Sebastian Block
@sebastianjblock.bsky.social
Postdoc LMU Munich| Computational Social Science | Text-as-Data | Research Methods
🎉 New Open-Access paper in EJPR together with Morten Harmening, Jona Baumert, @martingross.bsky.social, @donyhu.bsky.social & @jvelimsky.bsky.social
Geographic representation in local politics: Evidence from PQs in German city councils
👉 dx.doi.org/10.1111/1475...
Geographic representation in local politics: Evidence from PQs in German city councils
👉 dx.doi.org/10.1111/1475...
Geographic representation in local politics: Evidence from parliamentary questions in German city councils
A well-established body of research has highlighted the importance of geographic representation in party-centred political systems. In party-centred systems, geographic ties are commonly expressed th...
dx.doi.org
August 26, 2025 at 4:42 PM
🎉 New Open-Access paper in EJPR together with Morten Harmening, Jona Baumert, @martingross.bsky.social, @donyhu.bsky.social & @jvelimsky.bsky.social
Geographic representation in local politics: Evidence from PQs in German city councils
👉 dx.doi.org/10.1111/1475...
Geographic representation in local politics: Evidence from PQs in German city councils
👉 dx.doi.org/10.1111/1475...
Reposted by Sebastian Block
@martingross.bsky.social @donyhu.bsky.social @sebastianjblock.bsky.social & @jvelimsky.bsky.social deal with issue emphasis
💡Key findings:
1️⃣More attention to issues where municipalities have more legal leeway
2️⃣Effect is moderated by municipalities' financial constraints
doi.org/10.1111/spsr...
💡Key findings:
1️⃣More attention to issues where municipalities have more legal leeway
2️⃣Effect is moderated by municipalities' financial constraints
doi.org/10.1111/spsr...
The Impact of Institutional and Financial Constraints on Party Behaviour in Local Politics
Political parties are not free to choose which issues to focus on in parliament. At the national level, it is mostly economic and societal problem pressures which impact parties' issue attention. In ...
doi.org
June 12, 2025 at 9:48 AM
@martingross.bsky.social @donyhu.bsky.social @sebastianjblock.bsky.social & @jvelimsky.bsky.social deal with issue emphasis
💡Key findings:
1️⃣More attention to issues where municipalities have more legal leeway
2️⃣Effect is moderated by municipalities' financial constraints
doi.org/10.1111/spsr...
💡Key findings:
1️⃣More attention to issues where municipalities have more legal leeway
2️⃣Effect is moderated by municipalities' financial constraints
doi.org/10.1111/spsr...
Reposted by Sebastian Block
🧵 New paper out in EJPR!
Morten Harmening, Jona-Frederik Baumert @sebastianjblock.bsky.social @donyhu.bsky.social @jvelimsky.bsky.social & I examine how parties engage in geographic representation in local politics using parliamentary questions in 12 German city councils.
👉 doi.org/10.1111/1475...
Morten Harmening, Jona-Frederik Baumert @sebastianjblock.bsky.social @donyhu.bsky.social @jvelimsky.bsky.social & I examine how parties engage in geographic representation in local politics using parliamentary questions in 12 German city councils.
👉 doi.org/10.1111/1475...
Geographic representation in local politics: Evidence from parliamentary questions in German city councils
A well-established body of research has highlighted the importance of geographic representation in party-centred political systems. In party-centred systems, geographic ties are commonly expressed th....
doi.org
April 24, 2025 at 8:22 PM
🧵 New paper out in EJPR!
Morten Harmening, Jona-Frederik Baumert @sebastianjblock.bsky.social @donyhu.bsky.social @jvelimsky.bsky.social & I examine how parties engage in geographic representation in local politics using parliamentary questions in 12 German city councils.
👉 doi.org/10.1111/1475...
Morten Harmening, Jona-Frederik Baumert @sebastianjblock.bsky.social @donyhu.bsky.social @jvelimsky.bsky.social & I examine how parties engage in geographic representation in local politics using parliamentary questions in 12 German city councils.
👉 doi.org/10.1111/1475...
I am pleased to share that my article "Legislative Oversight and Control of Independent Portfolios" has now been published in print in Government and Opposition @govandopp and is freely accessible:
🔗 doi.org/10.1017/gov....
#legislative #accountability #PoliticalScience
🔗 doi.org/10.1017/gov....
#legislative #accountability #PoliticalScience
Legislative Oversight and Control of Independent Portfolios: Government and Opposition Dynamics | Government and Opposition | Cambridge Core
Legislative Oversight and Control of Independent Portfolios: Government and Opposition Dynamics - Volume 60 Issue 2
doi.org
April 15, 2025 at 11:53 AM
I am pleased to share that my article "Legislative Oversight and Control of Independent Portfolios" has now been published in print in Government and Opposition @govandopp and is freely accessible:
🔗 doi.org/10.1017/gov....
#legislative #accountability #PoliticalScience
🔗 doi.org/10.1017/gov....
#legislative #accountability #PoliticalScience
Reposted by Sebastian Block
Ergebnisse der KoaV-AG „Bildung, Forschung & Innovation“:
Was ist drin für #IchBinHanna? Was unklar? Was fehlt? 1 🧵.
Tl,dr: 1. Eindruck erfreulich, aber 🐘 im Raum – konkrete Ausgestaltung der Postdoc-Phase zur Schaffung langfristiger Perspektiven – wird nicht ausreichend adressiert.
(1/13)
Was ist drin für #IchBinHanna? Was unklar? Was fehlt? 1 🧵.
Tl,dr: 1. Eindruck erfreulich, aber 🐘 im Raum – konkrete Ausgestaltung der Postdoc-Phase zur Schaffung langfristiger Perspektiven – wird nicht ausreichend adressiert.
(1/13)
Koalitionsverhandlungen CDU/CSU/SPD AG 8 - Bildung, Forschung und Innovation
Schwarzer Text: Einigkeit
Blauer Text: nicht geeint, Union-Forderung
Roter Text: nicht geeint, SPD-Forderung
[Zu den Ergebnissen der anderen Arbeitsgruppen geht es hier.](https://fragdenstaat.de/ar...
fragdenstaat.de
March 27, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Ergebnisse der KoaV-AG „Bildung, Forschung & Innovation“:
Was ist drin für #IchBinHanna? Was unklar? Was fehlt? 1 🧵.
Tl,dr: 1. Eindruck erfreulich, aber 🐘 im Raum – konkrete Ausgestaltung der Postdoc-Phase zur Schaffung langfristiger Perspektiven – wird nicht ausreichend adressiert.
(1/13)
Was ist drin für #IchBinHanna? Was unklar? Was fehlt? 1 🧵.
Tl,dr: 1. Eindruck erfreulich, aber 🐘 im Raum – konkrete Ausgestaltung der Postdoc-Phase zur Schaffung langfristiger Perspektiven – wird nicht ausreichend adressiert.
(1/13)
Reposted by Sebastian Block
LMs are used to process text from many topics, styles, dialects, etc., but how well do they do?
📈 Evaluating perplexity on just one corpus like C4 doesn't tell the whole story 📉
✨📃✨
We introduce Paloma, a benchmark of 585 domains from NY Times to r/depression on Reddit.
📈 Evaluating perplexity on just one corpus like C4 doesn't tell the whole story 📉
✨📃✨
We introduce Paloma, a benchmark of 585 domains from NY Times to r/depression on Reddit.
December 20, 2023 at 8:28 PM
LMs are used to process text from many topics, styles, dialects, etc., but how well do they do?
📈 Evaluating perplexity on just one corpus like C4 doesn't tell the whole story 📉
✨📃✨
We introduce Paloma, a benchmark of 585 domains from NY Times to r/depression on Reddit.
📈 Evaluating perplexity on just one corpus like C4 doesn't tell the whole story 📉
✨📃✨
We introduce Paloma, a benchmark of 585 domains from NY Times to r/depression on Reddit.
Reposted by Sebastian Block
LLMs generate novel word sequences not contained in their pretraining data. However, compared to humans, models generate significantly fewer novel n-grams.
RLHF = 30% *more* copying than base!
Awesome work from the awesome Ximing Lu (gloriaximinglu.github.io) et al. 🤩
arxiv.org/pdf/2410.04265
RLHF = 30% *more* copying than base!
Awesome work from the awesome Ximing Lu (gloriaximinglu.github.io) et al. 🤩
arxiv.org/pdf/2410.04265
November 22, 2024 at 6:14 AM
LLMs generate novel word sequences not contained in their pretraining data. However, compared to humans, models generate significantly fewer novel n-grams.
RLHF = 30% *more* copying than base!
Awesome work from the awesome Ximing Lu (gloriaximinglu.github.io) et al. 🤩
arxiv.org/pdf/2410.04265
RLHF = 30% *more* copying than base!
Awesome work from the awesome Ximing Lu (gloriaximinglu.github.io) et al. 🤩
arxiv.org/pdf/2410.04265
Reposted by Sebastian Block
Very happy (and proud b/c it took a loooong time to finalise this paper) to share new research, together with Alejandro Ecker, on how local politicians in 🇩🇪 allocate portfolios.
In short, they behave like their counterparts at the federal & state levels: both quant. & qual. considerations matter!
In short, they behave like their counterparts at the federal & state levels: both quant. & qual. considerations matter!
Online first & part of the Symposium "Competition & Cooperation at the Local Level":
"Equitability or proportionality? Local-level portfolio allocation in Germany" by Alejandro Ecker & @martingross.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/0140...
#PoliSky
"Equitability or proportionality? Local-level portfolio allocation in Germany" by Alejandro Ecker & @martingross.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/0140...
#PoliSky
November 11, 2024 at 8:10 AM
Very happy (and proud b/c it took a loooong time to finalise this paper) to share new research, together with Alejandro Ecker, on how local politicians in 🇩🇪 allocate portfolios.
In short, they behave like their counterparts at the federal & state levels: both quant. & qual. considerations matter!
In short, they behave like their counterparts at the federal & state levels: both quant. & qual. considerations matter!
Reposted by Sebastian Block
Online first @spsr.bsky.social:
Our new article "The Impact of Institutional and Financial Constraints on Party Behaviour in Local Politics" (w/ @donyhu.bsky.social @sebastianjblock.bsky.social @jvelimsky.bsky.social)
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
#polisky
/1
Our new article "The Impact of Institutional and Financial Constraints on Party Behaviour in Local Politics" (w/ @donyhu.bsky.social @sebastianjblock.bsky.social @jvelimsky.bsky.social)
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
#polisky
/1
The Impact of Institutional and Financial Constraints on Party Behaviour in Local Politics
You have to enable JavaScript in your browser's settings in order to use the eReader.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 12, 2024 at 11:48 AM
Online first @spsr.bsky.social:
Our new article "The Impact of Institutional and Financial Constraints on Party Behaviour in Local Politics" (w/ @donyhu.bsky.social @sebastianjblock.bsky.social @jvelimsky.bsky.social)
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
#polisky
/1
Our new article "The Impact of Institutional and Financial Constraints on Party Behaviour in Local Politics" (w/ @donyhu.bsky.social @sebastianjblock.bsky.social @jvelimsky.bsky.social)
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
#polisky
/1
I am delighted to see our new paper "Electoral Campaigns and Parliamentary Practice: Do Parties Pursue the Issues They Campaigned On?" out in Swiss Political Science Review
as #OpenAccess!
@martingross.bsky.social wrote a very nice thread summarizing our findings!
as #OpenAccess!
@martingross.bsky.social wrote a very nice thread summarizing our findings!
📣Thrilled to see our paper "Electoral Campaigns and Parliamentary Practice: Do Parties Pursue the Issues They Campaigned On?" published in Swiss Political Science Review!
This is joint work with @donyhu.bsky.social @sebastianjblock.bsky.social @jvelimsky.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1111/spsr.1
This is joint work with @donyhu.bsky.social @sebastianjblock.bsky.social @jvelimsky.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1111/spsr.1
January 31, 2024 at 9:28 AM
I am delighted to see our new paper "Electoral Campaigns and Parliamentary Practice: Do Parties Pursue the Issues They Campaigned On?" out in Swiss Political Science Review
as #OpenAccess!
@martingross.bsky.social wrote a very nice thread summarizing our findings!
as #OpenAccess!
@martingross.bsky.social wrote a very nice thread summarizing our findings!
Reposted by Sebastian Block
I am extremely happy to see our paper on "The impact of occupational background on issue representation" out
@wepsocial.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/0140...
The contribution is joint work with my great colleagues
@sebastianjblock.bsky.social
@martingross.bsky.social
& @donyhu.bsky.social
@wepsocial.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/0140...
The contribution is joint work with my great colleagues
@sebastianjblock.bsky.social
@martingross.bsky.social
& @donyhu.bsky.social
January 25, 2024 at 2:18 PM
I am extremely happy to see our paper on "The impact of occupational background on issue representation" out
@wepsocial.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/0140...
The contribution is joint work with my great colleagues
@sebastianjblock.bsky.social
@martingross.bsky.social
& @donyhu.bsky.social
@wepsocial.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/0140...
The contribution is joint work with my great colleagues
@sebastianjblock.bsky.social
@martingross.bsky.social
& @donyhu.bsky.social
I'm extremely happy to announce that my first single-author paper is now out and open-access at EPSR
doi.org/10.1017/S175...
I focus on intra-coalition control in mixed regimes, where the control becomes more complex due to a dual executive structure (as shown by @laderafrutal.bsky.social)
doi.org/10.1017/S175...
I focus on intra-coalition control in mixed regimes, where the control becomes more complex due to a dual executive structure (as shown by @laderafrutal.bsky.social)
November 9, 2023 at 1:42 PM
I'm extremely happy to announce that my first single-author paper is now out and open-access at EPSR
doi.org/10.1017/S175...
I focus on intra-coalition control in mixed regimes, where the control becomes more complex due to a dual executive structure (as shown by @laderafrutal.bsky.social)
doi.org/10.1017/S175...
I focus on intra-coalition control in mixed regimes, where the control becomes more complex due to a dual executive structure (as shown by @laderafrutal.bsky.social)
Reposted by Sebastian Block
I've posted a new short paper called "Practical Advice for Producing Better Graphs" that ... provides practical advice for producing better graphs. 😀 Comments and suggestions welcome.
jkastellec.scholar.princeton.edu/document/91
jkastellec.scholar.princeton.edu/document/91
October 25, 2023 at 3:16 PM
I've posted a new short paper called "Practical Advice for Producing Better Graphs" that ... provides practical advice for producing better graphs. 😀 Comments and suggestions welcome.
jkastellec.scholar.princeton.edu/document/91
jkastellec.scholar.princeton.edu/document/91
Reposted by Sebastian Block
I've written a blog-post showing how to fine-tune a language model for the purposes of (three-way) text classification. It's a (partial) replication of Müller, Temporal Focus of Campaign Communication (JOP 2022). Find it at chrishanretty.co.uk/posts/finetu...
chris hanretty - Replicating Mueller, “The temporal focus of Campaign Communication”
chrishanretty.co.uk
October 16, 2023 at 4:30 PM
I've written a blog-post showing how to fine-tune a language model for the purposes of (three-way) text classification. It's a (partial) replication of Müller, Temporal Focus of Campaign Communication (JOP 2022). Find it at chrishanretty.co.uk/posts/finetu...
Reposted by Sebastian Block
Dive into the world of multilingual text analysis?
@haukelicht.bsky.social and I wrote this paper as a first go-to resource for a comprehensive overview of research design considerations. Big thanks to the editors
@marikenvelden.bsky.social, Martijn Schoonvelde, Christian Baden of the special issue!
@haukelicht.bsky.social and I wrote this paper as a first go-to resource for a comprehensive overview of research design considerations. Big thanks to the editors
@marikenvelden.bsky.social, Martijn Schoonvelde, Christian Baden of the special issue!
Do you want to analyze documents written in different languages, but you don't know what challenges you'll face and what solutions exist?
Then @fabiennelind.bsky.social and I got you covered with our guide to multilingual text analysis in Comp Comm. Research. 👇👇
www.aup-online.com/content/jour...
Then @fabiennelind.bsky.social and I got you covered with our guide to multilingual text analysis in Comp Comm. Research. 👇👇
www.aup-online.com/content/jour...
October 16, 2023 at 3:27 PM
Dive into the world of multilingual text analysis?
@haukelicht.bsky.social and I wrote this paper as a first go-to resource for a comprehensive overview of research design considerations. Big thanks to the editors
@marikenvelden.bsky.social, Martijn Schoonvelde, Christian Baden of the special issue!
@haukelicht.bsky.social and I wrote this paper as a first go-to resource for a comprehensive overview of research design considerations. Big thanks to the editors
@marikenvelden.bsky.social, Martijn Schoonvelde, Christian Baden of the special issue!