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16/03/2026 - GEM DIAMOND Keynote "Democratic Commitment: Why Citizens Tolerate Democratic Backsliding"

Published on February 25, 2026 – Updated on February 26, 2026

By our Guest Speaker Natasha Wunsch, Professor of European Studies & Director of Centre for European Studies at University of Fribourg.


About the keynote

Why do citizens often fail to act as effective bulwarks against democratic backsliding? Prof. Wunsch claims that political culture is key to explaining the electoral success and enduring public support for authoritarian-leaning leaders despite their open violations of democratic rules and norms. A lack of attitudinal consolidation around liberal democratic norms leaves important parts of the electorate vulnerable to buy-outs as well as majoritarian and illiberal appeals by political elites. The empirical demonstration focuses on Poland and Hungary as the two most prominent cases of democratic backsliding in Europe and builds on extensive material combining focus groups, discourse analysis, and original survey data including two conjoint experiments. The findings show how, despite widespread generic support for democracy as a regime form, divergent understandings of democracy persist among citizens in both countries and shape their responses to democratic transgressions by elected leaders.

Building on her recently published monograph (open access), the talk of Prof. Wunsch theorizes and empirically probes the linkages between political culture and political behaviour to demonstrate the crucial role citizens’ democratic attitudes play in processes of democratic backsliding.
 

The panel will include:

  • Chair: Prof. Ramona Coman (IEE-ULB)
  • Discussants: Prof. Nathalie Brack (IEE-ULB) & Larissa Böckmann (GEM-DIAMOND Fellow)
Dates
On the March 16, 2026

17:00 - 18:30 (followed by a reception)

Location

Salle Spaak, IEE-ULB
39, Av. F. Roosevelt 1050 Bruxelles