe the threat we are facing, then there is no way it can defend us from the forces in America that are spreading disinformation on this continent with the goal of regime change"
A Commission official has admitted to Euractiv that President von der Leyen's office "softened" the #DemocracyShield text published today "so as not to upset the US".

Our leaders only want to talk about Russia. When it comes to disinformation, the EU's biggest threat is the one who cannot be named.
Can the EU's new Democracy Shield protect Europe from America?
It appears MAGA has successfully intimidated the Commission into defanging its new anti-disinformation tool proposed today.
davekeating.substack.com

Ben Crum @bencrum.nl · Nov 12
Really good thread 👇 sifting out the good, the bad, the symbolic and the perverse in the European Democracy Shield
The European Democracy Shield🛡️ is finally out today. Here is what it says (and what I think):🧵⬇️

commission.europa.eu/document/dow...
commission.europa.eu
The European Democracy Shield🛡️ is finally out today. Here is what it says (and what I think):🧵⬇️

commission.europa.eu/document/dow...
commission.europa.eu

Ben Crum @bencrum.nl · Nov 12
Very interesting!
Notably, the only bigger member state (>15M) not qualifying for solidarity is Romania! And after it come Portugal, Sweden and Hungary.
I very much doubt these are the countries that can shoulder the expected solidarity

Ben Crum @bencrum.nl · Nov 11
This 👇 is why public service media are critical, and require increasing (rather than decreasing) public investment
Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:

One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
Are you conducting research combining qualitative cross-case methods (comparative case studies or QCA) with process tracing? ➡️ ** We are looking to show-case your work** ⬅️

🧵 1/
Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:

One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
🚨 Job Alert! Postdoc in POLITICAL TEXT ANALYSIS in the MULTIREP project

You do quant text analysis? You are interested in political representation? Enjoy working in teams? Would like to live in a great city? Consider joining us in Vienna!

⏱️ Apply by 15/12/2025

wratil.eu/files/MULTIR...

1/4 🧵

Read @robin.berjon.com on cloud infrastructure

Europe must embrace a “break-and-build” strategy:
“break” entrenched monopolies and
“build” its own digital infrastructure and addressing on a sector-by-sector basis

@projectsyndicate.bsky.social prosyn.org/5baiDt6?refe...
How Many More Cloud Scares Does Europe Need?
Robin Berjon urges the EU to dismantle the entrenched US monopolies that are undermining the goal of tech sovereignty.
prosyn.org

Reposted by Ben Crum

Reposted by Ben Crum

Ben Crum @bencrum.nl · Oct 29
On the day of General Elections in the Netherlands, my article on last year's EP elections has found a home

"Party Dynamics in the 2024 European Parliament Elections" can be found in the Annual Review Issue (S1) of @jcms-eu.bsky.social, page 80-90

Also other great articles
doi.org/10.1111/jcms...