Research

Research

In its research and teaching, the Department of Government primarily focuses on comparative European and Austrian politics. Its research is concerned with political behaviour, political actors, such as political parties and politicians, political institutions, the processes governed by these institutions, as well as their outcomes. It includes work on political participation, voting behaviour, parties and party competition, coalition politics and Austrian politics in general and is mostly based on rationalist and behavioural approaches.

Our goal is to conduct high-level, internationally competitive research in the area of Comparative Politics with the collaboration of international project partners and research networks. At the Faculty of Social Sciences the department is mainly engaged in the key research area ''Political Competition and Communication: Democratic Representation in Changing Societies'.

The department’s approach places it in the discipline’s empirical-analytical core and is mostly based on quantitative social science methods. To map empirical phenomena accurately, researcher in the department focus on the continuous development of survey design, as well as on the analysis of empirical data by applying the best suited statistical model. The department aims to achieve the best work on Austrian politics and to make important contributions to the international academic literature on Comparative Government and Politics.

An overview of current publications and activities at the department can be found below and on the personal websites of our team.

Current research projects

 

European Value Study 2017: A Contribution to the Status in Austria

Zeitraum: 2015 - 2021

Förderer: BMBWF sowie ausländische Stiftung

 Förderer: BMBWF

 

DIGIPARL

Zeitraum: 2023-2025

Förderer: Rep. Österreich

 

Intra-party Politics and Economic Politics

Zeitraum: 2021 - 2025

Förderer: OeNB

 

MC-Infotrust

Zeitraum: 01.09.2024 - 31.08.2027

Förderer:

 

MC-IP-PAD

Zeitraum: 01.03.2023 - 28.02.2027

Förderer: EU

 

https://wratil.eu/multirep

Zeitraum: 2023-2028

Multidimensional Representation: Enabling An Alternative Research Agenda on the Citizen-Politician Relationship (MULTIREP) - ERC Starting Grant

Förderer: Europäische Union

 

Parteitagspolitik

Zeitraum: 2020-2024

Förderer: FWF

 

PARTISAN - ERC Consolidator Grants

Zeitraum: 2022 - 2027

Förderer: European Research Council

 

The 'de-party politicization' of Europe's political elites (DEPART) - ERC Starting Grant 

Zeitraum: 2021 - 2026

Förderer: European Research Council

 

The meanings of `voting`for ordinary citizens, their causes and consequences (DeVOTE) - ERC Starting Grant

Zeitraum: 2021 - 2025

Förderer: European Research Coucil

 

Die Politik des Ressortzuschnitts in Europa

Zeitraum: 2022 - 2024

Förderer: FWF/DFG

 

Warum dieser Überfluss an Verfassungsrecht in Österreich?

Zeitraum: 2022 - 2025

Förderer: FWF

Past projects

 

 

 

Cooperations

  • AUTHLIB - Neo-Authoritarianisms in Europe and the Liberal Democratic Response