Research papers
The following are drafts of current research work in progress prior to publication as either book chapters or journal articles.
Closed minds? Is a ‘cancel culture’ stifling academic freedom and intellectual debate in political science?
Pippa Norris
Synopsis: Recent years have seen extensive debate in popular commentary about a pervasive ‘cancel culture’ thought to be taking over college campuses. A progressive orthodoxy, it is argued, has silenced conservative voices and diverse perspectives. This development, it is claimed, has ostracized contrarians, limited academic freedom, strengthened conformism, and eviscerated robust intellectual debate. But does systematic empirical evidence support these claims? After reviewing the arguments, Part II of this study outline several propositions arising from the cancel culture thesis and describes the sources of empirical survey evidence and measures used to test these claims within the discipline of political science. Data is derived from a new global survey, the World of Political Science, 2019, with 2,446 responses collected from scholars studying or working in 102 countries. Part III presents the results. Part IV summarizes the key findings and considers their broader implications. Overall the study confirms the significant impact of Left-Right ideology on reported experience of the cancel culture in political science – but important contrasts were found in post-industrial and developing societies.
Keywords: academic freedom, sociology of education, cancel culture
Uploaded 5 Aug 2020
Gender gaps in political science research productivity
Pippa Norris
Abstract: What explains the persistence of gender gaps in research productivity? To consider this issue, Part I describes the core concept and its operationalization through the h-index, combining publication and citation rates. Several potential explanations for gender gaps in the index are considered, including social background, working conditions, and professional characteristics. Part II describes the evidence used for considering these issues within the discipline of political science. In Spring 2019, the ECPR-IPSA World of Political Science (WPS) survey gathered information from 2,446 political scientists in 102 countries around the globe. Part III presents the results of the analysis. The conclusion in Part IV summarizes the key findings and their broader implications. In general, the evidence confirms the gender gap in productivity, but finds that this becomes insignificant once controls are introduced for career longevity and academic rank.
Keywords: gender equality, h-index, bibliometrics, research performance, political science
Uploaded: 21 May 2020
Are there shared values and identities in the EU and how do we measure them?
Pippa Norris
Abstract: Through endorsing the Lisbon Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, member states committed themselves to protecting and strengthening the constitutional principles of human rights, freedom, democracy, equality, and rule of law. During the decade since then, however, serious challenges to these core values have arisen in Europe and around the world from the steady erosion of liberal democracy, and the rising forces of nationalism, nativism, and authoritarian populism. EU enlargement to Eastern and Central states, with long experience of authoritarian regimes, also generates challenges of integration. This raises two questions: Today, is there widespread agreement among ordinary citizens in Eastern and Western Europe about core Lisbon values? And has there been growing convergence or divergence in these orientations among EU member states over time? These issues are important to understand since support for European integration, and feelings of European identity among ordinary citizens, are likely to be strengthened by shared cultural values. By contrast, lack of consensus raises doubts about the legitimacy of EU institutions and processes of governance. To explore these issues, Part I of this chapter sets out the theoretical argument. Part II describes the conceptual framework and compares measures. Part III compares empirical data to explore whether there is evidence of a shared consensus today over Lisbon values among Eastern and Western European member states, and convergence or divergence over time. The conclusion in Part IV summarizes the key findings and their implications.
Uploaded: 12 March 2020
Measuring Populism Worldwide
Pippa Norris
Abstract: Populism studies have rapidly burgeoned but nevertheless systematic cross-national evidence about this phenomenon has lagged far behind. How can populism be measured in ways which are consistent, valid, and reliable? To address this issue, Part I outlines the minimalist concept of populism used in the study. Part II summarizes the pros and cons of previous attempts at gauging and classifying party ideological values and issue positions in general, as well as recent studies seeking to classify populists as a distinct party family. Part III describes the research design employed to construct the Global Party Survey, replicating the methods of previous expert surveys but expanding coverage worldwide and including innovative measures of populist rhetoric. The new dataset, drawing upon estimates from 1,861 experts, covers 1,043 political parties in 163 countries around the globe (see www.GlobalPartySurvey.org). Part IV presents key results and a series of robustness tests confirming that the new estimates of ideological values and populist parties are consistently correlated with previous measures. The conclusion in Part V summarizes the results and considers the potential uses of the dataset for understanding populism as a global phenomenon.
HKS Research Paper Series RWP20-002, February 2020. (Preprint in Party Politics)
What maximizes research productivity and impact in political science?
Pippa Norris
Abstract: What contributes towards research excellence in political science? To consider this issue, Part I describes the core concepts of academic productivity and impact and their operationalization, using the h-index. The study theorizes that variations in this measure may plausibly be influenced by personal characteristics (like gender, career longevity, and formal qualifications), working conditions (academic rank, type of department, and job security), as well as subjective role perceptions (exemplified by the perceived importance of scholarly research or teaching). Part II sets out the new evidence used for exploring these issues, drawing upon the ECPR-IPSA World of Political Science survey. This study gathered information from 2,446 political scientists in 102 countries around the globe. Part III presents the distribution and analysis of the results, as well as several robustness tests. Part IV summarizes the key findings and considers their broader implications. In general, several personal characteristics and structural working conditions prove significant predictors of h-index scores, whereas motivational goals and role perceptions add little, if anything, to the models. The gender gap also becomes insignificant once controls are introduced for career longevity and formal qualifications.
Uploaded: 22 April 2020
Rusty Guillotines: Electoral integrity and government corruption
Pippa Norris
Abstract: Theories of retrospective voting regard elections as the primary vertical channels of accountability connecting legislators and governing parties directly to the concerns of ordinary voters, including about malfeasance and corruption. Contrary to predictions, however, many previous studies of the empirical evidence have concluded that, despite involvement in corruption scandals, in practice few politicians or governing parties subsequently experience a substantial electoral penalty. This paper theorizes that one reason concerns the role of electoral integrity. If elections are not free and fair, they provide few real opportunities for voters to throw the rascals out. Moreover, electoral integrity can be expected to work most effectively in conjunction with both independent media (for information) and legal accountability (for compliance). To develop this argument, Part I outlines the conceptual framework and alternative theories seeking to explain why voters don’t appear to ‘throw the rascals out’, as expected. Part II examines macro-level empirical evidence from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project to test the impact of electoral integrity, media independence, and legal compliance on government corruption. The conclusion in Part III summarizes the key findings and considers their implications.
Uploaded: April 2020
The World of Political Science: Internationalization and its Consequences
Pippa Norris
Abstract: What have been the consequences of internationalization for political science as a profession? To consider this issue, Part I describes three mega-trends focusing upon (i) transnational academic mobility, (ii) the role of new communication and information technologies, and (iii) global competition in academic labor markets. Part II describes the evidence used to examine these propositions, presenting the first results of new survey data from the ECPR-IPSA World of Political Science survey (WPS-2019). Part III uses the cross-national data descriptively to compare regional political science communities in their social background and career profiles, role perceptions, methodological techniques, and subfields of expertise. Part IV provides insights into the longer-term evolution of the profession over time. The conclusion in part VI summarizes the key findings and considers their implications for understanding the current state and future trajectory of political science.
Draft chapter 3 for ECPR@50 Eds. Thibaud Boncourt, Isabelle Engeli, Diego Garzia, workshop European University Institute, Fiesole, Italy. 3 June 2019.
Migrant Hygge: Feeling at Home in a Cold Climate
Pippa Norris and Bi Puranen
Abstract: When migrants move from the global South to the Nordic north, what resources facilitate integration into their new host country? This is a critical issue both theoretically, for understanding rapid processes of social and cultural change, and also for policymakers seeking to integrate international migrants into Western societies. Part I in this study discusses the theoretical arguments and previous findings in the research literature. For evidence, most work has analysed objective indices, like migrant integration into the labor market. By contrast, we focus on the subjective perceptions of migrants from many developing societies who come to live in Sweden. We seek to understand the conditions under which international migrants say that they feel at home, that they express Swedish identity, and that they feel pride in Sweden - treated in this study as our core measures of subjective integration. Drawing upon forms of capital theories, we expect rates of subjective integration to vary due to migrants’ reservoirs of human, economic, and social capital. To explore patterns, Part II describes the evidence derived from a unique survey dataset of 6,516 migrants who moved to Sweden from 2008-2018 from countries such as Iraq, Syria, Eritrea, Afghanistan, and Somalia. The study is part of the 7th wave of the World Values Survey. Part III describes the results of the analysis. Part IV summarizes the key findings and considers their broader implications.
Paper for Presentation at the World Association of Public Opinion Researcher (WAPOR), Toronto May 19-20 May 2019.
Uploaded: 6 June 2019
In praise of scepticism: Trust but verify
Pippa Norris, Will Jennings and Gerry Stoker
Abstract: Trust is widely valued -- but is healthy skepticism preferable? To understand this issue, Part I of this paper starts by reviewing the previous literature. Part II describes our theoretical and conceptual framework. We outline a new typology of citizens and theorize that skepticism will be closely associated at individual level with cognitive skills and information, derived from formal education, interest, and media use, and at national level by freedom of expression in open societies. Part III summarizes the research design and individual-level data, drawn from first release of the European Values Survey/World Values Survey Wave 7 (EVS/WVS) conducted in 2018-19. The broadest evidence of interpersonal trust and institutional confidence from this dataset currently facilitates comparison of 41 diverse societies included in both surveys. In addition, trust in global governance can be compared in a smaller subset of 26 countries in the 7th wave WVS. To classify citizens, we use a four-fold typology based on the levels and consistency of trust judgments. The study tests how far cognitive skills and open societies predict the location of citizens in our typology. Part V concludes by summarizing the main findings and the next steps in the broader research agenda.
Uploaded June 2019. Paper for the World Association of Public Opinion Researcher (WAPOR), Toronto May 19-20 May 2019.
Understanding Brexit: Cultural resentments versus economic grievances.
Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart
Abstract: This study considers the evidence for ‘demand-side’ theories seeking to explain the outcome of the Brexit referendum and subsequent divisions in UK politics. Economic theories suggest that the Leave decision was driven mainly by the ‘left-behinds’ in jobs or wages, such as those living in struggling communities in the North of England, the Midlands, and Wales. By contrast cultural accounts emphasize political attitudes and values, including long-term British suspicion about the European Union project, public disgust with the political class at Westminster, anxiety about the effects of the refugee crisis and migration from other EU countries, and opposition to the government’s austerity cuts. These theories can also be regarded as complimentary rather than rivals, for example if economic deprivation catalyzed resentment about immigrants and the rejection of open borders.
To examine these issues, Part I sets out the electoral context and historical background in the run up to Brexit – and its implications for party competition in the UK. Drawing upon a larger book-length study, Part II sets out the arguments based on economic and cultural theories about the British electorate. Part III describes the evidence from the British Election Study panel surveys, which allows us to examine the factors dividing supporters in the Leave and Remain camps in the 2016 Brexit referendum, as well as those predicting support for UKIP from 2015-17. Part IV examines the impact of demographic control factors like age and sex, indicators of economic grievances, and the cultural profile of voters in their authoritarian and populist values, as well as their attitudes towards the Europe Union, immigration, and left-right ideology. The conclusion in Part V considers developments since Brexit and their implications for the future of populism in the UK. The main advocate of Brexit, UKIP, succeeded in attaining this goal, but then failed to achieve a decisive break through as a parliamentary party. Yet authoritarian-populism remains alive and well in post-Brexit Britain, absorbed into the bloodstream of the body politic, disrupting and dividing both major parties.
Uploaded: 1 August 2018.
Paper for presentation at the Panel on ‘Populism in Advanced Capitalist Democracies’, Thursday 30 August 4.00-5.30pm at the American Political Science Association’s annual convention, Boston.
Do public perceptions of electoral malpractice undermine democratic satisfaction? The U.S. in comparative perspective
Pippa Norris
Abstract: Doubts about the legitimacy of the 2016 U.S. elections continue to reverberate and deepen partisan mistrust in America. The perfect storm followed Republican allegations of fake news and massive voter fraud, Democratic complaints of voter suppression and gerrymandering, discontent with the way that the Electoral College anointed the presidential candidate who lost the popular vote, compounded by Comey’s interventions and intelligence reports of Russian meddling.
These issues raise the broader question: how serious do any perceived electoral flaws usually have to be to raise doubts not just about the process and results – or even the legitimacy of the declared winner - but about democracy itself? Do ordinary people actually care most about the quality of their elections (input legitimacy) or are they more concerned with the pocket-book economy of jobs, growth, and taxes (output legitimacy) and/or are attitudes shaped by partisan cues (the winners-losers thesis)? And how do attitudes vary among electoral winners and losers?
To understand these issues, Part I outlines the theoretical and conceptual framework. Part II describes the evidence used to investigate these issues drawing upon cross-national data from the World Values Survey 6th wave in 42 diverse societies and from the 7th wave U.S. survey, as well as expert indices measuring the quality of elections. Part III establishes the key cross-national findings. Part IV presents the US results. Part V summarizes the key findings and overall implications, demonstrating that doubts about electoral integrity undermine general satisfaction with how democracy works.
Paper for the panel on ‘Election dynamics in the developing world’ at the American Political Science Association annual convention, Boston, 4.00-5.30pm on Saturday 1 September 2018.
Previously presented in panel GS05.04 on ‘Elections and Democratic Attitudes’ at the International Political Science Association World Congress, Brisbane, 15.30-17.15 on Thursday 23 July 2018.
Date uploaded: 13 July 2018
Roswell, Grassy Knolls, and Voter Fraud: Explaining erroneous perceptions of electoral malpractices
Pippa Norris, Holly Ann Garnett, and Max Grömping
Abstract: Why do many Americans believe that millions of fraudulent votes were cast when independent evidence refutes this claim? This study seeks to explain the reasons behind errors in public evaluations about electoral malpractices. Part I considers long-standing debates about the rational public and reviews evidence from several polls demonstrating the extent of perceptual flaws in American beliefs about electoral fraud. Part II outlines the theoretical framework to explain this phenomenon. We propose that erroneous beliefs could potentially arise from citizen’s cognitive skills, partisan and media cues, and psychological predispositions. Part III describes the research design. Errors in perceptions of fair vote counts are estimated as the difference between public assessments of malpractices (measured at individual-level within states in the 2016 American National Election Study) and independent evaluations from experts (derived by the 2016 U.S. Perceptions of Electoral Integrity study in U.S. states). Part IV presents the results of the analysis. The conclusion in Part V summarizes the key findings and considers their implications.
Paper for presentation at the Electoral Integrity Project Workshop “Protecting electoral security & voting rights: The 2016 U.S. elections in comparative perspective” 30th August 2017, Westin St Francis Hotel, San Francisco.
Date uploaded: 18 Aug 2017
Cultural backlash: Values and voting for populist authoritarian parties in Europe
Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart
Abstract: Rising voting support for parties blending populist and authoritarian appeals has disrupted mainstream party competition in many European societies – and had major consequences worldwide. What explains this phenomenon? We theorize that an important part of any explanation lies in perceived cultural threats, where rapid and profound value change in post-industrial societies during recent decades have affected core feelings of social identity, wrapped around values of family, faith and nation. These developments have generated a ‘cultural backlash’ activating authoritarian values and voting support for populist parties with authoritarian policy positions, especially among older and non-college educated citizens.
To consider these issues, Part I develops the conceptual and theoretical framework. Part II estimates the ideological position of all European political parties on Authoritarian and Populist indexes, from expert CHES data. We also operationalize and measures Authoritarian and Populist values in the mass electorate, from the pooled European Social Survey 2002-2014. Part III uses multilevel models to examine the links between values and votes. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and considers their implications.
Keywords: populist parties and leaders, authoritarianism, radical right, elections, democracy, cultural value change, economic insecurity
Paper presented at the panel on “The Roots of the New Populism” Friday, September 1, 4:00 to 5:30pm, Hilton Union Square, Nob Hill 10, the American Political Science Association annual meeting, San Francisco.
Uploaded: 2 Sept 2017
