When does higher economic inequality lead to democratic erosion? To answer that question, professor of Empirical Political Science, Carolien van Ham, and associate professor of Empirical Political Science, Alex Lehr, received a KNAW grant worth 200,000 euros from the ‘Fonds Staatsman Thorbecke’. The research project is entitled: 'Enough is enough? Tipping points in the relationship between economic inequality and support for democracy'.
They investigate which circumstances lead to a tipping point in support for democracy, to whom this applies and which causal mechanisms underlie this. In doing so, the researchers bridge relevant insights from different fields of science, such as political science, political economy, sociology and social psychology.
Want to know more about the research projects awarded by the ‘KNAW Fonds Staatsman Thorbecke’? Then click here (in Dutch).