More than 20 researchers gathered in Oslo for discussing the role of parties in disconnected democracies

🗳️ Workshop – Political Parties and the Representative Disconnect | Oslo, Norway | September 18–19, 2025 🇳🇴

Hosted at the ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, this REDIRECT workshop examined the evolving role of political parties in contemporary democracies and their relationship with the representative disconnect.

Discussions addressed the institutional, affective, and governance dimensions of disconnection, focusing on challenges such as democratic backsliding, polarization, and the impact of digital media. Comparative perspectives shed light on patterns of resilience and decay, as well as the shifting balance between state dependence and societal linkage.

Beyond diagnosis, the workshop emphasized strategies for reconnection—exploring how parties might adapt, collaborate with new movements, and redefine their place within changing representative ecologies.

📌 Programme

Thursday, September 18

09:00 – 10:00

Part I: Introduction – Parties, Representative Disconnect, Representative Ecology and Strategies for Reconnection

John Erik Fossum & Luca Verzichelli: Political parties, the representative disconnect, and the broader representative ecology

10:30 – 13:00

Part II: Political Parties and the Representative Disconnect

Thomas Poguntke: Political Parties and Democracy: Resilience or Decay?
Fabio Wolkenstein: Political parties and dyadic and systemic representation
Ingrid van Biezen: Parties and party regulations
Hans-Joerg Trenz: Party communication during election campaigning: reconnecting to the voter and disconnecting from the electorate
Sergio Martini & Paolo Marzi: What citizens think about parties and representation. Insights from the REDIRECT survey
John Erik Fossum & Christopher Lord: Problems of scaling up parties to the European level

Friday, September 19

09:30 – 11:30

Part III: Political Parties and Strategies for Reconnection and Redirection

Lise Herman & Alice Moseley: Linking party politics and mini publics: An empirical exploration of the politicization of democratic innovations in France and the UK
Magdalena Góra & Katarzyna Zielińska: The party politics and its crises in the eyes of mediating CSOs (Democracy Fixers)
Knut Heidar: Deliberative democracy in contemporary political parties: Longitudinal evidence from Norway
Nic Brandal & Øivind Bratberg: Redirection through injection? Parties and social movements on the Left
Marco Improta, Elisabetta Mannoni & Luca Verzichelli: Realities? Vestigials? Ruins? Aspirations? Realities and perceptions of party government in today’s Italy