On October 1st, Claudia Sheinbaum will be sworn in as the first female president in Mexico’s history. As president, Sheinbaum will have to address pressing issues that require domestic, bilateral, and regional cooperation, among them transit migration. Since taking office in 2018, Mexico’s current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has promised to adopt a human rights approach to address transit migration, but throughout his presidency he has continued to implement policies that have further militarised migration routes and criminalised migrants seeking to reach the US, pushing many ..read more

In 2015, Europe witnessed a significant increase in the influx of migrants, commonly referred to as the “2015 EU refugee crisis.” This article explores how this “crisis” transformed the migration-development agendas. With a specific focus on IOM’s information campaign in Senegal, I argue that the EU’s post-crisis migration policy has been characterised by the securitisation and externalisation of borders, reinforcing a pre-existing development agenda that primarily serves the political interests of EU states. What makes Senegal’s information campaign noteworthy is its use of affective, emotion ..read more

Publishing holds increasing importance in academia, yet, navigating the process can be daunting for early career researchers. At the Political Studies Association’s (PSA) 2024 conference at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, the PSA’s Early Career Network organised a roundtable discussion with prominent figures in academic publishing. The panel included Elizabeth Evans (Editor of Politics), Justin Fisher (Editor of Political Studies Review), Nick Allen (Publications Lead for the PSA), Peter Geoghegan (Editor of Political Insight), Sarah Shair-Rosenfield (Editor of Political Studies), So ..read more

The prevailing sentiment among most Britons towards Labour’s proposed initiative to extend voting rights to 16-year-olds is scepticism. However, the precedents set by nations such as Scotland, Brazil, and Austria, where the voting age has been lowered to 16, challenge these apprehensions. Contrary to popular belief, implementing such a policy could cultivate a more politically active and engaged citizenry in their later years. During his election campaign, Labour leader Keir Starmer endorsed reducing the legal voting age from 18 to 16, indicating a potential inclusion of this policy in the par ..read more

The worlds of academia and policymaking are becoming increasingly intertwined, as democratically elected political representatives seek evidence-based solutions to complex problems. The increased connection between the two worlds provides new opportunities for academics to use their research to inform both standards and outcomes across our political system. The main issue is that rarely has anyone outlined a clear and concise manual of the how-to and do’s and don’ts of engaging with legislators and their advisors, leaving academics uncertain about the process. One of our main goals as the inco ..read more

In the aftermath of Ukraine’s Euromaidan Revolution of 2013-14, pro-Kremlin propaganda reached unprecedented levels. It started spreading confusion and distrust in Western institutions more easily and rapidly than ever before. Latvia, a small nation formerly part of the Soviet Union and home to a significant ethnic Russian minority, perceived an acute threat to European stability and convinced the entire European Union (EU) to take action. This article explores how Latvia managed to influence EU policy-making, providing valuable lessons on small state influence in the EU and important insights ..read more

Kurdistan’s overdue parliamentary elections are set to take place on 6 June 2024. Judging by previous election cycles, however, their occurrence relies on a precarious political balancing act, with unpromising prospects. Kurds across Kurdistan have managed to safeguard stability, security, and thriving economies, standing in stark contrast to the mayhem and violence that characterises the wider region. Yet, creating a democratic island amid the turmoil of the Middle East has been profoundly challenging. Democratic elections are one of the key routes to achieving this objective. Introduction Mo ..read more

In most democracies, opinion polls routinely ask voters how they intend to vote in an upcoming election. The press and other media use these poll results, specifically the aggregated percentage measures of voting intentions for candidate X, to indicate the likelihood of that candidate winning. While this approach is a practical means of predicting election outcomes, there is a lesser-known survey item that can also serve this purpose, namely questions about voter expectations rather than voter intentions. For example, “Who do you think will win?” rather than “Who are you going to vote for?” A ..read more

Despite leaving, the EU remains the UK’s significant, constitutive other. Even post-Brexit, the British sense of self is being claimed by defining the EU as ‘Other’. Naturally, since 2016, the character of this ‘Other’ has evolved. Following the referendum, and especially Brexit itself, the UK-EU relationship has undergone a transformation of redefining each/the other. One might have expected that, once the UK had left the EU, the mutual relationship would run more smoothly. Yet, the opposite has been the case. Boris Johnson’s government was keen to pick fights with the EU and “regularly and d ..read more

With this month’s direct military strikes against each other, a war between Israel and Iran becomes not only conceivable but a growing risk. For all Israel’s advantages and determination, with the most sophisticated military in the region and an innovative and resilient economy, it is a small country of less than ten million people. Iran is a large country of over 80 million people whose economy and military capabilities have survived years of crippling sanctions. The outcome would depend on who had the strongest external support. For the time being, Israel has firm international friends and a ..read more