International Associated Laboratory on Political Parties, Representatives and Sustainable Development
| PARDUR
| Events PARDUR
PARDUR
PARDUR (Political Parties, Representatives and Sustainable Development) is an international Associated Laboratory founded in May 2023 under a 5-year agreement between the rectorates of Université Laval and Université de Lausanne. It represents the fruit of collaboration between the two universities to enable research teams to join forces.
The International Laboratory aims to become an international centre of excellence in the study on political parties, political representatives and sustainable development, thanks to the quality and relevance of its research, innovation, training and transfer activities. To this end, its mission is to develop knowledge and technologies, and to promote their transfer to academic community and broader public.
Despite the growing importance of societal issues linked to sustainable development in many fields of political and social sciences, research on political parties and political representatives is rather limited, including in Switzerland and Quebec. For example, the main source of international studies on political party platforms (https://manifestoproject.wzb.eu) provides only a general overview of sustainable development as an object of research in electoral studies, political communication and public policy.
Aiming to promote political research in sustainable development, the International Laboratory targets two complementary areas: the first regards how political parties and representation meet the challenges of reconciling the objectives of economic growth, social equity and environmental protection; the second refers to political salience and diversity of environmental issues (e.g., debates around energy sources, measures against pollution, the implications of industrial reconversions, etc.). These challenges are playing an increasingly important role in reshaping public opinions, electoral campaigns, party systems, parliamentary debates, and governement decision-making.
The International Laboratory aims to establish a consistent and regular observation of these challenges for better understanding the evolution of our democracies. The project focuses primarily on the political systems of Switzerland and Quebec. The evolution of the LIA, in conjunction with subsequent funding and collaborations, will extend to political systems bordering North America and Europe. The study of the role of the media and public opinion in relation to sustainable development and environmental issues is also envisaged.
The LIA - Political parties, political representations and sustainable development (PARDUR-LIA) aims to build an inter-institutional structure to pool the resources of UNIL and Université Laval in the study of political parties and sustainability issues. PARDUR-LIA would be jointly directed by a professor from UNIL and one from Université Laval.
The main objectives of the LIA are as follows:
- Build an original information base to understand the evolution of political party proposals in Switzerland and Quebec, with a focus on programs for provincial/cantonal and federal elections, as well as parliamentary debates and decisions at federal and regional levels.
- Develop monitoring tools for parliamentary proceedings related to sustainable development.
- Develop original international research, in particular using artificial intelligence tools.
- Strengthen synergies with a view to future research projects and funding applications.
- To become an international center of excellence for the study of the political challenges of sustainable development and the environment.
The LIA also envisages complementary objectives, to be developed with external collaborations and third-party funding.
- The development of opinion surveys to better understand the formation of citizen orientations at the root of partisan cleavages (e.g., analysis of voting determinants).
- The role of the media in shaping the political agenda, particularly in highlighting environmental issues.
- The implementation and impact of public policies in the field of sustainable development.
- The extension of databases and analyses to other regions and countries in Europe and North America.
With the support of
UNIL
- Vice-Rectorate for External Relations and Scientific Communication
- International Relations Department
- Institute of Political Studies
- Research Observatory for Regional Politics
ULAVAL
- Vice-Rector for Research, Creation and Innovation
- Faculty of Social Sciences
- Research Chair in Democracy and Parliamentary Institutions
- Department of Political Science - Academic Support Fund
UNIL
- Antoine Lehmann
- Oscar Mazzoleni, co-director
- Emilia Meini
- Andrea Pilotti
Université Laval
- Yannick Dufresne
- Valérie-Anne Mahéo
- Éric Montigny , co-director
- Jean-Frédéric Morin
Events PARDUR
