Contemporary Challenges to Democracy, Citizenship and Political Participation

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Social Sciences will focus on contemporary challenges to democracy, citizenship and participation in democratic regimes across the globe. The objective is to elucidate the nature of these challenges by identifying both their etiology and their consequences for democratic regimes. A broad range of challenges confront democratic regimes across the globe. Increasing wealth disparities and growing economic insecurity often fuel the perception that the political system privileges the wealthy. Economic inequity and insecurity erode trust in democratic institutions, established political parties, and elites. Distrust in government discourages participation, particularly among marginalized groups, eroding civic engagement and voter turnout and exacerbating political polarization. Political polarization can originate from partisan and ideological extremism and the unwillingness of partisan competitors to compromise. It can also originate from identity politics, in which competing groups increasingly view one another as adversaries with little to nothing in common.

In this context, politics can become a zero-sum game. Politicians and political parties intensify this identity-based conflict by offering policies that appeal to their narrow constituencies rather than developing broadly encompassing policies that help to build social cohesion and promote good public services. Populist leaders attempt to capitalize on these divisions, stoking ethno-nationalism and attacking minority groups and marginalized segments of the population—immigrants, religious minorities, members of the LGTBQ+ community. Populist leaders attempt to impede the political incorporation and participation of these marginalized groups and anyone who opposes their policies, leading to illiberal democracies at best and authoritarian regimes at worst. They often employ disinformation or misinformation to distort the public’s perception of their governance and to manipulate voters. Foreign governments have increasingly employed the digital manipulation of social media and online algorithms to influence elections and to intervene in the politics of their adversaries. These forces have led to democratic erosion and backsliding.  

Dr. Paul W. Posner
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• inequality
• political polarization
• extremism
• identity politics
• ethno-nationalism
• voter turnout
• erosion of trust
• decline of political participation
• populism
• marginalization of minority groups