RC17 - Comparative Public Opinion

IPSA 28th World Congress of Political Science (2025)

Glen Ng — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0800

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.

GBS Columbia University Public Panel (2025)

Glen Ng — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0800

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.

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

Glen Ng — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0800

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.

RC17 Chair appointed WAPOR Taiwan representative

Glen Ng — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0800

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.

WAPOR Asia Pacific 6th Annual Conference (2023)

Glen Ng — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0800

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.

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

Glen Ng — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0800

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.

ABS & GBS International Conference and Planning Meetings (2023)

Glen Ng — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0800

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.

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

Glen Ng — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0800

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.

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

Glen Ng — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0800

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.

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

Glen Ng — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0800

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.

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

Glen Ng — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0800

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.

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

Glen Ng — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0800

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.

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

Glen Ng — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0800

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.

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

Glen Ng — Sat, 31 Dec 2016 23:59:00 +0800

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.

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

Glen Ng — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 23:59:00 +0800

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.

RC 17 at UN Expert meeting (2015)

Glen Ng — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 08:25:00 +0800

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.