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Representative Disconnect

December 30, 2025

🎈 Why elected elites might reach for democratic innovations 

Şule Yaylacı Elected politicians face rising mistrust, gridlock, and citizen disengagement. In their research, Şule Yaylaci, Edana Beauvais and Mark E. Warren show how democratic innovations can help elites tackle inclusion gaps, agenda-setting dilemmas, and decision-making deadlocks. The authors also highlight the risks of co-optation and 'democracy washing' Read more
December 22, 2025

🎈 Who elected Mark Rutte? Representation as political engagement 

Dario Castiglione In his introductory piece for this series, Luca Verzichelli asked whether we can re-establish a connection between political institutions and citizens. Dario Castiglione suggests we can. But first, we must rethink democratic representation as a process of mutual engagement; then re-imagine its political practices and institutions  Read more
December 17, 2025

🎈 When do citizens tolerate democratic violations? Lessons from Hungary’s pandemic emergency 

Zsófia Papp Zsófia Papp and Godfred Bonnah Nkansah show that during Covid-19, Hungarians judged the quality of democracy less by procedural norms and more by government performance. Their findings reveal when citizens in backsliding regimes accept violations of democratic standards – and when they refuse to compromise  Read more
December 11, 2025

🎈 Youth and the new gender divide 

Marco Improta Who benefits from feminism, and who loses from it? Marco Improta and Elisabetta Mannoni reveal an ideological gap between young men and women across Europe. This gap – strong in the UK, but absent in Norway – may relate to perceptions of the 'winners and losers' of feminism  Read more
December 3, 2025

🎈 Why we shouldn't give up on representative democracy just yet

Luca Verzichelli Luca Verzichelli explores the crisis of democratic representation and the shrinking space for citizen-institution engagement. Launching a series on 'democratic disconnect', he calls for a new democratic pedagogy, fresh analytical tools, and innovative solutions to reconnect actors, strengthen institutions, and adapt democracy to twenty first-century challenges – before it's too late Read more

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Advancing Political Science
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