Introducing a Conceptual Map of Political Elites’ Responses to Different Types of Uncertain Phenomena

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Abstract

Political elites—like ministers or members of parliament—face numerous phenomena that are characterized by uncertainty. Uncertainty ranges from resolvable to radical, whereby the former can be removed with more or better information, but radical uncertainty cannot. Remarkably, little is known about political elites’ responses to such phenomena, both theoretically (what responses are likely?) and empirically (which responses do political elites display?). This “New Ideas” contribution addresses the theoretical lacuna by presenting a multidisciplinary conceptual map of possible responses to radical and resolvable uncertainty. These responses influence political elites’ effectiveness in solving problems and, thus, how representative democracies function. The article also sketches how to identify the responses empirically.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages9
JournalPolitical Studies Review
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 25 Jan 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research is funded by the European Union (ERC Consolidator grant, RADIUNCE, #101043543).

FundersFunder number
European Commission
European Research Council101043543

    Keywords

    • political elites
    • radical uncertainty
    • representative democracy
    • resolvable uncertainty
    • responses to uncertainty

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