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Chair in Qualitative Empirical Research Methods

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27.04.2026 10:00

New INTERFACED Report: Democracy and Science Sceptic Mobilisations in Europe and Beyond

Profilbild Anna Geyer
Profilbild Claudius Wagemann
Profilbild Noah Weber

New INTERFACED Report: Democracy and Science Sceptic Mobilisations in Europe and Beyond

The INTERFACED consortium's Frankfurt team Anna Geyer, Noah Weber and Claudius Wagemann - responsible for Work Package 7 - has submitted its latest report, Deliverable D7.2, providing a comprehensive analysis of mobilisations that challenge liberal democracy and scientific expertise across seven countries (Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain, Tunisia, and the United Kingdom) since 2020. This report marks a significant milestone as the INTERFACED project approaches its halfway point.

Key Findings and Focus Areas

The report examines how public health, immigration and multiculturalism, and environmental issues have become central drivers of democracy and science-sceptic mobilisations. It reveals a troubling trend: the increasing appropriation of such movements by far-right actors, posing intensified challenges to liberal-democratic norms and institutions. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified science-sceptic mobilisation in all studied countries.

Comparative Analysis and Future Directions

By comparing mobilisations across these diverse contexts, the report offers valuable insights into the evolving landscape of political and scientific contestation. It concludes by identifying key areas for future research, setting the stage for more in-depth and comparative analysis of institutional responsiveness to these movements.


About INTERFACED

Launched in January 2025, the INTERFACED project is a collaborative effort to understand and address the “interfacing" between political participants and authority actors. The submission of D7.2 underscores the project's productivity and its commitment to delivering timely, evidence-based research.

Next Steps

Deliverable D7.2 will serve as a foundation for further comparative studies within the INTERFACED consortium, informing both academic discourse and policy responses to the challenges posed by democracy- and science-sceptic movements.

 

20.04.2026 10:00

YouReACT: Project meeting in Berlin in 2026

YouReAct_Berlin
The second YouReACT project meeting took place at the International Psychoanalytic University Berlin (IPU) on 18 and 19 February 2026 – right in the middle of Berlin's infamous winter. After a brief welcome to the two visiting research teams from Innsbruck and Frankfurt, things got underway straight away: the first item on the agenda was a brief review of the project's progress to date. Among other things, the discussion focused on how best to link the sometimes very different contributions of the three research teams. After all, YouReACT's approach is transdisciplinary: three disciplines are to be brought together to gain as diverse an understanding as possible of the political participation of young people in rural regions, namely social psychology (Berlin), empirical cultural studies (Innsbruck) and political science (Frankfurt am Main). Following a lively debate on the interdisciplinary added value of the project, the project participants headed to a nearby pizzeria to round off the academic discussion over a cosy evening meal.
The following day's programme was packed. Firstly, the previous day's debate was to be explored in greater depth – to this end, all the teams took turns to present their respective research approaches in detail, including some initial findings. This was followed by an internal discussion of the research assistants' project-related doctoral theses: Paul Obermeyer will examine the biographical appropriation of political spatial cultures from a socio-psychological and psychoanalytical perspective. Liv Ohlsen's doctoral project within the field of empirical cultural studies bears the working title Mapping rural Democracies online. Political cultures in the digital village network. In his political science PhD, Bonald Përkola examines the politography of young people in rural areas in Germany, Italy and Albania. All three dissertations thus make a valuable contribution to the YouReACT project.
On the second day, in addition to the research teams, representatives from the partner organisations were also present: Lutz Gude, full-time Federal Executive Director of JEF Germany, and Sandra Schlee, Policy Officer for Youth Policy & Education at Deutsche Landjugend. As experts in their respective fields, they provided fascinating insights into the practical aspects of youth work and opened up new perspectives for the researchers regarding the project's future course.

 

11.03.2026 10:00

New publication in "Comparative Politics" with Benedikt Bender and Claudius Wagemann: "Why are State-Business Relations Formalized in Russia's Authoritarian Regime? A Set-Theoretic Analysis"

bender_wagemann_article_SBR

We ask about the conditions behind the formalisation of state-business relations (SBRs) in Russia's authoritarian regime. We challenge the common argument that informality dominates these relations. Rather, we argue that both state and business actors are motivated for multiple reasons to formalise their cooperation. The result was unexpectedly clear: we found that 59 out of 83 regions feature surprisingly “strong" or “fairly strong" institutionalized SBRs. Therefore, our first conclusion is that there is a confirmed prevalence of agreements between state and business, as well as formalised procedures. It is notable that even many of the clearly closed regional authoritarian regimes in Russia have formalised SBRs.

Nevertheless, the rationale behind strong formalization varies across regions. The question to which we turn then was wich different configurations account for institutionalized SBRs? We apply fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fs/QCA) to systematically examine SBRs across all federal reagions in Russia. Our fsQCA analysis points out four distinct configurations: (1) Monopolized economy, (2) Hegemonic Authoritarian Politics, (3) Personalist Politics, (4) Competitive Authoritarian Politics. We conlude that institutionalized SBRs are a crucial element of consolidated authoritarian rule, even in highly personalized political systems such as in Russia (for more information about the raw dataset, including all information for the outcome, different conditions, solutions and robustness checks, please see the appendix).

This prompts the question of whether formal state-business arrangements also contribute to the advancement of “better governance." We argue that just the opposite is the case. Our analysis show, formally institutionalized SBRs help to stabilise the “badly designed" informal institutions, from which mainly the autocrat benefits.

Check out the full article here.

 

01.12.2025 12:00

New publication by Dr. Benedikt Bender in Regulation & Governance: "Green Subsidies and the Promotion of Eco-Social Policy in Germany and the United States"

Bender_Article_Green_Subsidies
Overview_Benedikt_Bender
While the literature on eco-social policies has grown, limited attention has been paid to subsidies and
how they are connected to different eco-social policies. In short: We believe that the organizations that
benefit from a particular green subsidy will be much more likely to support eco-social policy. We
focused on the most important trade unions & business organizations in Germany & the US. We
collected 93 documents (press releases, minutes of public meetings, & information from web pages)
and additionally, we used 15 interviews with organization representatives and with experts on the IRA.
In Germany: as we had expected green subsidies play an important role in increasing the support of
eco-social policy reforms. All of the most representative business associations & trade unions agree
that green subsidies should be used to manage the transformation process. Important for our other
argument is that the unions support green subsidies because they are only paid to companies in which
collective agreements or other forms of union representation are in place (positive-sum). In the US: we
also show support for green subsidies among American business organizations & trade unions.
Business groups see innovation & green tech gains; unions support them as subsidies are tied to pro-
labor standards (positive-sum effect).

Can the IRA's green subsidies ensure its political survival under Trump? We believe that green
subsidies may very well prove resilient in the long run, thanks to business, labor, Democratic, &
moderate Republican support.
Check out the full article here.

 

29.09.2025 10:00

New publication: "The Application of Political Science Methods in Europe"

Bookcover - The Application of Political Science Methods in Europe
Profilbild Claudius Wagemann
The volume “The Application of Political Science Methods in Europe" (published by Springer and edited by Claudius Wagemann and his Siena colleague Luca Verzichelli) summarizes various aspects of the current use of methods in European political science. The idea for this book was developed during Claudius Wagemann's research semester in Siena during the summer 2019. The eleven chapters contain overviews on the use of methods in different European geographic regions and political science sub-disciplines, present recent methodological innovations and ask whether there are (stereo)typically 'female' or 'male' methods. Next to Claudius Wagemann, our team member Benedikt Bender und our former team members Lukas Brenner and Bastiaan Bruinsma were involved as authors. Additionally, numerous student assistants were involved in the coding of the use of methods in political science journal articles.