Prof Sven-Oliver Proksch has received the prestigious Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council for his project Democracy without Majorities: Political Representation under Minority Rule (MINORITYRULE).

The Consolidator Grant is one of the most important research awards worldwide, funding innovative fundamental and pioneering research. The MINORITYRULE project will be funded for a period of five years with a total of €2 million.

The MINORITYRULE project will investigate the impact of governance in minority governments on political representation. Political representation, in this context, refers to the connection between what citizens want and what politicians do.

Professor Proksch and his team will focus on three main questions. First, they will examine how political polarisation develops in parliamentary debates and election campaigns in comparison to situations with majority governments. Second, the project will address the question of the extent to which minority governments react differently to changes in public opinion than majority governments when making decisions. And third, the project focuses on the citizen and investigates the perception of political decision-making and compromise among voters under minority governments compared to majority governments.

MINORITYRULE examines these questions in a international comparative study, using a series of new data sets to be generated in the project. The project will conduct quantitative text analysis of political speeches in combination with survey experiments and panel surveys. Findings are expected contribute to a better understanding of the institutional and political conditions under which minority governments can lead to successful representation.