MAPP: La participation politique conventionnelle en Belgique : les adhérents des partis politiques en Belgique [MAPP: The conventional political participation in Belgium : Membership of the Belgian Political Parties]
L'objectif du projet est de contribuer à combler le déficit de la connaissance scientifique dans l'étude des partis et de la militance en Belgique. Nous le ferons en référence au canevas que nous avons évoqué mais aussi eu égard aux études européennes relatives au rôle et au profil des adhérents de partis politiques et aux stratégies éventuelles des partis face à l'adhésion compte tenu d'un certain nombre d'évolutions ; par exemple le financement public des partis politiques. Dans le cadre du bousculement politique et citoyen que la société belge a connu entre 1995 et 1999, nous testerons aussi les théories de la convergence des militances associative et politique ou, inversement, de leur différence et de leur caractère mutuellement exclusif.Le projet est prévu sur trois années civiles. [The objective of this project os to tackle the lack of scientific knowledge in the study of political parties and activism in Belgium. The project will take into account a number of developments, such as new funding rules for political parties as well as a European comparative perspective. Against the background of important transformations of the Belgian political landscapes in the last years, the hypothesis of a convergence between acitivism in political parties and in associations will be tested. The programme should run for three civil years. ]
PARTIREP: Participation et représentation dans les démocraties contemporaines. Une analyse comparée des relations entre citoyens et état. [PARTIREP: Participation and representation in contemporary democracies. A comparative analysis of relationships between citizens adn the State.]
Le projet PARTIREP vise à établir comment et dans quelle mesure les processus de participation et de représentation sont affectés par les changements sociaux majeurs qui caractérisent les sociétés d'Europe occidentales depuis quelques décennies. Le projet PARTIREP se focalisera sur les conséquences des changements sociologiques, des changements de valeurs, des transformations institutionnelles, des transformations partisanes, des changements dans les systèmes de partis et des transformations dans la culture administrative qui sont en train de transformer l'implication citoyenne dans la décision politique dans les sociétés contemporaines. En retour, on s'interrogera aussi sur les effets des transformations des modèles de participation et de représentation sur la légitimité du gouvernement démocratique. Nous appréhenderons ces thématiques sous l'angle des citoyens (participation, attitudes), des partis politiques (organisation, stratégie), sous l'angle d'autres organisations intermédiaires (les médias, les mouvements sociaux) et sous celui des décideurs politiques (la perception de leurs rôles, leurs liens avec la société). Cette recherche à facettes multiples s'articulera autour de plusieurs projets précis sur une des problématiques énoncées. En termes de méthodes, il y aura deux instruments communs de recherche, qui auront pour ambition de répondre à des questions soulevées dans chacun des work packages et qui irrigueront profondément l'ensemble du projet: le premier est une étude pré et post-électorale à l'occasion du scrutin régional en Belgique de 2009, et le second est une enquête internationale auprès des parlementaires régionaux et nationaux en Europe. [Participation and representation are concepts that have been at the centre of political debates and of political theory for a few decades. This debate refers to (still ongoing) deep changes in the way citizens are linked to the process of political decision-making and in the procedures and principles that organize the democratic dialogue between state and society. This pressure on democracy has multiple dimensions and multiple origins: Sociological change, Value change, Institutional change, Party change, Party system change, Administrative culture change. These developments raise a large number of (also normative) questions that are extremely relevant for modern political science. The main research question for this project is how the processes of participation and representation are being affected by these social changes, and in turn, what effect participation and representation patterns have on the legitimacy of democratic government. We want to look at citizens (participation, attitudes), at political parties (organization, strategies), at other intermediary organizations (media, social movements) and at political decision-makers (role perception, links with society). This multi-facetted research will be broken down in several smaller projects or work packages. What all these packages have in common, however, is the fact that they investigate aspects of the same central research question. There will be two major common research instruments that will take on board questions from most of the work packages and that will deeply integrate the whole project: a pre- and post-electoral (population) survey (panel) for the regional elections in Belgium (2009) and an international survey of members of national and regional parliaments. Research themes:- Changing Patterns of Citizen Participation.- The Transformation of Political Trust.- Media, parties and voters.- Protest and transitory engagements.- Party members and representation in multi-layered systems.-Representation in (and of) multiple territories. ]
La qualité de la démocratie [Quality of democracy]
'What a good democracy?' is an old question in political science. It has been addressed by various scholars in normative terms nourishing the intellectual debate in political theory. On the one hand, the last two decades the question of the democratic deficit of the European Union has become one of the most popular topics of conferences in European studies. On the other hand, at the domestic level, political scientists never tired mentioning the weaknesses of the nascent democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, in Latin America and in other parts of the world where 'democracy' just recently became 'the only game in town'. In recent years the focus of the literature on democracy and the quality of democracy has changed, moving from the analysis of newly democratic regimes in Latin American countries, southern Europe, and Central and Eastern Europe, to the analysis of consolidated democracies. The idea of a democracy's crisis linked to the globalization and europeanization processes in Western Europe highlighted the importance of analyzing even the state of the western democracies. At this point, a theoretical approach that goes beyond single regional specificities and constitutes a framework for the analysis of different democratic systems, even through the comparative method, is needed for a better understanding of the transformation of the European democracies 'The state' and 'the quality of democracy' arouse the interest of a growing number of political scientists. What is changing in the functioning of our democracies, compared to what and under what conditions? What these new transformations are like and what impact do they have on our democratic regimes? What are the 'new' features of our democracies? How to integrate 'the functioning'/outputs of a democracy in the understanding of the state of democracy? How can we improve our understanding of the processes that were transforming the state of consolidated/nascent democracies? According to the empirical evidence scholars take into account and the theoretical assumptions about key variables and the environment within action takes place, the conclusions to these questions are not yet fully convincing for at least two reasons. The first one is that democracy has not a consensual or clear cut definition. The second one is related to the attention paid to the constitutional designs of political regimes without taking into account the policy practice. Speaking about the 'quality' or the 'state' of democracy implies to provide not only an appropriate definition of what a 'good' democracy is but also a coherent picture of the main transformations and challenges faced by our democracies. This research agenda developed within the CEVIPOL considers different innovations as a necessary step to progress: it is necessary to take into consideration the plurality of the empirical fields and topics. But also the inputs of the democratic system (political parties, civil society, participation, responsiveness) and on the other hand the outputs (institutions, public policies). Renewing this research agenda implies the multi-level nature of the analysis, with a particular attention to the supra-national and regional level; the methodological pluralism, with the aim to bring together qualitative and quantitative approaches in a case-oriented perspective. ['What is a good democracy?' is an old question in political science. It has been addressed by various scholars in normative terms nourishing the intellectual debate in political theory. On the one hand, the last two decades the question of the democratic deficit of the European Union has become one of the most popular topics of conferences in European studies. On the other hand, at the domestic level, political scientists never tired mentioning the weaknesses of the nascent democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, in Latin America and in other parts of the world where 'democracy' just recently became 'the only game in town'. In recent years the focus of the literature on democracy and the quality of democracy has changed, moving from the analysis of newly democratic regimes in Latin American countries, southern Europe, and Central and Eastern Europe, to the analysis of consolidated democracies. The idea of a democracy's crisis linked to the globalization and europeanization processes in Western Europe highlighted the importance of analyzing even the state of the western democracies. At this point, a theoretical approach that goes beyond single regional specificities and constitutes a framework for the analysis of different democratic systems, even through the comparative method, is needed for a better understanding of the transformation of the European democracies 'The state' and 'the quality of democracy' arouse the interest of a growing number of political scientists. What is changing in the functioning of our democracies, compared to what and under what conditions? What these new transformations are like and what impact do they have on our democratic regimes? What are the 'new' features of our democracies? How to integrate 'the functioning'/outputs of a democracy in the understanding of the state of democracy? How can we improve our understanding of the processes that were transforming the state of consolidated/nascent democracies? According to the empirical evidence scholars take into account and the theoretical assumptions about key variables and the environment within action takes place, the conclusions to these questions are not yet fully convincing for at least two reasons. The first one is that democracy has not a consensual or clear cut definition. The second one is related to the attention paid to the constitutional designs of political regimes without taking into account the policy practice. Speaking about the 'quality' or the 'state' of democracy implies to provide not only an appropriate definition of what a 'good' democracy is but also a coherent picture of the main transformations and challenges faced by our democracies. This research agenda developed within the CEVIPOL considers different innovations as a necessary step to progress: it is necessary to take into consideration the plurality of the empirical fields and topics. But also the inputs of the democratic system (political parties, civil society, participation, responsiveness) and on the other hand the outputs (institutions, public policies). Renewing this research agenda implies the multi-level nature of the analysis, with a particular attention to the supra-national and regional level; the methodological pluralism, with the aim to bring together qualitative and quantitative approaches in a case-oriented perspective. ]
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