Democracy and Elections

We bring together political scientists and sociologists who study democracy, citizen participation and elections.

About

Research undertaken within Democracy and Elections at Manchester focuses on the challenges facing representative institutions and electoral politics, including the decline of trust in democratic institutions, the weakening of established parties, increasing electoral volatility, the rise of populism, the increased use of digital campaigning in elections, electoral fraud, and gender and racial inequalities.

The mission of Democracy and Elections at Manchester is to provide informed and academic insights into these trends, and to reveal how political attitudes, behaviour, and institutions are changing in Britain and beyond.

Highlights

• UNTWIST: Policy recommendations to regain "losers of feminism" as mainstream voters (Horizon Europe). This collaborative project seeks to develop policy recommendations enabling parties to promote gender equality and address citizens' gender-based needs. Principle Investigator: Dr Antonia Ruiz Jimenez (Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Spain). UK Lead Investigator: Dr Rosalind Shorrocks.
• Aftershocks: Identity, immigration, and political change after Brexit (ESRC-funded), working with UK in a Changing Europe to develop, analyse, and disseminate cutting-edge research on the aftershocks of Brexit. Principle Investigator: Professor Rob Ford.
• British Election Study (ESRC-funded), run in conjunction with the University of Oxford. Principal Investigator Professor Ed Fieldhouse and Co-Investigator Dr Jon Mellon
• Digital campaigning and electoral democracy (ERC advanced grant). Principal Investigator Professor Rachel Gibson and Co-Investigator Dr Marta Cantijoch Cunill
• MOBILISE 'Determinants of 'Mobilisation' at home and abroad: Analysing the micro-foundations of out-migration and mass protest.' (ESRC-funded) Principal Investigator: Dr Ola Onuch
• Members of Democracy and Elections work closely with the Cathie Marsh Institute (CMI – Professor Rachel Gibson and Professor Maria Sobolewska) and the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CODE – Professor Maria Sobolewska and Dr Neema Begum) within the University of Manchester.
• Democracy and Elections are involved in external partnerships including with UK in a Changing Europe (Fellows Professor Rob Ford and Professor Maria Sobolewska) and the Political Studies Association (Dr Nicole Martin co-convenes the Race, Migration, and Intersectionality specialist group; Dr Rosalind Shorrocks co-convenes the Gender and Elections Network).
• A selection of prizes won by members of the Democracy and Elections cluster include:
  • Dr Ceri Fowler and Dr Lotte Hargrave: 2023 joint-winners of the MacDougall Trust Prize for elections, electoral systems and representation
  • Professor Rob Ford and Professor Maria Sobolewska: 2022 winners of the WJM Mackenzie Prize for their book Brexitland: Identity, diversity and the reshaping of British politics.
  • Professor Maria Sobolewska 2021 winner of the Political Studies Association Joni Lovenduski Prize for outstanding professional achievement by a mid-career scholar.
  • Dr Anna Sanders 2021 winner of the Political Studies Association McDougall Trust Prize for best dissertation in elections, electoral systems, and representation.
  • Dr Anna Sanders and Dr Rosalind Shorrocks 2019 winners of the John Peterson Prize for the best article in the British Journal of Politics and International Relations for 'All in this together? Austerity and the gender-age gap in the 2015 and 2017 British general elections.'
  • Dr Jon Mellon 2018 winner of the Louis Brownlow Award for best article in Public Administration Review by a practitioner for 'The effect of bureaucratic responsiveness on citizen participation.'
  • Professor Rob Ford and Dr Jon Mellon 2017 Political Studies Association special recognition award for the BBC/ITV/Sky 2017 exit poll

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