Pro Futura Scientia Fellow, SCAS;
Assistant Professor of Political Science, Linnaeus University

Hybrid event.
Zoom Webinar: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/65802739142 External link.

ABSTRACT:
Roughly one in ten Swedes experiences poor mental health, yet we know surprisingly little about what this means for democracy. Broad participation is central to democracy, not least among groups whose interests risk being overlooked. Do people with mental illness take part in elections, run for office and get elected to the same extent as others? If not, a large and growing group risks being left out of the decisions that shape their lives, including decisions about health care itself. This project draws on Swedish population registers to follow everyone who has been eligible to vote in several elections, linking information on psychiatric diagnoses and treatment to records of voting and political candidacy. This allows us to see how political participation changes when people fall ill, and to reach groups that are otherwise hard to study. In the seminar, I present the project and its first findings, and discuss what they mean for democratic representation.