Global Partnerships
As Centre for Political Thought we are involved in a number of international research networks and global partnerships covering different areas of research in political and philosophical thought. The collaboration involves leading academics and institutions both in Europe and outside, and it is meant to promote multi- and inter-disciplinary research. Many of these partnerships and networks are based on collaboration and joint initiatives with other Centres and academic colleagues at Exeter.
The Representative Disconnect (REDIRECT)
REDIRECT is a four-year research project funded (€3 millions) by the Horizon Programme (and UKRI for the Exeter participation). It aims is to enhance our understanding of the current transformations of representative democracy in Europe at national and supranational level, assessing whether the centre of gravity of democratic representation is shifting away from the traditional forms of political intermediation, such as parties, parliaments, and party-based government, towards other forms of political representation. Its focus is on the representative disconnect, a multidimensional phenomenon of regression of the demos-kratos linkage involving institutional, behavioural and affective components, which risks undermining the trust in and legitimacy of the overall system of democratic representation. The two main questions REDIRECT addresses are: a) what are the nature, scope, aspects and causes of the representative disconnect; and b) how can the current representative disconnect be addressed, ameliorated, and/or rectified? Visit site.
Observatory of Representation
The Inter-University Centre 'Observatory on Representation. International Centre for the study of the State, Citizenship and Democracy' constitutes a research centre on political representation and its place in relation to the state and democratic citizenship. Faced with the current crisis of political representation and the urgency of proposing viable solutions, the Centre's historical and multidisciplinary perspective contributes to highlighting the challenges, stakes and experiments that it imposes, at a time when new forms and practices of political participation and representation are putting parliamentary systems and national borders to the test. The Centre constitutes a moment of in-depth interdisciplinary methodological and research orientation and organisation, involving scholars from other disciplines and acting as a relevant point of reference both inside and outside the academic world, in order to attract expertise, becoming a visible point of aggregation on these issues at national and international level. The Centre comprises four Institutional partners: the Department of Historical Sciences in Turin, the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, the University of Exeter and the University of Naples, Federico II.
The Entanglement of Political Languages
This Network focuses is on the entanglement in both time and space of political languages and philosophical traditions, on how they form historically and interact globally. Besides the members of the Centre, the Network involves colleagues from across the University and scholars from other international institutions in Europe and outside of it, particularly from China. Visit site.
Citizens’ Empowerment
This Network explores questions of citizens empowerment, civic participation and representation. It was started in 2021 by researchers at the University of Exeter, UK, and Fudan University, Shanghai, PRC. The Network spans across Public Administration, Political Theory, Comparative Politics and International Relations. Its empirical focus is primarily on Europe and China. Visit site.
Image copyright: "NYC - East Village: Bowery Mural - Shepard Fairey's May Day" by wallyg.
