Matthew Stenberg
@matthewstenberg.bsky.social
Postdoc at UC Berkeley - local politics, democratic backsliding, Central Europe, EU
I’ll search in my Zotero today and email you what I hit
November 7, 2025 at 3:09 PM
I’ll search in my Zotero today and email you what I hit
Check out the full length, open access article here (8/9) journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
When Do Local Governments Discriminate? Lessons from the Diffusion of “LGBT Free Zones” in Poland - Matthew Stenberg, Conor O’Dwyer, 2025
Between 2019 and 2020, amidst national-level democratic backsliding under the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, a wave of Polish municipal governments a...
journals.sagepub.com
October 23, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Check out the full length, open access article here (8/9) journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
We don’t think this is limited to a Poland specific story, and understanding the mechanisms by which discriminatory policies spread subnationally is unfortunately critical in contemporary politics more broadly (7/n)
October 23, 2025 at 8:10 PM
We don’t think this is limited to a Poland specific story, and understanding the mechanisms by which discriminatory policies spread subnationally is unfortunately critical in contemporary politics more broadly (7/n)
Conversely, they are less likely to implement if a neighboring municipality has done so, suggesting local understandings of backlash effects as negative media and EU attention increased (6/n)
October 23, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Conversely, they are less likely to implement if a neighboring municipality has done so, suggesting local understandings of backlash effects as negative media and EU attention increased (6/n)
We also find that vertical and horizontal diffusion matters. Municipalities are more likely to implement if their county or region has done so (even if this would render them functionally redundant). (5/n)
October 23, 2025 at 8:08 PM
We also find that vertical and horizontal diffusion matters. Municipalities are more likely to implement if their county or region has done so (even if this would render them functionally redundant). (5/n)
Conversely, the policy is less likely to be implemented if an independent mayor is in office. This suggests that explicit partisan channels are critical as opposed to it simply being a conservative municipality (4/n)
October 23, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Conversely, the policy is less likely to be implemented if an independent mayor is in office. This suggests that explicit partisan channels are critical as opposed to it simply being a conservative municipality (4/n)
These policies are more likely implemented in municipalities where PiS specifically holds local government positions (mayors / council majorities) in a country where local politics are largely nonpartisan (3/n)
October 23, 2025 at 8:05 PM
These policies are more likely implemented in municipalities where PiS specifically holds local government positions (mayors / council majorities) in a country where local politics are largely nonpartisan (3/n)
We find that diffusion of these policies can be best explained by direct channels rather than “demand side” factors (general support for the conservative PiS party, religiosity, age profile, unemployment, etc).
October 23, 2025 at 8:04 PM
We find that diffusion of these policies can be best explained by direct channels rather than “demand side” factors (general support for the conservative PiS party, religiosity, age profile, unemployment, etc).
We do this through case studies of six cases of both “successful” and unsuccessful backsliding, including very up to date revisions on the US, where we see how intraparty dimensions affect intragovernmental relations and are shaped by the structure of electoral institutions
August 12, 2025 at 5:27 PM
We do this through case studies of six cases of both “successful” and unsuccessful backsliding, including very up to date revisions on the US, where we see how intraparty dimensions affect intragovernmental relations and are shaped by the structure of electoral institutions
We specifically focus on the ways that cohesion affects different types of intergovernmental relations: executive-legislative, intra-executive, and vertical (2/3)
August 12, 2025 at 5:25 PM
We specifically focus on the ways that cohesion affects different types of intergovernmental relations: executive-legislative, intra-executive, and vertical (2/3)
There was an episode of Chuck once where they showed stock footage of the castle and the Danube in Budapest to establish setting for an episode set in Belgrade, everyone in Hollywood is personally trolling me. Belgrade has a castle! Just use the right one!!
January 18, 2024 at 12:47 AM
There was an episode of Chuck once where they showed stock footage of the castle and the Danube in Budapest to establish setting for an episode set in Belgrade, everyone in Hollywood is personally trolling me. Belgrade has a castle! Just use the right one!!
I’ve said it to you privately but I’ll say it publicly: stop trying to pass off the Calgary skyline as any Minnesota city and just pay some videographer to do some exteriors of various Minnesota cities this winter and bank them for future use.
January 18, 2024 at 12:44 AM
I’ve said it to you privately but I’ll say it publicly: stop trying to pass off the Calgary skyline as any Minnesota city and just pay some videographer to do some exteriors of various Minnesota cities this winter and bank them for future use.
Some of you may have seen us present an earlier version at MPSA or EUSA, and thanks to everyone for comments there. If you have further comments on this draft, please let us know! (8/8)
October 6, 2023 at 2:18 PM
Some of you may have seen us present an earlier version at MPSA or EUSA, and thanks to everyone for comments there. If you have further comments on this draft, please let us know! (8/8)
It’s also critical we understand where they zones emerge, as hopefully it will enable us to better understand how to respond to increasing discriminatory policies against LGBTQ+ people worldwide (7/8).
October 6, 2023 at 2:18 PM
It’s also critical we understand where they zones emerge, as hopefully it will enable us to better understand how to respond to increasing discriminatory policies against LGBTQ+ people worldwide (7/8).
Local governments pursuing discriminatory policies is a major challenge to liberal democracy worldwide. The partisan effect shows how PiS has tried to bring local governments into their broader backsliding even with limited electoral success there (see O’Dwyer/Stenberg 2022) (6/8)
October 6, 2023 at 2:17 PM
Local governments pursuing discriminatory policies is a major challenge to liberal democracy worldwide. The partisan effect shows how PiS has tried to bring local governments into their broader backsliding even with limited electoral success there (see O’Dwyer/Stenberg 2022) (6/8)
We also find that, although the threat of removal of EU funding has motivated some local governments to roll back zones after implementation, the amount of EU funding that local governments received did not impact whether a zone was implemented in the first place (5/8)
October 6, 2023 at 2:17 PM
We also find that, although the threat of removal of EU funding has motivated some local governments to roll back zones after implementation, the amount of EU funding that local governments received did not impact whether a zone was implemented in the first place (5/8)
We find horizontal diffusion has a negative impact – if a neighboring local government implements a zone, you are actually less likely to do so. This may potentially be due to backlash effects. (4/8)
October 6, 2023 at 2:16 PM
We find horizontal diffusion has a negative impact – if a neighboring local government implements a zone, you are actually less likely to do so. This may potentially be due to backlash effects. (4/8)
We find that vertical diffusion is important for agenda-setting; if a local government is in a county that also implemented a zone, it’s much more likely to come up for discussion or a vote locally. (3/8)
October 6, 2023 at 2:15 PM
We find that vertical diffusion is important for agenda-setting; if a local government is in a county that also implemented a zone, it’s much more likely to come up for discussion or a vote locally. (3/8)