To capture the right images for our theme of “democracy research,” we climbed to the top floor of Mannheim Palace—to the famous Antikensaal. Why? Much like the idea of democracy itself, the statues and busts gathered there point back to antiquity. Downstairs in the Schloss, researchers at the University of Mannheim are investigating the current state of democracy. Twelve researchers share their insights in this FORUM issue—reporting on final and preliminary findings, survey results that shocked or surprised them, and even projects that didn’t pan out. But see for yourself!
Richard Traunmüller has held the Chair of Political Science, Empirical Democracy Research at Mannheim’s School of Social Sciences since 2019. His work explores the social and structural—as well as the psychological and cultural—foundations of democracy; his current focus is on the politics of freedom of speech and censorship. But how does one become a democracy researcher? FORUM visited him in his A5 office to find out.
How do you feel about a legal right to work from home? What’s your personal opinion on Germany’s pension system? Questions like these were posed to 3,500 randomly selected individuals across the country in the most recent survey waves of the German Internet Panel (GIP).
In February 2024, Svenja Behrendt joined the University of Mannheim as Junior Professor of Public Law. Her research centers on democracy, autonomy, and self-determination, as well as the legal challenges posed by digitalization, datafication, artificial intelligence, and climate change.
A research project by political scientist Roni Lehrer shows that voters expect political parties to send clear policy messages—but often end up voting for parties that remain vague on many issues. In the current FORUM, Lehrer explains why that’s not necessarily a contradiction, but a democratic reality.
Hans Peter Grüner is a professor of economics specializing in economic policy at the University of Mannheim. In this interview, he explains how economics can contribute to strengthening democracy.
From bedtime stories to university lectures, far-right movements are offering their own educational content—starting in early childhood and continuing into adulthood—with one clear goal: to normalize their ideology. Mannheim professors Cornelia Ruhe and Thomas Wortmann are launching a research project to investigate the system behind these offerings—which, in their view, pose a serious threat to democracy.
Sabine Carey is Professor of Political Science, International Relations at the University of Mannheim, a position she has held since 2010. She also serves as Director of the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES). Currently, she is leading a large-scale research project exploring public attitudes toward human rights with her team at the Technical University of Munich and the University of Southampton.
Philipp Gassert is Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Mannheim. Since the 1990s, he has studied protest movements past and present. In this interview, he explains why people take to the streets, what the body has to do with political communication, and why protest is essential to democracy.
Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. That’s certainly been true for Professor Heiko Paulheim and his research team. What began as a project on the regulation of hate speech on Twitter (now X) has turned into an analysis of the proliferation of pro-Russian narratives—thanks to Elon Musk’s crackdown on academic data access.
Over a span of 14 years, Mannheim-based political scientist Marc Debus, together with Zeynep Somer-Topcu (University of Texas at Austin) and Margit Tavits (Washington University in St. Louis), studied election campaigns in 12 democracies. In each country, the team analyzed four traditional media outlets during the four weeks leading up to national elections. The result: a massive dataset now publicly available via the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES).
How much racism is embedded in the media we consume—and how does that shape public opinion? A team of researchers at the University of Mannheim’s Institute for Media and Communication Studies set out to explore this question. In an interview with FORUM, Philipp Müller and Rainer Freudenthaler explain why the results of their study surprised them—and what they believe journalists can do differently.
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