Research
Research Focuses
- Political sociology
- Party and party system research
- Elite research
- Parliamentary research
- Regional and local political research
- Comparative democracy research
- Psephology
Ongoing Research Projects |
Subproject B04 "Economic property and political (in-)equality" as part of the Collaborative Research Centre TRR 294 "Structural Change of Property" The point of departure of this project is the assumption that economic property increasingly impacts political (in-)equality in representative democracies. This structural change through property has the potential to challenge the promise of equality made by developed democracies and aggravate their legitimacy problem. The analysis takes an elite theory approach with reference to two closely connected aspects: the role of property in access to elite statuses and the representative relationship between elites and the wider population. Using Germany as an example, the analysis is based on a mixed-methods study composed of standardised surveys conducted among elites as well as the wider populace, a qualitative longitudinal study, and analyses of primary and secondary data. Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Marion Reiser (Universität Jena) and Dr. Lars Vogel (Universität Leipzig) Institutions involved: Universität Jena and Universität Leipzig Funding Institution: German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) |
Thüringen-Monitor Since 2018, the Thüringen-Monitor has been conducted under the direction of Prof. Dr. Marion Reiser. The Thüringen-Monitor is a representative population survey concerning the political culture of the Free State of Thuringia. Each year, a special focus is given to investigating right-wing extremist attitudes, acceptance of democracy, satisfaction with democracy, trust in institutions and the political participation of the Thuringian population. This allows the diagnosis and interpretation of long-term developments (time series analyses). All Thüringen-Monitor published so far can be retrieved as .pdf-documents on the websites of the Thuringian state governmentExternal link and the Zentrum für Rechtsextremismusforschung, Demokratiebildung und gesellschaftliche Integration (KomRex)External link. Scientific Direction: Prof. Dr. Marion Reiser Commissioned by the Thuringian State Chancellery |
Research project "Intra-party competition in the candidate nomination process" Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Marion Reiser Funding Institution: German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) and the Presidential Board as well as the Department of Social Sciences of the Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt Publications (selection):
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Research Project: "Parliamentary Socialization of Members of the German State Parliaments" Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Marion Reiser is leading the project along with Prof. Dr. Jens Borchert (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt). Funding Institution: Fritz Thyssen Foundation (2010-2014) Publications (selection):
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Doctoral Programme "Democracy under Stress: Challenges and Perspectives“ at the Center for the Study of Democracy, Leuphana-University Lüneburg Project Direction: Prof. Dr. Marion Reiser is co-applicant, supervisor of several PhD projects and was speaker of the PhD program together with Ferdinand Müller-Rommel until 2018. Funding Institution: Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture (2016-2020) |
Research Project: "Unelected Legislators - Non-majoritarian Institutions (NMIs) caught between a lack of democratic legitimacy and functional advantages" Non-majoritarian institutions (NMIs) have been largely overlooked by political science research in the jungle of national, European and international institutions. This is particularly surprising since they are associated with fundamental questions of democratic theory concerning the sources of political authority, how it should be controlled, and to whom it should be accountable. Put simply, non-majoritarian institutions are actors that can issue collectively binding political decisions and thus exercise political authority comparable to executives of nation-states, although they are not legitimized by democratic elections, civic participation or majoritarian decisions. The fact that, nevertheless, NMIs are often endowed with remarkable executive powers, that sometimes can intervene deeply in domestic affairs, can be easily illustrated by the Troika consisting of the ECB, the IMF and the European Commission. For example, this expert body created by the EU exercised considerable power in the Greek government-debt crisis and, among other things, implemented cuts in pensions, wages and minimum wages, abolished protection against wrongful termination, undermined collective bargaining rights, and also imposed far-reaching austerity measures and waves of dismissals in the public sector. The Troika, it is important to note, had no democratic legitimacy, was not accountable to any parliament, and was not forced to have its austerity policies approved by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). Pointedly, one could say that the Troika possessed power without control. The research project will take an in-depth look at this increasingly common type of institution, bringing into focus numerous other non-majoritarian institutions apart from the Troika. |
Finished Research Projects |
Research Project: "Municipal Voter Groups as Hybrid Political Actors" as part of the Collaborative Research Centre SFB 580 Jena/Halle The subject of this project is the non-partisan municipal voters’ association (German: KWG) who stand as candidates in elections or win seats in Germany in municipal representative bodies (municipal councils and district councils). These groups will be examined comparatively and longitudinally to explore how their networking with the social community, their - decidedly ambivalent - position in the local and supra-local party system, their programmatic profile, their social composition and their political style are shaped and possibly changed. Project Direction: Prof. Dr. Marion Reiser was scientific coordinator of the subproject from 2004-2008 and for the period 2008-2012 she was project applicant along with Everhard Holtmann. Funding Institution: German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) (2004-2012) Publications (selection):
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Research Project: "Directly Elected Mayors: Impact on the Local Party System" Project within the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) programme for Strategic Partnership of the University of Frankfurt and Birmingham Project Direction: Prof. Dr. Marion Reiser along with Dr. Karin Bottom (University of Birmingham) Funding Institution: German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD) (2013-2014) Publication:
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Forschungsprojekt "Professionalization of Local Politics" Council members in large German cities find themselves in a dilemma: On the one hand, they are formally honorary politicians in their leisure time; on the other hand, the exercise of their mandate is very time-consuming. Marion Reiser investigates which individual strategies council members use to reconcile work and mandate, and whether this considerable commitment of time results in a gradual professionalization of local politics. Using the example of four major German cities - Frankfurt am Main, Hanover, Nuremberg and Stuttgart - it is demonstrated that such professionalization processes do indeed take place, but that they surprisingly differ in degree and pattern from city to city. Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Marion Reiser Funding Institution: PhD project funded by the Volkswagen Foundation within the framework of the junior research group 'Politics as a Vocation' directed by Prof. Dr. Jens Borchert at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Publications (selection):
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Research Project: "Election or Auction. Campaign Finance and Democracy in the U.S. after 'Citizens United'" Principal Investigator: Dr. Jörg Hebenstreit In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court in January 2010 opened the floodgates to unlimited campaign contributions from corporations, banks, trade unions and individuals. Although these contributions cannot be transferred directly to candidates, they can be transferred to Super Political Action Committees (Super PACs) closely associated with them. Since then, campaign costs, which were already high before 2010, have increased by sometimes exponential factors. The dissertation used quantitative-statistical methods to investigate the influence of the variable "money" on the outcome of elections and whether it has an impact on the broader political process. Thus, in addition to the electoral process, is it possible to identify effects on the recruitment of political staff, the so-called permanent campaign, voter turnout, polarization, the legislative process, and much more. In addition to this entirely empirical approach, fundamental questions about justice, equality, transparency as well as trust in the political process were also be addressed in the light of political theory. Publications (selection):
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