Who will defend democracy? The elite-mass linkage in atti-tudes towards democratic principles

Description of the granted funding

Despite all the studies, which have addressed democratic backsliding in recent years, we still do not know how committed elected politicians are to democracy. Can we count on our democratically elected politicians to unconditionally uphold democratic norms and practices even if it conflicts with their own political interests? The objective of this proposal is to answer these questions, which are among the most pressing concerns in modern democracy. The study uses unique panel data from Finland and Sweden, as well as a comparative survey data of political candidates from European democracies. This helps us to understand the extent to which democratic erosion occurs among elected politicians versus ordinary citizens. By using survey experiments, the project will be able to study under what conditions politicians and citizens might be willing to sacrifice democratic principles for political gain. The project is hosted by the Social Science Research Institute at Åbo Akademi University.
Show more

Starting year

2024

End year

2028

Granted funding

Lauri Rapeli Orcid -palvelun logo
540 842 €

Funder

Research Council of Finland

Funding instrument

Academy projects

Päättäjä

Scientific Council for Social Sciences and Humanities
13.06.2024

Other information

Funding decision number

361424

Fields of science

Political science

Research fields

Valtiotieteet