Jens Jungblut

• Squevin, Pierre Louis Daniel; Pattyn, Valérie; Jungblut, Jens Patrick Wilhelm & Blum, Sonja (2024). There, across the border – political scientists and their boundary-crossing work. Policy sciences. ISSN 0032-2687. doi: 10.1007/s11077-024-09530-z. Full text in Research Archive
• Biel, Jonas; Finger, Tobias; Niemann, Arne; Reinke, Vincent; Kossakowski, Radoslaw & Jungblut, Jens Patrick Wilhelm [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2023). A European Public Sphere United by Football: A Comparative Quantitative Text Analysis of German, Norwegian, Polish and Spanish Football Media. Journal of Common Market Studies. ISSN 0021-9886. doi: 10.1111/jcms.13559. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The ability of the European community to respond to the multiple crises threatening the European Union and Europe depends in part on citizens’ shared European identity giving legitimacy and support to communal action. Men’s elite European club football is an example of a cultural practice that is highly Europeanised, reaches diverse audiences and is a known carrier of collective identities. This article examines the emergence of a European public football sphere through the convergence of football coverage across national media spaces, serving as a foundation for European identity constructions. It connects the concept of a European public sphere to the Europeanisation and mediatisation of football and its potential effects on European identity formation. Results indicate a convergence of football coverage around high-profile and high-status aspects of European football, creating a strongly aligned, homogenous but exclusive European public football sphere that leaves many parts of Europe on the sidelines.

• Jungblut, Jens Patrick Wilhelm; Gouglas, Athanassios; Katz, Gabriel; Bandola-Gill, Justyna; Brans, Marleen & Timmermans, Arco [Show all 24 contributors for this article] (2023). Out of the ivory tower: an explanation of the policy advisory roles of political scientists in Europe. European Political Science. ISSN 1680-4333. doi: 10.1057/s41304-023-00440-x. Show summary

  The relevance and impact of political scientists’ professional activities outside of universities has become the focus of public attention, partly due to growing expectations that research should help address society’s grand challenges. One type of such activity is policy advising. However, little attention has been devoted to understanding the extent and type of policy advising activities political scientists engage in. This paper addresses this gap by adopting a classification that distinguishes four ideal types of policy advisors representing differing degrees of engagement. We test this classification by calculating a multi-level latent class model to estimate key factors explaining the prevalence of each type based on an original dataset obtained from a survey of political scientists across 39 European countries. Our results challenge the wisdom that political scientists are sitting in an “ivory tower”: the vast majority (80%) of political scientists in Europe are active policy advisers, with most of them providing not only expert guidance but also normative assessments.

• Jungblut, Jens Patrick Wilhelm; Kavli, Tuva Marie & Valgermo, Jon Bøe (2023). Different governments, similar agendas? Analyzing more than seven decades of Norwegian policy agendas presented in executive speeches. Scandinavian Political Studies. ISSN 0080-6757. 46(3), p. 167–193. doi: 10.1111/1467-9477.12252. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Norwegian politics have undergone significant changes since 1945. This paper analyzes over seven decades of policy agendas outlined in Norwegian executive speeches focusing on the composition and development of the agenda using categories from the Comparative Agendas Project. The analysis focuses on (a) the dynamics of agenda changes over time, (b) the diversity and distribution of attention, and (c) in how far external shocks or partisan factors drive major agenda shifts. Our results show that the Norwegian executive agenda has become more encompassing over time, that it is comparatively diverse, and that diversity increases as Norwegian politics becomes more complex. While there is generally a high degree of stability in the agenda, sudden punctuations also occur. Partisan factors only play a limited role in explaining these attention shifts, while external shocks seem to be more relevant.

• Maltais, Martin; Jungblut, Jens Patrick Wilhelm; Ness, Erik & Rexe, Deanna (2023). Same Same, but Different? Comparing the Politics of Higher Education Policy in Western Europe, Canada, and the U.S. Comparative Higher Education Politics. Policymaking in North America and Western Europe. Springer. ISSN 9783031258664. p. 519–548. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-25867-1_22. Show summary

  This concluding chapter summarizes the main findings of this volume on the politics of higher education policy. After presenting key results from each of the three contexts, we discuss the status-quo of the respective research communities including considerations of salient research themes and conceptual approaches in the study of higher education policy. To provide an overarching discussion of our findings, we map the insights gained in the previous chapters across the three contexts and the five main themes. Through this we also provide an answer to the conceptual question whether higher education policy dynamics are characterised by convergence or path-dependent divergence. We further highlight what researchers working in one of the three contexts can learn by looking at the other environments and conclude the chapter with an outlook on potential future challenges for higher education policymaking.

• Chou, Meng-Hsuan; Elken, Mari & Jungblut, Jens Patrick Wilhelm (2023). Policy Framing in Higher Education in Western Europe: (Some) Uses and (Many) Promises, Comparative Higher Education Politics. Policymaking in North America and Western Europe. Springer. ISSN 9783031258664. p. 231–257. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-25867-1_10. Show summary

  This chapter contributes to our understanding of the transformation sweeping the higher education sector in the last 50 years by examining how higher education policy has been framed and reframed since the 1970s in Western Europe. How policies are framed and reframed is important because it helps us make sense of higher education policy reforms around the world: the various models that drive it, the politics promoted, and the potential winners and losers resulting from framing and reframing. The literature review on framing and higher education policy in Western Europe shows that scholars examined three overlapping themes: the origin and evolution of European higher education policy cooperation (the ‘European Story’), Europeanization (‘When Europe Hits Home’), and the evolution of national higher education policy (‘National Story’). To provide a more considered discussion of framing and higher education policies, we then examine the higher education policy frames, framing, and reframing at the European-level, in Germany, and in Norway. The conclusion reflects on the avenues in which the framing approach could be used to generate more interdisciplinary and comparative higher education research in the post-pandemic context.

• Jungblut, Jens Patrick Wilhelm & Dobbins, Michael (2023). The Politics of Higher Education Governance Reform in Western Europe, Comparative Higher Education Politics. Policymaking in North America and Western Europe. Springer. ISSN 9783031258664. p. 27–55. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-25867-1_2. Show summary

  There has been ample reform activity regarding the governance of higher education in Europe since the late 1980s. The initial impetus behind these reforms has been linked to the introduction of concepts stemming from New Public Management (NPM) leading to somewhat similar reform rationales throughout Western Europe. At the same time, European countries have approached the issue of governance reforms from very different starting points, and still today there is significant national diversity in higher education governance. Overall, differing starting points, a converging reform rhetoric, but also diverging interests of the involved actors characterize governance reforms in higher education in Europe. This makes for a complex political environment and it is the aim of this chapter to provide a detailed account of the state of the art of academic research on this issue and make an argument for the importance of key political actors, namely political parties, in contemporary discussions about higher education governance. To this end, we will in a first step present a structured overview of the literature on politics of higher education governance reforms in Western Europe, which is then followed by an empirical analysis focusing on one specific factor that influences reforms and national variation in higher education governance in Europe: the preferences of political parties. In this, we will analyze to what extent different party families (e.g. Social Democrats or Christian Democrats) have diverging preferences with regard to higher education governance and whether and how parties with a similar ideological background differ in their policy positions across national contexts. This is based on an analysis and comparison of party manifestos from parties from six countries to identify both inter-party and inter-country differences in policy preferences.

• Jungblut, Jens Patrick Wilhelm; Maltais, Martin; Ness, Erik & Rexe, Deanna (2023). The Politics of Higher Education Policy in Canada, the U.S., and Western Europe – An Introduction, Comparative Higher Education Politics. Policymaking in North America and Western Europe. Springer. ISSN 9783031258664. p. 1–23. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-25867-1_1. Show summary

  Higher education policy has become a more salient issue in modern states as universities are increasingly important for societal and economic development. This leads to an increased politicisation of this policy area. At the same time, there is a lack of comparative scholarship studying the politics of higher education policy on both sides of the Atlantic. This is the gap that this volume addresses. This chapter introduces the idea behind the volume. It describes the rationale for studying the politics of higher education policy as well as the specific regional focus on Canada, the U.S., and Western Europe. Moreover, it introduces the conceptual framework underpinning the volume which combines sociological and historical institutionalism. Additionally, the chapter specifies the comparative approach applied in the volume and describes considerations regarding its research design. Finally, it introduces the structure of the volume and provides an overview over the different sections that follow.

• Berg, Anne Espeland; Jungblut, Jens Patrick Wilhelm & Jupskås, Anders Ravik (2023). We don’t need no education? Education policies of Western European populist radical right parties. West European Politics. ISSN 0140-2382. 46(7). doi: 10.1080/01402382.2023.2177010. Full text in Research Archive
• Reymert, Ingvild; Vabø, Agnete; Borlaug, Siri Brorstad & Jungblut, Jens Patrick Wilhelm (2022). Barriers to attracting the best researchers: perceptions of academics in economics and physics in three European countries. Higher Education. ISSN 0018-1560. p. 1–21. doi: 10.1007/s10734-022-00967-w. Show summary

  Recruitment is one of the main strategic tools for universities, which aim to hire the best possible candidates for their academic positions. However, not every institution can hire whom they perceive as the best. Our paper investigates what are perceived to be the most pressing hindrances to attracting the best researchers. We focus on national and disciplinary differences in researchers’ perceptions of barriers to recruiting the best scholars in their fields. We surveyed researchers in economics and physics in the Netherlands, Norway, and the UK and find that economists emphasize salary level and institutional prestige as the main barriers, while physicists underline competition from non-academic actors and career development opportunities. We further find differences by country. In Norway, limited institutional prestige is a key barrier to attracting the best researchers, while researchers in the UK highlight salary levels. Respondents at Dutch universities claim that they experience multiple, equally important barriers.

• Jungblut, Marc & Jungblut, Jens Patrick Wilhelm (2022). Spreading information or engaging the public? The German police’s communication on Twitter. Public Management Review. ISSN 1471-9037. doi: 10.1080/14719037.2022.2142653. Full text in Research Archive
• Blum, Sonja & Jungblut, Jens Patrick Wilhelm (2022). Driven by Academic Norms and Status of Employment: The Advisory Roles of Political Scientists in Germany, The Advisory Roles of Political Scientists in Europe. Comparing Engagements in Policy Advisory Systems. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030860073. p. 157–180. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-86005-9_8. Full text in Research Archive

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• Jungblut, Jens; Maltais, Martin; Ness, Erik C. & Rexe, Deanna (2023). Comparative Higher Education Politics: Policymaking in North America and Western Europe. Springer Netherlands. ISBN 978-3-031-25869-5. 548 p.
• Jungblut, Jens Patrick Wilhelm; Maltais, Martin; Ness, Erik & Rexe, Deanna (2023). Comparative Higher Education Politics. Policymaking in North America and Western Europe. Springer. ISBN 9783031258664. Show summary

  This volume provides an overview of the state of the art of research on the politics of higher education policy in Canada, the US, and Western Europe. Each thematic chapter combines an extensive literature review with original empirical work that further advances our understanding of policymaking dynamics in higher education. The book covers five key aspects of policymaking, namely the politics of governance as well as funding reforms, the role of interest groups, policy diffusion, and policy framing. These aspects are explored using a unique comparative design that combines comparisons within as well as between regions, and among the five key aspects of policymaking. The conceptual framework is anchored in approaches from institutional theory, namely sociological and historical institutionalism.

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• O’Shea, Sarah & Jungblut, Jens (2023). Foreword. Studies in Higher Education. ISSN 0307-5079. 48(10), p. 1517–1518. doi: 10.1080/03075079.2023.2253030.
• Lackner, Elisabeth Josefine; Jungblut, Jens & Eide, Elisabeth (2023). Academic freedom in international collaboration.
• Elken, Mari; Degn, Lise; Jungblut, Jens & Vukasovic, Martina (2023). Organising for excellence in education and research .
• Jungblut, Jens & O’Shea, Sarah (2023). Foreword. Studies in Higher Education. ISSN 0307-5079. 48(5), p. 671–672. doi: 10.1080/03075079.2023.2206728.
• Maassen, Peter; Jungblut, Jens; Stensaker, Bjørn; Griffith, Rachel Mary & Rosso, Ariana (2023). Navigating competition and collaboration - The way forward for universities. Koerber Stiftung.
• Maassen, Peter; Martinsen, Dennis; Elken, Mari; Jungblut, Jens & Lackner, Elisabeth Josefine (2023). State of play of academic freedom in the EU Member States. Overview of de facto trends and developments. European Parliamentary Research Service. Show summary

  Currently, major breaches of and threats to academic freedom can be observed across Europe and the world. Presenting independent research into the de facto state of play of academic freedom in the EU Member States, this study has been designed to contribute to a better understanding of potential and real threats to academic freedom in the EU Member States, and ways in which the protection of academic freedom can be strengthened.

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