Michael Bang Petersen
LightNews LightNews
banner
m-b-petersen.bsky.social
Michael Bang Petersen
@m-b-petersen.bsky.social
6.6K followers 440 following 260 posts
Auditing the challenges of democracy in the 21st century for the Danish parliament with a particular focus on social media, mistrust and political alienation.

Political science professor at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
m-b-petersen.bsky.social
Michael Bang Petersen @m-b-petersen.bsky.social · Nov 23
The victory march of democracy has ended

What can we as researchers do?

In the Scandinavian countries, a particular tool is available: Democracy & Power Studies.

The Danish government appointed me as director of such a study. We started our work this year.

A 🧵 on what we do & how we do it

1/8
m-b-petersen.bsky.social
Four (!) three-year postdoc positions available at @au.dk: international.au.dk/about/profil...

Join an incredible team & help understand the psychological & political implications of the clash between high-speed society & slow-speed democracy.

Please share! @tboeggild.bsky.social can help with Qs
Four three-year postdoctoral positions in the project Slow-Motion Democracy - Vacancy at Aarhus University
Vacancy at Department of Political Science, Aarhus University
international.au.dk
November 6, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
ejprjournal.bsky.social
🆕 What kind of personalities are drawn to politics? 🗳️
This cross-national study across 🇨🇦🇩🇰🇮🇱🇳🇱🇨🇭 explores #Representation and how honesty-humility and other HEXACO personality traits shape people’s ambition to run for office 🧵1/2

buff.ly/xk4qMa3
Too honest and humble to run for office? Citizens’ personality traits, nascent ambition, and recruitment | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge Core
Too honest and humble to run for office? Citizens’ personality traits, nascent ambition, and recruitment
www.cambridge.org
November 5, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
arts.au.dk
Uddannelsesdebatten i Nørre Nissum sætter fokus på unge og trivsel med Rasmus Meyer på scenen. “Ansvar er bedst til indvortes brug” Hal Koch 1947 gælder iflg. Meyer fortsat i dag
Torsdag gæstede bl.a. @m-b-petersen.bsky.social debatten. #Dkudd @au.dk
@majahorst.bsky.social
September 26, 2025 at 8:41 AM
m-b-petersen.bsky.social
To underscore @brendannyhan.bsky.social's point, this is the verdict (in March) from Lindberg, directing a world-leading research group on democracy:

"If it continues like this, the United States will not score as a democracy when we release [next year's] data."

And continued it has.

1/2
perrybaconjr.bsky.social Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · Aug 28
Scholars are sounding the alarm. Michigan's @donmoyn.bsky.social has an important piece declaring that we are in authoritarianism now. (donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-author...) Here's Dartmouth's @brendannyhan.bsky.social making a similar argument.
August 28, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
ejprjournal.bsky.social
🌅📙64.3

COVID beyond left and right 🦠

@m-b-petersen.bsky.social & @louisehalberg.bsky.social examine the divide in #COVID19 attitudes using surveys from 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇸🇪🇩🇰🇩🇪🇭🇺🇫🇷 & 🇮🇹 across left and right wing voters to determine how important system trust is in shaping cleavages.

🔗 buff.ly/ckcsLxK
Beyond left and right: The role of system trust in COVID-19 attitudes and behaviours across eight western countries
LOUISE HALBERG NIELSEN, MICHAEL BANG PETERSEN
ejpr.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
August 12, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
koenfucius.bsky.social
Field and experimental research by @a-marie-sci.bsky.social & @m-b-petersen.bsky.social suggests people tend to share ideologically congruent news on social media more when like-minded ingroup (vs outgroup) members are watching:

buff.ly/pAU4cAH
July 16, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
paulrosenberg.bsky.social
Their paranoid projections were predictions, a common phenomenon described in "The Deadly Ethnic Riot," as explained by @m-b-petersen.bsky.social in this interview re the broader evolutionary phenomena such deception is part of: www.salon.com/2021/08/08/a...
July 12, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
a-marie-sci.bsky.social
🔥New Open access paper in @pnasnexus.org with @m-b-petersen.bsky.social 🔥

"Motivations to connect with like-minded audiences increase partisan sharing on social media"

academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
July 3, 2025 at 4:28 AM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
rsenninger.bsky.social
Reminder: Great job opportunities at Aarhus University!

Please help spread the word before everyone disappears for summer break! 🏖️
rsenninger.bsky.social Roman Senninger @rsenninger.bsky.social · Jun 4
📣 Jobs, jobs, jobs!

Aarhus University’s Department of Political Science is hiring:

🔹 Assistant Professor
🗓 Deadline: 25 August
🔗 international.au.dk/about/profil...

🔹 Associate Professor
🗓 Deadline: 8 September
🔗 international.au.dk/about/profil...
June 30, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
alexandreafonso.bsky.social
I have completely missed the drama behind this but this report by @catherinedevries.bsky.social @simonhix.bsky.social and @sarahobolt.bsky.social is very instructive: I had no idea EPSA was tied to a for-profit company and membership fees went to its 3 shareholders(!)
epssnet.org/wp-content/u...
June 26, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
birthelarsen.bsky.social
Som Birthe Larsen skriver i sin bog: “Hvorfor stiger uligheden - og hvad gør vi ved det?“lever vi i et Danmark,der er blevet mere opdelt, og det har en række konsekvenser for vores livsbetingelser.Ulighed er relevant ud fra et magtperspektiv, da det påvirker muligheden for at deltage i demokratiet”
June 26, 2025 at 6:14 AM
m-b-petersen.bsky.social
Spændende mulighed for grave dybt i indsigterne fra Magtudredningen 2.0 med lidt AI-assistance
torjuulgroth.bsky.social Tor Juul Groth @torjuulgroth.bsky.social · Jun 15
Føles Magtudredningen 2.0 fjern eller uoverskuelig?

Mød MagtGPT 2.0 - designet til at formidle Magtudredningens fund til journalister, studerende og andre magtkritikere ✊🤓

Udover MU 2.0s tre første bøger kender den projektplan, kommissorium og fundene fra første Magtudredning.

#dkpol #dkmedier
ChatGPT - MagtGPT 2.0
Formidler fund og perspektiver fra Magtudredningen 2.0.
chatgpt.com
June 17, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
lasseschelde.bsky.social
I går var en vild dag!
Jeg fik lov at kombinere min passion for metal og politik i samarbejde med @stinuslindgreen.bsky.social og @m-b-petersen.bsky.social.
Tak til @sophiehaestorp.bsky.social @astroandreas.bsky.social, Henrik Dahl og Anja C Andersen for at dele passionen🤘❤️
@forperson.ida.dk #fmdk
June 14, 2025 at 5:35 AM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
sorentsvendsen.bsky.social
De første tre bøger fra @magtudredningen2.bsky.social er landet.

Det er nærmest pligtlæsning for folk interesseret i status i det danske samfund og demokrati.

Denne bog, som kan hentes gratis, af @1864.bsky.social, @mikmeyer.bsky.social og @m-b-petersen.bsky.social 👇

unipress.dk/udgivelser/m...
David Nicolas Hopmann, Nanna Mik-Meyer og Michael Bang Petersen Magt I et forandret Danmark Magtudredningen 2.0 Om bogen Politik handler om at få magt og om at bruge den. Det er ikke altid let at se, hvem der har magten, og hvordan den udøves. Magten er åbenlys, når nogen træffer en beslutning, men den kan være sværere at få øje på, når den påvirker, hvilke emner der sættes på en dagsorden. Siden årtusindeskiftet har det danske samfund gennemgået store forandringer. Uligheden er vokset, og usikker heden i verden er øget. Befolkningen er blevet mere mangfoldig, digitale platforme har ændret vilkårene for kommunikation, og professionalisering og centralisering har samlet beslutningerne hos færre aktører. Magt i et forandret Danmark undersøger fire forskellige typer magt – beslutningsmagt, dagsordensættende magt, definitionsmagt og strukturel magt – der hjælper os til at forstå samfundet og politik i det 21. århundrede.
June 13, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
sorentsvendsen.bsky.social
@m-b-petersen.bsky.social forklarer i et interview til @videnskab.dk om nogle af de bekymringspunkter den nye @magtudredningen2.bsky.social er kommet frem til. Her med fokus på lobbyisme i dansk politik

#dkpol #dkmedier #dkøko

videnskab.dk/kultur-samfu...
Forsker bag ny magtudredning deler bekymring: Flere lobbyister gør dansk politik svær at gennemskue
»Det er blevet sværere for den enkelte borger at se, hvem der i sidste ende har indflydelse og ansvar,« siger professor og leder bag Magtudredning 2.0. i et interview med Videnskab.dk. Det danske demo...
videnskab.dk
June 13, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
skaaning.bsky.social
Min bog - Dansk demokrati i perspektiv - skrevet med David Andersen og udarbejdet i forbindelse med Magtudredningen 2.0 er netop udgivet! Gratis E-bog og gratis lydbog er tilgængelige her:
unipress.dk/udgiv.../d/d...
unipress.dk
June 12, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
jeocph.bsky.social
Dette er en af de ting vi ikke kommer uden om at tage alvorligt. Politik er mere og mere blevet et ‘erhverv’ med mange ansatte og underleverandører. politiken.dk/danmark/poli... @m-b-petersen.bsky.social
Et ’rockwoollag’ af lobbyister har fundamentalt forandret dansk politik
Lobbybranchens eksplosive vækst over de sidste 20 år har skabt et nyt rockwoollag i dansk politik, som udvisker forbindelsen mellem befolkningen og politikerne, konkluderer Magtudredningen.
https://politiken.dk/danmark/politik/art10436082/Et-’rockwoollag’-af-lobbyister-har-fundamentalt-forandret-dansk-politik
June 12, 2025 at 5:26 AM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
lassetryde.bsky.social
Vores demokrati er forudsætningen for den kevevis, vi kender, og nok det vigtigste vi kan give videre til næste generation. Vi ved nu, at det desværre kan afmonteres relativt let. Magtudredningen 2.0 gransker situationen i Danmark. @m-b-petersen.bsky.social
www.berlingske.dk/politik/i-tr...
I tre år har professoren kulegravet folkestyret: »Det er værre, end jeg troede«
Læs mere her.
www.berlingske.dk
June 12, 2025 at 4:31 AM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
jeocph.bsky.social
De tre første bøger fra magtudredningen bør være pligtlæsning. Mange af de ting som @m-b-petersen.bsky.social her peger på, flugter meget godt med det som vi har påpeget gennem flere år. Vi behøver ikke vente til ‘28 for at handle: www.berlingske.dk/politik/i-tr...
I tre år har professoren kulegravet folkestyret: »Det er værre, end jeg troede«
Læs mere her.
www.berlingske.dk
June 11, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
eliothiggins.bsky.social
🧵 Several people have raised questions about what I meant by "deservedly so" when referring to the decline of institutional trust. It's a fair question, so I want to explain that, because it sits at the heart of my work on how democracies collapse when their epistemic foundations rot.
eliothiggins.bsky.social Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · Jun 7
The conditions that have led to what’s happening in the US today exist in democracies around the world.
They are an inevitable outcome of our collective failure to adapt to fundamental changes in the information ecosystem on which our democracies were originally built.
June 9, 2025 at 7:39 PM
m-b-petersen.bsky.social
And a collective failure to address the rising economic inequality occurring across the Western world.

In Denmark - known for it’s generous welfare state - the richest have seen an increase in income 16 greater than the average citizen since the turn of the century. Same or worse elsewhere.
eliothiggins.bsky.social Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · Jun 7
The conditions that have led to what’s happening in the US today exist in democracies around the world.
They are an inevitable outcome of our collective failure to adapt to fundamental changes in the information ecosystem on which our democracies were originally built.
June 8, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
brandonfriedman.bsky.social
There is no bigger story right now than the White House asserting that California residents are in a state "of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States."
Department of Defense Security for the Protection of Department of Homeland Security Functions
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE                THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
www.whitehouse.gov
June 8, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
timbale.bsky.social
This was up there with one of @rafaelbehr.bsky.social's best eps. I learned a lot from @m-b-petersen.bsky.social Next up, Raf should talk to @noamgidron.bsky.social about status and populism - would make for a great follow up. Oh, and it's given me an earworm for one of my favourite ever tracks!
June 5, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
stinuslindgreen.bsky.social
Fredag aften på Folkemødet afholder @m-b-petersen.bsky.social og jeg vores traditionsrige heavy metal DJ-battle. En debat hvor argumenterne kommer som tunge riffs og dobbeltpedal på stortrommerne. I år med gæstestjerner: Andreas Mogensen, Anja C. Andersen @sophiehaestorp.bsky.social og Henrik Dahl.
May 28, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Michael Bang Petersen
stinuslindgreen.bsky.social
Folkemødet nærmer sig, og torsdag kl 19:30 er der musikquiz med et heavy tvist i det @radikale.dk telt. Akademikerne med @m-b-petersen.bsky.social i front udfordrer de folkevalgte med @steffenlarsen.bsky.social i spidsen - og jeg styrer løjerne. Det skal nok blive sjovt så kig forbi 🤘 #dkpol
May 27, 2025 at 3:05 PM