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Topic · Political Science and International Relations

Political Theory and Democracy

Political Theory and Democracy is a research topic within Political Science and International Relations. Science Explorer counts 5.6k research works in it since 1950. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of topics related to democratic theory, including deliberative democracy, political participation, global governance, civil society, democratic crisis, and democratization. It explores the challenges and prospects for democracy in various contexts and provides insights into the evolution of democratic theory and practice.

  • Democracy
  • Political Participation
  • Democratic Crisis
  • Deliberative Democracy
  • Global Governance
  • Civil Society
  • Political Accountability
  • Republicanism
  • Democratic Participation
  • Democratization
Research works
5.6k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
548
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-10%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Spain
31% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Political Theory and Democracy

Which countries lead Political Theory and Democracy research?

By volume, Spain and Mexico publish the most (251 and 169 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Spain 251 works
  2. 2 Mexico 169 works
  3. 3 Argentina 122 works
  4. 4 Colombia 61 works
  5. 5 Chile 53 works
  6. 6 Brazil 40 works
  7. 7 United States 38 works
  8. 8 Peru 31 works
  9. 9 Ecuador 27 works
  10. 10 France 18 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

Spain: 31.0%Mexico: 20.9%Argentina: 15.0%Colombia: 7.5%6 others listed: 25.5%31%largest
Spain251 · 31.0%Mexico169 · 20.9%Argentina122 · 15.0%Colombia61 · 7.5%6 others listed207 · 25.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Political Theory and Democracy research?

By volume in 2022-now, Universidad Complutense de Madrid publishes the most Political Theory and Democracy research, followed by Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and Universidad de Buenos Aires.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 35 works
  2. 2 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 32 works
  3. 3 Universidad de Buenos AiresArgentina 26 works
  4. 4 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y TécnicasArgentina 25 works
  5. 5 Universidad de GranadaSpain 12 works
  6. 6 Universidad de GuadalajaraMexico 11 works
  7. 7 Universidad Autónoma de MadridSpain 10 works
  8. 8 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasSpain 10 works
  9. 9 National University of RosarioArgentina 9 works
  10. 10 Universidad Nacional de CórdobaArgentina 9 works

Who are the leading researchers in Political Theory and Democracy?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Political Theory and Democracy include Pierre Bourdıeu, Michel Foucault and Noam Chomsky.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  2. 2 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  3. 3 Noam Chomsky United States 141k citations
  4. 4 Anthony Giddens United States 121k citations
  5. 5 Amartya Kumar Sen United States 117k citations
  6. 6 Francis Fukuyama United States 110k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Political Theory and Democracy?

The most cited paper in Political Theory and Democracy is "On the state, democratization and some conceptual problems: A Latin American view with glances at some postcommunist countries" (Guillermo A O'Donnell, 1993), with 1,464 citations. Next come "The Crisis of Democracy. Report on the Governability of democracies to the Trilateral Commission" (1,303) and "THE ORGANIZATION AS POLITICAL ARENA" (672).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 On the state, democratization and some conceptual problems: A Latin American view with glances at some postcommunist countries Guillermo A O'Donnell · World Development Open access Aug 1993 1,464
2 The Crisis of Democracy. Report on the Governability of democracies to the Trilateral Commission Michael James Crozier, Samuel P. Huntington, Jōji Watanuki · Digitum: Institutional Repository of the University of Murcia (University of Murcia) Open access 2012 1,303
3 THE ORGANIZATION AS POLITICAL ARENA Henry Mintzberg · Journal of Management Studies Mar 1985 672
4 Populism in Venezuela: the rise of Chavismo Kirk Andrew Hawkins · Third World Quarterly Dec 2003 159
5 Evaluating Argentina's Presidential Democracy: 1983–1995 Mark P. Jones · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter 13 May 1997 154
All 101 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Political Theory and Democracy research done?

The largest centres of Political Theory and Democracy research in 2022-now are Madrid (Spain), Mexico City (Mexico), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Santiago (Chile). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Buenos Aires.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 MadridSpain 95 works
  2. 2 Mexico CityMexico 62 works
  3. 3 Buenos AiresArgentina 58 works
  4. 4 SantiagoChile 37 works
  5. 5 BogotáColombia 33 works
  6. 6 BarcelonaSpain 16 works
  7. 7 LimaPeru 16 works
  8. 8 SevilleSpain 13 works
  9. 9 GuadalajaraMexico 13 works
  10. 10 QuitoEcuador 12 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Buenos AiresAR · 58.3 works35×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Political Theory and Democracy than the world average.

See Political Theory and Democracy on the map

Where is the best place to study Political Theory and Democracy?

Among universities, judged by research, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Universidad de Granada and University of the Basque Country score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 10.6%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Universidad de GranadaUniversidad de Salam…University of the Ba…Universidad Complute…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 59.77.6%50.4×35 +48.5%
2Universidad de GranadaSpain 51.418.1%26.9×12 -19.7%
3University of the Basque CountrySpain 51.316.3%22.2×8 +37.1%
4Universidad de SalamancaSpain 45.418.0%29.5×8 -45.4%
5Universidad de Buenos AiresArgentina 43.37.4%81.0×26 -17.8%
6Universidad Autónoma de MadridSpain 41.911.8%23.1×10 -12.7%
7Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 40.85.1%40.2×32 -38.4%
8Universidad de MurciaSpain 31.69.5%34.3×8 +22.0%
9Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo LeónMexico 26.29.5%48.9×8 +48.4%
10Universidad de GuadalajaraMexico 19.32.7%44.2×10 +59.0%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Political Theory and Democracy, country by country

Is Political Theory and Democracy research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 10% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Political Theory and Democracy as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0039% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Political Theory and Democracy0.0046% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Political Theory and Democracy over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Political Theory and Democracy9.5% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Questions people ask

Who researches democracy?

By volume in 2022-now, Universidad Complutense de Madrid publishes the most Political Theory and Democracy research, followed by Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and Universidad de Buenos Aires. By volume, Spain and Mexico publish the most (251 and 169 works in 2022-now).

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

Discussion

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