Research Centre for the Study of Democratic Cultures and Politics

Democratic societies around the globe are undergoing vast transformations today. These transformations involve globalization; a transnational flow of goods, people and ideas; an increasing cooptation of daily life with market principles; a profound restructuring of political, social and cultural institutions; and the rise of populism and autocratic leaders.

The Research Centre for the Study of Democratic Cultures and Politics (DemCP) is dedicated to the production of knowledge about these transformations and the contemporary conditions of democratic cultures and politics for academic and public actors. Its interdisciplinary team of researchers from Cultural Studies, Political Science and related fields examines both their deep historical roots and their present shape.

Our mission

The Research Centre for the Study of Democratic Cultures and Politics is rooted in an understanding of democracy as a genuinely transnational, transregional and transhistorical phenomenon. DemCP's mission is to:

• Produce innovative research on democracy and its complex interactions with cultural narratives and political frameworks among RUG faculty as well as (post)graduate students;
• Serve as a forum for vibrant debates on the cultures, literatures, politics, processes and contemporary affairs that exist in democratic societies with the aim of nurturing an exchange of ideas across disciplines, sectors, generations, nations, regions, and among global actors;
• Advance theoretical debates about democratic cultures and societies as well as methodological debates about the future of the humanities, including the future of literary studies, and the social sciences;
• Contribute to developing a historically sound, geopolitically nuanced and critically engaged understanding of democracy and the construction of democratic spaces that engage a wide array of cultural, political, economic, medial, ideological as well as social ramifications, problems, conflicts, contradictions and challengers pertaining to democratic cultures and politics;
• Facilitate the training of new generations of scholars and experts in the cultural, literary, political, institutional, intellectual and social history of democracy in various geographic contexts;
• Attract external funding through international competitive grant instruments;
• Promote top scientific international publications for the production and dissemination of knowledge in academia and society.