A Framework for Understanding the Drivers of Cohesion and Polarisation in Australia
Author/editor:Tim Dixon and Nicholas Biddle
Year published:2025
Democracies around the world are confronting rising polarisation, driven by changes in media environments, political incentives, and social fragmentation. Australia has not experienced the severe divisions seen in some comparable democracies, but recent evidence shows emerging risks across…
Artificial Intelligence, False Information, and Electoral Integrity Perceptions
Author/editor:Nicholas Biddle, Svitlana Chernykh, Constanza Sanhueza Petrarca, and Sophie Farthing
Year published:2025
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming information environments, amplifying both opportunities and risks for democratic systems. Among the most pressing concerns are the ways in which generative AI and digital misinformation may affect citizens’ perceptions of electoral integrity.…
Civic Infrastructure in the Age of Digital Engagement
Author/editor:Peter Lewis, Alex Fischer, Adele Webb, Nicholas Biddle, Sally Cripps, Thea Snow, and Geoff Mulgan
Year published:2025
We are in a race to rebuild trust and meaningful citizen engagement at a time when economic, social, political, and technological forces pull in the opposite direction. Traditional in-person engagement is declining, and government consultation processes are not meeting expectations. At the same…
Mapping Civic Participation Opportunities across Australia
Author/editor:Dr Rouven Link
Year published:2025
Civic participation is crucial for maintaining a healthy democracy, and consequently, enhancing civic participation has become a critical concern for policymakers. Existing research predominantlyexamines how and why individuals participate in civil society, such as through volunteering activities.…
Voters' Perceptions of Party Brands
Author/editor:Fortunato, David, Thiago N. Silva and Laron Williams.
Year published:2025
To cast a satisfying vote, understand politics, or otherwise participate in political discourse or processes, voters must have some idea of what policies parties are pursuing and, more generally, 'who goes with whom.' This Element aims to both advance the study of how voters formulate and update…
Lessons from the crucible: Options for parliamentary representation, accountability and trust from power sharing situations
Author/editor:Professor Brenton Prosser (UNSW) and Professor Nicholas Biddle (ANU)
Year published:2025
Australia has a long tradition of democratic innovation, with its political institutions evolving alongside shifting social, technological, environmental, and geopolitical conditions. Yet like many peer democracies, Australia is experiencing declining support for major parties, rising electoral…
Attitudes towards migration and the relationship with democratic satisfaction: October 2024
Author/editor:Professor Nicholas Biddle, Professor Ben Edwards, Professor Ian McAllister, and Dr Constanza Sanhueza Petrarca
Year published:2025
This paper explores the intersection of attitudes toward migration and satisfaction with democracy in Australia and Europe, using data from the Australian Social Survey International-ESS (AUSSI-ESS) conducted in October 2024 and the European Social Survey (ESS). The analysis highlights how…
Shifting Trust and Satisfaction: Monitoring a Key Dimension of Democratic Resilience in Australia (October 2024 to May 2025)
Author/editor:Professor Nicholas Biddle
Year published:2025
How do major national events—such as elections, geopolitical shifts, and natural disasters— shape public trust in democratic institutions? This paper draws on data from the 2025 Election Monitoring Survey Series (EMSS), a four-wave longitudinal survey conducted between October 2024 and May 2025, to…
Learning to Govern Together in Representative Democracy: The Dynamics of Cooperation and Competition in Coalition Governance
Author/editor:König, Thomas, Xiao Lu and Thiago N. Silva.
Year published:2025
Learning to Govern Together in Representative Democracy introduces a dynamic theory of coalition governance, focusing on the temporal constraints that coalition parties face when governing together in representative democracies. The book examines how coalition partners, over the course of a…
The Gender Gap Revisited: Polarisation, Progress, and Party Politics in Contemporary Australia March/April 2025
Author/editor:Professor Nicholas Biddle, Professor Michelle K Ryan, Dr Jill Sheppard.
Year published:2025
The 2022 federal election in Australia saw gender emerge as a defining issue, driven by the rise of high-profile female independent candidates and public debates on women’s treatment in politics and the workplace. In the lead-up to the 2025 federal election, this paper draws on new data from Wave 3…