Research areas

Parties, Elections, and Representation

The "Parties, Elections, and Representation" axis focuses mainly on institutions, the democratic rules of the game, and the principal actors of representative democracies.

Institutions are among the research topics of this axis. Particular attention is devoted to political regimes (presidential and parliamentary regimes), to the structures of the State (federalism, decentralisation, etc.), and to parliaments and governments as the institutions at the heart of representative democracy. This has given the Cevipol a strong reputation in parliamentary and legislative studies (the functioning of the parliament), and in the analysis of government formation, functioning, and dissolution.  Our expertise also covers issues such as the challenges of representative democracy and the development of alternative mechanisms of public decision-making, specifically by way of direct democracy and citizen participation.

The second element of this axis is the analysis of the rules of the democratic game and of their consequences. This includes more particularly the rules surrounding the electoral process, the norms and practices governing electoral campaigns, the process of political and ideological competition, or the mechanism by which political issues are put on the agenda.  The analysis of the rules of the game also refers to the regulation of the actors at the heart of representative democracy, i.e. political parties (requirements for establishment, financing, etc.) and their internal rules of operation (statutes).

Lastly, this thematic axis deals with political actors within representative democracies. On the one hand, the aim is to understand and analyse the behaviours of collective actors (government partners, parliamentary groups, political parties). On the other hand, the emphasis is put on the attitudes, roles, and behaviours of individual actors: voters, party affiliates (supporters, members, militants, leaders), candidates, elected representatives, members of executives.

These research orientations are translated into various research projects as well as into numerous databases linked to each of these projects.  They are also translated in the organisation of seminars with national and international speakers.

Beyond a strong expertise on Belgium, this axis also has a comparative perspective with specialisations on the following geographic areas: North and Latin America (Brazil and Mexico in particular), Europe, and Russia-Caucasus.

Identities, societies, powers in comparison. A qualitative approach to political systems

The end of history hypothesis and the triumph of liberal democracy in the post-Cold War world has been largely contradicted by a series of phenomena: the resurgence of nationalism and the failure of ideologies; the irruption of religion as a major issue; challenges to the traditional modes of representation and authority; the multiplication of conflicts of loyalty and memory; post-war traumas, etc.

This axis of research aims to analyse these transformations and to understand how they modify logics of power, domination, mobilisation, and of living together.  Our goal is to adopt a systemic approach which combines macro and micro perspectives with essentially qualitative methodological tools. The focus is on the ideational dimension: identities, ideologies, representations, symbols, values, memories. These studies take place at the intersection of political sociology, comparative politics, and political theory.

Geographically, our research analyses the European area in all its diversity, with a special emphasis on the EU.  Europe is also approached in its interactions, and in comparison, with other geographic areas, particularly the post-soviet world, the Middle-East, the Americas, and Asia. Our aim is to identify how the following concepts travel, change, and take root: political regime, democracy, legitimation, authoritarianism, populism, secularism, religion, reconciliation, ethnicity, engagement, and disengagement.

European integration: redefining communities, sovereignties, and values in conflict

This research axis focuses on the processes of cooperation, identification, and conflict created by European integration and the role they play in the legitimation of the EU as a political entity. Key concepts reframed by European integration such as sovereignty, the rule of law, democracy, or legitimacy are studied through the prism of research projects on values, public policies, communication, and the attitudes, discourses, and strategies of national and supranational political actors.

The role played by values, ideas, and norms as stakes, resources, or obstacles in European politics is analysed within various sectors.

Promoting and defending shared values are means of legitimation of internal and external policies of the EU. These values have multiple interpretations and are invoked both by actors who believe that the EU helps perfect national democracies and by those who consider that it is contributing to their dissolution.  Some studies focus particularly on the conflicts created by the violation of these values, specifically the rule of law, by Member States. Another field of research studies issues of religion, ethics, morals, or science as crystallisation points of the interactions between culture and politics at the transnational level.

Socio-economic and redistribution issues are once more at the heart of European debates. A number of researches examine how the coordination of socio-economic policies is legitimated by political actors through discourses and values that may at times conflict: accountability, austerity, solidarity, social justice, etc. The management of the debt of Member States has led to the emergence of a new political order in which the power relations between weak and strong states are much more salient. Studying the practical functioning and the means of legitimation of these new forms of governance allows us to bring to light the emergence of a post-democratic European federalism.

At the same time, a new opposition to the EU and/or to its policies has become institutionalised and brings different alternatives for "another Europe" along with new authoritarian and populist forms of legitimation. Studies conducted within the Cevipol analyse the attitudes, behaviour, and strategies of these new political entrepreneurs at all levels of the European multi-level governance.

Regarding the EU's external action, studies examine the way in which the "normative power of the EU" is constructed in various national and international institutional settings.  This work focuses particularly on the processes by which these values are appropriated by political and social actors beyond the borders of the EU in a comparative approach with other regions of the world.

Sports and Politics

The thematic axis " Sports and Politics" focuses essentially on the study of the porosities between the practice, the rule, and the institutions of sports and politics.  There are two different ways of studying the relations between sports and politics: a) observing how politics permeate sport (the construction of sports as a political object); b) observing how sport permeates politics (the influence of sport sin the political sphere).  The activities organised within the framework of this axis articulate these two aspects by analysing both the processes of increased politicisation of sports as well as the uses of sports in the political competition.

Three fields of investigation are privileged: 

Sports as a factor of politicisation and of expression of identity (as a means of expressing or diluting social conflicts): strategies of politicisation or of depoliticisation put in place by social actors, or to observe the role of sport in the sedimentation of national identities and of collective representations, peaceful or violent demonstrations through team supporterism.

The link between sporting careers and political careers: the political commitment of professional athletes, the use of sports figures during electoral campaigns, comparisons between the game of sports and the game of politics (relations between performance and the competitive aspect).

The governance of sport: public policies in the field of sports and funding of sports activities, actors of governance and reforms of sports institutions, relations between the different levels of power (local, national, and international associations), organisation of sporting events.

These research orientations tackle the three usual dimensions of political science : polity, politics and policy. They are translated into various research projects, the creation of databases, and the organisation of seminars with national and international speakers

Beyond a strong expertise on the relations between sports and politics in Belgium, this axis also has a comparative perspective with specialisations on the following geographic areas: Africa, Latin America, Europe, Middle-East, Russia.

The "Sports and Politics" axis also organises joint activities with other disciplines with research interests around sports (sociology, anthropology, economics, history, law, medicine, psychology, etc.).