Projects about the Elections and Democracy

This project continues our research into Norwegian municipal and county elections. Central themes include voter behavior and participation, in addition to representation, political trust, the media and AI. 

This project examines the measures, routines and support systems in place to address hate, threats and harassment against local politicians. In addition, the scope, nature and consequences of hate, harassment and threats in the 2027 local election campaign are examined.

CONSULT examines what kind of knowledge consultants provide to the state, and what the use of consultants means for the legitimacy of political decisions.

In this project, we will study the conditions and challenges of a democratic electoral system by and for the Sámi in Norway in general, and the Norwegian Sámi parliamentary election in 2025 in particular.

How does Generative Artificial Intelligence affect what people know, believe, and trust?

This project maps changes in organisational population and organisational form at local, regional, and national levels. The goal is to update the data foundation for both local and national organisations and analyse their development over time.

This project explores how civil society organisations affect political processes, both through conventional channels and alternative strategies such as protests and legal actions. The aim is to understand the organisations' democratic role and their influence on political decisions.

This project examines Norwegians' motivation for voluntary effort and how this has changed over time. The goal is to understand variations between different types of voluntary fields and tasks, and to analyse the public media discourse on voluntary engagement.

The MORALCHANGE project explores how changes in moral values have shaped political and cultural divides in Scandinavia over the past five decades.

Coordinated Online Panels for Research on Democracy and Governance in Norway (KODEM) allows multiple projects to share common observational platforms (i.e. online panels).

This project is initiated by CORE – Centre for Research on Gender Equality and financed by The Institute for Social Reseach.

On behalf of the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Developments, NORCE and ISF carry out the evaluation of the provision on assistance for voters with disabilities.

The purpose of the project is to provide new insight into how the assistance provision in the Electoral Act is put into practice.

This is a partner project. See the NORCE project page here.

This is a partner project. See the UiO project page. 

The project examines how much influence experts have over public policy, and how much power they ought to have.

Danish politicians are often harassed on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. In this project, we investigate what forms of abuse politicians are exposed to and whether efforts to stop the harassment are working.

The project highlights people's institutional trust with a particular focus on institutions that are relevant to national security and national security interests.

The Electoral Diary Project (Valgdagbokprosjektet) look at the election campaign from the voters' point of view. There are many research projects that look at how election campaigns take place, but few allow the voters themselves to have a say.

Prejudice against Jews is a serious problem, and the Norwegian government has combined and strengthened its efforts against antisemitism through two action plans. This project evaluates the action plans for the period 2016-2023 commissioned by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development.

The aim of the project is to examine, systematize and analyze the experiences with various democracy initiatives in seven Norwegian municipalities – Bergen, Bodø, Lørenskog, Gjøvik, Sunnfjord, Suldal and Vadsø.

The project U+MxV (Youth participation) will map how participation from young people takes place in Norwegian municipalities, as well as contribute to creating models for participation processes.

The growing impacts from climate change and environmental problems raise a variety of different questions for social research. This research initiative sheds light on social science research questions within climate change and environmental policy and aims to put forward new insights on this profound challenge of our times.

The initiative is coordinated as an umbrella project with experience-sharing across subprojects.

The starting point for the project is that all eligible voters shall have the same opportunity to vote in elections.

Trust between citizens and authorities is a prerequisite to be able to handle the corona crisis. This project analyses how the health authorities communicate in this regard, what role is played by social media and what levels of trust are expressed by citizens.

What are the greatest challenges to freedom of expression today? The public debate on freedom of expression is distinguished by strong opinions and numerous warnings. There is growing unrest about freedom of expression as the foundation of truth-seeking, knowledge, democracy and the formation of opinion.

The umbrella project NORPOL is a collection of researcher-initiated sub-projects. The aim is to analyse whether Norwegian society is being polarized – and, if so, how.

Consequences for Participation and Democracy.

Meaning, contest and power