Do social influencers affect election outcomes? Social influencers can reach millions of people through social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. However, research on social influencers is scarce and so far largely limited to marketing research. I argue that social influencers can influence elections through their role as digital opinion leaders and their power to shape the media agenda. Empirically, I will leverage an event that occurred during the 2019 European election campaign.

Economic issues are often key drivers of policy preferences and voting behavior. Yet only select aspects of the economy are researched, such as general issue salience, retrospective evaluations, and redistributive policy preferences. Specifically, central though the financial industry is to most advanced industrial democracies, we know relatively little about what shapes citizens' preferences about banks and banking.

Africa and Europe stand at a crossroads.

With several key frameworks governing their partnership being changed at fast pace, the stage is set for them to identify, understand, and overcome the self-deceit that has shaped their relations. The two continent’s key actors have an opportunity to reaffirm what was said by the region’s respective leaders in 2017: that their partnership ought to be built on a “spirit of shared ownership, responsibility, reciprocity, respect and mutual accountability and transparency.”

Discussant: Claas Mertens

Discussant: Ezequiel Gonzales Ocantos (Oxford)

This is a hybrid event. If you wish to join the Join Zoom Meeting, please use the following details: us06web.zoom.us/j/81400620216?pwd=ZXdSWGxkWmZ3dmZvM1BVVnJoMnVldz09 Meeting ID: 814 0062 0216 Passcode: 535586

Discussant: Nicholas Dickinson (Oxford)

This is a hybrid event. If you wish to join the Join Zoom Meeting, please use the following details: us06web.zoom.us/j/81400620216?pwd=ZXdSWGxkWmZ3dmZvM1BVVnJoMnVldz09 Meeting ID: 814 0062 0216 Passcode: 535586