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Valuing democracy: the role of democracy in the justification of political violence

Read about Dr Rebekka Kesberg’s project investigating how British citizens think about democracy and politically-motivated attacks.

Exploring democracy and political violence

This project, funded by the , explores how citizens perceive and potentially justify attacks on politicians and supporters of political parties.

Using a mixed-method approach – including interviews with UK citizens – the project aims to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how valuing democracy impacts moral judgements, potentially dissolves group boundaries, and can strengthen democratic norms.

It asks the following questions:

• are politically-motivated attacks justifiable depending on who attacks and who is attacked? 
• are these incidents damaging for a democracy, acceptable within a democracy, or even necessary to protect democracy?
• does valuing democracy impact our perception of what is right and what is wrong? Does it affect how we treat fellow citizens and elected officials?
• does valuing democracy lead to a more inclusive group identity based on shared democractic values rather than specific political viewpoints?
• does democractic identity impact how we judge the use of political violence?

Project aims

This project has the following aims:

• to understand the extent to which perceptions and justifications of abusive and violent behaviour towards politicians and political supporters vary across people (for instance, what portion is related to individual differences) and situations (what portion is related to target)
• to explore individuals’ perceptions and emotions regarding the political competence and democratic legitimacy of politicians and supporters and supporters of political parties
•  to document and categorise online comments following public incidents violence against politicians and supporters of political parties
• to explore the importance and centrality of democracy and democratic values for individuals’ identity
• to reduce support of violence and abusive behaviour by strengthening identification with democracy and democratic values.

Project context

As Abraham Lincoln famously stated, we citizens are at the core of democracy. 

Every few years we hold fair and free elections to choose a government which represents us, rules on our behalf, protects our basic human rights, and enables everyone to participate in the political process. 

Every day we (perhaps unconsciously) benefit from living in a democracy. That includes, for example, freedom of political affiliation, being allowed to engage in political action, freedom of speech, and a free press.

Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Abraham Lincoln
16th US President

There have never been more countries self-identifying as a democracy than today, and yet democracies are losing the support and trust of their citizens. In the United Kingdom, voter turnout, trust in politicians and democratic institutions, and satisfaction with democracy have been declining steadily since the 1950s.

Today about half of UK citizens are not satisfied with the way democracy works. Considering the numerous political scandals in recent years (such as Partygate), these trends are not surprising. However, they are nonetheless damaging for the functioning of democracy.

Individuals are less likely to vote than in the past and seem to be withdrawing from the political process. At the same time, elected politicians are frequently verbally and/or physically harassed by citizens. For example, one in six tweets received by MPs are abusive.