Projects
The activation of political gender stereotypes: an experimental test of the effect of the information environment on the use of political gender stereotypes in Flanders. Ghent University
The position of women in politics has captured the attention of scholars for decades. Also today, women continue to face difficulties when penetrating this male-dominated domain. Gender stereotypes are one of the factors impeding women’s entrance in politics. By investigating the conditions under which political gender stereotypes are activated in voters’ minds, this project moves beyond a description of the presence of these stereotypes and ...
Engaging Citizens. Public managers’ attitudes toward public participation in administrative decision-making KU Leuven
The use of public participation in local government decision-making is increasingly popular. According to the public administration and public management literature, one of the most important determinants of public participation decisions and outcomes is the willingness of public managers to interact with the public (Ianniello et al., 2018; Yang, 2005; Yang & Callahan, 2007). Public managers play an important role in local-level public ...
Power to the experts? A mixed-method study on the attitudes towards, the use and the effects of expert advice in the Belgian policy context. Ghent University
Representative democracy is put under pressure the last few years. To remedy this crisis, different alternatives are explored, including ‘stealth democracy’ which aims to transfer (more) decision-making power to non-partisan experts. Although some support for this kind of democracy can be found among citizens, it is also contested, as became apparent during the Covid-crisis.
Research on ‘stealth democracy’ is less developed than ...
The changing face of local democracy? The impact of citizen participation on attitudes, roles, relationships and legitimacy perceptions of democratic institutional stakeholders Ghent University
New initiatives of citizen participation change the nature of local democracy. This research wants to bring a more comprehensive understanding of how participation has an impact on the roles of politicians, civil servants, citizens and civil society actors in the policy-making process, the relations between these actors, and the legitimacy of local democratic public policy making in the eyes of these actors.
Representations of Migration in a Transforming Europe: The Polarising Power of Migration as a Political Tool in Online Media and Political Discourses – What can we learn from the 2015 and 2022 refugee crises? KU Leuven
Destructive or Deliberative? An Investigation of the Evolution, Determinants, and Effects of the Quality of Political Debate KU Leuven
In recent years, concerns have been raised repeatedly about the poor quality of the political debate. Particularly the uncivil and ill-justified ways in which politicians regularly seem to express their views and standpoints raise scholarly and public concern (e.g. Dryzek et al., 2019). Yet despite severe concerns, surprisingly often statements such as “we are currently living in an era of incivility” or “soundbite culture” are based on ...
Power to the people? Studying citizen involvement in political decision-making and its effects om democratic legitimacy from a bottom-up perspective. KU Leuven
Many citizens in western democracies are dissatisfied with the way politics works in their country. Among academics, journalists and politicians there is a deep concern about a deficit in perceived democratic legitimacy, indicated by a lack of trust in political institutions and representatives, lack of compliance and cooperation, support for protest parties and a general sense that politics is an elite affair where the ordinary citizen is ...