KODEM launch conferance!

How is the liberal democracy really doing today?

What challenges does it face, and what opportunities do we have to strengthen it? These were the questions at the heart of the conference “The Liberal Democracy on Trial,” held in Bergen on October 27, where researchers, students, politicians, and public sector representatives came together. The event was organized by the research infrastructure KODEM at the Department of Government, University of Bergen.

The conference marked the official launch of KODEM, a national initiative designed to give researchers new insight into how democracy and trust function in practice. Through four large, nationally representative panels — including citizens, politicians, public administrators, and media professionals — the project aims to build a long-term knowledge base that can illuminate changes in Norwegian public life and governance over time.

But this day was first and foremost about looking outward and upward. With international and national speakers on stage, the main hall at Nygårdsgaten 5 became a space for reflection and debate on the state of democracy, both globally and at home.

The American political scientist Diana Mutz opened the conference with an engaging lecture on how the experience of being a “winner” or “loser” in globalization shapes people’s political attitudes. She showed that views on international trade are less about personal economic interests, and more about identity, status, and perceptions of fairness.

Later, Don Moynihan, one of the world’s leading scholars in public policy and administration, offered a different perspective: what happens when the public administration itself becomes a political battleground. In his lecture “Trump’s Assault on the Administrative State,” he took the United States as a case to illustrate how the Trump administration’s political interventions have put the entire administrative state under pressure, raising broader questions about how similar tendencies might threaten fundamental democratic principles elsewhere.

Between the keynote lectures, researchers presented a series of projects using data from KODEM, highlighting different facets of democracy: how young voters engage politically, how the immigration debate affects tolerance, how climate policies divide voters, and how inequalities between the center and periphery challenge the legitimacy of the state.

A recurring theme throughout the day was how societal changes from technology to geography are creating new political divides and placing new demands on both research and democracy itself.

The day concluded with a broad panel discussion on knowledge and expertise, featuring Jonas Stein (UiT), Camilla Stoltenberg (NORCE), Margareth Hagen (Rector, UiB), and Sveinung Rotevatn (Deputy Leader, Venstre), who shared experiences and perspectives from academia, research, and politics.

A heartfelt thank you to KODEM for an outstanding event and to everyone who contributed to making it a success!