🫶 Wishing everyone restful holidays and a happy start into the new year! We look back on many inspiring moments in 2025, and forward to many more interesting discussions and projects in 2026 ✨🎄

🚀 How do citizens imagine their future democracy – on Mars and on Earth? Using large survey experiments in the US and Germany, we explore how people envision democratic governance with and without path dependencies 🪐 Read the preprint here ➡️ osf.io/preprints/so...

Today, we welcomed @dennisfriess.bsky.social from the Düsseldorf Institute for Internet and Democracy to share insights from his research on scientific, user-based and ethical considerations of the role of AI in deliberation to improve online discourse.

We were happy to welcome @lalamur.bsky.social who gave a brilliant talk on the impact of political talk about feminism when dating 💘 Future research projects and collaborations were also discussed 🤝 - stay tuned! 🤩

Thank you, Stuttgart, for such a wonderful time! Special thanks to DDME team @demolabs.bsky.social with @franziskamaier.bsky.social @seraphinearnold.bsky.social & André Bächtiger! 💜

Yesterday, the DDME Team held a workshop as part of the Freedom Week in Berlin, where participants got to design democracy on Mars! 🚀 💡 It was an inspiring experience to turn survey research into practice and watch participants discuss the pros and cons of involving different actors in the process.

Ep. 9 out now! 🚀 Keith speaks with Prof. André Bächtiger of (@Uni_Stuttgart) about reimaging democracy from scratch on #Mars and if it would impact democratic systems on Earth! 🎧 Tune in now! #democracydifferently

❓Are cosmopolitans participatory, technocratic or representative democrats? Despite their active role in society, few analyze cosmopolitans' governance preferences. My preprint uses cosmopolitanism as a multidimensional concept to investigate this question 🤔👇 Any feedback is welcome!

Last week, @franziskamaier.bsky.social @anjarieker.bsky.social @vanessaschwaiger.bsky.social presented work on governance preferences, social divides, and methods of assessing citizen preferences at the EPSA (now @epssnet.bsky.social) in Madrid☀️ Thanks for great feedback and conversations! ✨

In unserem Beitrag über #Bürgerwünsche zur Reform der #Parteiendemokratie in der neuesten #APuZ zeigen wir das Potenzial von #Mischsystemen aus direktdemokratischen, expertokratischen und repräsentativen Elementen für die #Demokratie. 👇 🔎🗳️ www.bpb.de/shop/zeitsch...

Our @demolabs.bsky.social crew is on the way to Madrid for #EPSA - looking forward ☀️📚🚀 @anjarieker.bsky.social @vanessaschwaiger.bsky.social

Hot off the press! 🔥 Building on #feminist care ethics, Markus Holdo makes a case for ‘caring for democracy’ as a distinct #democratic practice OPEN ACCESS: delibdemjournal.org/article/id/1...

Publication Alert! 🚨 Our latest research by @franziskamaier.bsky.social and Francesco Veri explores migration attitudes among the radical right 🇮🇹. We find that while media exposure does not alter core extremist beliefs, it triggers emotional responses that ultimately shape political behavior. 🔍📖

Today we had a joint meeting with our group and @demolabs.bsky.social to talk about current projects! We never thought about democracy on Mars - Thanks for the visit!

The German election campaign has been dominated by migration. How might it affect pol behavior? Francesco Veri and I show that negative news coverage on migration triggers willingness for hostile political action. Read more in our Political Psychology article now published here (open access!) 👇

Yesterday, the wonderful Lea Kaftan @dielea.bsky.social shared her valuable insights on how authoritarianism and populism shape citizens' support for democracy and are linked to vote choice 🗳️🔍

We wish everyone restful and happy holidays! We will start the into the new year with some exciting new data to anaylze: We closed surveys on citizens' governance models on Mars and Earth 🪐 🚀 , preferences for global democracy 🌎 , and attitudes on federalism and regional identities 💭 .

In 2024 around University of Stuttgart: 🎖️ Franziska Maier won the University’s publication prize for work on non-citizen voting rights, 👨‍🏫 André Bächtiger gave a keynote on “Freedom and Democracy” at the University’s annual celebration, and we hosted 🤝 Michael Blume, commissioner on antisemtism.

In 2024, we connected with decision-makers: André Bächtiger and @seraphinearnold.bsky.social spoke to the EU Committee of the Regions in Brussels, we participated in the Deutschlandmonitor event on social cohesion at the Federal Chancellery, and visited the Federal Parliament of Baden-Württemberg.

Look back at 2024 with us💁: Our team travelled to several conferences (like the Deliberative Democracy Summer School in Canberra, ECPR Joint Sessions, EPSA), and workshops (on methods, and democratic preferences). @vanessaschwaiger.bsky.social @seraphinearnold.bsky.social @anjarieker.bsky.social

Hello! 🦋👋We are the democracy research unit at the University of Stuttgart. Follow us for insights into our research on democratic preferences, democratic reform, and the future of democracy. 👇📚☕