Heike Klüver

I am a Full professor and Chair of Comparative Political Behavior at the Humboldt University of Berlin, Director of the Humboldt Governance Lab and Spokesperson of the DFG Research Training Group DYNAMICS. I previously held positions as Full professor and Chair of Comparative Politics at the University of Hamburg, as Professor of Empirical Political Science at the University of Bamberg, as Junior Professor at the University of Konstanz and as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Nuffield College at the University of Oxford. I received my Ph.D. from the University of Mannheim.

My research focuses on political behavior, electoral competition and governmental policy and relies on quantitative and experimental methods. Please find further information about myself and my research on this website.

recent publications

Hitting the Sweet Spot? The Electoral Consequences of Supporting Minority Governments

Maria Thürk and Heike Klüver

Comparative Political Studies, Jul 2025

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Does supporting a minority cabinet harm a party’s electoral prospects? While minority governments have become more common in recent years, the electoral implications for parties supporting such cabinets remain unclear. Previous research suggests that support parties enjoy a favorable position, exerting policy influence while avoiding electoral losses associated with joining the government. However, we argue that this is only true for support parties without written agreements, as their support is less visible to voters. To test our argument, we compiled a novel dataset on the electoral performance of 563 parties in 304 elections across 31 countries since 1980. We estimate the effect of being a support party on subsequent electoral performance. Our findings indicate that parties which declare support perform better electorally than junior partners, while contract support parties do not. These insights shed light on the relationship between minority governments and electoral competition amidst growing party system fragmentation.
@article{thurk_hitting_2025, title = {Hitting the {Sweet} {Spot}? {The} {Electoral} {Consequences} of {Supporting} {Minority} {Governments}}, volume = {58}, issn = {0010-4140, 1552-3829}, shorttitle = {Hitting the {Sweet} {Spot}?}, url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00104140241271210}, doi = {10.1177/00104140241271210}, language = {en}, number = {8}, urldate = {2025-06-06}, journal = {Comparative Political Studies}, author = {Thürk, Maria and Klüver, Heike}, month = jul, year = {2025}, pages = {1670--1698}, data = {https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/SHKP32}, project_coalitiongovernments = {true}, }
The Political Effects of Communicative Interventions During Crises

Asli Unan, Heike Klüver, Sara Hobolt, and Toni Rodon

European Journal of Political Research, May 2025

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Can communicative interventions by the government influence political trust and increase public compliance during crises? This study examines the impact of a televised speech by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Using an unexpected‐events‐during‐survey‐design, we find that the speech led to a 7‐percentage point increase in trust in the federal government and up to a 25‐percentage point decrease in citizens’ mobility. We also observe demographic variation in susceptibility to speech. We explore the underlying mechanisms by comparing Merkel’s speech with similar televised addresses by Mark Rutte and Boris Johnson, where we observe no comparable effects on attitudes. We suggest that specific content, such as an emphasis on solidarity and positive sentiment, may have played a role in mobilizing public support. Our findings indicate that effective leader communication can be a powerful tool for sustaining public support and ensuring compliance with crisis measures.
@article{unan_political_2025, title = {The {Political} {Effects} of {Communicative} {Interventions} {During} {Crises}}, issn = {0304-4130, 1475-6765}, url = {https://ejpr.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1475-6765.70020}, doi = {10.1111/1475-6765.70020}, language = {en}, urldate = {2025-06-06}, journal = {European Journal of Political Research}, author = {Unan, Asli and Klüver, Heike and Hobolt, Sara and Rodon, Toni}, month = may, year = {2025}, pages = {1475--6765.70020}, data = {https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/JFYMOK}, project_covid = {true}, }