Konrad Adenauer Research Chair in Empirical Democracy Studies

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Mission Statement

The Konrad Adenauer Research Chair in Empirical Democracy Studies pursues four main objectives:

  • The creation of a vibrant academic and research environment for faculty members, guest researchers, undergraduate- and graduate students working on empirical democracy studies.
  • The Promotion and Dissemination of Research tackling key challenges of contemporary democracies
  • The Strengthening of academic and non-academic links between Germany and Canada
  • The Fostering of ongoing dialogue between academia, the media and the wider public
Mandate

The Konrad Adenauer Research Chair in Empirical Democracy Studies is a research unit associated with the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ottawa. The chair’s mandate is to study key challenges of contemporary democracies including those shaping Germany and Canada. Using methodological pluralism the chair tries to contribute to knowledge in the field of populism, election studies, public opinion research and political representation. Through conferences workshops and exchanges, the chair aims at bringing together faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduate students. Members of the chair also try to outreach to the media and wider communities in Germany and Canada.

News
October 16, 2024, New article:
 
Stockemer, D., & Kolodziejczyk, K. (2024). Introducing the World Age Representation in Cabinet (WARC) Dataset. Representation, 1–13.https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2024.2409636
 
September 19, 2024, New Article:
 
Stockemer, D., & Arhin, K. (2024). Do Different Types of Right-Wing Populism Reflect Different Types of Right-Wing Populist Voter Bases?. Populism, 7(2), 143-173. https://doi.org/10.1163/25888072-bja10064
 
September 2024:
 
Daniel Stockemer was ranked 6th most
productive researcher in the world over the
past 5 years in the discipline of political
science by ScholarGPS. For more information
please see:
https://scholargps.com/scholars/305218568 95647/daniel-stockemer
 
May 24, 2024, SSHRC Awards:
 
Research chair members Jean-Nicholas Bordeau and Kamila Kolodziejczyk each received Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) awards for their doctoral studies. 
 
May 24, 2024, New article:
 
Stockemer, D., & Sundström, A. (2024). ‘Do young legislators face age-based discrimination in parliament? Views from young MPs across the globe’. Journal of Youth Studies, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2024.2359100.
 
 
May 21, 2024, New article:
 
Stockemer, D., & Wigginton, M. (2024). The (complex) effect of internet voting on turnout: Theoretical and methodological considerations. Policy & Internet, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1002/poi3.393.
 
December 15, 2023, New article:
 
Jean-Nicolas Bordeleau, Daniel Stockemer, Abdelkarim Amengay, and Ammar Shamalleh. (2023). “The comparative conspiracy research survey (CCRS): a new cross-national dataset for the study of conspiracy beliefs.” European Political Science https://doi.org/10.1057/s41304-023-00463-4
 
November 29, 2023, New article:
 
Daniel Stockemer (2023). The Russia-Ukraine War: A Good Case Study for Students to Learn and Apply the Critical Juncture Framework. Journal of Political Science Education https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2023.2286472
 
November 15, 2023:
 
Daniel Stockemer (together with Aksel Sundstrom) received one of the International Electoral Awards - The first-time Voter Award - from the International Centre for Parliamentary Studies. 
 
September 15, 2023, New Book:
 
Daniel Stockemer and Jean-Nicolas Bordeleau published a book entitled "Quantitative Methods for the Social Sciences: A Practical Introduction with Examples in R."
 
September 8, 2023, New Book:
 
Daniel Stockemer and Kofi Arhin published a short book entitled "Anti-Immigrant Attitudes: The Effect of Grievances, Personal Interactions and Entrenched Beliefs."
 
For a brief blog about the book, click here: Blog Link
 
September 1st, 2023, New Appointment:
 
Daniel Stockemer was appointed to the International Advisory Board of the scientific journal French Politics.
 
15-19 July, 2023, Conference Presentation:
 
Daniel Stockemer and Jean Nicolas Bordeleau participated in the World Congress of Political Science in Buenos Aires. Daniel presented a paper on youth representation and Jean Nicolas a paper on conspiracy theories. As the editor of the International Political Science Review (IPSR), the flagship journal of the International Political Science Association (IPSA), Daniel  participated in several roundtables on publishing. As a member of the IPSA council, Daniel was also a voting member for the IPSA excecutive committee and IPSA president. 
 
June 1, 2023, Conference Presentation:
 
Michael Wigginton: Do Legislators’ Ages Matter? Conceptualising the Issue of Youth Representation
 
May 30, 2023, Conference Presentation:
 
Wigginton, Michael: A Blocked Pipeline: Women’s Descriptive Underrepresentation in Canadian Federal Politics
 
May 29, 2023, New article:
 
Arhin, K., Stockemer, D., & Normandin, M.-S. (2023). The Republican Trump Voter: A Populist Radical Right Voter Like Any Other? World Affairs, (online first). https://doi.org/10.1177/00438200231176818.
 
May 17, 2023, New article: 
 
Daniel Stockemer & Obinna Ameachi (2023) Why do Voters Accept Bribes? Evidence from Edo State in Nigeria, Representation, DOI: 10.1080/00344893.2023.2213722
 
 

 

 
 

 

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January 2024

September 2024

January 2025

 

 

Call For Papers and Conferences

Future:

October 3rd and 4th 2024:

Democracy Under Scrutiny: An Interdisciplinary Workshop on the Causes and Consequences of Democratic Dissatisfaction

September 30 and October 1, 2021:

Academic Conference: Muslim Immigrants and sense of identity and belonging in the Western World.

KAS Canada
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Research Chair Holder: Daniel Stockemer

Daniel Stockemer, is Full Professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa and since May 2021 chair holder of the Konrad Adenauer Research Chair in Empirical Democracy Studies. He hold a Master’s Degree from the University of Connecticut (2006), a teacher’s and Master’s degree from the University of Mannheim (2007), and a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut (2010). As the holder of the research chair, he see himself as an ambassador to Canadian German relations. His research focuses on key challenges of Germany and Canada, and representative democracies, more generally. These include (1) the effects of migration on political attitudes, (2) the populist tide that has swept the world, (3) transformations in the conduct of elections and the determinants of vote choice, and (4) unequal representation of various cohorts of the population including women, minorities and youth. Throughout his academic career, Daniel has published 5 single authored books, 3 edited volumes, 2 textbooks and more than 150 articles in peer reviewed journals. Daniel is very active in the discipline of political science and has several editorial commitments. Since the fall of 2019, he is an editor of the International Political Science Review, and in early 2020, he started editing the Springer Book Series in Electoral Politics.

Email: Dstockem@uottawa.ca

Meet the Team

Abdlekarim Amengay 2

Abdelkarim Amengay

Assistant Professor 

Abdelkarim Amengay is an Assistant Professor of political science at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in Qatar, where he teaches graduate seminars on comparative politics and democratization. He holds a double Ph.D. from Sciences Po Paris and the University of Ottawa. His main research interests are political behavior, political psychology, youth political representation, and populism in Western democracies and the MENA region. Dr. Amengay has published peer-reviewed articles in the Journal of Common Market Studies, Political Studies Review, and Revue Française de science politique. Since 2021, he is also a member of Team Populism’s Expert Survey in charge of the Arab world and the editorial board of the Revue Internationale de Politique Comparée.

Email: Abdelkarim.amengay@dohainstitute.edu.qa

small profile Aksel Sundström

Aksel Sundström

Associate Professor

Aksel Sundström is an associate professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg. He is the PI for the Quality of Government (QoG) Data, a venture that provides accessible data to the public on corruption and its correlates. He was recently a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Oxford for a spring semester and for his postdoc he was a Visiting Democracy Fellow at Harvard University for a full year.  

Dr. Sundström’s research agenda is focused on comparative politics, often in a low-income setting, and he has two broader research interests: 1) the relationship between corruption and environmental politics, especially in African countries, and 2) the study of political representation, focusing on the absence of women and youth in political institutions. 

He is the author of a large number of articles in international outlets. As an example of research output, the book Youth Without Representation, co-authored with Daniel Stockemer, is the first to examine young adults’ absence as candidates, legislators and ministers around the world (University of Michigan Press in late 2022). 

Email: Aksel.sundstrom@pol.gu.se

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Michael Wigginton

Post Doctoral Fellow

Michael J. Wigginton is a Post Doctoral Fellow in political science at the School of Political Studies at Carleton University and holds Ph.D. and master’s degrees in political science from the University of Ottawa and a bachelor’s from York University’s Glendon College. Michael’s research focuses on political parties and elections, with a particular interest in representation. He has published 8 peer-reviewed articles on these and other topics, in journals including Electoral Studies, Parliamentary Affairs, and the British Journal of Canadian Studies. His doctoral dissertation examines women’s representation in the Canadian House of Commons, with a particular emphasis on the role of party nomination contests.
 
Email: Michael.wigginton@uottawa.ca
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Engi Abou-El-Kheir

Ph.D. Candidate

Engi Abou-El-Kheir is a PhD candidate in comparative science at the University of Ottawa in the School of Political Studies. Her Master of Arts thesis in political science, entitled 'The Polarity of Arab Canadians' Political Affiliations' was nominated for a prize. She also graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Social Sciences in Anthropology and Arabic Language and Culture. Engi's research fits centers on Arab Canadian political affiliation and vote choice and how these intersect with culture, religion, and religiosity, using both advanced quantitative and qualitative methods and a political anthropology perspective. Her other research interests surround Middle East studies and contemporary imperialism.
 
Email: Eabou055@uottawa.ca
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Reza Arash

Ph.D. Candidate

Reza Arash is a Ph.D. student in Political Science at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. Reza’s research focuses on elections and political behaviour, with a particular interest in studying negativity and cognitive biases in political communication. In his master thesis, he studied parties’ negative campaign strategies by analyzing the 2015 Canadian federal election. In his doctoral dissertation, Reza tries to understand the brain mechanisms that may shape and impact political decisions by looking at neuroscience models of value-based information processing and decision-making according to economic perspectives. In particular, he will assess negativity bias and selective exposure bias theories by analyzing how the human brain processes and reacts to political messages.
 
Email: Maras034@uottawa.ca
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Kofi Arhin

Ph.D. Candidate

Kofi Arhin is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Ottawa. He completed a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at Concordia University with a minor in law, justice and society (2016) and a Master of Arts in Political Science at the University of New Brunswick (2018). His main research interests include political psychology, political sociology, Right Wing Populism, party politics and identity politics. For his Master's, his research was focused on disengagement with the political system with an emphasis on youth disengagement including what would happen if the Canadian voting age were lowered to 16 years old. Since then, his research has shifted to a greater focus on far-right populist parties and political behaviour. He is currently working on his thesis entitled "How can we explain African American support for Donald Trump in the United States?". 
 
Email: Karhi096@uottawa.ca
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Jean-Nicholas Bordeau

Ph.D. Candidate

Jean-Nicolas Bordeleau is a PhD student in political science with the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. He previously completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in political science and psychology at the Royal Military College of Canada and a master's degree in political science at the Université de Montréal. His research fits within the fields of political psychology and democracy studies, with particular focus on the role of citizens in democratic (in)stability. He has published several peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals, including International Journal and Democracy & Security. 
 
Email: Jean-nicolas.bordeleau@uottawa.ca
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Marie-Soleil Normandin

Ph.D. Candidate

Marie-Soleil Normandin is currently a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Ottawa. Her thesis aims to understand and explore the socio-political context in which individuals decide to join and interact with the Freedom Convoy. The objectives are to assess and improve our comprehension of how Canadians have come to structure their social network and explain the diversity of socio-political trajectories/profiles. Her master's thesis focused on improving the indexation theory and to adapt its core elements to the Canadian political context, where it was argued that the inclusion of alternative narratives permits the re-evaluation of the temporal boundaries by which media organization refer to. Marie-Soleil previously worked at the Université Laval, on the evolution of far-right movements in Canada and Quebec. Her main research interests are populism/far-right, voting behaviour, social movements as well as women in politics. Prior to pursuing her PhD, she received an MA in Political Science from Université Laval, and a BA in International Relations and French from the University of British Columbia.
 
Email: Mnorm053@uottawa.ca
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Mathis Bouquet

Ph.D. Candidate

Mathis Bouquet is a Ph.D. student in Political Science at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. Mathis's research work mostly concerns the institutionalization of new forms of political parties from the Left through elections with a particular interest on militantism, partisan sociology, spaces and identities.
 
In his master's thesis, he worked on the specific case of La France Insoumise institutionalization during the 2020 municipal elections in France by studying a local electoral coalition process in Lyon. He showed how the coalition process ended in unexpected results for local militants with the transformation of partisan frontiers and the change of relationship between them, the national officials and local militants from other parties. In his doctoral dissertation, Mathis will work on the institutionalization process of these new forms of parties by crossing the study of "local" and "national" partisan spaces.
 
Mathis also has an editorial commitment as editorial assistant of the International Political Science Review, the flagship Journal of the International Political Science Association.
 
Email: Mathis.bouquet@gmail.com
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Kamila Kolodziejczyk

Ph.D. Candidate

Kamila Kolodziejczyk is a PhD candidate at the University of Ottawa studying political science at the School of Political Studies. She previously earned a Master of Arts in political science from the same institution and her master’s thesis titled “Breaking the Cycle of Alienation: The Impact of Youth Representation on Democratic Engagement,” was nominated for a prize. Her thesis examined how increased youth representation in parliaments and government can enhance youth voter turnout and youth's satisfaction with democracy. Kamila’s research work mostly focuses on youth representation in politics. She works very closely on data collection for the Worldwide Age Representation in Parliaments (WARP) dataset and looks at how young elected representatives impact institutions and youth voting behaviours.
 
Email: kkolo039@uottawa.ca