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The focus of the Standing Group is on innovations that aim at deepening 'thin' representative democracy and their impacts on communities, structures, systems, policies and democratic participation. Despite a fundamental triumph of democracy, several tendencies in contemporary democratic systems give rise to concern, e. g. declining voter turnout and the support for populist parties or policies. Many scholars have called for more participatory forms of democracy where citizens are effectively included in political decision-making. By now, several democratic innovations have been tried out – different forms of citizen deliberation, direct democracy or governance with citizens’ associations. The focus of the Standing Group is to evaluate the benefits, disadvantages and shortcomings of democratic innovations. The SG organizes sections at the ECPR General Conference, and sponsors Workshops at the Joint Sessions.

The Research Network on Differentiated Integration in the EU provides a collaborative network and infrastructure for junior and senior scholars working on different aspects of differentiated integration broadly conceived, including its empirical, legal and historical mapping, its normative theorising and broader reflection on what differentiated integration means for processes of European integration. The group is methodologically plural and welcomes scholars whatever their theoretical or methodological orientations, also beyond the field of political science.

Digital authoritarianism is defined as the ‘use of digital information technology by authoritarian regimes to surveil, repress, and manipulate domestic and foreign populations’ (Owen Jones, 2022). However, we believe that this kind of malicious activity is not limited to authoritarian regimes. Digital technologies, such as social media, could be employed by non-democratic forces in each country to manipulate public opinion and propel nefarious aims, such as stirring social conflicts and dividing societies. Such malicious activities, whether in democratic contexts or non-democratic societies, have been on the rise in recent years. Non-democratic forces now employ a variety of tactics, including sharing disinformation and agents, like social bots, to manipulate social media communication and protests worldwide. The rapid advancements in AI technologies, like Large Language Models, add to the complexity of this picture.

The primary goal of the Standing Group on Elites and Political Leadership (SGOEPL) is to provide a formal framework to communicate, meet, share and disseminate research, ideas and data among scholars whose interests extend to the realm of social and political elites and political leadership. These elites include but are not restricted to executive-level political elites, non-elected elites (e.g. bureaucrats), judicial elites and legislative elites (party leaders, parliamentary leaders and officers), media elites and business elites. SGOEPL is committed to the creation, promotion and dissemination of rigorous, empirically tested research. SGOEPL will draw together scholars researching elites and political leadership to provide an intellectual space for the development and dissemination of scholarly activity across the broad range of leadership and elite study. There are naturally synergies between research on political leadership and elites.

The Standing Group on Energy Politics, Policy and Governance (Energy-PPG) serves as a platform for scholars studying energy policy and related issues within the European context and beyond. Its focus is on the complex nature of energy policy, politics and governance that includes topics like steering energy transitions, assuring energy security or achieving energy efficiency, to mention only some. 

The Standing Group serves as a network hub for researchers in the field of environmental politics and facilitates electronic and face-to-face dialogue among scholars working on environmental political topics, particularly in (but not limited to) European countries. The Standing Group promotes the study of environmental politics within the political science community, and supports environment-related workshops and panels at ECPR conferences.

The Standing Group on the European Union (SGEU) promotes co-ordination and collaboration among political scientists interested in the blooming area of research on the EU. SGEU's main activities cover: a biennial pan-European conference; summer schools; organising and sponsoring Workshops, Panels and Sessions at ECPR events, and any major political science conference; and the maintenance of a mailing list, a news service and a website.

The Standing Group provides a platform and infrastructure to the broad range of scholars working on various aspects of 'extremism and democracy' around the world. This includes topics such as political violence, religious fundamentalism, parties of the radical left and right, populism, fascism, etc. The Standing Group is academically neutral and provides a meeting ground for scholars from various theoretical persuasions and disciplines, although our main focus is on the political aspects of extremism. We particularly welcome scholars who work in a comparative spirit and who focus on the (inter-)relation between extremism and democracy.

The ECPR Standing Group on Federalism and Regionalism aims to bring together established and young researchers from across Europe and beyond with interests in the fields of federalism, regionalism, decentralisation, and politics and policy in multilevel systems. The Standing Group helps to stimulate communication and research collaboration among its members. It has organised thematic workshops and panels at regular ECPR conferences and co-sponsored workshops and conferences. It aims to continue these activities but also to intensify academic cooperation, for example via the ECPR Research Sessions. The Standing Group has a link with Regional and Federal Studies, the leading European specialist journal in the field.

This research network connects researchers in the field of food policy and governance. We address a wide range of research topics: agricultural trade; food security; food policy; global governance; EU agricultural policies; and, the connections between food and environment, energy, water, and markets. We are particularly interested in dynamic interactions and implementation issues across policy sectors and levels, including the role of trust, multi-stakeholder platforms, and collaboration.

The ECPR Standing Group on Gender and Politics forms a broad-based network on issues relating to the study of gender and sexuality in politics and world politics. The Group actively encourages workshops, panels and research groups with an emphasis on gender and seeks to increase the profile of women in the main fields of political science.

The Health Policy, Politics and Governance (Health-PPG) Research Network brings together scholars with research interests in the policy, politics and governance of health and healthcare in Europe and beyond. It welcomes scholars from all political science sub-disciplines, including comparative politics, political sociology, public policy and administration studies, political economy, international relations, foreign policy analysis, political psychology and political theory. The network is open to all methodological approaches.