Possible themes for PhD projects in this research area are:

• Transnational Economies and Voting Behavior: How do voters and parties react to the transnationalization of economic processes? What role do economic crises, political regulation deficits, and perceived governmental responsibility play in voting behavior, disenchantment with politics, and the legitimacy of the political process? Is the entire political system affected in equal measure, or are there significant differences with respect to the status of elections (keyword: main and by-elections) or the multilayer character of political space (community, state, federal state, Europe)?
• Political Regulation within the Context of Transnational Economy: How do the political system and the political elite react to the globalization of capitalism and financial markets? What institutional coordination mechanisms develop and with what impact? What are the consequences of political reactions to financial and economic crises for the future and the legitimacy of political governance? Are there approaches to private self-regulation in the financial sector that correspond with democratic principles?
• Migration, Religious Pluralism, and the Conception of Constitutionality and Citizenship: What consequences develop out of the increasing religious and social heterogeneity of “national” populations in view of political conflicts and the acceptance of the democratic norms and principles of the constitutional state? What role do differentiated forms of citizenship with an increasingly unequal distribution of rights and duties play for the legitimacy of the political process, and what could a sustainable concept of citizenship look like in the future? What contribution do civil societies make with respect to the integration and political inclusion of a socially and culturally heterogeneous population? What consequences do welfare statehood, differentiated participation, and rights on the labor market and in social policy have for notions of legitimacy and the support of democracy?
• New Forms of Participation and Elite Recruitment: What alternative forms of political participation develop in view of decreasing voter participation, and what are the democratic consequences of such innovations? How are the processes of recruiting a political elite organized within the context of accelerated political competition? What recruitment and mobilization mechanisms develop in view of the increasing transnationalization of the economy and an escalating heterogeneity of the population, and what consequences do these have for political legitimacy?
• Democracy of the Future: How will the future role of the citizen have to be organized within the context of multiple political memberships and collective identities? What democratic potential develops out of possible institutional reforms? What role should or can actors in civil society assume in a democracy of the future? What participative or deliberative innovations does representative democracy require for the (re)establishment of its political legitimacy? How could a legitimate transnational or supranational democracy be shaped, and how should its relation to national, representative democracy be defined?