This track explores the changing foundations of electoral democracy in Europe by bringing together research on political parties, party systems, voting behaviour, public opinion, and political communication. Across European democracies, representation is being reshaped by organizational change within parties, the emergence of new conflict dimensions, transformations in electoral competition, and evolving patterns of citizen engagement. The panels in this track address these developments from complementary perspectives, linking the demand side and the supply side of electoral democracy.
A first core theme concerns the internal transformation of parties, including intra-party democracy, leadership personalization, candidate selection, and party organization. A second focuses on party systems and the restructuring of political conflict around issues such as immigration, European integration, climate change, cultural liberalism, and national identity. A third examines elections and voting behaviour, with attention to turnout, volatility, issue voting, partisan attachments, and the social and attitudinal bases of vote choice. A fourth addresses the relationship between public opinion and political communication in hybrid media environments, including campaign effects, misinformation, selective exposure, and their implications for trust, mobilization, and democratic citizenship. The track also includes a roundtable on the 2027 French presidential election in comparative perspective with Italy.
Overall, the track aims to foster dialogue across subfields and methods in order to better understand how electoral democracy in Europe is adapting to new social conflicts, changing information environments, and evolving forms of political representation.
