Democracy with Abstention

• Applicant: Dr. Marcus Carlsen Häggrot
• Subject Area: Political Science ; Practical Philosophy
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 568988884

In response to widespread electoral abstention in political elections, democratic societies and normative political theory must answer important moral questions about non-voting. Contributing to this task, this project analyzes five puzzles that have garnered virtually no scholarly attention thus far: 1) Are there special reasons why politically motivated non-voting might be morally permissible? 2) Is it morally permissible to encourage and advocate for non-voting? 3) Do representatives have any special moral duties if they are elected in contests with low voter turnout? 4) Are quorum rules a morally justifiable institutional response to non-voting? 5) To what extent are elected representatives morally permitted to abstain from voting in the institutions where they serve? Examining these questions with the tools of analytic and empirical political theory, the project aims to make a major contribution to the philosophy of electoral participation. It will produce a complete book manuscript on the morality and politics of non-voting, as well as three journal articles, a series of conference presentations, and a book manuscript workshop. Hosted by the research center Normative Orders at Goethe University Frankfurt, the project will be integrated into an internationally recognized hub for political theory research and carried out by a researcher with seven years of postdoctoral research experience and expertise in the philosophy of electoral participation and democratic theory more broadly.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants