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Module: Europeans’ Understandings and Evaluations of Democracy

“Political Legitimacy in Times of Crisis” (short: PolLegKris) is a research project investigating the crisis of political legitimacy in Germany and across European democracies. PolLegKris is part of "Change Through Crises? Solidarity and De-solidarization in Germany and Europe" (short: SoliKris), a collaborative research project bringing together more than a dozen social scientists from the GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, the University of Heidelberg, and the WZB Berlin Social Science Center.

Research Questions

Theoretical background and objectives

The study  is set in the context of the changing balance of power and the changing narratives about emerging power configurations. We aim to explore the extent to which the rise of alternative models presents a challenge to the liberal script and how other actors in the region are responding to a "Western" liberal script and the challenges. While the notion of the "Asian way" has served to counter American and thus liberal hegemony for some time, it is now "liberal visions" of society that serve as a counter-hegemonic script to increasing Chinese dominance. "Asian scripts" (liberal or not) and the extent to which Asian states organize themselves and form alliances with each other based on these scripts' political and economic features are adressed.

What are the causes of the crisis of democracy? How can political practice be shaped, and how can democracy be changed in real terms and renewed to counteract its retreat tendencies? Michael Zürn (…) discusses these dynamics based on the findings of "The Democratic Regression", the recently published book by Armin Schäfer and Michael Zürn (Die demokratische Regression, Suhrkamp Verlag, 2021).

Michael Zürn präsentiert seine Forschungen zum neuen Populismus. Es wird zwischen einem linken und potentiell demokratisierenden sowie einem rechten und undemokratischen Populismus unterschieden. Diese Sichtweise verkennt aber den Kern der echten Herausforderung für die Demokratie. Es sind primär autoritäre Populisten, die an die Macht gelangen und die Demokratie untergraben. Autoritäre Populisten besitzen eine umfassende Ideologie, die die Schwächen der existierenden Demokratie angreift. Sie sind besonders gefährlich, wenn sie das liberale Wahrheitsregime in Frage stellen.

The ‘third wave of democratization’ left aside a considerable number of well-functioning autocracies. How has authoritarianism in an age of democratization been able to survive? We want to address three shortcomings in the literature: First, most of the studies rely on one-dimensional typologies, focusing on the structure of autocratic domination, but ignoring specific reproduction mechanisms of autocratic regimes. Second, studies juxtapose separate theoretical strands we seek to synthesize by linking structure and agency in an historical institutionalist approach. Third, little attention is paid to the genesis and development of institutions that bolster autocratic regimes.

Bridging project of the research units "Democracy: Structures, Performance, Challenges", "Migration, Integration, Transnationalization", and "Transnational Conflicts and International Institutions".