Reconciling Citizens With the Trade-Offs of Democracy
Attitudes Toward Democracy Under Rising Politicization
The Project
DEMOTRADEOFF studies democratic trade-offs and how these fuel political discontent in 15 European countries.
Democracies involve trade-offs since all their desirable qualities cannot be simultaneously maximized. Hard choices must be made in order to balance democratic principles such as popular sovereignty and the rule of law, or freedom and political equality.
DEMOTRADEOFF examines the positions of citizens and parties regarding democratic trade-offs; how these contribute to citizens’ increasing discontent with democracy; how the rising politicization of the trade-offs of democracy might exacerbate these dynamics; and whether it is possible to curb this process.
Project Description
The project is funded through an ERC Starting Grant and it is hosted by the Department of Political Science and the Democracy, Elections and Citizenship research group of the Autonomous University of Barcelona
Data
We will generate data on the positions of citizens and political parties regarding democratic trade-offs through the combination of public opinion surveys, experiments, expert surveys and content analysis
Output
Our analyses explore if citizens and political leaders are open to accept that democracy requires a balancing of virtues and how the interplay between citizens' opinions and politicians' positions fuels discontent
Our News
Our Team
Enrique Hernández
Principal investigator
Sergi Ferrer
Postdoctoral fellow
Damjan Tomic
PhD candidate
Enrique Prada
Research Assistant
Oscar Ruiz
Project manager
Sofia Breitenstein
Research collaborator
Macarena Ares
Research collaborator
Mónica Ferrín
Research collaborator