englischCrises signal eventful deviations from the normal state of affairs and prompt societies to reflect (on themselves). The Covid-19 crisis provided a stark illustration of this. In view of the apparent omnipresence of crises, the question arises as to how states have dealt with and can deal [...]

englischWestern democracies are increasingly being challenged by authoritarian populism. The assumption that democratic learning experiences are irreversible has become questionable. Can we identify a stable trend towards ‘democratic regression’ (Schäfer/Zürn)? What are the criteria on which such a [...]

englischMigration has become a contested issue in post-migrant democracies. This special issue takes the contested nature of migration as a starting point to shed light on the interrelation between democracy and migration. The aim is to assess the challenges and democratic potentials of the [...]

englischThe current political debates about climate change or the coronavirus pandemic reveal the fundamental controversial nature of expertise in politics and society. The contributions in this volume analyse various facets, actors and dynamics of the current conflicts about knowledge and [...]

englischThe public sphere is important for democracy and it is changing. Its current development is taking place at the point where three sequences of institutional change meet and interact: globalisation, commodification and the digitalisation of social dimensions. The contributions to this volume [...]

englischOur political times appear unstable: Liberal democracy is struggling to retain its inner balance and is being destabilised by both internal and external forces. How can stability be achieved — and what is stability? When does stability become undemocratic? And what can we learn from [...]

englischContradictory trends of depoliticisation and (re-)politicisation seem to characterise current democratic society. Protest movements and populism polarise opinions on both the streets and social media, while anonymous algorithms or scientific expertise threaten to technocratise political [...]

englischUntil now, the visual depiction of political rule has been characterised by portrayals of power and unity, and research has focused on these representations of political identity as opposed to representations of difference in politics, which are often especially productive. In democracies in [...]

englischThe traditional patterns of political representation have been thrown into crisis because populism is posing a serious challenge to liberal democracies. In recent years, the rise of populism has triggered an intensive debate in the field of social sciences on its causes and legitimacy and on [...]

englischProtests are drivers of change but, at the same time, are also objects of change. The conditions under which protest emerges, the forms in which it is articulated and its potential impact may change in subtle ways or abruptly, with a big bang. The contributions in this edited volume focus on [...]