SECUDEM_HAKU

Timetable: 01.06.2026- 31.12.2029

Project status: Active

Funders: Koneen säätiö

Budget: 450 000€ - 500 000€

Project website: https://koneensaatio.fi/en/grants-and-residencies/securing-democracy-how-security-narratives-shape-public-attitudes-and-democratic-values-2/

Sustainable development goals: Eriarvoisuuden vähentäminen
; Rauha, oikeudenmukaisuus ja hyvä hallinto; Sukupuolten tasa-arvo

Summary: This four-year research project investigates how security-based narratives affect democratic judgment among political elites and the general public. In times of perceived crisis, whether due to pandemics, war, terrorism, or climate instability, governments often justify exceptional measures by framing them as necessary for national security. While existing research has examined democratic backsliding and public support for norm violations in electoral contexts, much less is known about how securitization shapes democratic attitudes, particularly regarding support for civil liberties, minority rights, and institutional trust. Even less attention has been paid to who opts out of democratic evaluation altogether, including individuals who remain silent, say "don't know," or decline to judge.This project addresses these gaps through a mixed-methods design. A qualitative content analysis of elite political discourse in Finland will identify how political actors frame issues as security threats. These findings will directly inform a series of original survey experiments designed to test how variations in framing, elite identity, and threat intensity influence public attitudes. Special attention will be given to patterns of non-response in these experiments, allowing the project to examine not only what citizens think about democracy, but also who feels entitled to think about it at all.By linking elite-level framing to patterns of public response and silence, this project contributes to our understanding of how democratic accountability functions, and sometimes fails, under conditions of perceived threat. It advances theoretical debates in political science, democratic theory, and security studies, while offering empirical tools to assess the health of democratic attitudes in an era of overlapping global crises.