On Monday, September 8th, the Mortara Center for International Studies had the honor of welcoming Professor Johnathan Slapin of the University of Zürich as a distinguished guest for the Mortara Center’s recurring seminar series. The Mortara Research Seminar is a prestigious gathering for academics to present their research to the Georgetown School of Foreign Service research community for discussion and feedback. Professor Slapin, the Chair of Political Institutions and European Government at Zürich University, held an enlightening talk on his newest research project, titled “How Descriptive Over and Under-Representation Impacts Citizens’ Evaluations of Decision-Making Across Policy Domains”.
Professor Slapin is a distinguished political scientist whose research has significantly advanced the study of legislative politics, European governance, and political institutions. As Chair of Political Institutions and European Government at the University of Zürich, Professor Slapin has established himself as a leading authority in comparative politics, with a prolific body of work that includes acclaimed books such as Veto Power, Roll Call Rebels, and The Politics of Parliamentary Debate. His scholarship, recognized by numerous awards including the Richard Fenno Prize and the Leon Epstein Outstanding Book Award, has deepened our understanding of party dissent, legislative behavior, and the dynamics of parliamentary speech. Professor Slapin has also shaped scholarly discourse through editorial leadership at Legislative Studies Quarterly and Oxford University Press’s Comparative Politics series. With an active presence in global academic forums and a strong commitment to graduate training, he continues to illuminate the complex interplay between institutions, representation, and democratic accountability in Europe and beyond.
Alongside Verena Reidinger and Professor Lucas Leemann, Professor Slapin’s recent work continues his broader investigation into the dynamics of democratic legitimacy, focusing on how descriptive representation shapes citizens’ perceptions of fairness in political decision-making. Professor Slapin used a survey experiment to explore how the gender composition of policymaking committees influences public trust, particularly when those committees make decisions on issues that disproportionately affect women. The findings suggest that equal or over-representation of women enhances perceptions of fairness when the issue is seen as moral in nature, such as abortion. However, when the policy is perceived as conferring targeted benefits to women, over-representation may actually reduce perceived legitimacy. Slapin’s analysis underscores the need to consider both who is making decisions and what kinds of issues are on the table when evaluating how democratic processes are understood by the public.
Professor Slapin’s informative discussion concluded with one-on-one meetings with different faculty members and PhD candidates interested in his field of expertise. In one of these meetings, I sat down with Professor Slapin to discuss his time at the Mortara Center and at Georgetown. He explained to me his fascination with how so many European countries that began as sworn enemies were able to come together with the advent of the European Union and create close diplomatic relationships. Professor Slapin’s interests in academia, and this paper in particular, are not just function, he told me; there is merit to an experiment of mere thought, and there is power in the act of debate.