Stellenbosch University | Political Science
CENTRE FOR RESEARCH ON DEMOCRACY
Profile and Mission
The Centre for Research on Democracy (CREDO) at Stellenbosch University is an interdisciplinary academic centre with a global reach dedicated to the study and promotion of democracy and its values. Established in 2021, CREDO nevertheless builds on a 25-year long history of studying democracy in South Africa in a global perspective and is strengthened by a team of academic experts on Africa, South East Asia, MENA, Latin America, Eastern and Western Europe. Disciplines represented within the centre include political science, international relations, economics, sociology, and history.
CREDO’s institutional network includes over a dozen institutions of higher learning and research as well as two global data gathering projects: The World Values Survey (WVS) and Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). This international academic community has readily responded to our call to help ensure the continuity of our longitudinal research on challenges to democracy in both South Africa and globally. Since establishment, CREDO’s team of research associates has grown by leaps and bounds to include academics from across the globe.
Besides conducting research, CREDO is steadily building up a series of initiatives designed to promote the increased engagement with democracy by students and non-academics. Thus far, these initiatives have included the African Data Hub for the Study of Democracy and the African Democracy Essay Award. Through regular webinars, CREDO is also positioning itself to become a national hub for debates on contemporary issues affecting South Africa’s democracy and its active promotion in the country. Most recently, CREDO has begun publication of a regular email newsletter for business leaders, policymakers, and the curious public. Democracy Delivered is published monthly and provides insight and analysis on the latest democratic trends and developments.
Management Team
Prof Ursula van Beek, Founding Director
ORCID | CV | Email
Prof van Beek’s academic career spans three decades, beginning with the first cross-cultural comparative study on democratic transitions in South Africa and Poland. She is responsible for the establishment of both the Transformation Research Initiative and the Transformation Research Unit, CREDO’s predecessor organisations.
Damien du Preez, Marketing & Communications Officer
Bio | CV | Email
Damien is a graduand of Stellenbosch University, having completed a BA in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. He’s been involved in CREDO since its inception and is passionate about leveraging his skills to contribute to projects and organisations creating positive change in the world.
Dr Lloyd Chigowe, National University of Lesotho, Lesotho
Email
Research interests:
Democratic governance
Political polarisation
Human rights and development
Regional integration
Prof Radoslaw Markowski, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Email
Research interests:
Comparative politics
Party systems
Electoral studies
Democratization
Dr Leon Poshai, Midlands State University, Zimbabwe
Email
Research interests:
Political participation and activism
Electoral systems management
Democratic backsliding
Tactics for opposition politics
Governance and public management
Dr Krige Siebrits, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
ORCID | CV | ResearchGate | Email
Research interests:
Fiscal policy
Economic policymaking
Institutional economics
Dr Justin Pearce, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
CV | Email
Research interests:
Southern African political history, particularly Angola and Mozambique
The Global Cold War
Ideology, political identities and international connections in anti-colonial struggles
Civil war, post-war politics and peace building
Student Assistants
Kira Alberts, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Email
Kira is a KAS-CREDO Scholar and a Master’s student at Stellenbosch University. Her thesis topic focuses on the comparative analysis of disinformation and voter behavior in the Global North and South, a topic which draws on her keen interest in the intersection of African politics and technology.
Sonia Twongyeirwe, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Email
Sonia is a Bachelor’s student at Stellenbosch University with a passion for investigating and understanding Africa’s ever-changing political landscape. She won third place in CREDO’s inaugural African Democracy Essay Prize and is the most recent addition to the Centre’s close-knit team.
Our History
The Transformation Research Initiative (TRI) was established in 2000 at the Centre for International and Comparative Politics at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. The predecessor for what would become the Centre for Research on Democracy, TRI was an informal group of academics who represented the disciplines of political science, sociology, economics, history, and theology, hailing from eight countries located in globally diverse cultural regions. Their common quest was the pursuit of quality research on democracy.
Following TRI came the Transformation Research Unit (TRU), launched in 2015 at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Building on the work of TRI, and supported by many of the same academic experts, TRU’s mission was to organise research projects that would monitor the cultural conditions for the persistence of democratic regimes. In 2022, TRU was officially reorganised into the Centre for Research on Democracy, a fully institutionalised research centre to be located in the Department of Political Science at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
Research Agenda
CREDO continues the tradition of taking into account the fluctuating global context against which to conduct comparative case studies. The object of the inquiry is to identify and examine developments posing threats to democracy, both at the global and country levels.
Among such major threats is polarisation as it erodes respect for contrary opinions, one of the hallmarks of liberal democracy. For this reason, the first CREDO project focused on the problem of polarisation. The study included a number of case studies but is also offered insights on theory, the impact on polarisation in international diplomacy, and the role of economic inequality as one of the triggers. Two closely interlinked longer-term comparative studies will follow at cross-regional and African regional levels to assess the full range of other dangers facing democracy in today’s world.
In March 2023, CREDO hosted its first research workshop with the intention of establishing a research agenda for the centre’s new Africa Focus Group. The workshop brought together scholars from South Africa, Canada, Kenya, Lesotho, the United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe for two days of intense discussion and celebration. More information can be found in Issue 2 of the centre’s monthly newsletter.
Research Outputs
CREDO’s first research output was the publication of eight essays in the July 2021 special issue of the Taiwan Journal of Democracy. These essays focused on the intersection of democracy and polarisation, and have also been featured in a series of three articles for Democracy in Africa.
Soon after came the Published in November 2022 with Palgrave Macmillan is the centre’s first major publication, an edited collection of academic essays entitled Democracy Under Pressure: Resilience or Retreat? The book can be accessed here.
Made up of contributions from CREDO research associates, the book seeks to identify the main factors shaping the fortunes of democracy globally. Why do some democracies in the same region and presumably subject to similar global influences remain stable while others regress? The book includes examinations of 16 democracies and insights from the perspectives of history, political science, economics and international relations, and is anchored in the analytical tradition.
Contact Us
You can follow CREDO on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. You can also subscribe to our newsletter, Democracy Delivered, for monthly insight and analysis on democratic trends and developments. If you’re interested in our work, we welcome emails from potential colleagues and curious students from across the globe.