Political Knowledge in Comparative Perspective: Explaining Differences and Gauging Consequences

The main aims of the section are to further research related to political knowledge and thus contribute to comparative political analysis. Panels will consist of papers reporting on research into various aspects of political knowledge in European and other democratic countries. Given widespread signs of turnout decline, especially among young people, analyses linking political knowledge to different forms of political participation and civic engagement could prove especially fruitful. The accumulation of work in this area will allow us, in particular, more closely to examine attitude formation and the ability of citizens to cope with the complexity of contemporary politics with reference to both national, European and international politics. Papers should preferably be grounded in empirical analyses; although, those that give a central role to the theoretical discussion of aspects of different types of political knowledge and information are also very welcome. Though single country papers are welcome, proposals that address the central themes in a comparative perspective will be given precedence.