Simon Hix
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simonhix.bsky.social
Simon Hix
@simonhix.bsky.social

Stein Rokkan Chair in Comparative Politics, EUI. President-Elect, @epssnet.bsky.social. FBA, FRSA. Democracy, parties, elections, electoral systems etc. Live music. COYI

Simon Hix is a British political scientist, holder of the Stein Rokkan chair in comparative politics at the European University Institute in Florence. His main areas of research are voting in parliaments, democratic institutions, and EU politics. .. more

Political science 79%
Economics 10%

Interesting insights on the institutional implications of the EU decision last night
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 Simon Hix

"Real communism has never been tried"

The cleavage inside the EU deepens.
“They [The Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia] don’t have to pay — but we will make them pay for it [politically],” said a senior European official
EU agrees €90bn loan to Ukraine after frozen Russian asset plan fails
Money to be borrowed against bloc’s budget after leaders fail to agree on proposal using Moscow’s funds
www.ft.com

Reposted by Simon Hix

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
“They [The Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia] don’t have to pay — but we will make them pay for it [politically],” said a senior European official
EU agrees €90bn loan to Ukraine after frozen Russian asset plan fails
Money to be borrowed against bloc’s budget after leaders fail to agree on proposal using Moscow’s funds
www.ft.com
NEW -

Quality Not Quantity: How a VAA Affected Voting Behavior in Three Large-Scale Field Experiments - https://cup.org/491pwNQ

- @fresejoris.bsky.social, @simonhix.bsky.social & @rlachat.bsky.social

#OpenAccess
🇪🇺🇩🇪 Published Today in @bjpols.bsky.social 🇮🇹🇫🇷

How a voting advice application affected voting behavior in three large-scale field experiments:

shorturl.at/2ekBj

TLDR of our study (with @simonhix.bsky.social & @rlachat.bsky.social) below 👇 1/14

Excellent piece on the decline of the “Brussels effect”, by @pmdfoster.bsky.social and @bmoens.bsky.social. This figure, in particular, tells a lot of the story giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Few thoughts on the "Polish exodus" from the UK.

1. It's not an 'exodus', it's a slow drip. We're fine, thanks.
2. Migration is really complicated.
3. The absolute cheek of the very same media attacking Poles for years lamenting their departure.
4. What you can do?

THREAD 🧵

West Ham and Fiorentina both lost at home today, and are both in the relegation zone and likely to be relegated. I preferred it when they were both 6th or 7th in their respective leagues. It's like they have some weird cosmic link. 🤷‍♂️

Reposted by Simon Hix

46 years ago today
London Calling is the third studio album by English punk rock band The Clash, originally released as a double album in UK on this day in 1979 at CBS Records

#punk #punks #punkrock #theclash #londoncalling #history #punkrockhistory #otd

Yep. And it looks like our prediction of the trajectory is bang on, eg.
From October 2025 -

Educational Networks, Social Closure, and Cleavage Stabilization - cup.org/47ifc4B

"we show that educational divides are diminished in the presence of countervailing networks"

- @davidattewell6.bsky.social & @dpzollinger.bsky.social

#OpenAccess

True!

Amazing! Bravo 👏

This is, sadly, exactly what we predicted would happen with the new make up of the EP (ecfr.eu/publication/...)

The real partisan "God Gap" in religious rhetoric among members of Congress wasn't most pronounced during GW Bush. Study shows it really showed up in 2nd term Obama & was largest during first term Trump. (Note Dems increased religious language too in recent years.)
anthology.ach.org/volumes/vol0...

Reposted by Ben Worthy

This is amazing, and explains a lot about US politics. Thanks for writing this up @adambonica.bsky.social
Study after study shows campaign ads barely move the needle. So where does money’s real power come from? I ranked the five ways money corrupts politics—from least to most corrosive. What I’ve learned from 15 years of tracking political money:
Money Doesn't Buy Elections. It Does Something Worse.
Campaign ads barely move the needle. The real influence is hiding in plain sight.
open.substack.com

“Democracy has crumbled”, shouted the protester as she threw apple crumble over the Crown Jewels. Gotta love British humour 🤣 www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Tower of London reopens after apple crumble thrown at crown jewels display
Four people arrested after civil-resistance group Take Back Power protest against inequality in the UK
www.theguardian.com
Study after study shows campaign ads barely move the needle. So where does money’s real power come from? I ranked the five ways money corrupts politics—from least to most corrosive. What I’ve learned from 15 years of tracking political money:
Money Doesn't Buy Elections. It Does Something Worse.
Campaign ads barely move the needle. The real influence is hiding in plain sight.
open.substack.com
Elon Musk is against the European Union being the European Union —he posted this after X (fka Twitter) was fined for violations of the EU’s Digital Services Act.

If I was “being Dutch”, I’d say “I told you so”! 😉 (ht @catherinedevries.bsky.social)
In case you’re wondering about the state of the coalition talks in the Netherlands…

(pictured the five parties talking and the look on the face of the ‘informateur’ says it all)
Onze fotograaf Robin Utrecht vangt de status van de kabinetsformatie in 1 beeld:
x.com/robinutrecht...
In case you’re wondering about the state of the coalition talks in the Netherlands…

(pictured the five parties talking and the look on the face of the ‘informateur’ says it all)
Onze fotograaf Robin Utrecht vangt de status van de kabinetsformatie in 1 beeld:
x.com/robinutrecht...

Reposted by Simon Hix

Second, the centre-right to far-right “Venezuela majority” (EPP + ECR + Patriots for Europe + ESN) is no longer an exception. It was decisive on:

• the omnibus on corporate sustainability/due diligence
• SME finance
• subsidiarity & national parliaments (!)
• deforestation rules
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

Congrats Stuart. Fantastic news. Well deserved.