Projects
Concerned about inequality? The political salience of economic inequality among voters and political parties KU Leuven
Economic inequality is rising in most democracies: the gap between the incomes of the wealthiest part of the population and the rest is widening. Despite high and rising inequality, and its pressure on redistributive welfare states, there is no systematic evidence that inequality leads to redistributive policies or public demands for such policies. We are confronted with a paradox: Most citizens and politicians realise that inequality exists ...
A great silence? The everyday politics of smoke in the age of coal: Ghent (1780-1880). University of Antwerp
Reflecting and resisting. Polish theatre and politics of memory since 2005 KU Leuven
This research argues that contemporary Polish theatre has been marked by this struggle between those creating performances and state authorities that see those creations as a threat to their authority. It interrogates the ways in which the artistic and political strategies that have been developed in the past two decades in the Polish theatre field can be theorized as queer artistic and political strategies. It will argue that this struggle ...
A study on how political debates shape citizens' trust judgement of politicians and the political system KU Leuven
While it is claimed repeatedly that political debates in the media have coarsened over time leading to detrimental effects on citizens’ political trust, little effort has been made to investigate this. The question how the media influence political trust is of paramount importance as political trust is a key resource for a democratic political system influencing citizens’ willingness to commit public resources to policy ends and accept ...
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 ...
Politics of interest representation and agenda-setting in multi-level political systems. University of Antwerp
The Impact of Information and Own Preferences on Political Elites' Perceptions of the Voters' Policy Wishes. University of Antwerp
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 ...
The Political Economy of Euroscepticism, Referenda and Primaries in an Integrated Europe KU Leuven
In recent decades voters in Europe and North America have become less loyal to political parties. Support for mainstream parties has declined and radical populist parties prosper. In the European Union (EU) this evolution has led to more Euroscepticism. One way mainstream politicians have responded is by giving voters a more direct role in the political process. Examples include the use of referenda on EU-related issues in the Netherlands and ...