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FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam

UNelected REPresentatives: The Impact on Liberal Democracy in Europe (UNREP)

Alternative title: Ikke-valgte folkerepresentanter: Betydningen for legitimiteten til det liberale demokratiet i Europa

Awarded: NOK 7.7 mill.

Billie Eilish called upon all designers in the fashion industry to stop using fur "... not only for animals, but also for our planet and environment too." Candice Owens spoke on behalf of conservatives to demand an end to obligatory COVID testing. Afghan female football player Khalida Popal explained her actions were "... for the purpose of standing for our voiceless sisters who have had their voices taken from them by the Taliban ...". This is just a small random selection of unelected individuals making claims to represent substantial groups of people and getting a lot of recognition from media, citizens and authorities. Why do they do that? How often are such claims made? Do people feel themselves represented by these individuals? What does that all mean for the legitimacy of liberal democracy in Europe? UNelected REPresentatives: The Impact on Liberal Democracy in Europe (UNREP) sets out to answer these questions. This takes place against a background of crisis of liberal democracy in Europe. Many people do not feel represented by elected politicians. They turn to far right populists like Giorgia Meloni or autocrats like Victor Orban. There is a lot of research on populists, populist parties and peoples' opinion about democracy and trust in politics. Yet so far, the role of unelected representatives in all this is largely overlooked. UNREP departs from a new development in political theory, which considers representation not as the result of elections but as interaction between those who claim to represent others and the audience that either approves or rejects such claims.

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How and to what extent does the empirical practice of representative claims-making in which unelected representatives claim to represent an international constituency affect the legitimacy of liberal democracy in Europe? This is the central research question of 'Unelected Representatives: The Impact on Liberal Democracy in Europe' (UNREP). UNREP focuses on the practice of representative claims-making. That is, public statements in which someone claims to represent a certain constituency with a policy demand in front of an audience. Both elected and unelected individuals make such claims. Specifically, UNREP focuses on claims with an international reach, made by unelected representatives, stating demands on the globalization related issues of migration and European integration. It studies how citizens receive these claims and what exposure to such claims means for citizens' opinion about liberal democracy. UNREP picks up on state of the art political theory, to conduct rigorous empirical analysis on the nature and impact of representative claims. UNREP develops new insight through a carefully constructed mixed-methods research design. This includes comprehensive content analysis, surveys including conjoint analysis and experiments, and in-depth semi-structured interviews. Journalists are key stakeholders in this phenomenon. They face a choice whether to feature representative claims in the news, and how, on a daily basis. UNREP contains a comprehensive innovative plan for journalist involvement in the project that will bolster both the research itself as well as the popular dissemination of its findings. The results promise to improve our understanding of modern day political representation and provide us with a key piece of the puzzle about the current state of liberal democracy in Europe. This is vital information in the face of popular mistrust and challenges from right-wing populists, authoritarian leaders and left-wing social movements.

Funding scheme:

FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam