Democracies across the world are experiencing profound political, social, and technological transformations that are reshaping the relationship between elections, citizens, and political parties. While elections remain the principal mechanism of democratic representation and accountability, changing patterns of political participation, declining public trust, the rise of populism, digital campaigning, misinformation, and evolving party systems present new opportunities and challenges for democratic governance.
This open panel invites scholars to explore how citizens, political parties, and electoral institutions are adapting to these changing democratic realities. The panel welcomes theoretical, empirical, comparative, and interdisciplinary research that examines electoral behavior, voter participation, party competition, campaign strategies, political communication, democratic representation, electoral integrity, and the impact of digital technologies and artificial intelligence on elections.
The panel also encourages contributions on youth political engagement, gender and elections, minority representation, electoral reforms, political polarization, democratic resilience, social media, and the changing nature of political parties in both established and emerging democracies. Papers focusing on regional, national, or cross-national case studies are equally welcome.
By bringing together diverse perspectives from different political systems and methodological approaches, this panel aims to foster critical discussions on the future of electoral democracy and the evolving role of citizens and political parties in sustaining democratic institutions. The panel seeks to advance comparative understanding of contemporary electoral politics and encourage dialogue on innovative approaches to strengthening democratic participation, representation, and accountability in an era of rapid political and technological change.