The Sixth Module of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES)

20世纪90年代，世界各地的民主国家数量急剧增加。独立监督组织自由之家估计，截至2016年，世界上近三分之二的国家是选举民主国家，几乎是20年前民主国家数量的两倍。最近几年，民主国家面临着新的挑战。例如，第二次世界大战以来最大规模的难民流动给新兴民主国家和老牌民主国家都带来了巨大压力。这种压力和其他压力会降低民众对民主的满意度吗？它将启动向威权领导人还是民粹主义领导人的转变？CSES研究项目是一个由60多个国家的学者合作的项目，旨在能够解决这些问题以及对科学和社会同样重要的更多问题。CSE的合作者在他们国家的选举后进行高质量的、具有全国代表性的调查。CSE将这些调查以及关于国家和选举制度的其他信息合并为一个数据集，供学者、学生、政策制定者、记者和公众免费使用。在近25年的科学和社会服务中，CSE已经在选举民主方面取得了许多重要成果，并准备解决这些和其他新问题。自由之家估计，截至2016年，全球195个国家中有123个是选举民主国家，大约是20年前民主国家数量的两倍。然而，21世纪初见证了这一伟大实验的成功所面临的挑战。例如，人类历史上最大规模的难民流动之一，给新兴民主国家和老牌民主国家都带来了巨大压力。这种压力在越来越威权的领导人(即使是那些通过民主程序选出的领导人)身上体现了多少，在民粹主义的传播中体现了多少，这些问题非常适合通过CSE进行研究。CSE促进了对有关选举选择的持久和根本问题的理解。这一独特的研究计划的目标有三个：阐明社会、政治和经济的体制和结构背景，尤其是选举机构，如何塑造公民的信仰和行为，从而制约通过普选表达的民主选择的性质和质量；了解政治和社会分裂和结盟的性质；以及阐明生活在不同政治安排下的公民如何评估民主机构和程序。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The 1990s witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of democracies around the world. The independent watchdog organization Freedom House estimates that as of 2016, nearly two-thirds of the world's countries are electoral democracies, nearly doubling the number of democracies from just two decades earlier. More recent years have witnessed new challenges to the democracies. The largest movements of refugees since World War II, for example, has put great pressure on new and established democracies alike. Will this and other pressures decrease popular satisfaction with democracy? Will it initiate a turn to authoritarian leaders or to populist leaders? The CSES research project, a collaboration of scholars in more than 60 countries, is designed to be able to address these questions and many more that are equally important to science and society. CSES collaborators conduct high quality, nationally representative surveys after elections in their countries. CSES combines these surveys along with additional information about the country and electoral system into a single dataset for use - at no cost - by academics, students, policymakers, journalists, and the public. At nearly 25 years of service to science and society, CSES has already yielded many important results about electoral democracy and is poised to tackle these and other new questions.Freedom House estimates that as of 2016, 123 of the world's 195 countries are electoral democracies, approximately double the number of democracies just two decades earlier. The early twenty-first century, however, has witnessed challenges to the success of this great experiment. One of the largest massive movements of refugees in human history, for example, has put great pressure on new and established democracies alike. How much has this pressure been manifested in increasingly authoritarian leaders (even those elected via democratic procedures) and how much has been manifest in the spread of populism are questions that are ideally suited for study through the CSES. CSES advances the understanding of enduring and fundamental questions about electoral choice. The goals of this unique research program are threefold: to illuminate how societal, political, and economic institutional and structural contexts, most especially electoral institutions, shape the beliefs and behaviors of citizens, thereby conditioning the nature and quality of democratic choice as expressed through popular elections; to understand the nature of political and social cleavages and alignments; and to shed light on how citizens, living under diverse political arrangements, evaluate democratic institutions and processes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.