Citizens and Politics - Comparative Politics - Representation - Methods
Current research: projects and papers
In the last decade, representative democracy is increasingly in question: citizens’ discontent with the political system is growing, anti-systemic parties and politicians are on the rise and traditional parties are losing votes. These developments question the functioning of democratic representation and – in the long term – its survival.
Against this backdrop, my research asks: how do citizens evaluate representation, in what regard does representation fail from their perspectives and what are the causes and consequences of its failing?
Against this backdrop, my research asks: how do citizens evaluate representation, in what regard does representation fail from their perspectives and what are the causes and consequences of its failing?
- review process, several outputs
- presentations: APSA, ECPR, Oxford, Sciences Po, EUI, PSE, HU Berlin, FU Berlin, and others
Western democracies are going through drastic changes: anti-elitist sentiments and populism are increasing, there is a rise in inequality, conflicts about contradictory values within the citizenry become stronger and the debate about a ‘crisis of representation’ is increasingly profound. Incidents such as Brexit show that, ultimately, citizens choose to quit a political union that followed trends like globalization or Europeanization. All these developments question the functioning and the normative foundations of Western democracy.
By acknowledging these trends, the research question of this project is: how did inequality and conflicting values within societies evolve, to what degree are both reflected in biases in representation and how do these trends impact on alienation? The analysis regards EU member states between 1995 until today, in order to track evolution. Instead of succumbing to the mainstream and normative analysis that focuses on the crises of institutions, in my research I center people’s view in analyzing the current so-called crisis of Western democracy.
By acknowledging these trends, the research question of this project is: how did inequality and conflicting values within societies evolve, to what degree are both reflected in biases in representation and how do these trends impact on alienation? The analysis regards EU member states between 1995 until today, in order to track evolution. Instead of succumbing to the mainstream and normative analysis that focuses on the crises of institutions, in my research I center people’s view in analyzing the current so-called crisis of Western democracy.
I also have a growing interest in policy research. In an ongoing project with Emiliano Grossman (Sciences Po) we analyse policy appreciation and its determinants in the context of the French presidential and parliamentary elections in 2017. We are exploring the evolution of citizens’ policy preferences and partisanship during the formation of a new political party, En Marche, with an original database integrating nine waves of a representative mass survey between 2014 and 2018 (CEVIPOF) and data on media coverage.
Some of the research questions of this project are: How does partisanship structure citizens’ preferences? What is the role of importance that citizens’ attribute to policies when building preferences? In what way do the preferences of issue publics differ from the preferences of the general public? How does the media influence preferences?
Some of the research questions of this project are: How does partisanship structure citizens’ preferences? What is the role of importance that citizens’ attribute to policies when building preferences? In what way do the preferences of issue publics differ from the preferences of the general public? How does the media influence preferences?
- Policy Book; Paris: Sciences Po / LIEPP, paper
- presentations: (conference/seminars) EUI, Sciences Po, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, PolEcon Workshop (Paris-Brussels-Lille)
- Contrasting theoretical work on representation with citizens' demands (working title, with Jean-François Laslier, Paris School of Economics, CNRS/Ecole Normale Supérieure)
- Redistribution and the political (mis)representation of the poor in diverging electoral contexts (with Per Andersson, University of Copenhagen)
Publications
- Dageförde, Mirjam (2023): Do they get close? Party shifts and changes in parliamentary congruence on multiple issue dimensions in the wake of the crises. In: Representation (open access).
- Dageförde, Mirjam (2024): Repräsentation und das Verhältnis von Bürgern und Politik in Deutschland und Frankreich. In: Die Gesellschaften Europas und ihre Zukunft. Ein Blick auf die Herausforderungen unserer Zeit. Frankreich Jahrbuch 2023. Eds: Deutsch-Französisches Institut Ludwigsburg; Stefan Seidendorf. Baden-Baden: Nomos, S. 185-204.
- Dageförde, Mirjam, Emiliano Grossman (2020): Why are citizens satisfied with public policies (or not)? Paris, Sciences Po. (Policy book)
- Dageförde, Mirjam, Danny Schindler (2018): “‘Oh, That Is a Big Word.’ MPs’ and Citizens’ Perspectives on Parliamentary Representation”. In: Gabriel, Kerrouche, Schüttemeyer (eds.): Political Representation in France and Germany: Activities of MPs and Views of Citizens. London: Palgrave, 197-226.
- Dageförde, Mirjam, Corentin Poyet, Eric Kerrouche (2018): “Substance or behavior as links? Explaining representational judgments”. In: Gabriel, Kerrouche, Schüttemeyer (eds.): Political Representation in France and Germany: Activities of MPs and Views of Citizens. London: Palgrave, 227-245.
- Brouard, Sylvain, Elisa Deiss-Helbig, Mirjam Dageförde (2018): “Do candidates’ ethnic background and gender matter? An experimental approach”. In: Gabriel, Kerrouche, Schüttemeyer (eds.): Political Representation in France and Germany: Activities of MPs and Views of Citizens. London: Palgrave, 309-339.
- Dageförde, Mirjam (2016): “Concepts of congruence and European’s evaluation of representation. A micro-level analysis”. Cahiers européens de SciencesPo 03/2016, 1-21.
- Dageförde, Mirjam (2014): “Zwischen Entfremdung und Verständigung: Interaktionsmuster zwischen Bürgern und politischer Elite im deutsch-französischen Vergleich” [Alienation and communication: modes of interaction between citizens and the political elite in a French-German comparison]. In: Heidenreich, Mineur, Schulz (eds.): Die Bürger und ihr Staat in Deutschland und Frankreich. Berlin: LIT Verlag, 119-130.
- Dageförde, Mirjam (2013): “Weit entfernt vom ‘idealen Abgeordneten’? Zu Normen und Praxis parlamentarischer Repräsentation aus Sicht der Bürger” [The ‘ideal representative’: norms and practices of parliamentary representation from citizens’ perspective]. Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen 44 (3): 522-534.
- Dageförde, Mirjam (2013): “Ideologische Kongruenz, Parteiidentifikation und Policy-Präferenzen. Das Beispiel der Gesundheitspolitik der 16. Legislaturperiode” [Ideological congruence, party identification and policy preferences: the example of health policy in the 16th legislative period]. In: Gabriel, Trüdinger (eds.): Einstellungen zu Reformen des Sozialstaates in Deutschland: Reformbereitschaft und Reformakzeptanz der Deutschen. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 137-158.
- Dageförde, Mirjam, Elisa Deiss-Helbig (2013): “Die Unterstützung des Parlaments: Bestimmt durch die Arbeit von Abgeordneten oder den Zugangs der Bürger zum politischen System? Ein deutsch-französischer Vergleich” [Support for parliament: driven by the work of MPs or by the nearness of citizens to the political system? A French-German comparison]. In: I. Keil, Thaidigsmann (eds.): Zivile Bürgergesellschaft und Demokratie. Aktuelle Ergebnisse der empirischen Politikforschung.Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 387-412.
- Gabriel, Oscar W., Jürgen Bauknecht, Mirjam Dageförde (2013): “Die Einstellungen der Bundesbürger zur Reform des Sozialstaates als Bestimmungsfaktoren der Parteipräferenz” [Germans’ attitudes towards reforms of the welfare state as a predictor for party preferences]. In: Bernhard Weßels, Gabriel, Schoen (eds.): Wahlen und Wähler. Analysen aus Anlass der Bundestagswahl 2009. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 174-205.
- Dageförde, Mirjam (2012): “Wahlkampfkommunikation” [Election campaigning]. In: Gabriel, Westle (eds.): Wählerverhalten in der Demokratie. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 275-295.
