The Higher Research Seminar: Isabela Mares, Yale University - ‘Parliaments in Times of Democratic Erosion’

The Higher Research Seminar is held on Wednesdays 13.15 to 14.30 in Eden 367, unless otherwise indicated. PhD Mid-term seminars 13:15 to 14:45. Convenors: Professor Annika Björkdahl and Professor Fariborz Zelli. 

Chair: Fariborz Zelli

Isabela Mares, Yale University

‘Parliaments in Times of Democratic Erosion’

How does the presence of extremist parties in parliaments modify parliamentary norms? In this talk, I draw on two recent papers to examine the responses of mainstream politicians to the disruptive strategies of extremist legislators. A first study examines the dynamics of parliamentary erosion during the Weimar parliament. Using a novel dataset of all calls-to-order, I document the existence of a cycle of provocation-counter provocation that led to the erosion of parliamentary norms in the last years of the Weimar Republic. A second paper (co-authored with Qixuan Yang) studies informal interactions in the contemporary German Bundestag during the period between 2017 and 2021. Using a novel dataset of over 25,000 parliamentary speeches, we document a significant erosion of parliamentary norms, as measured by an increase in the number of verbal and nonverbal interruptions. Both legislators from mainstream and extremist parties contribute to this erosion of parliamentary norms. 

Professor Mares is the Arnold Wolfers Professor of Political Science and the Director of the European Union Center at Yale. She specializes in the comparative politics of Europe and has written extensively on labor market and social policy reforms, the political economy of taxation, electoral clientelism, and reforms limiting electoral corruption. Her current research examines the political responses to antiparliamentarism in both contemporary and historical settings.

Her books have been published with Cambridge UP, Oxford UP and Princeton UP and won major awards by the American Political Science Association (APSA) and the Council for European Studies. Her articles have been awarded best prizes by the APSA sections on Comparative Politics, Representation and Electoral Systems and History and Politics, among others. 

Professor Mares is member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and fellow of the Simon Guggenheim Foundation.
https://politicalscience.yale.edu/people/isabela-mares

See the program for Spring 2025: The Department’s Higher Research Seminar Series | Department of Political Science