Different aspects of modern representative democracy
In this research project, I will complete five research articles; the aim is to have them published in high-ranking peer-reviewed academic journals one year after the end of the sabbatical. The data for all five articles has already been collected, and drafts that are between 20 and 90 percent complete exist for all articles. All five articles are connected to modern representative democracy in different ways and in relation to its different areas: they are about voters’ satisfaction with elections, the consequences of mixed electoral systems, conceptions of democracy and political participation, flawed elections, and gender and ethnic minority representation respectively. Several parts of the project connect to the research frontier. In three of the articles, unique empirical data that has not previously been analyzed is included, and the other two articles include research topics that need more research. During the sabbatical I aim to create and build on international research collaborations and will visit the University of Bergen and the University of Montreal.
Final report
Final report
The main purpose with the research project Different aspects of modern representative democracy, was to complete five research articles with the aim that the articles would be published in international peer-reviewed academic journals within one year of the project ending. The main purpose of the project has not changed, but two adjustments within the project have been made. 1) Due to problems with parts of the empirical material included in the article that dealt with the topic conceptions of democracy, the article has been left out from the project and an article about tax policy in democracies has instead been added. 2) Due to retirements and lack of time, three of the intended co-authors have not had the opportunity to participate in the writing of the articles, which meant that I worked to a greater extent on the articles compared to the original plan. Now, at the end of the project, three of the articles have already been published in international peer-reviewed academic journals, while the other two articles have been submitted to international peer-reviewed academic journals, where they are still under review. All five articles are connected to modern representative democracy in different ways. The articles are about voters’ satisfaction with elections, the consequences of mixed electoral systems, tax policy in democracies, weaknesses in the electoral process, and gender political representation.
Concerning the published articles, the article Complaints Concerning Electoral Fraud and Administrative Inaccuracies: A Study of Complaints About the Parliamentary Elections in Sweden Between 2010 and 2018 is published in the journal Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy. The article is co-authored with Christian Jerhov (election researcher without institutional affiliation). The results from the article show that there are several problems in the performance of elections even in stable democracies such as in Sweden, one example is the handling of early votes in previous elections in Sweden which in several cases has proven to be deficient. The second article that is published is called Do Party Politics Still Matter? Examining the Effect of Parties, Governments and Government Changes on the Local Tax Rate in Sweden and it is published in the journal European Political Science Review. The article is co-authored with Gustav Lidén (Mid Sweden University). The results show that the municipal tax level is affected by which parties rule in the municipalities, and that government changes affect the municipal tax level. The third article that has been published is called Does Changing an Electoral System to a Mixed System (Really) Affect Voter Turnout and the Party System? The article is published in the journal Comparative Sociology, and it is co-authored with Stefan Dahlberg (Mid Sweden University). The results shows that if countries change the electoral system to a mixed system, the voter turnout and the fragmentation of the party system do not change to any great extent.
The two articles that are under review in international peer-reviewed academic journals are 1) Does the level of descriptive representation of women have any consequences for policy? (The article is co-authored with Gustav Lidén Mid Sweden University), and 2) Conceptionalisation of Evaluation Measures of Political Support with a Focus on Citizens’ Evaluation of the Electoral Process (the article is authored alone). The most important result from the first article mentioned is that the proportion of women in political assemblies does not have a major impact on the policy pursued in policy areas such as culture, childcare and elderly care. Regarding the second article that has not yet been published, the article develops a theoretical framework for evaluating voter satisfaction with different parts of the electoral process, and empirical examples of how this evaluation can be done are also given in the article. Notification of eventually publication of the two articles are expected to be received early 2024.
The project has also resulted in two stays as a visiting researcher in relevant international research environments. In the fall of 2022, I visited the University of Montreal for a month, and during a ten-day period in February 2023, I visited the University of Bergen. The research stays at the universities of Montreal and Bergen gave me the opportunity to discuss the project with eminent researchers in the field. At seminars, I presented drafts of three of the articles, and during my stay in Montreal, I presented drafts of articles at seminars both at the University of Montreal and at McGill University. During my stay at the University of Bergen, I presented a draft of a article during a seminar at the Institutt for sammenliknende politikk (Department of Comparative Politics). Many of the comments given during the three seminars have been very important for the completion of the articles included in the project. Ideas for new research were also raised during the seminars, which is very positive, and some of these ideas will form the basis of an upcoming research application dealing with the subject political representation. During my stays in Montreal and in Bergen, I also participated in other seminars and activities organized by the universities that proved to be instructive both for the current project and for future research.
In addition to the publications and the two stays in international research environments, the project has also resulted in participation in two international conferences. In mid-September 2022, I attended the annual conference of the American Political Science Association, which is one of the world's largest political science conferences in terms of the number of participants. The conference (the 118th American Political Science Association Annual Meeting & Exhibition) was held in Montreal, Canada. During the conference I presented a draft of the article Conceptionalization of Evaluation Measures of Political Support with a Focus on Evaluation of the Electoral Process. In late August and early September 2023, I once again attended the American Political Science Association's annual conference (the 119th American Political Science Association Annual Meeting & Exhibition) which this year was held in Los Angeles, USA. During the conference I presented a draft of the article Does the level of descriptive representation of women have any consequences for policy? The conferences were very rewarding, and I received several suggestions on how I could develop the articles. The networking during the conferences was also successful and contact was established with researchers from different parts of the world. All in all, the time in Bergen, Montreal, and participation in two international conferences have led to an expanded network with new important contacts with prominent researchers that will form the basis for future research collaborations in the research field of modern representative democracy. I will also continue to work on improving the collaboration between political scientists at the University of Montreal, the University of Bergen, and Mid Sweden University. Among other things, the aim is to organize joint doctoral student seminars in the future with participating doctoral students from the three universities.
The main purpose with the research project Different aspects of modern representative democracy, was to complete five research articles with the aim that the articles would be published in international peer-reviewed academic journals within one year of the project ending. The main purpose of the project has not changed, but two adjustments within the project have been made. 1) Due to problems with parts of the empirical material included in the article that dealt with the topic conceptions of democracy, the article has been left out from the project and an article about tax policy in democracies has instead been added. 2) Due to retirements and lack of time, three of the intended co-authors have not had the opportunity to participate in the writing of the articles, which meant that I worked to a greater extent on the articles compared to the original plan. Now, at the end of the project, three of the articles have already been published in international peer-reviewed academic journals, while the other two articles have been submitted to international peer-reviewed academic journals, where they are still under review. All five articles are connected to modern representative democracy in different ways. The articles are about voters’ satisfaction with elections, the consequences of mixed electoral systems, tax policy in democracies, weaknesses in the electoral process, and gender political representation.
Concerning the published articles, the article Complaints Concerning Electoral Fraud and Administrative Inaccuracies: A Study of Complaints About the Parliamentary Elections in Sweden Between 2010 and 2018 is published in the journal Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy. The article is co-authored with Christian Jerhov (election researcher without institutional affiliation). The results from the article show that there are several problems in the performance of elections even in stable democracies such as in Sweden, one example is the handling of early votes in previous elections in Sweden which in several cases has proven to be deficient. The second article that is published is called Do Party Politics Still Matter? Examining the Effect of Parties, Governments and Government Changes on the Local Tax Rate in Sweden and it is published in the journal European Political Science Review. The article is co-authored with Gustav Lidén (Mid Sweden University). The results show that the municipal tax level is affected by which parties rule in the municipalities, and that government changes affect the municipal tax level. The third article that has been published is called Does Changing an Electoral System to a Mixed System (Really) Affect Voter Turnout and the Party System? The article is published in the journal Comparative Sociology, and it is co-authored with Stefan Dahlberg (Mid Sweden University). The results shows that if countries change the electoral system to a mixed system, the voter turnout and the fragmentation of the party system do not change to any great extent.
The two articles that are under review in international peer-reviewed academic journals are 1) Does the level of descriptive representation of women have any consequences for policy? (The article is co-authored with Gustav Lidén Mid Sweden University), and 2) Conceptionalisation of Evaluation Measures of Political Support with a Focus on Citizens’ Evaluation of the Electoral Process (the article is authored alone). The most important result from the first article mentioned is that the proportion of women in political assemblies does not have a major impact on the policy pursued in policy areas such as culture, childcare and elderly care. Regarding the second article that has not yet been published, the article develops a theoretical framework for evaluating voter satisfaction with different parts of the electoral process, and empirical examples of how this evaluation can be done are also given in the article. Notification of eventually publication of the two articles are expected to be received early 2024.
The project has also resulted in two stays as a visiting researcher in relevant international research environments. In the fall of 2022, I visited the University of Montreal for a month, and during a ten-day period in February 2023, I visited the University of Bergen. The research stays at the universities of Montreal and Bergen gave me the opportunity to discuss the project with eminent researchers in the field. At seminars, I presented drafts of three of the articles, and during my stay in Montreal, I presented drafts of articles at seminars both at the University of Montreal and at McGill University. During my stay at the University of Bergen, I presented a draft of a article during a seminar at the Institutt for sammenliknende politikk (Department of Comparative Politics). Many of the comments given during the three seminars have been very important for the completion of the articles included in the project. Ideas for new research were also raised during the seminars, which is very positive, and some of these ideas will form the basis of an upcoming research application dealing with the subject political representation. During my stays in Montreal and in Bergen, I also participated in other seminars and activities organized by the universities that proved to be instructive both for the current project and for future research.
In addition to the publications and the two stays in international research environments, the project has also resulted in participation in two international conferences. In mid-September 2022, I attended the annual conference of the American Political Science Association, which is one of the world's largest political science conferences in terms of the number of participants. The conference (the 118th American Political Science Association Annual Meeting & Exhibition) was held in Montreal, Canada. During the conference I presented a draft of the article Conceptionalization of Evaluation Measures of Political Support with a Focus on Evaluation of the Electoral Process. In late August and early September 2023, I once again attended the American Political Science Association's annual conference (the 119th American Political Science Association Annual Meeting & Exhibition) which this year was held in Los Angeles, USA. During the conference I presented a draft of the article Does the level of descriptive representation of women have any consequences for policy? The conferences were very rewarding, and I received several suggestions on how I could develop the articles. The networking during the conferences was also successful and contact was established with researchers from different parts of the world. All in all, the time in Bergen, Montreal, and participation in two international conferences have led to an expanded network with new important contacts with prominent researchers that will form the basis for future research collaborations in the research field of modern representative democracy. I will also continue to work on improving the collaboration between political scientists at the University of Montreal, the University of Bergen, and Mid Sweden University. Among other things, the aim is to organize joint doctoral student seminars in the future with participating doctoral students from the three universities.