Democracy in Hard Times

Årets mottagare av Skytteanska priset i statsvetenskap Herbert Kitschelt, George V. Allen Distinguished Professor of International Relations vid Duke University, kommer att hålla en livesänd prisföreläsning som visas i Statsvetenskapliga institutionens hörsal Brusewitzsalen, Östra Ågatan 19.

Evenemanget kommer att modereras av Li Bennich-Björkman, Skytteansk professor i vältalighet och statskunskap, som är på plats i Brusewitzsalen. Prisföreläsningen kommer att ta ungeför en och en halv timme och det kommer att finnas möjlighet för publiken att ställa frågor till Herbert Kitschelt.

Efter föreläsning väntar mingel i samband med avtäckandet av Herbert porträtt som kommer att hänga på Skytteprisvinnarnas "wall of fame".

Det Skytteanska priset i statsvetenskap är internationellt ansett som ett av de mest prestigefyllda prisen inom statsvetenskaplig forskning. Bland tidigare pristagare återfinns bland annat Elinor Ostrom, Robert Dahl och Jürgen Habermas. Kitschelt tilldelades priset för att "med utsökt teoretisk skärpa och empirisk bredd och djup ha ökat kunskapen om hur demokratiska partisystem fungerar".

Democracy in Hard Times

Scholars broadly agree that electoral alignments in competitive party democracies have shifted from the industrial societies of the 20th century to the knowledge societies of the early 21st. Socioeconomic and sociocultural change supplemented and softened—though did not replace—distributive economic conflict by introducing a second dimension of party competition. This new axis has centered on conflicts over societal governance and citizenship: the scope for individual expression and lifestyle diversity, coupled with demands for collective goods provision, voluntary association, bottom-up participation in decision-making, and multiculturalization driven by immigration.

Yet this once-dominant pattern of competition in Western democracies has come under mounting strain in the new millennium. Intensifying distributive conflicts are sharpening divides between winners and losers, fragmenting the coalitions that underpinned knowledge society alignments. These pressures stem not from a single source but from a constellation of interrelated developments—technological, occupational, demographic, climatic, civil-liberties, and national-security related—each with domestic and international aspects. Politicians and intellectuals often lack innovative solutions, and where solutions seem straightforward, they are blocked by political deadlock. Together, these dynamics have heightened uncertainty about citizens’ future quality of life while eroding trust in social and political institutions, even in the most affluent democracies.

This interplay of exacerbating and mutually reinforcing conflicts is mediated by distinct socioeconomic and institutional contexts across countries and regions, opening multiple trajectories for political change. Even if democracies can stave off extreme outcomes—such as democratic backsliding into electoral authoritarianism under populist rule—they still face profound challenges. Understanding these transformations may require political scientists to develop new analytical concepts, theories, and empirical strategies attuned to the emerging realities of democratic governance.

Herbert Kitschelt, Duke University. Johan Skytte Prize 2025