The newly established Research Group on Bureaucracy and Democratic Governance essentially focuses on the values, roles, relationships and positions of civil servants in contemporary democracies, as well as countries with authoritarian practices. Specific interests concern the increasingly observed trends towards political populism and democratic backsliding, and how this affects the public service and bureaucracy. Topics the Research Group is interested in are (not exhaustive):

• The guardian role of civil servants to preserve the quality of democracy, democratic processes and public policies.

• The effect of political populism on the values, roles and responsibilities of civil servants in general, and on politico-administrative relations in specific.

• Sense-making of bureaucrats vis a vis on-going practices of illiberal, populist and/or authoritarian politicians.

• Factors/context/mechanisms that make civil servants (dis)engage with illiberal leadership.

• Effects of populism on civil servant-citizens interactions

• Tension between responsiveness, (types of) loyalty, accountability, ethics/professional norms, discretion concerning moral dilemmas.

• Populist perspectives on the bureaucracy and populist modes of public governance

• When and how civil servants justify resistance towards political orders vs. institutionalized compliance (“neutrality”) while respecting the democratic order

• The role of public leadership within public organisations in dis- or encouraging responses to illiberal interventions

• Restoring democracy after illiberal rule: the role of bureaucracy

• The conditions that enable the legitimacy of bureaucracy to act as a democratic actor

With the establishment of this new Research Group, ENPA wants to engage with this important topic in contemporary public administration, with relevance for practice (how to engage as civil servants with populistic politicians), theory (implications of declining democratic quality for our understanding of politico-administrative relations), and normative thinking (the quality and future of democracy, and the contribution of bureaucracy thereto).

We aim to develop an international platform for scholars to present their work, providing fertile breeding ground for international collaborations as well. Our ‘ideal’ community consists of a good combination of established and upcoming scholars (including PhD-students) from both established democracies and countries experiencing authoritarian practice, and provides an important venue for younger scholars as well as scholars from historically underrepresented regions and institutions to connect to strong international networks.

For the upcoming ENPA conference to be held in Madrid from 1-3 September 2027, the Research Group requests abstracts drawing on current research related to

During this conference, the Research Group will provide a podium for broad discussion around selected empirical and/or theoretical papers that focus on one or more of the topics this Research Group is built upon (cf. supra). We are welcoming abstracts (no longer than 500 words) that:

• Have a succinct and relevant title; include author affiliations and contact details;

• Cover the main line of argument to be explored in the full paper;

• Show evidence of innovative and creative thinking which is well grounded in theory or otherwise is well argued;

• ndicate whether the proposed paper is theoretical, empirical  and/or normative in orientation; and

• Position the proposed paper in the contemporary discourse in democratic backsliding, political populism, authoritarian practice and how this relates to (roles and functions of) bureaucracy and public service.

Next to that, on the occasion of the ENPA-conference, we will organize a special panel session (open for all conference delegates, and also for non-participants via livestream) on the newly published book “Handbook on Populism and Bureaucracy”, edited by Kutsal Yesilkagit, Jon Pierre and Guy Peters (forthcoming 2027, Edward Elgar).

Please note that we are keen to encourage new and existing scholars in the field to contribute to the Research Group. And do not hesitate to contact us with any questions regarding the conference and/or the Research Group.