Conference of the Research Section „Comparative Politics“ of the German Political Science Association (Deutsche Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft, DVPW)

Abstract

The main objective of this conference is to examine from various perspectives one of the most pressing issues of representative democracies: Citizen’s (dis-)trust in “their” political system, in institutions and politicians. To contextualize the study of trust and distrust more broadly, we also welcome submissions that examine the linkage between citizens and the state more generally – a linkage that can be expressed in different ways (for example: public opinion/citizens’ attitudes; political behavior such as political participation, civic engagement, protest behavior, but also feelings or emotions).

Across different world regions, citizens face times of rapid or long-term transformation related to migration and integration, climate change, technological change, gender inequalities, Europeanization or region-specific challenges, among other issues. These transformations cause uncertainty, frustration, the feeling of not being represented, insecurity or hate on the side of many citizens while others embrace the challenges in an entrepreneurial way. Accordingly, we observe the rise of societal polarization, social divides and disconnetion between citizens and the state and a new quality of distrust and mistrust in established politicians and political institutions.

These developments raise important questions – theoretically, empirically and practically - about how to regain citizen’s trust, to create solidarity and to re(build) linkages between citizens and the state in order to overcome the rise of societal polarization around the world. They become particularly pressing in light of new parties (such as challenger/populist/extreme parties) and players who add to these polarization processes and benefit from it.

The 2025 Conference of the Research Section “Comparative Politics” of the German Political Science Association wants to bring together scholars who examine these developments of citizen’s trust, linkage and societal polarization in context of the aforementioned transformations. We encourage panels and papers who examine various facets of these findings in a comparative way and invite regional, European and global perspectives. We especially welcome panel and paper proposals that focus on the demand side of citizen’s trust or even include citizen science approaches into their research designs. Contributions could for instance examine:

• Citizen’s attitudes and different forms of behavior and representation as part of citizen’s trust.
• The role of new parties and new players for societal polarization processes and citizen’s (dis-)trust in established structures and politicians of democratic political systems.
• The connection between transformational processes in specific policy areas (migration and integration, climate change, technological change, gender inequalities, Europeanization, region-specific challenges) and citizen’s (dis-)trust in democracy.
• New forms of participation and civic engagement within and beyond established institutions of democracy.
• The role of AI and innovations in these engagement processes.
• New forms of participatory governance strategies.
• The nature and role of public spaces in these processes.
• Emotional and psychological aspects of (dis-) trust and (dis-)linkage.

The Comparative Politics Research Section encourages different theoretical, conceptual and methodological approaches and welcomes the growing body of methods used in the field, in order to improve our understanding of the various facets of citizen’s (dis-)trust. It is open to various sub-disciplines, with different methodological and empirical approaches and with scopes ranging from single case studies to large-N comparative papers.

The conference topic is the result of two international research projects which are part of the Horizon Europe programme: ActEU (led by University of Duisburg-Essen & Saarland University) and PROTEMO (led by Saarland University).