🇨🇿 Czech parliamentary elections are happening 3–4 Oct 2025, with Andrej Babiš’s ANO likely to return.

We’re hosting a roundtable with experts on Czech politics, society & public opinion to unpack the results and what they mean for democracy and Europe.

🗓 9 Oct | 🕕 6pm | Online & in-person @ SSEES, UCL

Join the conversation! #CzechElections #CentralEurope #SSEES #BCSA

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanities/events/2025/oct/democracy-crossroads-czech-parliamentary-elections-and-their-implications

My new Substack on revisiting the pessimistic early “breakdown prophecies“ made about Eastern Europe im early 1990s.

Wrong then, but look more prescient today

https://open.substack.com/pub/drseanhanley/p/the-uses-of-pessimism-what-early?r=1m1g4u&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Spied this intriguing product promoting UCL’s bicentennial.

The “properties” seem to be events in the institution’s 200 year history

The wooden airship (“Gulliver”) at Prague’s Dox gallery really is the coolest thing. Pure Jules Verne.

#prague #dirigible #airships #modernart

Wow. Unbelievable an actual working red phone box that hasn’t been converted into a charity book exchange; felt like going back in time. Made a call (60p) just for the hell of it.

#curiosities #BritishLife #phoneboxes

Did political science get central and eastern Europe wrong?

TLDR: It did, leaning too heavily towards the power of formal institutions and the incentives of rational actors, generating an optimism bias.

Much to ponder on here

#politicalscience #EasternEurope #socialscience

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2025/04/01/did-political-science-get-central-and-eastern-europe-wrong/

My latest on Substack

https://open.substack.com/pub/drseanhanley/p/why-todays-protests-in-eastern-europe?r=1m1g4u&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

#democracy #EasternEurope #protest #history #analogy