Periodic Reporting for period 5 - CUREORCURSE (Non-elected politics.Cure or Curse for the Crisis of Representative Democracy?)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2024-09-01 do 2025-02-28
The project studies whether the introduction of two forms of non-elected politics, mini-publics composed of citizens selected by lot and technocratic governments - can help to restore public trust in representative actors and institutions, and trust in democracy in general. Would they be a cure for the crisis of representative democracy, or rather a curse? In order to answer this question, the project proposes to collect data across Europe on three elements: (1) a detailed study of the preferences of Europeans on how democracy should work and on institutional reforms towards non-elected politics, (2) a comprehensive inventory of all actual cases of empowerment of citizens and experts implemented across Europe since 2000, and (3) an analysis of the impact of exposure to non-elected politics on citizens’ attitudes towards representative democracy. An innovative combination of online survey experiments and of panel surveys will be used to answer this topical research question with far-reaching societal implication.
The work within the project was structured around 3 WPs.
Within WP1, we aimed at studying two things: (1) public suppport for 2 forms of non-elected politics, deliberative mini-publics and technocracy, and (2) how these new models of government are integrated into a broader framework of citizens' democratic preferences.
For that, we conducted 3 main surveys: one on support for mini-publics (EPIS survey across 15 Western democracies in year 2), one on support for technocratic ministers across 15 European countries (in year 3), and one on citizens democratic preferences in consolidated and less consolidated democracies in Europe and Asia (in year 7).
Within WP2, the goal was to create inventories on mini-publics and technocratic cabinets between 2020 and 2020. It was done during years 1, 2 and 3 of the project. First, we have been able to consolidated our understanding of what mini-publics and technocratic cabinets are and where they are implemented. Second, we have contributed to a better understanding of the factors that lead to the installation of mini-publics and technocratic cabinets. Third, we have used the inventory to create the vignettes used in our experiments in the surveys of WP1 and WP3 about public attitudes towards mini-publics and technocratic ministers.
Within WP3, the goal was to examine how citizens react when a mini-public or a technocratic cabinet are really installed. We have developped 3 panel surveys, one in Luxembourg in parallel to the Climate Change Summit, one in Belgium in parallel to the National Consultation on Nuclear Waste Management, and one in Italian when the technocratic cabinet Draghi was in place.
All the data collected was used for new analyses and dissemination efforts towards 3 main publics: (1) academic researchers, (2) policy-makers and stakeholders, (3) citizens and civil society.
For the diffusion to the scientific community, we participated to a series of major international academic conferences and published about 30 articles in top international journals. In addition, all the data collected via our surveys has been deposited in open access in public data repository (and dataset reports have been published) in order to facilitate the re-use of our data (for new analyses or replication).
For the two other publics, we have combined two main strategies.First we have tried to make available our data on how mini-publics are organized via an easy-to-use search engine on the webiste of our project (www.politicize.eu). Second, we have participated to several public events with policy-makers, stakeholders, citizens and civil society organizations in various countries and at various levels of power (local, regional, national, EU). We have even organized a specific workshop in November 2024 with stakeholders and policy-makers in collaboration with two other EU-funded projects (ERC Starting Grant with Prof. Sofie Marien and COST-Action Programme for Prof. Min Reuchamps).
Within WP1, we aimed at studying two things: (1) public suppport for 2 forms of non-elected politics, deliberative mini-publics and technocracy, and (2) how these new models of government are integrated into a broader framework of citizens' democratic preferences.
For that, we conducted 3 main surveys: one on support for mini-publics (EPIS survey across 15 Western democracies in year 2), one on support for technocratic ministers across 15 European countries (in year 3), and one on citizens democratic preferences in consolidated and less consolidated democracies in Europe and Asia (in year 7).
Within WP2, the goal was to create inventories on mini-publics and technocratic cabinets between 2020 and 2020. It was done during years 1, 2 and 3 of the project. First, we have been able to consolidated our understanding of what mini-publics and technocratic cabinets are and where they are implemented. Second, we have contributed to a better understanding of the factors that lead to the installation of mini-publics and technocratic cabinets. Third, we have used the inventory to create the vignettes used in our experiments in the surveys of WP1 and WP3 about public attitudes towards mini-publics and technocratic ministers.
Within WP3, the goal was to examine how citizens react when a mini-public or a technocratic cabinet are really installed. We have developped 3 panel surveys, one in Luxembourg in parallel to the Climate Change Summit, one in Belgium in parallel to the National Consultation on Nuclear Waste Management, and one in Italian when the technocratic cabinet Draghi was in place.
All the data collected was used for new analyses and dissemination efforts towards 3 main publics: (1) academic researchers, (2) policy-makers and stakeholders, (3) citizens and civil society.
For the diffusion to the scientific community, we participated to a series of major international academic conferences and published about 30 articles in top international journals. In addition, all the data collected via our surveys has been deposited in open access in public data repository (and dataset reports have been published) in order to facilitate the re-use of our data (for new analyses or replication).
For the two other publics, we have combined two main strategies.First we have tried to make available our data on how mini-publics are organized via an easy-to-use search engine on the webiste of our project (www.politicize.eu). Second, we have participated to several public events with policy-makers, stakeholders, citizens and civil society organizations in various countries and at various levels of power (local, regional, national, EU). We have even organized a specific workshop in November 2024 with stakeholders and policy-makers in collaboration with two other EU-funded projects (ERC Starting Grant with Prof. Sofie Marien and COST-Action Programme for Prof. Min Reuchamps).
The project has already advanced research to a considerable extent in our understanding of the prevalence of non-elected politics across Europe, as well as regarding public support for non-elected politics.
In particular, we have made major contribution on the prevalence of non-elected bodies in European democracies (WP2), on support for non-elected politics, and more broadly on citizens' democratic preferences (WP1), and on the impact of non-elected politics (deliberative mini-publics and technocracy) on citizens' attitudes towards policy decisions and democracy.
In particular, we have made major contribution on the prevalence of non-elected bodies in European democracies (WP2), on support for non-elected politics, and more broadly on citizens' democratic preferences (WP1), and on the impact of non-elected politics (deliberative mini-publics and technocracy) on citizens' attitudes towards policy decisions and democracy.