The CIVICA collaborative research project, "DEMOS: Democracy and Its Discontents. A Historical Examination of the Current Predicament of Democracy” (2021-2023) has brought together history centres and departments from five members of the CIVICA alliance. In an interview with Mario del Pero, Professor of International History at Sciences Po and project coordinator, we delved into the evolution of DEMOS over the past few years.
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Democracy in the 21st Century
Democracy worldwide is in a volatile situation: the quality of democracy is declining, societies are confronted with a surge in polarisation and populism, and the increase of inequality poses a major threat to the foundation of democracies. At the same time, the potential for democratic reform is higher than ever, opening up new possibilities for democratisation and democratic deepening.
This thematic priority gathers teams from across CIVICA to address the challenges and promises of democracies today from multiple disciplinary perspectives.
Key topics
- Democratic backsliding
- Reform of democracy; democratic innovation
- Polarisation
- Social embeddedness of democracy (inequality)
Meet the thematic group
- Zsolt Enyedi (theme leader)
- Catherine De Vries
- Elias Dinas
- Mark Kayser
- Irene Menéndez González
- Alina Dragolea
- Romain Lachat
- Anna Visvizi
- Andreas von Goldbeck
Zsolt Enyedi is Professor of Political Science at Central European University.
Catherine De Vries is Full Professor in the Department of Social and Political Sciences at Bocconi University.
Elias Dinas holds the joint SPS/RSC Swiss Chair in Federalism, Democracy and International Governance at the European University Institute.
Mark Kayser is Professor of Applied Methods and Comparative Politics and Acting Dean of Faculty and Research at the Hertie School.
Irene Menéndez González is Assistant Professor of International Political Economy at IE University.
Alina Dragolea is lecturer in the Faculty of Political Science at the National University for Political Science and Public Administration.
Romain Lachat is Associate Professor of Political Science at CEVIPOF-Sciences Po.
Anna Visvizi is a Professor and the head of the International Economic Policy Unit at SGH Warsaw School of Economics.
Andreas von Goldbeck is a lecturer at the Center for Business Law at SSE.
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