Leon Walter
leonwalter.bsky.social
Leon Walter
@leonwalter.bsky.social
MEMO-Studie @Uni Bielefeld | PhD Student in Political Psychology | Collective Memory, Ideology, Violence | Working at Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence
Reposted by Leon Walter
This is one of those days when we all drown in breaking news - but if you can stomach it: Here is an attempt to step back from the noise and provide a synthesis of where America stands, one year after Trump’s election, and what might be next.

Escalation, “normalization,” or a democratic turnaround?
Where America stands, one year after the election.

A fascistic movement controls the government; they are building an authoritarian state; but they have not been able yet to extend authoritarian rule across society. A democracy no more, but not a consolidated autocratic regime yet.

New piece:
Escalation, Authoritarian “Normalization,” or a Democratic Turnaround?
One year after the election: What we can say with certainty about the state of the Trumpist assault, where uncertainty lies, and where America might go from here
steady.page
November 4, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Reposted by Leon Walter
New, from me:
America is no longer a functioning democracy. It is a competitive authoritarian system, hurtling rapidly toward authoritarianism.
This was a hard piece to write but we can't move forward if we don’t acknowledge where we are.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-author...
The authoritarian checklist
It is time to admit that America is no longer a functioning democracy
donmoynihan.substack.com
August 28, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Leon Walter
The HANDBOOK on affective polarization is now out in print ⬇️⬇️

I co-authored a chapter on social sorting (led by @lilymasonphd.bsky.social).

For everyone interested in polarization, there is A LOT to read. A super cool collection of knowledge!
It is OUT the last (printed) version of Handbook of Affective Polarization doi.org/10.4337/9781...
It is open Access!!!
doi.org
July 23, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Leon Walter
Our newest piece on BSW is now published. We show that when attitudes toward Wagenknecht come into the game, policies are no longer that meaningful in predicting behaviour. Personalisation in a personalised party! What a surprise! 😀
@sarahwagner.bsky.social

www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....
June 11, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Reposted by Leon Walter
The city of LA is more representative of America than 25 states are. LA *is* real America.
June 9, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Reposted by Leon Walter
oh my fucking god canada please go vote
April 28, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Leon Walter
Interessante und methodisch gute Studie zeigt keine bedeutenden Effekte von Handyverboten in Schulen in UK auf die psychische Gesundheit, Lebensqualität oder globale Smartphonenutzung von jugendlichen Schüler:innen. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
School phone policies and their association with mental wellbeing, phone use, and social media use (SMART Schools): a cross-sectional observational study
There is no evidence that restrictive school policies are associated with overall phone and social media use or better mental wellbeing in adolescents. The findings do not provide evidence to support ...
www.thelancet.com
April 24, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Leon Walter
"What is so often dismissed as performative–music, drums, people parading with handmade signs to have their photos taken by others–is not a matter of collective narcissism; rather, it has been recognized by many modern thinkers, starting with Rousseau, as an important part of building community."
Don’t believe the doubters: protest still has power | Jan-Werner Müller
Demonstrations rarely lead to immediate policy change. But they are essential to building community and long-term resistance
www.theguardian.com
April 22, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Leon Walter
These folks are monsters—just absolutely horrible people.
The federal government plans to eliminate services for LGBTQ youth who call 988, the national suicide and crisis hotline, according to a Health and Human Services budget draft leaked last week.
HHS plans to cut the national suicide hotline’s program for LGBTQ youth
In February, the program received an average of 2,100 contacts per day.
www.motherjones.com
April 22, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by Leon Walter
#PaCT
We're happy to host Dr. Ana Figueiredo for the 18th PaCT with her talk "The Mapuche: Reparation and recognition demands and policies and the role of postcolonial ideologies in maintaining the status quo"
📅 Friday, April 25, 2025
⏰ 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. (CEST)
📍 Join here - shorturl.at/lm35V
April 16, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Reposted by Leon Walter
I’m seeing a lot of posts about how certain immigrants sent to El Salvador are not actually criminals and this is true but I would also like to remind you that people with criminal records shouldn’t be subjected to this, either.
April 7, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Reposted by Leon Walter
Russland hat am Abend ein Wohnviertel in der ukrainischen Industriestadt Krywyj Rih mit einer ballistischen Rakete angegriffen. Nach Angaben der regionalen Behörden wurden mindestens 50 Menschen verletzt und mindestens 12 Menschen getötet – darunter auch Kinder.
April 4, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Leon Walter
Throwback to March 18, 1990—on this day, East Germany held its first free elections after decades of single-party rule. Though the East German society was not rarely framed as politically and socially homogeneous at the time, the first electoral map revealed a strong degree of regional variation.
March 18, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Reposted by Leon Walter
Poster seen in Sussex Psychology this week.
March 17, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Reposted by Leon Walter
📢 New PaCT:
"After the election, in the middle of national and international conflicts"

Colleagues from @conflicta.bsky.social will discuss German election results in the context of conflicts.

📅 Tuesday, March 18, 2025
⏰ 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. (CET)

Registration: uni-bielefeld.zoom-x.de/meeting/regi...
March 17, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Reposted by Leon Walter
Ein Jahr später: "Auf einer Festplatte, die in der Wohnung des Angeklagten gefunden wurde, seien rechtsextreme Inhalte entdeckt worden. Darunter 166 Bilder, unter anderem von der NSU-Terroristin Beate Zschäpe..." #Solingen taz.de/Brandanschla...
March 12, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Reposted by Leon Walter
Der @nminkmar.bsky.social und ich feiern heute unseren ersten Podcast-Geburtstag (natürlich mit einer Aufnahme). Danke, dass Ihr uns zuhört! Wer „Was bisher geschah“ noch nicht kennt, bitte hier entlang…

podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/w...
Was bisher geschah - Geschichtspodcast
Geschichte Podcast · 74 Folgen · Wöchentlich
podcasts.apple.com
March 12, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Reposted by Leon Walter
"Das ist mir neulich erst so richtig bewusst geworden: Dass es fast nichts gibt, was Trump und die Leute in seinem Umfeld nicht sagen oder tun. (...) Man muss, so ist das leider, mittlerweile das Schlimmste für möglich halten."

Neuer Newsletter:
Man muss das Schlimmste für möglich halten
Immerhin nicht zu jeder Zeit und überall
beimwort.substack.com
March 8, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Reposted by Leon Walter
Land does not vote.

Eine Karte wie zu Beginn der Animation ist seit der Bundestagswahl oft zu sehen gewesen. Sie zeigt die Parteizugehörigkeit der Wahlkreissieger nach Erststimmen.

Wir sehen: ziemlich viel AfD-Blau.

🧵

#Bundestagswahl 📊
March 2, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Reposted by Leon Walter
A slightly positive 🧵 in a dark time. Research on dictatorships and democratic backsliding suggests that the American experiment with authoritarianism could be brief.

There are five reasons for this:
February 23, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Leon Walter
📢 New publication with @gertpickel.bsky.social in Politics and Religion:

We explore how religiosity can both promote and reduce prejudice, providing evidence of a curvilinear religiosity-prejudice relationship.

🔓 Open Access: doi.org/10.1017/S175...
#PolRel #RelPol @cambridgeup.bsky.social
February 25, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Reposted by Leon Walter
Deutschland hat gewählt, und die AfD gilt als die große Siegerin. Wie lässt sich ihr Ergebnis einordnen, und welche geografischen Merkmale prägen ihre Unterstützung? @hudde.bsky.social und ich haben das AfD-Zweitstimmenergebnis in den 299 Bundestagswahlkreisen ausgewertet. Ein Thread. 🧵👇
February 24, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Reposted by Leon Walter
If you would like to do a PhD in social psych, there is an opening in our group! 🙃

For this position, you need to know German as you would also be required to teach seminars that have to be offered in German.
You would be supervised by Chris Cohrs and work with an amazing group of people :)
Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in (Doktorand*in)
stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de
February 20, 2025 at 9:24 AM