Sona Golder
@sonagolder.bsky.social
Political scientist, comparativist. Prof. at Penn State.
Co-PI on INSTAPARTY: Party Instability in Parliaments
(Norwegian Research Council)
https://instapartyproject.com
sonagolder.com
Co-PI on INSTAPARTY: Party Instability in Parliaments
(Norwegian Research Council)
https://instapartyproject.com
sonagolder.com
Pinned
Sona Golder
@sonagolder.bsky.social
· Dec 19
Looking for the lecture slides for the new (4th) edition of Principles of Comparative Politics (2024) that Matt and I used this past semester? See here: mattgolder.com/books/pocp/s... (2/3)
Reposted by Sona Golder
Penn State Political Science is launching a new Semester in Washington program and we’re hiring a full-time on-site coordinator for the program, based permanently in Washington, D.C.
October 26, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Penn State Political Science is launching a new Semester in Washington program and we’re hiring a full-time on-site coordinator for the program, based permanently in Washington, D.C.
Going to be teaching about electoral rules in European democracies next week, so thanks to everyone reacting to @simonhix.bsky.social's proposal to change NL's electoral system... Very interesting discussion of important tradeoffs.
NL needs an electoral threshold, eg. 4% (as in Sweden). It would encourage smaller parties to merge, voters to coordinate around medium and larger parties, and make coalition formation easier, governments more stable, and improve governability overall.
Come on guys, Europe needs you to do this!
Come on guys, Europe needs you to do this!
The Peilingwijzer poll of polls for the Netherlands has been updated to include the latest poll of Ipsos I&O.
📊 📈 All graphs & figures: https://peilingwijzer.tomlouwerse.nl/
Source Ipsos I&O: https://is.gd/35hl01
📊 📈 All graphs & figures: https://peilingwijzer.tomlouwerse.nl/
Source Ipsos I&O: https://is.gd/35hl01
October 17, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Going to be teaching about electoral rules in European democracies next week, so thanks to everyone reacting to @simonhix.bsky.social's proposal to change NL's electoral system... Very interesting discussion of important tradeoffs.
Reposted by Sona Golder
The US Administration is moving to severely restrict lawful, high-skill immigration.
First H-1B visas.
Next comes barring int'l students from staying to offer their talents to the US after graduation.
I wrote earlier on the economic harms Americans can expect—> www.piie.com/blogs/realti...
First H-1B visas.
Next comes barring int'l students from staying to offer their talents to the US after graduation.
I wrote earlier on the economic harms Americans can expect—> www.piie.com/blogs/realti...
September 24, 2025 at 1:40 PM
The US Administration is moving to severely restrict lawful, high-skill immigration.
First H-1B visas.
Next comes barring int'l students from staying to offer their talents to the US after graduation.
I wrote earlier on the economic harms Americans can expect—> www.piie.com/blogs/realti...
First H-1B visas.
Next comes barring int'l students from staying to offer their talents to the US after graduation.
I wrote earlier on the economic harms Americans can expect—> www.piie.com/blogs/realti...
Just began teaching about the economic determinants of democracy & dictatorship. A student's thoughtful question after class has prompted me to re-read this smart article by @jeanhong.bsky.social which is on my list of recommended materials for the week: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
How Natural Resources Affect Authoritarian Leaders’ Provision of Public Services: Evidence from China | The Journal of Politics: Vol 80, No 1
This article examines the effects of natural resource extraction on authoritarian governments’ provision of public services, using subnational data from China. Facing no electoral constraint that woul...
www.journals.uchicago.edu
September 23, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Just began teaching about the economic determinants of democracy & dictatorship. A student's thoughtful question after class has prompted me to re-read this smart article by @jeanhong.bsky.social which is on my list of recommended materials for the week: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Reposted by Sona Golder
It is the time of the year when I tell you about my favorite post-doc ever 👇 Unless you are allergic to the French, this one sits up there with the Nuffield postdoc (life style, productivity, interdisciplinary stimulation). Share widely! Apply! #poliscky
www.iast.fr/research-fel...
www.iast.fr/research-fel...
Research Fellowships
Each year, IAST invites applications for post-doctoral Research Fellowships, which offer candidates an opportunity to devote themselves full-time to their research at the start of their careers. Fello...
www.iast.fr
September 18, 2025 at 3:11 PM
It is the time of the year when I tell you about my favorite post-doc ever 👇 Unless you are allergic to the French, this one sits up there with the Nuffield postdoc (life style, productivity, interdisciplinary stimulation). Share widely! Apply! #poliscky
www.iast.fr/research-fel...
www.iast.fr/research-fel...
Reposted by Sona Golder
📣 Attention, postdoctoral researchers!
❗ Apply now for our MZES Visiting Fellowships 😊
💡 Spend 2-4 weeks at the MZES to share ideas
💰 Funding for accommodation, travel, daily allowance
📆 Deadline: 28 November
Full information:
👉 www.mzes.uni-mannheim.de/en/news/deta...
❗ Apply now for our MZES Visiting Fellowships 😊
💡 Spend 2-4 weeks at the MZES to share ideas
💰 Funding for accommodation, travel, daily allowance
📆 Deadline: 28 November
Full information:
👉 www.mzes.uni-mannheim.de/en/news/deta...
September 22, 2025 at 9:29 AM
📣 Attention, postdoctoral researchers!
❗ Apply now for our MZES Visiting Fellowships 😊
💡 Spend 2-4 weeks at the MZES to share ideas
💰 Funding for accommodation, travel, daily allowance
📆 Deadline: 28 November
Full information:
👉 www.mzes.uni-mannheim.de/en/news/deta...
❗ Apply now for our MZES Visiting Fellowships 😊
💡 Spend 2-4 weeks at the MZES to share ideas
💰 Funding for accommodation, travel, daily allowance
📆 Deadline: 28 November
Full information:
👉 www.mzes.uni-mannheim.de/en/news/deta...
It's official! Check out the new International Center for Decentralization and Governance, an interdisciplinary initiative for the study of decentralization, governance, and federalism. Wish I could attend the conference on Asymmetric Decentralization in Santiago de Compostela in early November...
We are thrilled to announce the launch of IDEAGOV - International Center for Decentralization and Governance. Further information at ideagov.eu
Home | IDEAGOV
ideagov.eu
September 21, 2025 at 12:17 PM
It's official! Check out the new International Center for Decentralization and Governance, an interdisciplinary initiative for the study of decentralization, governance, and federalism. Wish I could attend the conference on Asymmetric Decentralization in Santiago de Compostela in early November...
Reposted by Sona Golder
Please share widely! Great #PostDoc opportunity at one of Australia's top #PoliticalScience departments, on a #FutureFellowship on electoral resilience. 3yrs, great pay, and a workplace practically next to the Great Barrier Reef!
Closing date is 1 Oct 2025
jobs.smartrecruiters.com/GriffithUniv...
Closing date is 1 Oct 2025
jobs.smartrecruiters.com/GriffithUniv...
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Grade 1
Company Description: Every institution values excellence. What matters most is why.
Griffith was created to be a different type of university. You’ll find we’re about leading research, academic excel...
jobs.smartrecruiters.com
September 16, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Please share widely! Great #PostDoc opportunity at one of Australia's top #PoliticalScience departments, on a #FutureFellowship on electoral resilience. 3yrs, great pay, and a workplace practically next to the Great Barrier Reef!
Closing date is 1 Oct 2025
jobs.smartrecruiters.com/GriffithUniv...
Closing date is 1 Oct 2025
jobs.smartrecruiters.com/GriffithUniv...
Reposted by Sona Golder
If you are in Vancouver this week, do come along to Instaparty presentations @apsa.bsky.social 2025!
instapartyproject.com
@ibenskasr.bsky.social @sonagolder.bsky.social @paulinasl.bsky.social
instapartyproject.com
@ibenskasr.bsky.social @sonagolder.bsky.social @paulinasl.bsky.social
September 9, 2025 at 8:53 AM
If you are in Vancouver this week, do come along to Instaparty presentations @apsa.bsky.social 2025!
instapartyproject.com
@ibenskasr.bsky.social @sonagolder.bsky.social @paulinasl.bsky.social
instapartyproject.com
@ibenskasr.bsky.social @sonagolder.bsky.social @paulinasl.bsky.social
For folks heading to #APSA soon - is there a version of the program that one can scroll though and see all the information about panels (without clicking though & back each time)? Not saying I miss those thick printed programs but wanted to check that I'm not overlooking an online version of them.
September 8, 2025 at 12:45 PM
For folks heading to #APSA soon - is there a version of the program that one can scroll though and see all the information about panels (without clicking though & back each time)? Not saying I miss those thick printed programs but wanted to check that I'm not overlooking an online version of them.
Reposted by Sona Golder
I'm putting together a talk on a new applied micro paper, and I'm reminded that (I believe) it's very hard to outperform the structure proposed in this piece by Jesse Shapiro. shapiro.scholars.harvard.edu/sites/g/file...
September 2, 2025 at 6:24 PM
I'm putting together a talk on a new applied micro paper, and I'm reminded that (I believe) it's very hard to outperform the structure proposed in this piece by Jesse Shapiro. shapiro.scholars.harvard.edu/sites/g/file...
Me, sitting at my desk after teaching two classes, get my (sad desk) sandwich out for a quick lunch, open Bluesky for a few minutes and...
LM Arena prompt: make an image of a political scientist bewildered and horrified at recent political events. in a faculty office. photorealistic. looking at a computer. realistic setting
The sad desk sandwich really nails it.
The sad desk sandwich really nails it.
August 26, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Me, sitting at my desk after teaching two classes, get my (sad desk) sandwich out for a quick lunch, open Bluesky for a few minutes and...
Stopped by the library to find the book that @dingdingpeng.the100.ci posted about even though classes start in a few days and I don’t really have time to read it. And then I saw this other book that looked really interesting (and which I also don’t have time to read). Left with 5 books in total.
August 20, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Stopped by the library to find the book that @dingdingpeng.the100.ci posted about even though classes start in a few days and I don’t really have time to read it. And then I saw this other book that looked really interesting (and which I also don’t have time to read). Left with 5 books in total.
Feeling nostalgic for the days when I could show students in my European politics class this classic Schabowski moment from my VHS (!) copy of the 1999 documentary "When the Wall Came Tumbling Down: 50 Hours That Changed the World"...
Feeling betrayed that this moment wasn’t really covered in my high school history classes.
August 14, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Feeling nostalgic for the days when I could show students in my European politics class this classic Schabowski moment from my VHS (!) copy of the 1999 documentary "When the Wall Came Tumbling Down: 50 Hours That Changed the World"...
Duo, why are you making me worry about automatic desk rejections?
July 19, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Duo, why are you making me worry about automatic desk rejections?
Reposted by Sona Golder
‼️ There are a few more days left to apply for the PhD positions in my group at KU Leuven. Make sure to send in applications by July 4! 👇
I'm recruiting 2 PhD researchers to work with me on a project studying how social groups influence vote choices!
Info on the position and how to apply 👉 www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...
Please share with interested students who would like to move to beautiful Leuven!
Info on the position and how to apply 👉 www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...
Please share with interested students who would like to move to beautiful Leuven!
2 PhD positions in Electoral behavior
2 PhD positions to research how social group memberships become connected to vote choices
www.kuleuven.be
June 30, 2025 at 6:57 AM
‼️ There are a few more days left to apply for the PhD positions in my group at KU Leuven. Make sure to send in applications by July 4! 👇
I tried to explain Howard Dean's "scream" to a 20-year old who has been following current political developments in the US. I failed.
June 6, 2025 at 11:25 AM
I tried to explain Howard Dean's "scream" to a 20-year old who has been following current political developments in the US. I failed.
Reposted by Sona Golder
I'm recruiting 2 PhD researchers to work with me on a project studying how social groups influence vote choices!
Info on the position and how to apply 👉 www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...
Please share with interested students who would like to move to beautiful Leuven!
Info on the position and how to apply 👉 www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...
Please share with interested students who would like to move to beautiful Leuven!
2 PhD positions in Electoral behavior
2 PhD positions to research how social group memberships become connected to vote choices
www.kuleuven.be
June 3, 2025 at 7:35 AM
I'm recruiting 2 PhD researchers to work with me on a project studying how social groups influence vote choices!
Info on the position and how to apply 👉 www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...
Please share with interested students who would like to move to beautiful Leuven!
Info on the position and how to apply 👉 www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...
Please share with interested students who would like to move to beautiful Leuven!
Reposted by Sona Golder
The private sector will not fill the gaps. The size of the cuts is too big, and the incentives does not align to do basic research or train the next generation of PhD students.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/are-univer...
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/are-univer...
May 31, 2025 at 12:16 PM
The private sector will not fill the gaps. The size of the cuts is too big, and the incentives does not align to do basic research or train the next generation of PhD students.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/are-univer...
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/are-univer...
Reposted by Sona Golder
Wonderful footage of Parisians celebrating 80 years ago today. Ending, of course, with a rousing chorus of La Marseillaise
« Aujourd’hui, nous avons le droit de croire à demain. »
Il y a 80 ans, l’Europe renaissait des cendres de la guerre, retrouvait sa liberté, l’espoir. Pour les combattants, les résistants, les millions de victimes : défendons notre Europe.
Leur courage fonde notre mémoire.
Il y a 80 ans, l’Europe renaissait des cendres de la guerre, retrouvait sa liberté, l’espoir. Pour les combattants, les résistants, les millions de victimes : défendons notre Europe.
Leur courage fonde notre mémoire.
May 8, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Wonderful footage of Parisians celebrating 80 years ago today. Ending, of course, with a rousing chorus of La Marseillaise
Reposted by Sona Golder
Party switching is one of the most impactful things MKs do, sometimes reshaping Israeli politics (hi Idit Silman).
Csaba Nikolenyi's book dives into this fascinating topic, and I had the pleasure of reviewing it for Israel Studies Review.
www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journal...
Csaba Nikolenyi's book dives into this fascinating topic, and I had the pleasure of reviewing it for Israel Studies Review.
www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journal...
April 22, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Party switching is one of the most impactful things MKs do, sometimes reshaping Israeli politics (hi Idit Silman).
Csaba Nikolenyi's book dives into this fascinating topic, and I had the pleasure of reviewing it for Israel Studies Review.
www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journal...
Csaba Nikolenyi's book dives into this fascinating topic, and I had the pleasure of reviewing it for Israel Studies Review.
www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journal...
Good advice from a thoughtful and highly productive scholar and mentor!
My sabbatical leave allowed me to reflect on my professional life.
As I’ve stepped into more senior roles in academia (plus gotten a bit older), I often get asked:
“How do you keep writing academic articles, policy work, opinion pieces, while juggling everything else?”
My answer: skillpower
🧵
As I’ve stepped into more senior roles in academia (plus gotten a bit older), I often get asked:
“How do you keep writing academic articles, policy work, opinion pieces, while juggling everything else?”
My answer: skillpower
🧵
April 16, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Good advice from a thoughtful and highly productive scholar and mentor!
Reposted by Sona Golder
📣 new fellowship at the MZES, University of Mannheim! Deadline 26 April 2025. Come join us 👇🏻
We are looking for a new colleague (Research Fellow) at Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES), University of Mannheim. Very lively, active and intellectually fruitful environment. Join us! Please share!
www.mzes.uni-mannheim.de/d7/en/news/i...
www.mzes.uni-mannheim.de/d7/en/news/i...
Fellowship for a Social Scientist at the MZES | Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung
The Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES) of the University of Mannheim offers
www.mzes.uni-mannheim.de
April 5, 2025 at 10:11 PM
📣 new fellowship at the MZES, University of Mannheim! Deadline 26 April 2025. Come join us 👇🏻
Reposted by Sona Golder
If only the United States of America had Strong Western Institutions.
March 31, 2025 at 9:56 AM
If only the United States of America had Strong Western Institutions.
Reposted by Sona Golder
Coalitions of the willing are back in vogue, with Macron hosting another summit tomorrow in Paris. Here’s a chart I made on forms of differentiated integration and political cooperation in Europe:
March 26, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Coalitions of the willing are back in vogue, with Macron hosting another summit tomorrow in Paris. Here’s a chart I made on forms of differentiated integration and political cooperation in Europe: