RC34 - Quality of Democracy

Tribute to José Álvaro Moisés

Brigitte Weiffen — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 15:38:00 -0500

To the IPSA community,

It is with deep regret that we inform you of the passing of José Álvaro Moisés.

Credits: Leonor Calasans, IEA/USP

José Álvaro Moisés (1945 – 2026), former chair of our RC 34 – Quality of Democracy (2012 – 2016), was one of those rare scholars whose intellectual work cannot be separated from a lived commitment to democratic life.

His public trajectory helps illuminate the successive phases of his academic production. In the years when Brazilian democracy was still a horizon rather than an institution, Moisés combined scholarly enquiry with political engagement, participating in the founding cycle of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) in 1980 and contributing to the broader ecosystem of democratic opposition and reconstruction. That early experience shaped a lifelong interest in the relationship between popular organisation, representation, and the quality of democratic institutions - an interest that later acquired its most systematic form in his work on political culture, legitimacy, trust, and institutional performance.

In the same formative period, his political vocation was inseparable from a generational militancy against the Brazilian dictatorship. As a young intellectual, he was part of the democratic struggle that unfolded through universities, civic networks, and emerging spaces of critical reflection. He joined and helped animate the milieus around CEBRAP (Brazilian Centre for Analysis and Planning) and CEDEC (Centre for Studies of Contemporary Culture), institutions that, in different ways, sustained rigorous social science under authoritarian constraints and then became key laboratories for thinking through democratisation. This experience left a durable imprint on his scholarship, it anchored his insistence that democracy is not simply an institutional arrangement, but a historical achievement built through organisation, conflict, and learning, and therefore always vulnerable to reversal.

As a communicator, Moisés insisted that political science had responsibilities beyond the academy. With strong involvement in journalistic media, he moved between scholarly production and public debate, writing, speaking, and explaining politics to wider audiences as part of a civic vocation. He never treated democracy as a purely normative ideal, but as something that must be continuously sustained by institutions that work, citizens who recognise themselves in those institutions, and elites who accept democratic limits even when they lose.

In intellectual terms, his earlier scholarship fed directly into later questions about democratic consolidation. As Brazilian politics moved from transition to institutional routine, Moisés pushed beyond the celebratory narratives that sometimes accompany democratisation. He asked, instead, what kinds of democratic experience were being produced in practice: how far representation was integrating citizens; what patterns of inclusion and exclusion were stabilising; and how the architecture of institutions interacted with deeper orientations of political culture. This insistence on connecting institutional design to lived legitimacy would become one of the signature threads of his work.

A crucial dimension of his public service came through cultural policy. During Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s government, Moisés served at the Ministry of Culture, including as Executive Secretary and as National Secretary for Audiovisual. His passage through MinC did not sit apart from his academic trajectory, it gave concrete form to questions he pursued with conceptual discipline, like how public policy is designed and implemented, how institutions mediate rights and access, and how culture operates as both a field of symbolic production and a domain of citizenship.

Over time, that thread crystallised into a research programme on quality of democracy, a programme he pursued not only in Brazilian academic institutions but also through international scholarly governance. His engagement with the International Political Science Association (IPSA) was constitutive. Moisés served on IPSA’s Executive Committee (2012 - 2014) and later represented IPSA internationally when he was elected in October 2013 to replace Helen Milner as IPSA’s representative to the International Social Science Council (ISSC) for the 2014 – 2016 period. In parallel, he worked to build durable platforms where debates about democracy’s quality could be pursued comparatively, empirically, and with methodological pluralism.

That institutional labour culminated in one of RC34’s defining moments. Inspired by Leonardo Morlino (IPSAS` President at that time), José Álvaro Moises and Marianne Kneuer founded RC 34 – Quality of Democracy, launched at the IPSA World Congress in Madrid in 2012. In the committee’s first business meeting Moisés was unanimously elected Chair, signalling both recognition of his scholarly leadership and confidence in his capacity to make a new research committee thrive. Less than a year after the passing of Morlino, this earlier co-creation now reads not only as an organisational achievement but as an intergenerational legacy, a global scholarly infrastructure devoted to understanding, with seriousness and robustness, how democracies operate, and how to defend and strength democracy around the world.

The thematic arc of Moisés’ scholarship maps closely onto the successive challenges of Brazil’s democratic trajectory, while remaining legible to comparative research. In the consolidation era, he gave particular attention to the socio-political bases of democratic legitimacy and to how citizens interpret the idea of democracy itself, questions that naturally led into his later, widely cited work on political trust and distrust. The central puzzle was not merely whether citizens liked or disliked particular governments, but how they evaluated institutions as such; why distrust became durable, how it shaped participation and representation, and what it did to the functioning of democratic regimes. His edited volumes and research leadership treated distrust not as a moral diagnosis but as an empirical object, measurable, historically rooted, and politically consequential.

In the last phase of his production, the same research programme acquired renewed urgency as democratic politics worldwide entered a period of heightened conflict, polarisation, and contestation of democratic norms. Moisés followed this shift with characteristic clarity. He connected crises of representation to transformations in political communication, to the erosion of institutional credibility, and to the rise of leaders and movements willing to treat democratic constraints as obstacles rather than foundations. In doing so, he helped show how “quality of democracy” cannot be reduced to a single indicator or institutional checklist. Further, it is a moving equilibrium between procedures, cultural policy, rights, and legitimacy, each capable of corroding the others.

What makes Moisés’ trajectory especially significant now is precisely that he never allowed democracy to be understood only as a set of minimal procedures. In our contemporary moment, democracy is being questioned simultaneously at two levels. At the most minimalist level, we see disputes over elections, over the acceptance of results, and over the norms and practices that make the transition of power peaceful, routine, and legitimate. At the highest level of democratic aspiration, we see intensified contestation over the very meaning of freedom and equality - over who counts, who belongs, whose voice is recognised as authoritative, and which lives are deemed compatible with the public good.

Personalities like José Álvaro Moisés matter because they bridge those levels without collapsing one into the other. His trajectory reminds us that the defence of elections and institutional continuity is necessary but insufficient; and that commitments to freedom and equality require institutional forms robust enough to carry them through moments of fear, and polarisation. Moisés’ life - in scholarship, in political engagement, and in public communication - stood for a simple, demanding proposition: democracy’s quality is never guaranteed, but it can be studied, debated, and strengthened. RC 34 - Quality of Democracy carries this DNA, and all its members work tirelessly to understand democracy and how it works, contributing to the improvement of democracies around the world in a thorough and objective manner.

José Veríssimo Romão Netto
Chair, RC 34 – Quality of Democracy

In honor of Leonardo Morlino, mastermind of RC34

Brigitte Weiffen — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 09:47:00 -0400

The IPSA family is deeply saddened by the passing of Past President Leonardo Morlino, who died on 17 June 2025 at the age of 77. In this obituary, Marianne Kneuer, Past President of IPSA and co-founder of RC34, shares her memories of Leonardo's key role in establishing RC34.

Leonardo Morlino was, is, and will certainly remain a central reference point and authoritative voice for the democracy studies. His contributions have been instrumental in establishing and solidifying the field of transitology, and Leonardo's oeuvre is an indispensable and substantial source, especially for those concerned with democratization in Southern Europe and Latin America. The richness of his work and the sharpness of his thinking have accompanied and inspired generations—the plural is entirely appropriate—of democracy researchers.

But today I would like to talk about how Leonardo made a unique and extremely significant contribution to our scientific community. He demonstrated an exceptional aptitude for fostering connections and inspiring enthusiasm among scholars, a proficiency that I have seldom observed to such a remarkable degree. At the point at which research of democratic consolidation was beginning to lose momentum, Leonardo Morlino pioneered a novel field, thereby substantially advancing the study of democracy. The concept of democracy quality, which he propounded, subsequently emerged as the primary focus of research in the 2010s and beyond, yielding significant insights, controversies, and, in any case, novel avenues for research.

Leonardo understood how to translate scientific ideas and concepts into concrete research networks. One product of this was the establishment of the Research Committee 34, entitled “Quality of Democracy.” Leonardo was President of IPSA when the first joint IPSA-ECPR conference took place in Sao Paulo in 2011. On that occasion, he chaired numerous panels, one on democratic quality of which I also had the privilege to participate in. Following the panel, Leonardo approached a number of colleagues and made the case for the institutionalization of the topic of democratic quality within an RC at IPSA. He encouraged our Brazilian colleague José Alvaro Moisés and me to do so – with the compelling persuasiveness, so characteristic of him. Thus, RC 34 was founded by José and me and launched at the Madrid World Congress in 2012, and it flourished to a very active and vibrant network. A particularly notable highlight was undoubtedly the high-level international conference that we organized in Frankfurt 2013. This event subsequently led to the publication of a special issue of the International Political Science Review entitled "Measuring the Quality of Democracy" (2016). It goes without saying that Leonardo was always present as – if you want so – “honorary mentor”, supporter and member to our RC. And his contributions – be it at our conferences or in the Special Issue were highly meaningful. It was clear at all times that the topic and therefore the existence and work of our RC were close to his heart.

The greatest tribute we can pay to this esteemed colleague and enabler of RC “Quality of Democracy” is to continue this work in the same spirit that he instilled in us. Thank you, Leonardo Morlino!

Marianne Kneuer

RC34 at IPSA Work in Progress Sessions (WiPS)

Brigitte Weiffen — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 09:38:00 -0400

As part of the new IPSA-WiPS (Work in Progress Sessions) online workshop format that IPSA piloted in 2024, RC34 co-organized a workshop with RC13.

As part of the celebrations of its 75th anniversary in 2024, IPSA organized a new type of online conference to offer IPSA individual members a unique global opportunity to present and discuss in depth their research in progress. RC34 together with RC13 co-organized two fruitful half-day sessions on “Democratic Resilience and Resistance to Autocratization” on 5-6 December 2024.

International Workshop "Democracy in Latin America: Regression or Resilience?"

Brigitte Weiffen — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 09:31:00 -0400

On 13 March 2024, RC34 organized a workshop in collaboration with former RC board member José Alvaro Moisés and his Research Group “Quality of Democracy” at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of São Paulo.

For a long time, Latin America seemed to be one of the success stories of the “third wave” of democratization. Following democratic transitions in the 1980s and early 1990s, most countries in the region appeared to be on the path to democratic consolidation in the 2000s and early 2010s. In recent years, however, Latin America’s democratic consolidation has begun to unravel amid major populist challenges from both the left and the right. Nowadays, the crisis of democracy has become a global phenomenon and has intersected with challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic, economic recession, climate change, and the increasingly assertive role of autocratic powers like China and Russia that are exerting further pressures on democratic regimes. Bringing together experts on Latin American democracy from different countries, this workshop will study the contemporary trend of democratic regression and autocratization, but also instances of resilience and possibilities to defend democracy in Latin America.

This event was organized by IPSA Research Committee 34 Quality of Democracy and the Research Group on Quality of Democracy at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of São Paulo (IEA-USP).

You can find the program here:

https://www.iea.usp.br/en/events/democracy-latin-america-regression-resilience

A recording of the event is available here:

https://www.iea.usp.br/midiateca/video/videos-2024/democracy-in-latin-america-regression-or-resilience

New RC officers elected during World Congress 2023

Brigitte Weiffen — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 14:38:00 -0400

At the business meeting during the IPSA World Congress in Buenos Aires, members and interested colleagues discussed suggestions for future activities of RC34 “Quality of Democracy” and elections for RC officers were held.

The following colleagues have been (re-) elected as RC34 officers in July 2023:

Chair

Brigitte Weiffen, The Open University, United Kingdom

Secretary

Giuliano Guidi Braga, University of Minho, Portugal

Board Members

Merve Çalımlı Akgün, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Dirk Kotzé, University of South Africa, South Africa
Jesús Tovar, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Mexico

In addition, the following colleagues (elected in 2021 for four years) will remain on the board:

Anja Mihr, Center on Governance through Human Rights, Berlin Governance Platform, Germany
Paulina Pospieszna, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland
Laurence Whitehead, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Congratulations to the new board members!

New publication: Special Section "China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A Curse or a Blessing for Democracy in Eurasia?"

Brigitte Weiffen — Sun, 11 Dec 2022 14:44:00 -0500

The Special Section "China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A Curse or a Blessing for Democracy in Eurasia?" is fruit of a 2021 international workshop co-organized by IPSA RC34 "Quality of Democracy" and the OSCE Academy in Bishkek.

Published as part of the edited collection "Securitization and Democracy in Eurasia. Transformation and Development in the OSCE Region" (edited by Anja Mihr, Paolo Sorbello and Brigitte Weiffen), the Special Section ssesses the impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative on the levels of democracy and/or autocracy in Eurasia. It includes a selection of contributions to a 2021 international workshop co-organized by IPSA RC34 "Quality of Democracy" and the OSCE Academy in Bishkek.

This is an open access publication which is available here:

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-16659-4

Full book description:

This open-access book presents cutting-edge research on securitization and democratic development in the OSCE Region. Gathering contributions by practitioners and researchers from various disciplines, it presents case studies and highlights recent activities of proactive engagement in democratic institution-building and responding to security threats from the Balkans to Central Asia. The volume is divided into three parts, the first of which focuses on security-related matters, armed conflicts, minorities, and women’s safety, as well as the roles that civil society, foreign governments, social media, and external donors play in this area. These contributions illustrate how the OSCE’s informal approach to peace, security, and securitization as norm entrepreneur is closely linked to the level of democracy among its member states. The second part presents a special section on the political implications of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), assessing the impact of this infrastructural program on the levels of democracy and/or autocracy in Eurasia. The third part consists of short chapters outlining future research and debates. The book will appeal to students and scholars of international relations, security studies, and the human rights-politics nexus.

This is the 2022 instalment in a series of books released by the OSCE Academy in Bishkek. The OSCE works to promote Minority Protection, Security, Democratic Development and Human Rights, guided by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and to enhance securitization and development policies in Eurasia, Europe, Central Asia and North America. Since being founded in 1993, the OSCE and its agencies and departments have attracted a wealth of academic research in various fields and disciplines, ranging from economic development and election monitoring to enhancing global principles of human rights and securitization.

International Workshop "The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its Impact on Human Rights Compliance along the 'New Silk Road'"

Brigitte Weiffen — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 14:46:00 -0400

On 16 May 2022, RC34 co-organized a workshop on the BRI's Impact on Human Rights, a follow-up on the 2021 IPSA RC34/OSCE Academy workshop on 'China's BRI: curse or blessing for democracy?'. The event took place at Maecenata Foundation in Berlin, Germany, with both face-to-face and online participation.

China's New Silk Road Initiative (Belt and Road Initiative, BRI) has been spinning its logistical and infrastructural web around the world since 2013. Massive infrastructural investments in tracks and roads as well as in the agricultural and energy sector and logistical centers were made in over 50 countries in Eurasia. BRI is a central component of Chinese investment policies across the Eurasian continent and has been largely affected and interrupted by the current war in Ukraine, too.

Overall, China’s involvement and programs affected core public policy areas in over 100 countries in the world, and hence human rights and governance. It has a transformative impact in various directions, triggering on the one side social movements, sometimes protest and on the other, consolidating autocratic regimes and suppression.

Almost a decade after the official launch of BRI, this workshop assessed the BRI’s political and social implications across the heartland of Eurasia between Europe and China. In particular, it discussed the impact of the BRI on a wide range of human rights-related topics.

The workshop took place on Monday 16 May 2022 from 9:00 to 17:00h CEST.

Workshop website
Program
Short report
Report Workshop BRI 2022 "China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its Impact on Human Rights Compliance" by Viktoria Kaffanke and Udo Steinbach (All assessments expressed in this report represent the view of its authors solely and as such may differ from the perspective of the workshop participants.)

The event was co-hosted by IPSA Research Committee 34 “Quality of Democracy”, the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, the Center on Governance through Human Rights, and the Maecenata Foundation’s MENA Study Centre.

Organizers:

Dr. Anja Mihr -- OSCE Academy in Bishkek / HVGP Center on Governance through Human Rights

Dr. Brigitte Weiffen -- The Open University, Milton Keynes / IPSA RC 34 “Quality of Democracy”

Dr. Udo Steinbach -- MENA Study Centre

New board members elected during World Congress 2021

Brigitte Weiffen — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 15:59:00 -0400

While the tenure of the current Chair/Vice Chair continues until the next World Congress in 2023, all other board members had to be newly elected or re-elected during the 2021 IPSA World Congress.

While the tenure of the current Chair/Vice Chair continues until the next World Congress in 2023, all other board members had to be newly elected or re-elected during the 2021 IPSA World Congress. The following colleagues have been (re-)elected to the board:

Małgorzata Kaczorowska, University of Warsaw, Poland
Anja Mihr, OSCE Academy Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
José Alvaro Moisés, University of São Paulo, Brazil
Leonardo Morlino, LUISS University, Italy
Paulina Pospieszna, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland
Laurence Whitehead, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

International Workshop "China's Belt and Road Initiative: curse or blessing for democracy in Eurasia?"

Brigitte Weiffen — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 05:24:00 -0500

From 12-14 March 2021, RC34 held the international workshop “China's Belt and Road Initiative: curse or blessing for democracy in Eurasia?”, hosted by the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and organized by Brigitte Weiffen (The Open University, Milton Keynes, and Chair of RC34) and Anja Mihr (OSCE Academy Bishkek).

Workshop description:

China's New Silk Road Initiative (Belt and Road initiative, BRI) has been spinning its logistical and infrastructural web around the world since 2013. Massive infrastructural investments in tracks and roads as well as in the agricultural and energy sector and logistical centers were made in over 50 countries in Eurasia. BRI is a central component of Chinese investment policies that have affected core public policy areas in over 100 countries in the world. Almost a decade after the official launch of BRI, this workshop assessed its political implications. Contributors discussed the impact that BRI has had, willingly or not, on democratization or autocratization processes in the countries and societies that it invested in, ranging from Europe to the Middle East, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia.

Due to the developments and regulations related to Covid-19, the workshop took place as an online event.

Download program as PDF: Workshop BRI 2021.

Video of the workshop with selected presentations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtT1zKH7rgs&t=0m00s

Full program with video links: https://osce-academy.net/upload/file/BRIWorkshop_Programme.pdf

Conference report in the OSCE Academy Paper Series - direct download as PDF: http://osce-academy.net/upload/file/2.pdf

RC34 publications

Brigitte Weiffen — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 04:37:00 -0400

Over the past few years, the academic events organized by RC34 have led to several collective publications about the quality of democracy.

The edited volume “Calidad de la Democracia en América Latina. Una nueva mirada”, edited by Gloria de la Fuente, Marianne Kneuer and Leonardo Morlino, was published in 2020 by Chilean publishing house Fondo de Cultura Económica, on the basis of the international conference “Quality of Democracy: New Research Agenda” that RC34 organized in Santiago de Chile in September 2016. For more information about the book, see: https://fondodeculturaeconomica.cl/products/calidad-de-la-democracia-en-america-latina

A Special Issue of Medijske studije (Media Studies), Vol. 7, Issue 14 (2016) on “Communication, Democracy, and Digital Technology”, edited by Domagoj Bebić, Marijana Gbreša, Darren Lilleker, Norbert Kersting, Marianne Kneuer and Oscar Luengo, came out on the basis of the conference 2015 in Rovinj, Croatia that was co-organized by RC34. Medijske studije is an open access journal and the special issue can be downloaded from their website: https://www.mediastudies.fpzg.hr/

A Special Issue of International Political Science Review, Vol. 35, Issue 5 (November 2016) on “Measuring the Quality of Democracy”, edited by Brigitte Geissel, Marianne Kneuer and Hans-Joachim Lauth, contains contributions from the RC34 workshop “Measuring Democracy”, held from 29 September to 1 October 2013 in Frankfurt, Germany. For table of contents and download (via your IPSA account or institutional library), see: https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ipsa/37/5

Special Issue: Democracy in the Time of COVID-19

Brigitte Weiffen — Sat, 17 Oct 2020 13:49:00 -0400

Several members of RC34 contributed to a special issue of the journal Democratic Theory on Democracy in the Time of COVID-19, which explores the impact of the global pandemic on democracy.

The publisher kindly made the content available freely until at least the end of the year 2020: https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/democratic-theory/7/2/democratic-theory.7.issue-2.xml

Summary

As countries around the world went into lockdown, the editors of this special issue of "Democratic Theory" turned to 32 leading scholars working on different aspects of democracy and asked them what they think about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted democracy. Synthesizing the reflections of these scholars, presented in 20 articles of the special issues, five key insights about the prospects and challenges of enacting democracy both during and after the pandemic emerge: (1) COVID-19 has had corrosive effects on already endangered democratic institutions, (2) COVID-19 has revealed alternative possibilities for democratic politics in the state of emergency, (3) COVID-19 has amplified the inequalities and injustices within democracies, (4) COVID-19 has demonstrated the need for institutional infrastructure for prolonged solidarity, and (5) COVID-19 has highlighted the predominance of the nation-state and its limitations. Collectively, these insights open up important normative and practical questions about what democracy should look like in the face of an emergency and what we might expect it to achieve under such circumstances.

Table of Contents

Editorial

Democracy in a Global Emergency - Five Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: Afsoun Afsahi, Emily Beausoleil, Rikki Dean, Selen A. Ercan, and Jean-Paul Gagnon

Articles

Who Governs in Deep Crises? The Case of Germany

By: Wolfgang Merkel

COVID and the Era of Emergencies - What Type of Freedom is at Stake?

By: Danielle Celermajer and Dalia Nassar

How Will the COVID-19 Pandemic Affect Democracy?

By: Lauri Rapeli and Inga Saikkonen

Centralized or Decentralized - Which Governance Systems are Having a “Good” Pandemic?

By: Jennifer Gaskell and Gerry Stoker

COVID Revolution

By: Jodi Dean

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Central and Eastern Europe - The Rise of Autocracy and Democratic Resilience

By: Petra Guasti

Latin America and COVID-19 - Political Rights and Presidential Leadership to the Test

By: Brigitte Weiffen

The Democracy of Everyday Life in Disaster - Holding Our Lives in Their Hands

By: Nancy L. Rosenblum

Babies and Boomers - Intergenerational Democracy and the Political Epidemiology of COVID-19

By: Toby Rollo

COVID-19, Democracies, and (De)Colonialities

By: Marcos S. Scauso, Garrett FitzGerald, Arlene B. Tickner, Navnita Chadha Behera, Chengxin Pan, Chih-yu Shih, and Kosuke Shimiz

Gender, Leadership and Representative Democracy - The Differential Impacts of the Global Pandemic

By: Kim Rubenstein, Trish Bergin, and Pia Rowe

Innovation Policy, Structural Inequality, and COVID-19

By: Shobita Parthasarathy

Rethinking Democratic Theories of Justice in the Economy after COVID-19

By: Louise Haagh

Solidarity in Times of Pandemics

By: Barbara Prainsack

Theorizing Democracy in a Pandemic

By: Peter Levine

American Quarantine - The Right to Housing in a Pandemic

By: Bonnie Honig

Open Borders and the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: David Owen

European Democracy after COVID-19

By: Ulrike Guérot and Michael Hunklinger

No Demos in the Pandemic

By: Asma Abbas

Coronavirus, Democracy and the Challenges of Engaging a Planetary Order

By: Milja Kurki

Call for Papers: "China's Belt and Road Initiative: curse or blessing for democracy in Eurasia?"

Brigitte Weiffen — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 09:23:00 -0400

IPSA RC34 "Quality of Democracy" is planning the next international workshop on “China's Belt and Road Initiative: curse or blessing for democracy in Eurasia?”, The workshop intends to explore the impact of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative on democratization and autocratization in Eurasia and elsewhere. Organized by Brigitte Weiffen and Anja Mihr, the workshop is currently planned for 12-14 March 2021 at the OSCE Academy Bishkek.

The Call for Proposals is now open:

CfP_IPSA_RC34_Workshop_BRI_2021.pdf

China's New Silk Road Initiative (Belt and Road initiative, BRI) has been spinning its logistical and infrastructural web around the world since 2013. Massive infrastructural investments in tracks and roads as well as in the agricultural and energy sector and logistical centers were made in over 50 countries in Eurasia, a continent made of Europe and Asia that ranges from the Philippines to Portugal, from Norway to Uzbekistan, and Turkey to Russia. BRI is a central component of Chinese investment policies that have affected core public policy areas in over 100 countries in the world.

By this, BRI has penetrated the political regimes, affecting autocracies and strong, weak, and failed democracies alike. BRI has triggered not only state authorities’ responses, but also significant reactions from business, civil society and other non-state actors. BRI has thus become both a curse and blessing for societies and political regimes along the ‘New Silk Road’. It has led to an increase in organized crime, with local warlords benefitting from illicit activities, and has infringed labor standards and human rights; on the other hand, new transnational cooperation, start-ups and economic regulations also emerged thanks to those massive investments. On the political level, citizen participation has increased, protest movements have been formed, and local authorities have voiced their concerns. BRI has triggered resistance among civil society and governments and contributed to regime transformation in the region. Autocratic China has hence become an unwilling reformer for those societies.

Almost a decade after the official launch of BRI, this workshop will assess its political implications. Contributors are asked to discuss the impact that BRI has had, willingly or not, on democratization or autocratization processes in the countries and societies that it invested in, ranging from Europe to the Middle East, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. While the main focus of the workshop will be on the impact of BRI on political regimes in Eurasia, proposals analyzing China`s role in autocratization and democratization in other world regions as well as from a theoretical-conceptual perspective are also welcome.

Researchers wishing to contribute to the 2021 RC34 international workshop are invited to submit a paper proposal. Abstracts (max. 500 words) should be sent to both Brigitte Weiffen (brigitte.weiffen@uni-konstanz.de) and Anja Mihr (a.mihr@osce-academy.net) until 30 September 2020.

The workshop will be held at the OSCE Academy Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (http://www.osce-academy.net). This workshop will provide the opportunity to participate remotely/via teleconferencing in case of travel restrictions or lack of funding.

Please note that accepted participants are expected to commit to full, active attendance of all panel sessions and discussions throughout the three days of the workshop, in addition to their own paper presentation.

Participants in the 2021 RC34 International Workshop are expected to cover all personal travel expenses. Limited travel grants might be available to help covering air fare and accommodation costs of some participants (particularly, scholars from Central Asia).

International Workshop "Rising Democracies, Interrupted"

Brigitte Weiffen — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 08:18:00 -0400

From 1-3 June 2020, RC34 organized the Interrnational Workshop "Rising Democracies, Interrupted".

With a focus on the fate and role of “rising democracies”, the workshop studied the current crisis of democracy,

Watch the video of the Opening Roundtable "The quality of democracy in times of Covid-19"

DESCRIPTION

Starting with the “Third Wave” of democratization, the spread of democracy and human rights over the last three decades has dramatically changed the international landscape. Since 1989, the number of countries considered an electoral democracy has almost doubled. Democratic transitions in places as diverse as Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia have captured the world’s attention.

“Rising democracies” have stood out for their shift from authoritarian governments to more open and representative systems and for their impressive progress in delivering better standards of living for their citizens. The concept of “rising democracies” included the democratic ones among the “rising powers”, like India, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey and Indonesia, as well as young democracies from Eastern Europe and Latin America, such as Poland, Hungary, Chile and Argentina. Their embrace of globalization and democratic norms not only affected their own trajectories, but also gave rise to the hope that these young democracies would use their growing prominence to defend democratic values abroad, potentially revitalizing international democracy promotion.

In the past few years, however, most of these countries have passed through economic and political crises. Widespread demonstrations against increasing socio-economic hardships and inequalities have put pressure on democracy in Chile, France, Iraq, Lebanon, South Africa, and others. Countries across the globe have seen the rise of populist forces and an increasing political and societal polarization. In some cases, the rise of populists to power has resulted in democratic decline and erosion. Hence, optimistic expectations regarding the diffusion of democracy, and the participation of rising democracies in this process, have for the moment been frustrated.

With a focus on the fate and role of “rising democracies”, the workshop studied the current crisis of democracy, looking in particular at:

Crisis diagnosis
What are the symptoms regarding the quality of democracy? Which dimensions of democracy are particularly affected? Is there a decoupling of democracy and liberalism? Do we observe democratic backsliding, erosion, or even breakdown in countries formerly considered to be rising democracies?

Causes
Why did the pushback against democracy happen? Are there common causes for the fate of rising democracies, or is it that case-specific developments were crucial for the respective countries?

Consequences
What are the implications for the contribution of the former rising democracies to democracy promotion and the defense of democracy?

PROGRAM

Rising_Democracies_Interrupted_final_program.pdf

ORGANIZATION

Brigitte Weiffen (DAAD Visiting Professor at the University of São Paulo and Chair of IPSA RC34)

Due to the current global pandemic, the workshop was held online.

New Direction of RC34

Jose Verissimo — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 11:10:00 -0400

Brigitte Weiffen and Dirk Kotzé now leading RC34

Professor Brigitte Weiffen (http://dcp.fflch.usp.br/index.php/docentes/brigitte-weiffen) and Professor Dirk Kotzé (https://www.accord.org.za/people/dirk-kotze/) are now leading the activities of the RC 34. They will assume the responsibilities to lead the RC until the next Congress in Lisbon, 2021.

International Conference - “Political Science in the Digital Age: Mapping Opportunities, Perils and Uncertainties”

Jose Verissimo — Thu, 02 Mar 2017 08:43:00 -0500

The International Political Science Association (IPSA) is organizing an international conference that will be held on 4-6 December 2017 in Hannover, Germany. Chaired by Marianne Kneuer and Helen Milner, the conference will take place in Hannover’s Palace of Herrenhausen.

More information about the Conference at https://hannover2017.ipsa.org/

The conference, entitled “Political Science in the Digital Age: Mapping Opportunities, Perils and Uncertainties”, provides the opportunity for a reflection on the discipline and one of its most relevant challenges, namely digitalization. The conference aims to bring together officials and members of the national Political Science Associations of IPSA and members the IPSA Research Committees in order to further develop networks and cooperation among these groups. The conference will also be a platform for addressing challenges as well as developing ideas for future research within IPSA.

Please find the Call for Papers at https://hannover2017.ipsa.org/

RC 34 Perfomed a Seminar in Chile: “Quality of Democracy: NEW RESEARCH AGENDA”

Jose Verissimo — Thu, 15 Dec 2016 08:13:00 -0500

Seminar “Quality of Democracy: NEW RESEARCH AGENDA”

Santiago de Chile, September 14th and 15th, 2016

The development of democratic quality in Latin America displays a mixed record. Latin Americans today live in freer and more democratic countries than ever before, nearly all Latin American countries have resumed a growth path and most governments are governing more effective than their predecessors did. At the same time, scholars state a persistently low quality of democracy across a large number of countries.

Organizers with Chilean President, Ms Michelle Bachelet

The Workshop “Quality of democracy in Latin America” brought together scholars in order to discuss theoretical as well as empirical challenges in the study of Latin American democratic quality. This Workshop was a cooperation of several entities like the Research Committee 34 “Quality of Democracy”, the Asociación Latinoamericana de Ciencia Política (ALACIP), the Asociación Mexicana de Ciencia Política (AMECIP), the Network of Quality of Democracy in Latin America and the Fundación Chile 21. The latter also was the local organizer together with Flacso Chile.

The main topics discussed were: Which ‘arenas’ or ‘dimensions’ of the quality of democracy in Latin America are especially vulnerable to stagnation or loss of democratic quality?, How can the heterogeneity of levels of democratic quality be explained?, Are there external factors like regional organization that influence the quality of democratic in the one or the other way?, Which relevance do new developments on the continent like the ‘left turn’ or the neo-constitutionalism have?

More than 20 papers were presented in three areas: democratic theory, methodology about quality of democracy, and empirical research of democracies. Several panels presented national and international specialists on the topic. Leonardo Morlino, Marianne Kneuer, David Altman discussed about “The democratic paradigm is crisis?” Another panel focused on the state of the Chilean democracy discussing Manuel Antonio Garretón (Universidad de Chile), Laurence Whitehead (Oxford University) and Carlos Huneeus (Universidad de Chile).

Finally, there was a protocolled meeting between the organizers of this seminar with Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile in the last day.

New Board Composition

Jose Verissimo — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 08:52:00 -0500

During the 24th World Congress in Poznan last July, a new board was elected to rule the Research Committee on Quality of Democracy.

The new Chair is Professor Marianne Kneuer, from Universität Hildesheim, Germany

More information about Professor Marianne can be found at https://www.uni-hildesheim.de/fb1/institute/institut-fuer-sozialwissenschaften/mitglieder/professorinnen-und-professoren/prof-dr-kneuer/

The Vice-chair is Dr. Anna Sroka, from University of Warsaw, Poland

More information about Dr. Anna can be found at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anna_Sroka

The new Secretary is Dr. Jesus Tovar, from Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México

More information about Dr. Jesus can be found at https://www.ipsa.org/organization/executive-commitee/tovar

The others members of the board are

Agniezka Bejma	University of Warsaw	Poland	http://www.inp.uw.edu.pl/?q=kadra/1021
Dirk Kotze	University of South Africa	South Africa	http://www.unisa.ac.za/default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=14518
José Álvaro Moisés	Univertity of São Paulo	Brazil	http://www.iea.usp.br/pessoas/pasta-pessoaj/jose-alvaro-moises
José Verissimo Romão Netto	Univertity of São Paulo	Brazil	http://nupps.usp.br/index.php/jose-verissimo-romao-netto
Leonardo Morlino	LUISS School of Government	Italy	http://sog.luiss.it/faculty/leonardo-morlino
Luca Tomini	Université Libre de Bruxelles	Brussels	https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Luca_Tomini
Małgorzata Kaczorowska	University of Warsaw	Poland	http://www.inp.uw.edu.pl/?q=kadra/153
Rahul Chaudhary	University of Rajasthan	India	http://www.uniraj.ac.in/index.php?mid=4804&did=332

Call for Papers: Seminar Quality of Democracy: New Research Agenda

Marianne Kneuer — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 02:59:00 -0400

The planed Seminar on “Quality of democracy in Latin America” aims at bringing together scholars in order to discuss theoretical as well as empirical challenges in the study of Latin American democratic quality. Contributions should relate to the exposed questions in single case or comparative studies or should address theoretical or methodological challenges regarding the study of quality of democracy in Latin America. The proposals should register in three items:

a) Democratic theory,
b) Methodology about quality of democracy,
c) Empirical research of democracies.

Please find the Call for Papers here: Workshop_Chile.pdf

Conference “Communication, Democracy and Digital Technology”, Rovinj (Croatia) | 2-3 October 2015

Aileen Bolling — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 06:52:00 -0500

RC 34 together with RC 10 (Electronic Democracy), RC 22 (Political Communication) and the University of Zaghreb will organize a conference on "Communication, Democracy and Digital Technology" in Rovinj (Croatia) from 2 to 3 October 2015.

Call for Papers

Please find the Call for Papers here. The deadline for abstract submission has been extended to 31 January 2015!

The reviews will be completed and notifications sent by the end of February 2015. The registration will open on 1 March 2015. The registration will then also open for participants who will not be delivering a paper.

More information about the conference

We proudly announce that the conference will host Professor Guy Lachapelle, IPSA Secretary General who will deliver a keyote lecture. For excellent accommodation rates and early birds discount for conference participants check the conference website.

>>Please keep checking the conference website for all other information about registration, travel, news and program!<<

IPSA World Congress 2014

Aileen Bolling — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 11:12:00 -0400

We thank all members of Research Committee 34 for joining our panels on the IPSA World Congress 2014 in Montreal. It was a pleasure to discuss a variety of theoretical and empirical perspectives on “Quality of Democracy” and to see that we could successfully continue the cooperative and productive work we started in this Committee in Madrid 2012.

All in all RC 34 hosted 15 interesting panels: http://www.ipsa.org/events/congress...

Moreover, RC 34 hosted a panel on social media and quality of democracy together with RC 22 “Political Communication”. http://www.ipsa.org/my-ipsa/events/...

We are also happy to have attracted some new members in our research group. We hereby welcome them once again in our “RC34 network” . Looking forward to the upcoming projects!