Project acronym AVIANEGG
Project Evolutionary genetics in a ‘classical’ avian study system by high throughput transcriptome sequencing and SNP genotyping
Researcher (PI) Jon Slate
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS5, ERC-2007-StG
Summary Long-term studies of free-living vertebrate populations have proved a rich resource for understanding evolutionary and ecological processes, because individuals’ life histories can be measured by tracking them from birth/hatching through to death. In recent years the ‘animal model’ has been applied to pedigreed long-term study populations with great success, dramatically advancing our understanding of quantitative genetic parameters such as heritabilities, genetic correlations and plasticities of traits that are relevant to microevolutionary responses to environmental change. Unfortunately, quantitative genetic approaches have one major drawback – they cannot identify the actual genes responsible for genetic variation. Therefore, it is impossible to link evolutionary responses to a changing environment to molecular genetic variation, making our picture of the process incomplete. Many of the best long-term studies have been conducted in passerine birds. Unfortunately genomics resources are only available for two model avian species, and are absent for bird species that are studied in the wild. I will fill this gap by exploiting recent advances in genomics technology to sequence the entire transcriptome of the longest running study of wild birds – the great tit population in Wytham Woods, Oxford. Having identified most of the sequence variation in the great tit transcriptome, I will then genotype all birds for whom phenotype records and blood samples are available This will be, by far, the largest phenotype-genotype dataset of any free-living vertebrate population. I will then use gene mapping techniques to identify genes and genomic regions responsible for variation in a number of key traits such as lifetime recruitment, clutch size and breeding/laying date. This will result in a greater understanding, at the molecular level, how microevolutionary change can arise (or be constrained).
Summary
Long-term studies of free-living vertebrate populations have proved a rich resource for understanding evolutionary and ecological processes, because individuals’ life histories can be measured by tracking them from birth/hatching through to death. In recent years the ‘animal model’ has been applied to pedigreed long-term study populations with great success, dramatically advancing our understanding of quantitative genetic parameters such as heritabilities, genetic correlations and plasticities of traits that are relevant to microevolutionary responses to environmental change. Unfortunately, quantitative genetic approaches have one major drawback – they cannot identify the actual genes responsible for genetic variation. Therefore, it is impossible to link evolutionary responses to a changing environment to molecular genetic variation, making our picture of the process incomplete. Many of the best long-term studies have been conducted in passerine birds. Unfortunately genomics resources are only available for two model avian species, and are absent for bird species that are studied in the wild. I will fill this gap by exploiting recent advances in genomics technology to sequence the entire transcriptome of the longest running study of wild birds – the great tit population in Wytham Woods, Oxford. Having identified most of the sequence variation in the great tit transcriptome, I will then genotype all birds for whom phenotype records and blood samples are available This will be, by far, the largest phenotype-genotype dataset of any free-living vertebrate population. I will then use gene mapping techniques to identify genes and genomic regions responsible for variation in a number of key traits such as lifetime recruitment, clutch size and breeding/laying date. This will result in a greater understanding, at the molecular level, how microevolutionary change can arise (or be constrained).
Max ERC Funding
1 560 770 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-10-01, End date: 2014-06-30
Project acronym DESTABLE
Project Destabilisation of sociotechnical regimes as the key to transitions towards sustainability
Researcher (PI) Frank Geels
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2007-StG
Summary Sociotechnical transitions are important to address environmental problems. The present literature focuses on green options that break through and replace existing sociotechnical regimes. The project turns the analytical focus upside down, seeing the destabilisation and decline of existing regimes as the key to transitions. Regimes refer to the rules (knowledge base, belief system, mission, strategic orientation) shared by incumbent actors in an industry. Destabilisation results from increasing external pressures (economic, normative, regulatory) and eroding commitment of actors to regime rules. Research questions are: 1 To what degree have regimes in transport, energy and agriculture destabilised in the last 30 years, as a result of environmental pressures? 2 What kind of process is regime destabilisation and how should it be conceptualised for environmental problems? Which mechanisms are important and how do they interact? The project develops a theoretical perspective, combining insights from neo-institutional theory, STS, evolutionary economics. A phase-based pattern and three propositions are advanced. To investigate destabilisation, the project uses case studies as research strategy, which is appropriate for tracing complex processes such as changing beliefs and identities, fuzzy network boundaries, and many interacting (external) factors. Two PhD projects do four longitudinal case studies about destabilisation. Cases are selected with regard to the phase-based pattern and propositions. One case (decline of domestic coal) went though all phases. Another case (destabilisation of pig farming) has progressed far into the last phase. Coal in electricity and the car regime are less far in the phase-pattern, and probably less destabilised. The PI integrates findings from PhD projects, providing general answers to research questions. He also elaborates the inter-disciplinary perspective, and addresses the possibilities for sustainability transitions.
Summary
Sociotechnical transitions are important to address environmental problems. The present literature focuses on green options that break through and replace existing sociotechnical regimes. The project turns the analytical focus upside down, seeing the destabilisation and decline of existing regimes as the key to transitions. Regimes refer to the rules (knowledge base, belief system, mission, strategic orientation) shared by incumbent actors in an industry. Destabilisation results from increasing external pressures (economic, normative, regulatory) and eroding commitment of actors to regime rules. Research questions are: 1 To what degree have regimes in transport, energy and agriculture destabilised in the last 30 years, as a result of environmental pressures? 2 What kind of process is regime destabilisation and how should it be conceptualised for environmental problems? Which mechanisms are important and how do they interact? The project develops a theoretical perspective, combining insights from neo-institutional theory, STS, evolutionary economics. A phase-based pattern and three propositions are advanced. To investigate destabilisation, the project uses case studies as research strategy, which is appropriate for tracing complex processes such as changing beliefs and identities, fuzzy network boundaries, and many interacting (external) factors. Two PhD projects do four longitudinal case studies about destabilisation. Cases are selected with regard to the phase-based pattern and propositions. One case (decline of domestic coal) went though all phases. Another case (destabilisation of pig farming) has progressed far into the last phase. Coal in electricity and the car regime are less far in the phase-pattern, and probably less destabilised. The PI integrates findings from PhD projects, providing general answers to research questions. He also elaborates the inter-disciplinary perspective, and addresses the possibilities for sustainability transitions.
Max ERC Funding
907 114 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-09-01, End date: 2012-11-30
Project acronym DIGIDEAS
Project Social and ethical aspects of digital identities. Towards a value sensitive identity management
Researcher (PI) Irma Ploeg, Van Der
Host Institution (HI) STICHTING ZUYD HOGESCHOOL
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2007-StG
Summary Digital identity management concerns the control of digitized information pertaining to a person. This type of information is usually referred to as `personal data’, or ‘personally identifiable information’. With digitisation and automation processes pervading virtually all aspects and domains of society, the routine registration of personal identifiable data is increasing exponentially. The implied risks and challenges to fundamental rights like privacy and non-discrimination are recognized on the highest policy levels, but as of today still poorly understood or analyzed. In view of the fact that ‘identity’ is also a key concept in contemporary social theory, and conceptualisations of the relation between technology and society, ethics and normativity, a field of enquiry emerges at the crossroads of contemporary theoretical, technological and societal developments representing opportunities for frontier research. The overall aims of the project are to increase understanding of the social and ethical aspects of digital identity management (IDM), to further theorising the concept of identity, and to contribute to the quality and social/ethical acceptability of technological developments. The project will achieve these goals by bringing recent insights gained from several disciplines (science and technology studies, surveillance studies, social and technology philosophy, computer ethics) to bear on actual developments in digital identity management, thus exploring novel ways to identify and articulate the issues concerned. With a series of interdisciplinary studies focussing on different application areas of IDM, we intend to produce more fine-grained knowledge of the ways IDM is implicated in contemporary transformations of identity. The programme will involve three complementary PhD projects, and one integrative postdoc project, thus achieving a strong concentration of groundbreaking knowledge on a set of fast emerging intellectual and societal problems.
Summary
Digital identity management concerns the control of digitized information pertaining to a person. This type of information is usually referred to as `personal data’, or ‘personally identifiable information’. With digitisation and automation processes pervading virtually all aspects and domains of society, the routine registration of personal identifiable data is increasing exponentially. The implied risks and challenges to fundamental rights like privacy and non-discrimination are recognized on the highest policy levels, but as of today still poorly understood or analyzed. In view of the fact that ‘identity’ is also a key concept in contemporary social theory, and conceptualisations of the relation between technology and society, ethics and normativity, a field of enquiry emerges at the crossroads of contemporary theoretical, technological and societal developments representing opportunities for frontier research. The overall aims of the project are to increase understanding of the social and ethical aspects of digital identity management (IDM), to further theorising the concept of identity, and to contribute to the quality and social/ethical acceptability of technological developments. The project will achieve these goals by bringing recent insights gained from several disciplines (science and technology studies, surveillance studies, social and technology philosophy, computer ethics) to bear on actual developments in digital identity management, thus exploring novel ways to identify and articulate the issues concerned. With a series of interdisciplinary studies focussing on different application areas of IDM, we intend to produce more fine-grained knowledge of the ways IDM is implicated in contemporary transformations of identity. The programme will involve three complementary PhD projects, and one integrative postdoc project, thus achieving a strong concentration of groundbreaking knowledge on a set of fast emerging intellectual and societal problems.
Max ERC Funding
1 833 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-10-01, End date: 2014-05-31
Project acronym EUCONRES
Project A European Approach to Conflict Resolution? Institutional Learning and the ESDP
Researcher (PI) Michael Smith
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY COURT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2007-StG
Summary To what extent can international institutions learn? What factors determine whether such institutions develop capacities for self-awareness and endogenous institutional change? This project investigates these questions in the context of the European Union (EU). Specifically, it examines the dramatic expansion in security missions led by the EU since 2003, a capacity that many observers doubted was even possible for the EU. To explain this change in institutional behaviour, the project intends to develop a theory of institutional learning to analyze the EU’s instigation and implementation of 16 security operations in various regions under the auspices of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). In addition, with these missions the EU has shown a growing capacity to innovate in security affairs, using a unique civilian crisis management (CCM) capacity linked to security sector reform and other EU policy tools, including the ESDP, the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). These changes demand further examination in light of not only the growing ambitions of the EU itself but also in terms of the increasing demands for security assistance placed on a variety of IOs, such as the UN, NATO, and the OSCE. The initial phase of the project will focus on four key ESDP operations as detailed case studies – Macedonia, the Palestinian Authority, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Bosnia-Hercegovina – to explain this innovation. Following the investigation of these representative cases, the later stages of the project will examine more recent EU security operations in hopes of developing a general theory of EU institutional learning in the area of foreign/security/defence policy. The project also hopes to generalize beyond this theory to other EU policy domains and, potentially, other IOs at the regional and global levels. In doing so the findings could have major implications for global governance.
Summary
To what extent can international institutions learn? What factors determine whether such institutions develop capacities for self-awareness and endogenous institutional change? This project investigates these questions in the context of the European Union (EU). Specifically, it examines the dramatic expansion in security missions led by the EU since 2003, a capacity that many observers doubted was even possible for the EU. To explain this change in institutional behaviour, the project intends to develop a theory of institutional learning to analyze the EU’s instigation and implementation of 16 security operations in various regions under the auspices of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). In addition, with these missions the EU has shown a growing capacity to innovate in security affairs, using a unique civilian crisis management (CCM) capacity linked to security sector reform and other EU policy tools, including the ESDP, the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). These changes demand further examination in light of not only the growing ambitions of the EU itself but also in terms of the increasing demands for security assistance placed on a variety of IOs, such as the UN, NATO, and the OSCE. The initial phase of the project will focus on four key ESDP operations as detailed case studies – Macedonia, the Palestinian Authority, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Bosnia-Hercegovina – to explain this innovation. Following the investigation of these representative cases, the later stages of the project will examine more recent EU security operations in hopes of developing a general theory of EU institutional learning in the area of foreign/security/defence policy. The project also hopes to generalize beyond this theory to other EU policy domains and, potentially, other IOs at the regional and global levels. In doing so the findings could have major implications for global governance.
Max ERC Funding
1 019 264 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-05-01, End date: 2013-04-30
Project acronym EUNACON
Project The European and National Constitutional Law Project
Researcher (PI) Monica Claes
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2007-StG
Summary Irrespective of whether the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe or a Reform Treaty enters into force, the EU already has a constitution by all but name. But what does it rest on? Both the current treaties and the European Court of Justice often make reference to the national constitutions, either of one Member State individually, or as common constitutional principles and traditions. Yet, whilst the influence of EU law on national constitutional law is well documented, no thorough comprehensive comparative legal research has ever been done into these common constitutional principles. The very foundations of the European constitution have thus remained uncharted. Trans-national comparative constitutional law has been neglected in the scientific research on the European Constitution, while it should be an essential component of the analysis. This project aims to contribute to the scientific debate by going back to the fundamentals of national constitutional law. Its purpose is to analyse and structure common legal constitutional principles across EU Member States and identify constitutional diversity. To that end a team of PI and four post-docs will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the „constitutional law in action” of selected Member States, as expounded in constitutional case law, practice and texts. The functional method of comparative law will be used, analysing constitutional law as it functions in practice. Also, these themes will be analysed in an interdisciplinary fashion, taking account of other disciplines. It is this method which makes this research innovative: the national lines will be crossed, and system-neutral themes be used as a starting point, in order to formulate common principles as well as identify national diversity. It will thus advance the scientific debate on constitutionalism in the EU, and contribute to embedding it in common constitutional traditions, leaving room, where necessary, for national constitutional diversity.
Summary
Irrespective of whether the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe or a Reform Treaty enters into force, the EU already has a constitution by all but name. But what does it rest on? Both the current treaties and the European Court of Justice often make reference to the national constitutions, either of one Member State individually, or as common constitutional principles and traditions. Yet, whilst the influence of EU law on national constitutional law is well documented, no thorough comprehensive comparative legal research has ever been done into these common constitutional principles. The very foundations of the European constitution have thus remained uncharted. Trans-national comparative constitutional law has been neglected in the scientific research on the European Constitution, while it should be an essential component of the analysis. This project aims to contribute to the scientific debate by going back to the fundamentals of national constitutional law. Its purpose is to analyse and structure common legal constitutional principles across EU Member States and identify constitutional diversity. To that end a team of PI and four post-docs will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the „constitutional law in action” of selected Member States, as expounded in constitutional case law, practice and texts. The functional method of comparative law will be used, analysing constitutional law as it functions in practice. Also, these themes will be analysed in an interdisciplinary fashion, taking account of other disciplines. It is this method which makes this research innovative: the national lines will be crossed, and system-neutral themes be used as a starting point, in order to formulate common principles as well as identify national diversity. It will thus advance the scientific debate on constitutionalism in the EU, and contribute to embedding it in common constitutional traditions, leaving room, where necessary, for national constitutional diversity.
Max ERC Funding
1 645 056 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-09-01, End date: 2013-02-28
Project acronym FINGOVEU
Project Financial Services Governance in the European Union
Researcher (PI) Lucia Quaglia
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2007-StG
Summary This project examines the governance of financial services in the European Union (EU). This research is both academically interesting and policy relevant. Academic research has not kept pace with new developments in this field, and interdisciplinary research is very much needed, as financial services governance is at the cross road between politics, economics and law. At the practical level, the financial sector is a core part of national economies and one of the most active areas of EU policy making. Moreover, this research will contribute to informing the public discussion in a policy area that is often perceived as 'technical', which tends to limit the public scrutiny of it. For the purposes of this research, the governance of financial services in the EU includes: i) the institutional framework through which policies are made; ii) regulation, which is comprised of market-making and market-framing measures; and iii) supervision, that is: the monitoring and enforcement of regulation as well as the practical cooperation between supervisory authorities. First, the project will map the complex institutional framework underpinning financial services governance in the EU, explaining how such framework interplays with regulatory and supervisory arrangements in international arenas and in selected countries. Second, through competitive hypotheses testing, the project will analyse the EU policy-making processes in the financial sector: the main policy-makers and stakeholders involved; their resources, relationships and influence on the policy process; and the outcome. Besides contributing to the policy-oriented debate on financial services regulation and supervision in the EU, the ultimate theoretical goal of the research is to devise an integrated analytical framework that by combining various theoretical approaches and identifying their scope conditions could account for financial services governance in the EU, advancing theories of EU policy making.
Summary
This project examines the governance of financial services in the European Union (EU). This research is both academically interesting and policy relevant. Academic research has not kept pace with new developments in this field, and interdisciplinary research is very much needed, as financial services governance is at the cross road between politics, economics and law. At the practical level, the financial sector is a core part of national economies and one of the most active areas of EU policy making. Moreover, this research will contribute to informing the public discussion in a policy area that is often perceived as 'technical', which tends to limit the public scrutiny of it. For the purposes of this research, the governance of financial services in the EU includes: i) the institutional framework through which policies are made; ii) regulation, which is comprised of market-making and market-framing measures; and iii) supervision, that is: the monitoring and enforcement of regulation as well as the practical cooperation between supervisory authorities. First, the project will map the complex institutional framework underpinning financial services governance in the EU, explaining how such framework interplays with regulatory and supervisory arrangements in international arenas and in selected countries. Second, through competitive hypotheses testing, the project will analyse the EU policy-making processes in the financial sector: the main policy-makers and stakeholders involved; their resources, relationships and influence on the policy process; and the outcome. Besides contributing to the policy-oriented debate on financial services regulation and supervision in the EU, the ultimate theoretical goal of the research is to devise an integrated analytical framework that by combining various theoretical approaches and identifying their scope conditions could account for financial services governance in the EU, advancing theories of EU policy making.
Max ERC Funding
377 464 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-10-01, End date: 2012-03-31
Project acronym FORESIGHT
Project Do Forecasts Matter? Early Warnings and the Prevention of Armed Conflict
Researcher (PI) Christoph Meyer
Host Institution (HI) KING'S COLLEGE LONDON
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2007-StG
Summary What impact do forecasts have on political action? How are they communicated, perceived and used in order to prevent harmful events in the future? There are few policy areas as dependent on good forecasts as efforts aimed at preventing intra-state violent conflicts. Both practitioners and scholars agree that early, appropriate and sustained action on the part of various international players can help to avoid or at least alleviate many of the harmful consequences. Preventing the outbreak of such conflicts has increasingly become a priority objective of the European Union and its most influential member states. But there is a curious gap in the literature with respect to the exact linkage between early warning and political response: under what conditions do forecasts of impending conflicts lead to political action? The first objective of the project is to better understand the interplay of communication and political perception of early warnings about impending intra-state armed conflict. In a second step, the project will compare the findings about early warnings regarding armed conflict to insights about the impact of forecasts in other policy-areas such as adjusting to impending environmental and economic crises. Thus, the project aims to contribute to improving public policy by analysing the interplay of forecasting, advocacy and preventive decision-making.
Summary
What impact do forecasts have on political action? How are they communicated, perceived and used in order to prevent harmful events in the future? There are few policy areas as dependent on good forecasts as efforts aimed at preventing intra-state violent conflicts. Both practitioners and scholars agree that early, appropriate and sustained action on the part of various international players can help to avoid or at least alleviate many of the harmful consequences. Preventing the outbreak of such conflicts has increasingly become a priority objective of the European Union and its most influential member states. But there is a curious gap in the literature with respect to the exact linkage between early warning and political response: under what conditions do forecasts of impending conflicts lead to political action? The first objective of the project is to better understand the interplay of communication and political perception of early warnings about impending intra-state armed conflict. In a second step, the project will compare the findings about early warnings regarding armed conflict to insights about the impact of forecasts in other policy-areas such as adjusting to impending environmental and economic crises. Thus, the project aims to contribute to improving public policy by analysing the interplay of forecasting, advocacy and preventive decision-making.
Max ERC Funding
754 077 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-09-01, End date: 2011-10-31
Project acronym HUMAN LIFESPAN
Project Mothers, grandmothers and the evolution of prolonged lifespan in humans
Researcher (PI) Virpi Lummaa
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS5, ERC-2007-StG
Summary I propose a novel evolutionary approach for studying ecological and demographic factors that affect senescence and lifespan in humans. Women are unique among animals due to menopause and a prolonged lifespan after last birth. Evolutionarily, the quest of everyone is to maximise grandchildren numbers. Hence, human women life-history is enigmatic. One possibility is that older women increase their fitness by directing resources to already produced offspring rather than having more. Thus, although women gain most grandchildren from own reproduction, they also gain more by helping offspring. This has fascinating implications. All animals must split their energy between reproduction vs. self-maintenance. Most continue to reproduce until death and produce maximum grandchildren by optimising investment between current vs. future reproduction. Human women must also optimise investment between mothering and grandmothering. How this is done and affected by ecological, social and demographic factors is unknown, but is essential to understanding the ecological and genetic basis of reproduction, senescence and lifespan. My project has 5 aims: 1. How does reproductive effort affect reproductive and post-reproductive senescence? 2. What proportion of grandchildren is gained post-menopause and how is this modified? 3. Is there heritable variation in life-history traits and their senescence, and how do genetic correlations affect evolution? 4. How do patterns of fitness acquisition account for menopause, prolonged post-reproductive lifespan and age of death in humans? 5. How does fitness maximization differ between men and women and affect their lifespans? The questions will be answered using unique data on three generations of individuals that lived before healthcare and modern contraceptives in Finland. The results will have important implications for predicting demographic structure and will appeal to a wide range of people within and outwith the scientific community.
Summary
I propose a novel evolutionary approach for studying ecological and demographic factors that affect senescence and lifespan in humans. Women are unique among animals due to menopause and a prolonged lifespan after last birth. Evolutionarily, the quest of everyone is to maximise grandchildren numbers. Hence, human women life-history is enigmatic. One possibility is that older women increase their fitness by directing resources to already produced offspring rather than having more. Thus, although women gain most grandchildren from own reproduction, they also gain more by helping offspring. This has fascinating implications. All animals must split their energy between reproduction vs. self-maintenance. Most continue to reproduce until death and produce maximum grandchildren by optimising investment between current vs. future reproduction. Human women must also optimise investment between mothering and grandmothering. How this is done and affected by ecological, social and demographic factors is unknown, but is essential to understanding the ecological and genetic basis of reproduction, senescence and lifespan. My project has 5 aims: 1. How does reproductive effort affect reproductive and post-reproductive senescence? 2. What proportion of grandchildren is gained post-menopause and how is this modified? 3. Is there heritable variation in life-history traits and their senescence, and how do genetic correlations affect evolution? 4. How do patterns of fitness acquisition account for menopause, prolonged post-reproductive lifespan and age of death in humans? 5. How does fitness maximization differ between men and women and affect their lifespans? The questions will be answered using unique data on three generations of individuals that lived before healthcare and modern contraceptives in Finland. The results will have important implications for predicting demographic structure and will appeal to a wide range of people within and outwith the scientific community.
Max ERC Funding
1 143 824 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-07-01, End date: 2014-06-30
Project acronym PARTYDEMOCRACY
Project Re-conceptualizing party democracy
Researcher (PI) Ingrid Van Biezen
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2007-StG
Summary The aim of this project is to provide an empirical and theoretical re-conceptualization of political parties and party democracy. The challenge of democratic legitimacy faced by political parties in modern democracies derives principally from their deteriorating relationship with society, which has been accentuated by a growing disengagement of citizens from conventional party politics. However, whereas parties are conventionally being understood in terms of their linkages with society, this project proposes to rethink parties in terms of their linkages with the state and party democracy as based on a conception of parties as public utilities rather than private associations. More specifically, it intends to investigate the contours of such a new conception of political parties and party democracy through a particular focus on the management of parties by the state through public law and regulation. The project will thereby bridge the existing gap between the empirical study of parties and normative democratic theory and integrate the disciplines of political science and constitutional and public law through a systematic and comprehensive longitudinal and comparative analysis of party regulation in post-war European democracies. In doing so, it will push the boundaries of conventional empirical research on political parties as well as the normative paradigms of modern democracy and will contribute to a better, and more meaningful, understanding of the future of representative democracy and the role of political parties within it. In doing so, moreover, it will go significantly going beyond conventional – and ultimately unproductive – approaches which, by proposing the revitalization of historically dated organizational linkages between parties and society as the way forward, implausibly suggest that the irreversible process of party transformation can be put to a halt or turned round.
Summary
The aim of this project is to provide an empirical and theoretical re-conceptualization of political parties and party democracy. The challenge of democratic legitimacy faced by political parties in modern democracies derives principally from their deteriorating relationship with society, which has been accentuated by a growing disengagement of citizens from conventional party politics. However, whereas parties are conventionally being understood in terms of their linkages with society, this project proposes to rethink parties in terms of their linkages with the state and party democracy as based on a conception of parties as public utilities rather than private associations. More specifically, it intends to investigate the contours of such a new conception of political parties and party democracy through a particular focus on the management of parties by the state through public law and regulation. The project will thereby bridge the existing gap between the empirical study of parties and normative democratic theory and integrate the disciplines of political science and constitutional and public law through a systematic and comprehensive longitudinal and comparative analysis of party regulation in post-war European democracies. In doing so, it will push the boundaries of conventional empirical research on political parties as well as the normative paradigms of modern democracy and will contribute to a better, and more meaningful, understanding of the future of representative democracy and the role of political parties within it. In doing so, moreover, it will go significantly going beyond conventional – and ultimately unproductive – approaches which, by proposing the revitalization of historically dated organizational linkages between parties and society as the way forward, implausibly suggest that the irreversible process of party transformation can be put to a halt or turned round.
Max ERC Funding
1 619 522 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-10-01, End date: 2013-09-30
Project acronym PEOD
Project Political Economies of Democratisation
Researcher (PI) Milja Kurki
Host Institution (HI) ABERYSTWYTH UNIVERSITY
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2007-StG
Summary Democracy promotion has been a key political project in the post-Cold War era and many studies have documented the successes and failures of democratisation. Yet, the current practice of, and academic literature on, democratisation have been characterised by two key limitations. First, engagement with the essentially contested meaning of the concept of democracy has been weak. Second, the contextualisation of models of democracy promoted within wider social, cultural, political and economic discourses has received relatively little attention. It is the general objective of this research to address these limitations. The research seeks to meet this objective by specifically focusing on conducting an innovative analysis of the complex conjunction between the conceptions of democracy advanced by current democracy promoters and the economic discourses and theories adhered to by them. The specific objectives of this project relate to the study of ‘political economy models of democracy’, in theory and in practice. The research is guided by three sets of questions: 1. What is the nature of the link between models of democracy and economic discourses/theories? How do economic discourses condition conceptions of democracy? Do particular economic theories entail particular models of democracy and, if so, what kind of politico-economic models of democracy can we delineate? 2. What assumptions do democracy promoters make about political economies of democracy? What are the consequences, and the strengths and weaknesses, of the politico-economic models of democracy adhered to? 3. What policy-making implications can be drawn from the theoretical and empirical analysis of politico-economic models of democracy? This unique research highlights the complex but often-ignored link between economic theories/discourses and models of democracy, and encourages democracy promoters and academics in the field to remain open to multiple politico-economic models of democracy.
Summary
Democracy promotion has been a key political project in the post-Cold War era and many studies have documented the successes and failures of democratisation. Yet, the current practice of, and academic literature on, democratisation have been characterised by two key limitations. First, engagement with the essentially contested meaning of the concept of democracy has been weak. Second, the contextualisation of models of democracy promoted within wider social, cultural, political and economic discourses has received relatively little attention. It is the general objective of this research to address these limitations. The research seeks to meet this objective by specifically focusing on conducting an innovative analysis of the complex conjunction between the conceptions of democracy advanced by current democracy promoters and the economic discourses and theories adhered to by them. The specific objectives of this project relate to the study of ‘political economy models of democracy’, in theory and in practice. The research is guided by three sets of questions: 1. What is the nature of the link between models of democracy and economic discourses/theories? How do economic discourses condition conceptions of democracy? Do particular economic theories entail particular models of democracy and, if so, what kind of politico-economic models of democracy can we delineate? 2. What assumptions do democracy promoters make about political economies of democracy? What are the consequences, and the strengths and weaknesses, of the politico-economic models of democracy adhered to? 3. What policy-making implications can be drawn from the theoretical and empirical analysis of politico-economic models of democracy? This unique research highlights the complex but often-ignored link between economic theories/discourses and models of democracy, and encourages democracy promoters and academics in the field to remain open to multiple politico-economic models of democracy.
Max ERC Funding
817 922 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-07-01, End date: 2012-12-31