Politics, democracy, civil society

Political behaviour, participation and democracy
Ever since the first parliamentary election study of 1957, ISF has been a leading contributor to studies of political behaviour in general and elections and electoral behaviour in particular. Norwegian electoral studies have largely been synonymous with ISF’s research in this area.

Over the past few years, the institute has worked with election study programmes in relation to all the most important forms of democratic election in Norway, i.e. elections to the Storting (national parliament), kommunestyrer (local councils), fylkesting (county councils), sameting (Sámi Parliament) and ecclesiastical bodies.

Participation in civil society and in voluntary organisations has been a topic of study at ISF since the 1980s. Studies in this field seek to identify and explore the social mechanisms that characterise civil society as an arena of participation, social integration, social capital and democracy.

Democratic institutions and processes
In a democracy the political concerns of the citizens are mediated by a set of political institutions. This applies both to the bodies of the representative democracy, such as the Storting and local councils, and voluntary organisations such as, for instance, the political parties.

These institutions offer citizens the possibility to exercise political influence, but also impose constraints on such forms of involvement. Research in this field seeks to map the workings of the political institutions and analyse participation within institutions and the balance of power among them.

Public policy
Studies in this field seek to generate knowledge of how public policy takes form and is implemented, and contribute to the evaluation of public policy in different political areas. Public policy is often analysed as a result of a systemic process in which different actors contribute input to the political system and where the output side consists of the implementation of public policy.

Civil society and voluntary organisation
Civil society comprises alliances of state, market and family. In this field the group’s research focuses on civil alliances’ operations, ownership and organisation, social roles and sectoral structures, and the processes of change at the micro and macro levels taking place within this field.

The group’s work is partly connected to the “Virtual Centre For Research on Civil Society and the Voluntary Sector”, a collaborative venture involving the Rokkan Centre in Bergen and the Institute for Social Research, Oslo. For more information see www.sivilsamfunn.no

Research Director: Bernard Enjolras, PhD Economics , PhD Sociology
E-mail: bernard.enjolras@socialresearch.no
Phone: (+ 47) 23 08 61 24

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