The National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) Democracy is a multi-disciplinary research program launched by the Swiss National Science Foundation in 2005. The program examines the key challenges to democracy today and traces them to two major trends: globalization and the growing influence of the media on politics.

The NCCR’s basic research questions are: How are established democracies changing under the conditions of globalization and the mediatization of politics? And how can democracy be promoted horizontally (to non-democratic countries) and vertically (to supra-national regimes like the EU, the WTO, etc)? More

4th Aarau Democracy Days on the democratization of the Arab world

On 15-16 March, the Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau (ZDA) organizes the fourth Aarau Democracy Days ("4. Aarauer Demokratietage") at Kultur- and Kongresshaus Aarau. This year's topic is the Arab revolution and its future perspectives.

New NCCR book series devoted to democracy research

In December, Palgrave Macmillan launched a new book series on the challenges to democracy in the 21st century. The series was initiated by NCCR Democracy and publishes latest research on established democracies, democratization processes and democracy in multi-level governance structures.

NCCR Newsletter December 2011

Download the latest NCCR Democracy Newsletter. The focus of this issue is on democracy promotion.

Open position: Post-doctoral research fellow (60%)

The NCCR Democracy barometer is seeking a post-doctoral researcher (60%), starting in March 2012 or later. Deadline for applications: 5 February 2012.