I am a political scientist who takes an interest in democratic behavior, public opinion, and elections, with a main methodological focus on survey experiments. Currently I lead the projects Can Fair Decision Making Procedures Increase The Legitimacy of Democracies?, and Democratic innovation in practice. Together with Yvette Peters, I coordinate the research group on Political Behavior and Democracy at the Digital Social Science Core Facilities – DIGSSCORE]. My research appears in journals such as the Comparative Political Studies, Electoral Studies, European Union Politics, International Journal of Forecasting, Political Studies, and Social Science Computer Review.
Ph.D. in Comparative Politics, 2012
University of Bergen
In what ways can we renew democracy to encourage as much support for this form of government as possible? New and alternative forms of involvement and participation are important themes in current international discussions on the state of democracy. The DEMOVATE project examines involvement in practice by inviting a random sample of citizens of Bergen to discuss and give advice to policymakers on select cases, in our so-called ?Byborgerpanel?. In cooperation with internationally leading researcher, the project will study democratic innovation and its effect on democratic legitimacy in Norwegian municipalities. Central research questions in the project consider who the participants of Byborgerpanelet are, how to organize the panel, and how politicians and administrators in the municipalities should follow up their advice. With support from the Research Council of Norway, DEMOVATE continues and formalizes an already existing collaboration regarding democratic innovation between the municipality of Bergen, NORCE - Norwegian Research Centre, and the University of Bergen.
The primary scientific objective of the PROLEG project is to better understand how democratic institutions and decision-making bodies should organize decision-making procedures and implementation procedures in order to make them more legitimate in the eyes of the public. We study if and how variations in political decision making procedures can make the outcomes more acceptable to the citizens, and especially to those who disagree with the outcome. Do people share universal perceptions of fair decision makingn procedures? In a nutshell, the PROLEG project will address this issue and generate new knowledge that can be used to improve governance in the future. This will be accomplished by conducting experimental and observational studies on the mechanisms of accepting decision-making procedures. The data will mainly be generated within the infrastructure of DIGSSCORE at the University of Bergen, Norway, taking advantage of changes in technology and research methodology that combine to bring computer laboratory research and survey studies closer together.
The European Prediction Market Infrastructure for Political Elections develops and facilitates the use of prediction market software for research purposes in relation to elections and other political events. The software has been employed to Norwegian national elections, German national elections, Spanish national and regional government formations, and to Swiss national elections and popular votes.