03Nov 2026

Webinar: Mass Attitudes in an Era of Democratic Backsliding

12:00 - By Glen Ng

IPSA RC17 (Comparative Public Opinion) invites you to a two-part webinar on public opinion and democratic backsliding. Four papers selected from our call for papers examine tolerance of backsliding in Nigeria, elite cues and foreign policy attitudes in Western Europe, digital inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa, and where Americans draw the boundaries of democracy.

Session 1: Wednesday, November 11, 12:00-13:30 UTC

Who Tolerates Democratic Backsliding? Gender, Democratic Dissatisfaction, and Political Attitudes in Nigeria
Peret Gunat Goar (Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria)
Discussant: Ng Ka Lun (National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan)
Partisan Realignment and Foreign Policy Attitudes: Elite Cueing and Government Transitions in Western Europe
Claudio Cozzi Fucile (University of Siena, Italy)
Discussant: Huang Min-hua (National Taiwan University, Taiwan)
12:00 UTC is 06:00 in Mexico City, 07:00 in New York, 09:00 in São Paulo, 12:00 in London and Accra, 13:00 in Berlin and Lagos, 14:00 in Johannesburg, 17:30 in New Delhi, 20:00 in Singapore and Taipei, 21:00 in Seoul and Tokyo, and 23:00 in Sydney.

Session 2: Monday, November 23, 13:30-15:00 UTC

Digital Inequalities and the Politics of Mobilisation and Trust in Sub-Saharan Africa
Evans Awuni (University of Erfurt, Germany)
Discussant: Huang Min-hua (National Taiwan University, Taiwan)
When the Gray Area Matters: Democratic Norm Prioritization and the Activation of Democratic Evaluations
Seongjoon Ahn (University of Iowa, USA)
Discussant: Noam Lupu (Vanderbilt University, USA)
13:30 UTC is 07:30 in Mexico City, 08:30 in New York, 10:30 in São Paulo, 13:30 in London and Accra, 14:30 in Berlin and Lagos, 15:30 in Johannesburg, 19:00 in New Delhi, 21:30 in Singapore and Taipei, 22:30 in Seoul and Tokyo, and 00:30 (November 24) in Sydney.

Format

Each paper has a 20-minute presentation followed by 10 minutes of comments from the discussant. Each session closes with 30 minutes of open discussion. Both sessions take place on Google Meet.

Registration

The webinar is open to all. Please register through our Google Form; you can sign up for one or both sessions. We will email the meeting link to registered participants before each session.
The sessions will be recorded, and recordings may be published online.

Email us for any questions at: rc17.ipsa@gmail.com

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19Aug 2026

Call for Papers: Online Webinar on Mass Attitudes in an Era of Democratic Backsliding

18:32 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

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Call for Papers: Webinar on Mass Attitudes in an Era of Democratic Backsliding

Tentative date: a weekday in mid-November 2026, 12:00 - 15:00 UTC

The exact date and time will be finalized in consultation with accepted authors.

IPSA RC17 (Comparative Public Opinion) invites paper proposals for a webinar on public opinion and democratic backsliding.

Research on the demand side of democratic backsliding is growing quickly, and the open questions are moving with it. Do citizens recognize backsliding as it happens, or only in retrospect? Does stated support for democracy predict anything about political behavior? What happens to public opinion after backsliding stops, during attempted restoration? And how far does the measured global decline depend on judgments that are themselves contested?

This literature remains concentrated on a small set of high-profile cases. We are particularly keen to receive work on democracies outside the United States and Western Europe, including incumbent-led erosion in countries that attract little scholarly attention, and we intend the panel to be comparative in composition as well as in method.

We welcome papers on topics including, but not limited to:

  • Citizen detection of, and tolerance for, democratic violations, and the gap between stated democratic commitments and political behavior

  • Partisanship, polarization, and trade-offs between democratic principles and partisan or policy gains

  • Public opinion during democratic restoration, recovery, and resilience

  • Elite cues, media systems, and information environments, including AI-generated content

  • Measuring support for democracy: conceptualization, cross-national comparability, and survey evidence bearing on contested accounts of global decline

Both completed papers and work in progress are welcome. We aim to select 2 to 4 papers to allow substantial discussion, and an RC17 board member will serve as discussant.

Format

Each paper receives a full hour: a 20-minute presentation, 10 minutes of discussant comments, and 30 minutes of open discussion. If we accept four papers, we may split the webinar across two sessions on separate dates to keep each session manageable across time zones.

For reference, 12:00 UTC in mid-November corresponds to 06:00 in Mexico City, 07:00 in New York, 09:00 in São Paulo and Santiago, 12:00 in London and Accra, 13:00 in Berlin and Lagos, 14:00 in Johannesburg, 17:30 in New Delhi, 20:00 in Singapore and Taipei, 21:00 in Seoul and Tokyo, and 23:00 in Sydney.

How to submit

Please provide your paper title and abstract (max. 250 words), author names, affiliations, and contact details; whether the paper is completed or in progress; and your IPSA membership status or affiliated national/regional association. Submit through our Google Form.

Proposal deadline: 30 September 2026

Notification of acceptance: 15 October 2026

Accepted authors should circulate a draft paper to participants at least one week before the webinar.

Eligibility

Open to all researchers. Priority will be given to IPSA members and members of IPSA-affiliated national and regional political science associations. Early-career researchers are especially encouraged to apply.

Email us for any questions at: rc17.ipsa@gmail.com

16Jul 2025

IPSA 28th World Congress of Political Science (2025)

00:00 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

The 28th IPSA World Congress of Political Science was held at the Coex Convention Center in Seoul, South Korea, July 12–16, 2025, under the theme "Resisting Autocratization in Polarized Societies." The congress set a new attendance record in IPSA's 76-year history, with 3,450 participants from 95 countries presenting 3,059 papers across 776 panels. RC17 (Comparative Public Opinion) organized 11 panels. In addition, RC17 held its business meeting during the congress, at which officer elections were conducted for the vice-chair, secretary, and committee member positions.

22Jan 2025

GBS Columbia University Public Panel (2025)

00:00 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

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The Global Barometer Surveys (GBS) convened a two-day business meeting in New York on January 21–22, 2025. Representatives from the five constituent regional barometer projects reviewed GBS progress, discussed the US-China perceptions module, refined questionnaire modules on populism and social media, and planned the release timeline for Wave 5 data collection. On January 23, Columbia University's Weatherhead East Asian Institute hosted a public panel, "Global Perspectives on Democracy: Insights from Four Regional Barometer Surveys." Moderated by Professor Andrew Nathan (Columbia University), the panel featured Boniface Dulani (Afrobarometer) on the future of African democracy, Min-hua Huang (Asian Barometer) on perceptions of US-China competition in East Asia, and Marta Lagos (Latinobarómetro) on the resilience of democracy in Latin America.

27Oct 2024

IPSA RC13 & RC17 Joint International Conference: "New Trends in the Study of Democracy and Autocracy" (2024)

00:00 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

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IPSA RC13 (Democratization in Comparative Perspective) and RC17 (Comparative Public Opinion) held a joint international conference at the College of Social Science, National Taiwan University, on October 27, 2024, within the framework of the Chinese Association of Political Science–Taipei (CAPS) Annual Congress. Co-chaired by RC13 Chair Adam Szymański (University of Warsaw) and RC17 Chair Min-hua Huang (National Taiwan University), the conference explored three main themes: artificial intelligence and its impact on democracy and public opinion research; US-China power dynamics and their effect on global democratization; and challenges in measuring democratic backsliding. A featured panel, "New Trends in Democratization and Autocratization: Global Perspectives," brought together scholars from Latinobarómetro (Marta Lagos), Afrobarometer (Boniface Dulani), and Arab Barometer (Maryclare Roche). A GBS business meeting was also held alongside the conference.

31Jul 2024

RC17 Chair appointed WAPOR Taiwan representative

00:00 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

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The WAPOR 77th Annual Conference and the WAPOR Asia Pacific 7th Annual Conference were held jointly in Seoul, South Korea, July 28–31, 2024, under the theme "The Soul of Public Opinion Research: Liberty, Quality, and Humanity." The conference was hosted by Sungkyunkwan University's Survey Research Center and co-organized with Seoul National University's Institute of Social Development and Policy Research, the Korean Sociological Association, and other partners. Conference leadership included Conference Chair Professor Wolfgang Aschauer (University of Salzburg), Local Conference Chair Professor Jibum Kim (Sungkyunkwan University), and Asia Pacific Conference Chair Professor Seokho Kim (Seoul National University). RC17 members organized two panel sessions presenting comparative survey research findings. RC17 Chair Min-hua Huang was also invited to serve as WAPOR's Taiwan representative.

05Dec 2023

WAPOR Asia Pacific 6th Annual Conference (2023)

00:00 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

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RC17 members participated in the 6th WAPOR Asia Pacific Annual Conference, held at the Australian National University in Canberra, December 2–5, 2023. The conference theme was "Public Opinion Research and the Social, Political, Security & Technology Challenges Facing the Asia and Pacific Region," hosted by ANU's Centre for Social Research and Methods. RC17 Chair Min-hua Huang delivered a featured presentation on longitudinal survey findings from China and Myanmar, and multiple RC17 members presented research papers drawing on comparative survey data from the Asian Barometer and Global Barometer Surveys.

19Jul 2023

RC17 Chair Elected at IPSA 27th World Congress (2023)

00:00 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

At the 27th World Congress of Political Science, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 15–19, 2023, under the theme "Politics in the Age of Transnational Crises: Vulnerability and Resilience," the congress drew 2,995 participants from 98 countries, who presented 2,556 papers across 647 panels — the largest program in IPSA's history at that time. RC17 was responsible for 16 panels, including 2 virtual panels.

Professor Min-hua Huang (National Taiwan University) was elected Chair of IPSA RC17 (Comparative Public Opinion) for the 2023–2027 term. Professor Huang, who also serves as Principal Investigator of the Asian Barometer Survey and Co-Director of Global Barometer Surveys, aims to strengthen RC17's role as a hub for integrating information exchange among major comparative survey programs, including GBS, World Values Survey, ISSP, CSES, CNEP, and WAPOR. A GBS business meeting was also held alongside the congress to finalize the new questionnaire and plan future activities and publications.

 

15Jun 2023

ABS & GBS International Conference and Planning Meetings (2023)

00:00 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

A week-long series of meetings and a public conference were held in Taipei, June 11–15, 2023 — the first major in-person gathering of the Global Barometer Surveys and Asian Barometer Survey networks since the COVID-19 pandemic. On June 11–12, a GBS working meeting brought together the principal directors of the five regional barometer projects — Afrobarometer, Arab Barometer, Asian Barometer, Eurasia Barometer, and Latinobarómetro — to discuss leadership transitions, budget matters, GBS governance, and the development of new core modules for the next survey wave (including questions on social media, populism, and authoritarianism). On June 13, a public international conference, "The State of Democracy in the Post-Pandemic Era," was held at National Taiwan University's Liang Guo-shu International Conference Hall. Professor Larry Diamond (Stanford University) delivered a keynote address titled "Is the World Still in a Democratic Recession?" followed by a roundtable with Professor Andrew J. Nathan (Columbia University) and regional barometer leaders. On June 14–15, the Asian Barometer Survey convened its planning meeting, reuniting all 16 country team coordinators for the first time in three years to review Wave 6 results, discuss methodological innovations, and plan for Wave 7.

16Jun 2022

WAPOR-GBS-EAB Webinar: Eurasia Barometer 2021 Results (2022)

00:00 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

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On June 16, 2022, the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR), Global Barometer Surveys (GBS), and the Eurasia Barometer jointly organized an online webinar presenting the results of the Eurasia Barometer 2021 survey. The webinar, titled "Comparative Study on Social and Political Attitudes in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine," featured presentations by Christian Haerpfer on political attitudes and behaviour in post-Soviet Eurasia, Kseniya Kizilova on perceptions of autocracy and pandemic experiences, Botagoz Rakisheva on internet and social networks in Kazakhstan, Heghine Manasyan on public perceptions of democracy in Armenia, and Koka Kapanadze on social and political attitudes in Georgia. Yun-han Chu (GBS Director) and Kseniya Kizilova (WAPOR Liaison Committee Chair) served as moderators. The event had been postponed by one year due to the pandemic.

04Jun 2020

RC17 Members participate in the Global Barometer Survey Online Meeting (2020)

00:00 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

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A Global Barometer Survey (GBS) Group Meeting was held online at June 4, 2020. The meeting discussed three main topics:1. The challenges and opportunities of Covid-19,2. Developing a GBS module on assessing the impact of Covid-19, and 3. Developing new survey strategies (sampling frame and modes of interview) to overcome lockdown and social distancing.

24Apr 2019

RC17 Chair Speaks in the Panel Discussion on “Is Democracy in Crisis?” at the Asan Plenum (2019)

00:00 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

Professor Yun-han Chu, Principal Director of the Asian Barometer Survey and Chair of RC17 participated in a panel discussion on the topic “Is Democracy in Crisis?” in Seoul on April 24 as part of the Asan Plenum 2019. The panel discussed the state of democracy around the globe in the face of the emergence of authoritarian strongmen in countries such as Turkey, Russia, and the Philippines, as well as the rise of populism in mature democracies, exemplified by the Brexit vote and Trump’s election in 2016. In his opening remarks, Professor Chu mentioned that Larry Diamond’s warning in 2007 that the world is now entering a global “democratic recession” has been proven true. Panelists engaged in a wide ranging discussion of causes of the current democratic malaise and potential ways out of it. The full panel discussion can be viewed here.

21Jan 2019

Members of RC17 join the Global Barometer Survey (GBS) Group Meeting (2019)

00:00 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

A Global Barometer Survey (GBS) Group Meeting was held in Bangalore between January 19-21, 2019. The meeting finalized the common questionnaire for Wave 3 of the GBS and discussed progress on Wave 3 of the South Asian Barometer Survey.  Participants also discussed plans for a new report highlighting the main findings of the GBS.

06Feb 2018

RC17 Members join the GBS Conference In United Arab Emirates University On Feb 4-6, 2018

00:00 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

GBS Conference on “Popular Evaluation of Well-Being in the Arab World, East Asia, South East Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America” was held in United Arab Emirates University on Feb 4-6, 2018. The conference was co-organized by Center for East Asia Democratic Studies, NTU and United Arab Emirates University.

03Mar 2017

RC17 Board Members participate in the Global Barometer Surveys Workshop Held At Bangalore in India, March 2-3, 2017

00:00 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

A Global Barometer Surveys workshop was held at Bangalore in India between March 2 and March 3, 2017. At this conference, scholars shared and discussed the overview of the State of Democracy in South Asia Barometer report, political performance, and further discussed the Global Barometer Survey Publication Book Project.

31Dec 2016

RC17 Comparative Public Opinion continues the Global Barometer Series (2016)

23:59 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

In 2016-2017, RC 17 on Comparative Public Opinion continues its activities on organization and promotion of world’s largest social survey programs, including planning of the next wave of the Global Barometer Surveys with Asian Barometer, Arab Barometer, Afro Barometer, Eurasia Barometer and Latino Barometer as well as the World Values Survey wave 7 to be completed in 2017-2018. Survey findings of both survey projects are widely used in scholar papers and presentations (at the IPSA World Congress in Poznan RC17 has organized 12 thematic panels) as well as in series of publications. Among them, The Global Barometers Series published by the Lynne Rienner Publishers. The series includes already three collective monographs: “Party Politics in East Asia: Citizens, Elections, and Democratic Development” (Russell J. Dalton, Doh Chull Shin, and Yun-han Chu, editors, 2008); “Voting and Democratic Citizenship in Africa” (Michael Bratton, editor, 2013); “Growing Up Democratic: Does It Make a Difference?” (David Denemark, Robert Mattes, and Richard G. Niemi, editors, 2016). The next, forth volume which will enrich the series in 2018-2020 is a collective monograph on “People and Democracy in the Developing World: Citizenship in the Early 21st Century” which is devoted to development of democracy, political institutions and transformations of the concept of citizenship. The plan and outline of the new book have been elaborated and approved at the RC17 meeting which took place on September, 27-28, 2018 at Princeton University in USA with the participation of Prof. Yunhan Chu (Asian Barometer & Chair of RC17), Prof. Christian Haerpfer (Eurasia Barometer & Board Member of RC17), Dr Marta Lagos (Latino Barometer & Board Member of RC17), Dr Michael Robbins (Arab Barometer), Prof. Robert Matter (Afro Barometer & Vice-Chair of RC17) and others. The monograph will comprise findings from the Global Barometer Survey and the World Values Survey and will focus on various understandings of democracy around the world; democratic participation in different parts of the world; economic and political performance and perceived supply of democracy; social and partisan cleavages as well as the future of democracy in the developing world.

29Jun 2015

RC17 Members organize the Forum on Global Barometer Surveys (2015)

23:59 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

​The 2015 Forum on Global Barometer Surveys hosted by the Fudan-Duke Center for Global Attitudes about Politics and Society at Fudan University in Shanghai. Director of Eurasia Barometer Prof. Christian Haerpfer made presentation on “Value systems and Value Change in Mainland China: Analysis of the World Value Survey in Mainland China 1990 – 2012” and a presentation on "Political Capital and Trust in Political Institutions in Post-Soviet Eurasia: Analysis of Eurasia Barometer and World Values Survey 1994 – 2013" which included findings of Eurasia Barometer surveys and the World Values Survey. Vice-Director of Eurasia Barometer Kseniya Kizilova presented findings of Eurasia Barometer survey in a presentation on “Support for Different Political Regimes in New Independent States: 1994 – 2014” and a presentation on the “Image of Mainland China in the Countries of Middle East and North Africa”. The Forum was followed by a Eurasia Barometer Consortium presentation at the conference “Belt and Road Initiatives: Public Opinion Survey and the Image of Mainland China” hosted by China Center for Contemporary World Studies in Beijing.

27Apr 2015

RC 17 at UN Expert meeting (2015)

08:25 - By Glen Ng - EVENTS

Members of RC17 contributed to the joint expert meeting of International IDEA, World Values Survey Association and UNDP that took place on April, 27, 2015 at the UN headquarters in New York. The topic of the meeting was “Monitoring the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, Targets and Indicators: The role of Social Surveys”. The main aim of this high level event was to assess the potential of contribution of comparative public opinion research to a successful measurement of Sustainable Development Goals an integral part of the UN post-2015 agenda. The event was timely, as this year sees the official end of the Millennium Development Goals, which the world’s governments agreed to in the United Nations at the beginning of the 21st century as the heart of the development agenda. The event was opened by the welcoming notes of Yves Leterme (Secretary General, International IDEA), Christian Haerpfer (President WVSA & Board member of RC 17) and Paul Ladd (Director, Post-2015 and SDGs Team, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support/BPPS, UNDP). Morning session was open to public and featured expert panels discussing the role of social surveys in the data revolution for sustainable development goals. Panel two of the morning session was devoted to The Data Revolution for Sustainable Development: Priorities, Indicators, and Needs. Marta Lagos (WVSA and Board member of RC17) served as discussant. Among the other contributors to the Expert meeting can be mentioned RC17 board member Marita Carballo (WVSA), and Kseniya Kizilova (Secretary of RC17). The event was webcasted live at UN web-TV. Afternoon session included brainstorming thematic work-groups identifying innovative themes and new issues contributing to the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals which could be monitored through the 7th wave of the World Values Survey.