Project description
Addressing illiberal administrative behaviour
In today’s political climate, democracy is facing challenges from within, including the rise of illiberal policies, which promote homogeneity and reject the separation of powers. Civil servants who resist these policies often face severe repercussions, while others comply, undermining democratic values. Despite the crucial role of public bureaucracy in governance, little is understood about how illiberal policies are implemented and how to prevent them. With this in mind, the ERC-funded ILLADMIN project seeks to define illiberal administrative behaviour, identify its drivers and explore ways to encourage civil servants to align with democratic values. The findings will provide valuable insights into combating illiberalism in public administration.
Objective
Democracy is at risk, also from the inside. Today, some civil servants are mandated to implement illiberal policies, defined as those including anti-plural (discouraging dissent and promoting homogeneity) or anti-institutional values (rejecting separation or supervision of power). Civil servants who oppose these policies face severe criticism and replacement. Conversely, others may behave illiberally and comply with the implementation request. Since public bureaucracy is essential for effective governance, the question of whether civil servants will implement illiberal policies, thereby displaying illiberal administrative behaviour, arises. Yet, it is surprising how little we know about this behaviour, why it occurs, and how it can be prevented.
To investigate these questions this project: (1) defines and elaborates a conceptual map of illiberal administrative behaviour, and empirically examines civil servants’ positions on it; (2) identifies the determinants of illiberal administrative behaviour; (3) examines how civil servants can align with liberal democratic values to reduce their likelihood of implementing illiberal policies. The empirical analysis focuses on 10 countries from 5 administrative traditions and implements an integrative multi-method approach combining panel surveys with different measurement strategies and experiments.
The project breaks new ground in the study of illiberalism in public administration and offers fresh insights on the current crisis of liberal democracy. Theoretically, it conceptualizes illiberal administrative behaviour, elucidating the conceptual underpinnings of this phenomenon. Empirically, it develops measurement tools for assessing illiberal administrative behaviour among civil servants, examines its primary determinants, and explores innovative mechanisms to counteract these processes. These contributions are developed by adopting an innovative interdisciplinary strategy.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences sociology governance
- social sciences political sciences public administration bureaucracy
- social sciences political sciences government systems democracy
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
31006 Pamplona
Spain
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.