Democracy's Status in Iberia: From Retrenchment to Reimagination?

Session Submission Type: Created Panel

Session Description

This panel focuses on the status of democracy in Portugal and Spain. After decades of progress, over the last decade we have seen instances of retrenchment and regression driven by social and political inequalities; corruption; economic challenges that have undermined the capacity of our democracies to deliver on needs and expectations; or the raise of populists who have leveraged victories and the local, regional and national level to undermine democratic institutions. At the same time, Portuguese and Spanish democracies have shown remarkable resilience and the ability to adapt and address many of these issues, while experimenting at the local, regional and national levels to meet these new challenges.
This panel will deal with those issues and address questions such as: Has there been democratic backsliding in Portugal and/or Spain? What are the threats and opportunities? Have institutions adapted and/or being renovated? What are the institutional and policy innovations that have been adopted to deepen the Iberian democracies?

Sub Unit

• Related Groups / Iberian Politics

Individual Presentations

• Millennial Mindsets: A Longitudinal Assessment of Youth Political Participation - Patricia Silva, University of Aveiro; Carlos Jalali, University of Aveiro, Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies; Patricio Soares Costa, University of Minho, ICVS

• The Face Says It All: Facial Cues and Candidate Evaluation in Portugal - Carlos Jalali, University of Aveiro, Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies; Patricia Silva, University of Aveiro; Patricio Soares Costa, University of Minho, ICVS

• The Politics of Child Marriage: Evidence from Spain - Kerstin Hamann, University of Central Florida; Gabriela Foerster, University of Central Florida

Chair

• Sebastian Royo Clark University

Discussant

• Sally Bonsall University of Nebraska Omaha