Democracy Under Pressure – Challenges for Democratic Governance in Times of Polycrisis

Research field: Urban Transformations Towards Sustainability: A Law and Governance Perspective

Against the backdrop of current global and regional challenges (keyword: ‘poly-crisis’), democracy and democratic governance are coming under increasing pressure worldwide. Not only is the number of autocratically governed states rising steadily, but in established democracies too, populism and polarisation, as well as the erosion of democratic institutions, processes and fundamental values, are on the increase. These developments are also of central importance for cities as hubs of democratic participation and innovation. This project examines the causes and effects of this ‘authoritarian turn’ from a multidisciplinary perspective. As part of the project, an international conference on the theme ‘Democracy Under Pressure – Conditions of the Authoritarian Turn Yesterday and Today’ will be organised in 2026 together with the Institute for Spatial and Social-Ecological Transformations (ISSET) organisiert and will take place in May 2027 in Vienna, the former European Capital of Democracy. The conference aims to bring together scholars from various disciplines – including economics, political economy, economic sociology, law, constitutional theory, political science and history – to examine pressing questions relating to the existential threats facing many democracies worldwide today. There are links to other projects run by the research institute, which focus on populism, polarisation, fragmentation and bureaucracy; democratic innovations in the context of climate change; and Vienna’s contribution to democracy within the Austrian Constitutional Convention.

Project lead: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Verena Madner, Univ.-Doz. Dr. Stefan Mayr, LL.M.