Christopher Wratil

© David Elmes, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

In the project Multidimensional Representation – Enabling An Alternative Research Agenda on the Citizen-Politician Relationship, political scientist Christopher Wratil will investigate previously rarely studied aspects of representation that could provide new explanations for the disappointment that many people feel towards representative democracy. In interviews with citizens, the project aims to initially study the aspects that study participants assess as most important with regard to politicians. Subsequently, the project will develop new approaches to measure the wide range of dimensions of the wishes of citizens with regard to representation and the representation practices of politicians in an automated and quantitative way. To this end, the researchers analyse data from surveys and texts from social media and parliamentary debates.