(Post-)Graduate Support at its Best!

Project and Research Questions:

Political representation lies at the heart of contemporary debates on democracy. While many regard it as indispensable to democratic government, its role and scope are contested in different ways: through efforts to complement – or replace – representative institutions with alternative forms of participation, but also through concrete attempts to reshape established norms and practices of representation by strengthening executive power and emphasising strong political leadership. Debates about the relationship between democracy and representation become even more important in times of social and political upheaval, when established understandings and practices of democratic representation face new challenges. Rather than taking the widely discussed “crisis of representation” as its starting point, however, this working group examines the transformations of political representation and their implications for contemporary democracy.

The work of the group is structured around three interconnected perspectives. First, an analytical perspective examines how political representation changes – or fails to change – through developments such as the growing role of digital platforms or the influence of transnational political arenas. Second, a critical perspective revisits the language of the “crisis of representation”, asking whether concepts such as transformation, adaptation, persistence, or reconfiguration provide more accurate frameworks for understanding contemporary developments. Third, a normative perspective explores the conditions under which political representation can remain responsive and transformative: capable of adapting to social change, increasing pluralism, external crises, emergency decision-making, and new forms of participation.

By bringing together early-career researchers from different disciplines, theoretical traditions, and national contexts, the group seeks to promote sustained intellectual exchange and foster new perspectives on one of the central questions of contemporary democratic theory. A core objective is to build an international network of young scholars working on political representation, encouraging long-term academic cooperation, joint research initiatives, co-authored publications, and the development of comparative research agendas. The group also aims to provide a supportive environment in which participants can discuss work in progress, receive constructive feedback, refine theoretical frameworks, and strengthen methodological approaches. Through regular dialogue and collaborative activities, the group aims to generate original research, contribute to international scholarly debates, and create opportunities for future funding applications, conference panels, workshops, and edited publications.

Meetings:

The research group meets as a monthly colloquium during the teaching term (Vorlesungszeit). To encourage the participation of early-career researchers from partner universities abroad, meetings may be held in a hybrid format whenever appropriate; otherwise, sessions take place on the Campus Westend. The colloquium follows a rotating format designed to combine discussion, collaborative research, and mutual feedback. Meetings alternate between moderated roundtables, research workshops, where participants present and discuss work in progress, and reading seminars, devoted to the critical examination of key texts and emerging scholarship.

Contact:

If you are interested in participating or have any questions about the research topics, please contact Giovanni de Ghantuz Cubbe.

Members of the GRADE Initiative:

Emilia Blank – Bergische Universität Wuppertal

Dr. Giovanni de Ghantuz Cubbe – FB 03, Gesellschaftswissenschaften

Anna Geyer – FB 03, Gesellschaftswissenschaften

Alan Marx – FB 03, Gesellschaftswissenschaften

Christopher David Preclik – University of Cambridge

Florian Wezel – FB 03, Gesellschaftswissenschaften