Informing and engaging citizens
How MPs can make a case for action on climate change, even if voters aren’t yet interested
Voters are simply not asking their representatives to act on climate. Rebecca Willis draws on interviews with MPs to find whether they can construct a ‘representative claim’ and justify action on climate change.
Shaping the electoral success of populism: the effects of attributing blame on populist vote choice
Populist messages simplify highly complex political issues by pointing the finger at culpable elites. Michael Hameleers (University of Amsterdam) examines how exposure to media messages that blame corrupt national and European leaders for the problems citizens face affects people’s preferences and so contributes to the success of populist parties.
Different visions of representation among voters and candidates in Wales
Whose opinions should Assembly Members prioritise when carrying out their duties in the Welsh Assembly? Here, Siim Trumm (University of Nottingham) compares the views of voters and candidates on how AMs should vote when confronted with competing pressures. He finds that candidates are more likely to think that it is acceptable for AMs to discard the views of their voters in favour of their own views or those of their party than voters.
Powerful or warm? Liberal and conservative voters favour different traits in a politician
A politician’s personality has always been important to voters. Lasse Laustsen (Aarhus University) carried out analyses of American and Danish data to find out which character traits most appeal to liberal and conservative voters. Liberals – who take a more benevolent view of human co-operation – tend to prefer warm, co-operative individuals; conservatives, mindful of […]
Book review | We: Reviving Social Hope, by Ronald Aronson
In We: Reviving Social Hope, Ronald Aronson takes stock of the current state of US society, attributing the rise of Donald Trump to a steep decline in participatory democracy throughout the twentieth century and offering a blueprint for restoring hope to the body politic. This is an intellectually rigorous analysis, writes Jeff Roquen, that will contribute to a broader […]
Seventeen reads to change the way you think about democracy in 2018
A lot happened in 2017 – so much that you may have missed some of it. Ros Taylor, the outgoing editor of Democratic Audit, picks some of the best posts we’ve published.
How our social circles shape the way we think about supporters of another party
It is a truism that American politics has become more polarised in recent years. But how big a gap between Democrats and Republicans do people actually perceive? And how is that gap influenced by their social circles – for example, for a Democrat who only talks about politics with other Democrats? Jeffrey Lyons (Boise State […]
Where would an English Parliament be located?
Ongoing UCL Constitution Unit research is exploring options for an English Parliament. The choice of location would have major practical implications, as well as being of high symbolic importance. Jack Sheldon (UCL Constitution Unit) sets out the factors that would need to be considered. He suggests that while a ‘dual mandate’ English Parliament would almost certainly meet […]
Elections without democracy: how Singapore and Malaysia pre-empt dissent from the ground up
Elections are not the only barometer of a country’s democratisation. In a number of hybrid regimes, forms of authoritarian strategies hinder the ability of opposition parties to cut through and challenge the existing order. Meredith L Weiss (University at Albany) explains how this works on the ground in Singapore and Malaysia. A 2013 election poster […]
Does the online tool WriteToThem foster meaningful communication with constituents?
Some predicted the internet would be the silver bullet that could deal with the deficits of representative democracy. Others were less optimistic about its potential to foster democracy. Hartwig Pautz (University of the West of Scotland) looks at whether the e-democracy tool WriteToThem allows for meaningful communication between citizens and their elected representatives. Photo: Barry via a CC-BY-NC-SA […]
Democratic Audit's core funding is provided by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Additional funding is provided by the London School of Economics.