Democratization in a globalized and mediatized world was the topic of the 2017 Summer School held in St. Gallen and organized by the School of Economics and Political Science (University of St. Gallen) and the Doctoral Program Democracy Studies.

The 2017 Summer School focused on chances and risks for democracy and democratization in an increasingly interconnected world. It introduced the participants to a wide repertoire of concepts, theories, and methodological strategies in one of the thorniest territories in social sciences – how political systems become, and remain, democratically governed, and how democratic institutions become, and remain, socially embedded.

This week-long Summer School was to bring together and to train a group of ambitious PhD students in theoretical, empirical and research-strategic issues on the subject matter. It also aimed to encourage the exchange of their expertise when addressing pressing questions of democracy research in an intellectually rigorous fashion. Moreover, the Summer School gave the participants a unique opportunity to discuss their individual research projects in small groups and with acknowledged international experts from their field.

The Summer School program involved five one-day sessions focused on a particular theme related to the wider topic:

• Global democratic governance (H. Stevenson, U of Sheffield / K. Dingwerth, U of St. Gallen)
• Democratic diffusion (J.A. Elkink, U College Dublin / J. Pevehouse, U of Wisconsin-Madison / O. Westerwinter, U of St. Gallen)
• Social movements in complex media ecologies (A. Robertson, U of Stockholm / Y. Welp, U of St. Gallen& ZDA)
• Democratic socialization and attitude change (C. Welzel, Leuphana U Lüneburg / T. Freyburg, U of St. Gallen)
• Development assistance and natural resource revenues (S. Dietrich, U of Essex / R. Hodler, U of St. Gallen)