Countering Illiberalism in Liberal Democracies II: Norms and Political Behavior

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

The literature on the current crisis of liberal democracy has paid more systematic attention to the rise of illiberalism and populism than to how pro-democratic actors can prevent, contain, or resist illiberalism. Extant scholarship on responses to illiberalism is scattered across different subfields, including analyses of legal and judicial restrictions on extremism, studies of party organization and competition, works on civil society organizations and social movements, and analyses of voting behavior. This panel, and its companion panel “Countering Illiberalism in Liberal Democracies I: Constitutional Perspectives”, submitted to the same sections, emerge from a collaborative project that brings together scholars at different stages of career, from different subfields of comparative politics and political sociology, and using different methodologies (case studies, survey analysis, text analysis, experimental design) to discuss the conditions of viability and effectiveness of strategies to prevent the rise, contain the influence, and resist the power of political illiberalism in liberal democracies.

Sub Unit

• Division 11: Comparative Politics

Chair

• Giovanni Capoccia University of Oxford

Discussants

• Sara Wallace Goodman University of California, Irvine

• Neil O'Brian University of Oregon

Individual Presentations

• Ethnic Parties and Democratic Backsliding: The Case of the United States - Robert C. Lieberman, Johns Hopkins University; Daniel Schlozman, Johns Hopkins University

• Divisive and Unifying Campaign Messages: Do They Work? Why and on Whom? - Susan C. Stokes, University of Chicago; S. Erdem Aytaç, Koç University; Lautaro Cella, University of Chicago; Ipek Cinar, University of Chicago

• Social Norms, Preference Falsification, and Democratic Resilience - Vicente Valentim, Nuffield College, University of Oxford

• The Cultural Roots of Democratic Backsliding - Pippa Norris, Harvard University