TRU’s mission was to investigate the state of democracy globally. The research was conducted by a team comprising scholars from a wide range of countries and academic disciplines. The cross-cultural studies included a theoretical and data-based research approaches.
TRU’s research examined democracies located in vastly different historical and cultural contexts. The cases studies included South Africa, South Korea, Chile, Poland, Turkey, Germany, and Sweden. By investigating the political institutions, economy, civil society, culture, values, and ethics present in each of these seven democracies, TRU’s research helped to illuminate the difficulties associated with democratic transformation and consolidation of democracy in the countries of interest, as well as highlight the difficulties democracies the world over encountered as they tried to cope with the global financial crisis and its consequences.
Over the years TRI and TRU have been generously supported National Research Foundation, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, Daimler Foundation, Daimler-Chrysler Foundation, Anglo-American Chairman’s Trust, Eskom Development Fund, Billiton Development Trust, and the National Business Initiative.
In 2022, TRU was reorganised into a fully institutionalised research centre, the Centre for Research on Democracy (CREDO).