Citizen Power in Representative Democracy

This project examines the development of representative democracy from the point of view of citizen power. It probes the notion that modern democracy has, as a result a fundamental social transformation during recent decades, left its earlier class- and party-based forms and developed into an Audience Democracy.  By combining an interdisciplinary approach with the possibilities offered by information technology and new methods, it aims at an analysis which is both comprehensive and innovative. As it brings together scholars from five different disciplines at four different universities the program bridges both disciplinary and geographical boundaries.

The objectives of the project can be summarized in the form of two broad research questions:

I To what extent has a transition to Audience Democracy taken place?

II What are its consequences from the point of view of citizen power, and what action do they call for?

The first research question will be addressed along four thematic dimensions: Political Participation, Public Institutions, Media, and Individual, Group and Society. Under each theme, research is structured according to three central aspects: Citizens, Channels of Influence and Political System. Both syntheses of earlier research and new studies will be presented. Theoretically formulated hypotheses are consistently examined with the aid of systematic empirical data. The research is comparative throughout and based on quantitative data, systematic content analyses and comparative case studies.

In order to answer the second question, a platform for several kinds of experimental studies will be constructed. This Virtual Polity simulates a real-life society and will supply tools for deliberation among citizens, between the people and their representatives and within the political elite. It will also allow for testing of mechanisms for electronic governance. Moreover, this research seeks to contribute to the development of methodological tools for the experimental study of power and society. In the normative theoretical literature there is a certain trend towards an idealization of the interest and capacity of citizens to participate in deliberative processes. The proposed research will be instrumental to creating a more substantiated assessment of the conditions and possibilities of participatory democracy.

Scholars from four universities (Åbo, Tampere, Helsinki and Turku) and five disciplinary fields (political science, public administration, political communication, developmental psychology and sociology) collaborate to carry out the program. Three senior/postdoctoral researchers will be employed full-time for 6-12 months: Åsa Bengtsson, Krister Lundell and Mikko Mattila. Bengtsson will conduct extensive research on accountability and personal responsibility. Mattila's research is centrally located within Political Participation. Lundell's work concerns the role of political parties as power brokers in representative democracy. The project leader, Professor Lauri Karvonen (Åbo) will contribute research on the personalization of politics. The Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD) under the leadership of Dr. Sami Borg is the main partner as concerns the construction of databases for the empirical study of power and democracy in Finland. For the experimental work on media, we have full access to MediaCity's Interactive Digital Television Laboratory (iDTV Lab) at Åbo Akademi, Vasa. iDTV Lab is one of the most advanced audience research laboratories in Europe.

The research agenda of Citizen Power in Representative Democracy