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? The Exeter team comprises Dario Castiglione, Lise Herman, Oliver James, Alice Moseley, and Andrew Schaap. Dario and Andy will work on the more theoretical aspects of the project, while Lise, Oliver and Alice will study the role that Citizens’ Assemblies can play in the changing ecology of political representation. The project comprises seven international partners, from Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Norway, Poland, and the UK.
Visions of Representation is a series of interviews recorded by Andrew Schaap with scholars in democratic theory as part of the Horizon-funded Redirect project. In these interviews, world-leading experts in democratic theory discuss their ideas about the shifting dynamics in practices of representation in contemporary political life. The interviews introduce the state of the art of contemporary academic debates about the nature of representation, including diagnoses of the disconnect between representatives and represented in Western democracies and proposals for reconnection through democratic innovations.
- Episode 1. Mihaela Mihai on Representative Claim-Making and Social Ignorance
- Episode 2. Suzanne Dovi on Representation and Political Absence
- Episode 3. Monica Brito Vieira on Representing Silence in Politics
- Episode 4. Anne Phillips on Revisiting the Politics of Presence
- Episode 5. Mark Warren on Incentives for Elected Representatives to Use Democratic Innovations
- Episode 6. Nadia Urbinati on The Need for Social Intermediation
- Episode 7. Simone Chambers on Deliberative Democracy and the Digital Public Sphere
- Episode 8. Michael Saward on Shape-Shifting Representation
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Episode 9. Philippe van Parijs on Public Intellectuals and Representative Democracy
- Episode 10. Alfio Mastropaolo on Representation and the Invention of Modern Politics
Now also on Spotify: Visions of Representation | Podcast on Spotify
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Student Engagement & Deliberation on the University’s Climate and Sustainability Agenda
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Study Workshop: Can public deliberation help address the environmental crisis?
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Public Lecture: When, Where, and Why Might Elected Political Elites Reach for Democratic Innovations?
The Representative Disconnect: How to Study it and How to Fix it
24 February 2026, 9:00-17:30
University of Exeter
The Trouble with Liberal Democracy: The current state of representative democracy and possible alternatives
Presentations by: Ruth Kinna (Loughborough University), Stuart White (University of Oxford), and Clementina Gentile Fusillo (UCL)
Interview with Professor Alfio Mastropaolo
As part of the Horizon-funded REDIRECT project, Andrew Schaap (Exeter) interviews Prof Alfio Mastropaolo (Turin) about the chapter on ‘Representation and the Invention of Modern Politics’ in his recently published book (in Italian): Making War by Other Means: Sociology of Democratic Government (2023).
Interview with Professors Céline Spector (Paris Sorbonne) and Nadia Urbinati (Columbia University, NY)
Find the video of each part of the interview:
On 29 February 2024, The REDIRECT online workshop explored the issue of inclusion/exclusion in representative democracy, in conversation with Professors Suzanne Dovi (University of Arizona) and Petra Meier (University of Antwerp), chaired by Dario Castiglione (Exeter) and Eline Severs (VUB).
The workshop on 9 February focused on "Modern Representative Democracy: Origins, nature, and Principles – State of the Debate". We explored the issue of Modern Representative Democracy from both historical-institutional and philosophical-conceptual perspectives. The conversation was guided by the reflections of Professors Céline Spector (Paris Sorbonne) and Nadia Urbinati (Columbia University, NY), and chaired by Dario Castiglione (Exeter University).
"Disinformation and the Vulnerabilities of Democracies: An Ostromian Perspective"
Seminar by Professor Barbara Allen, Carleton University, Senior Research Fellow at Ostrom Workshop (Indiana University)
"Empirical Dimensions of Political Representation: What we have learned from surveys. What we have neglected."
Seminar by Professor Luca Verzichelli, CIRCaP, University of Siena, Coordinator EU Horizon REDIRECT Project
As part of our REDIRECT research on the state of modern democratic representation, we also looks at its history and development. We have explored authors and ideas in the early modern period at two Exeter workshops organised together with the Centre for Political Thought.
February 2024 Workshop
Representative Democracy: The Early Modern Formative Period
Find the Programme and Summary
November 2025 Workshop
Democratic and Anti-Democratic Discourses
A Conversation with Demin Duan
As part of our REDIRECT research on the state of modern democratic representation, we look at its history and development, but also at ideas of politics, democracy and representation across different political cultures and contexts. In this brief interview with Professor Demin Duan, we look at democracy from both a historical and cross-cultural perspective. Discussing his latest book, Tocqueville between East and West (University of Wales Press, 2025), we ask Professor Demin Duan to talk about representation, liberty and political forms of government in relation to Tocqueville’s work, and also comparatively between East and West.
Professor Demin Duan teaches at the Department of Political Science, School of Government, of Peking University. His research interests are broadly in political theory and the history of political thought. He has written on Montesquieu and Machiavelli. He is also interested in the comparative study of European and Chinese political philosophy.