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Prof. Dr. Stefanie Bailer

Department of Social Sciences
Profiles & Affiliations

Research Interests

Stefanie Bailer specializes in parliamentarism research in Germany, Switzerland and Europe, decision-making processes in the European Union, and international negotiation analysis. Within the framework of these research topics, she analyzes the decision-making processes of political actors and the way in which their decisions are influenced by institutions. Current research projects deal with "Trust in politicians? What role does representation play" (SNF Weave project, 2022-2025)", "Visual Politician - how do politicians show themselves on social media?" (2021-2023) and "Perceptions of Corruption" ( in cooperation with Basel Institute on Governance, 2023-).



Selected Publications

Sheffer, Lior, Loewen, Peter, Walgrave, Stefaan, Bailer, Stefanie, Breunig, Christian, Helfer, Luzia, Varone, Fréderic, & Vliegenthart, Rens. (2023). How Do Politicians Bargain? Evidence from Ultimatum Games with Legislators in Five Countries. American Political Science Review, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003055422001459

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Bailer, Stefanie, & Breunig, Christian, Giger, Nathalie, Wüst, Andreas. (2022). The Diminishing Value of Representing the Disadvantaged: Between Group Representation and Individual Career Paths. British Journal of Political Science, 52(2), 535–552. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123420000642

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Huwyler, Oliver, Turner-Zwinkels, Tomas, & Bailer, Stefanie. (2022). No Representation Without Compensation: The Effect of Interest Groups on Legislators’ Policy Area Focus. Political Research Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/10659129221137035

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Ohmura, Tamaki, & Bailer, Stefanie. (2022). Power-seeking, networking and competition: why women do not rise in parties. West European Politics, 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2022.2097442

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Selected Projects & Collaborations

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When and why do citizens distrust politicians? The role of the representative function

Research Project  | 4 Project Members

Die neuere Forschung wie auch die öffentliche Debatte gehen davon aus, dass die Politik einer Vertrauenskrise ausgesetzt ist. Diese Krise betrifft nicht nur die institutionelle, sondern auch die individuelle Ebene von Politik. Dies muss als Herausforderungen für die Demokratie begriffen werden, da die personelle Ebene der Politik ein wichtiges Scharnier in der Politikvermittlung darstellt. Das Projekt geht daher der Frage nach, wann und warum Bürger*innen Vertrauen in individuelle Politiker*innen entwickeln. Hierbei betonen wir die Rolle der politischen Repräsentation als eine der massgeblichen Determinanten für politisches Vertrauen. Erstens untersuchen wir das Gefühl der Bürger*innen, in der Politik repräsentiert zu werden, und analysieren, wie sich dies auf das politische Vertrauen auswirkt. Zweitens und drittens sehen wir die deskriptive und substantielle Repräsentation als wichtige Einflussgrößen für die Einstellungen der Bürger*innen zur Politik. Vertrauen entsteht aus dieser Sicht dann, wenn Bürger*innen durch Mitglieder der gleichen sozialen Gruppe im Parlament vertreten werden oder durch Abgeordnete, die sichtbar deren Interessen im politischen Prozess vertreten. Viertens erforschen wir das Zusammenspiel zwischen deskriptiver und substantieller Repräsentation und deren Auswirkung auf das politische Vertrauen. Hierbei wird erwartet, dass deskriptive Repräsentant*innen, die sich für die Belange ihrer sozialen Gruppe einsetzen, die höchsten Werte an politischem Vertrauen erzeugen. Zur Untersuchung dieser Fragen wenden wir einen Large-N-Umfrage-basierten Ansatz an und führen Survey-Experimente mit Bürger*innen durch, die der Frage nachgehen, wie ihr politisches Vertrauen auf unterschiedliche Konfigurationen von deskriptiver und inhaltlicher Repräsentation reagiert.

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Perceptions of Politics

Research Project  | 2 Project Members

The goal of the study is (1) to explore to what extent politicians have accurate perceptions regarding the preferences of the population they represent and (2) to explain why some politicians hold more precise perceptions than others. The project contends that in well-working democracies politicians need to be able to assess public wants accurately. The starting assumption is that that parliamentarians wish to represent citizens; but we know little about how politicians actually gauge public preferences. What information and sources do they use? How do they decide on their accuracy? Our research design matches a population survey with 150 interviews with parliamentarians from the Bundestag. In these interviews, we test if politicians match citizens' survey responses.

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Parliamentary Careers in Comparison

Research Project  | 6 Project Members

With the research project "Parliamentary Careers in Comparison" we propose to carry out an encompassing analysis of parliamentary candidates and parliamentarians and their activities in Switzerland and Germany as of 1949 until today. While parliamentary career research has often been rather descriptive, i.e. theoretically underspecified, confined to single countries, and/or non-dynamic, we aim to investigate biographical and behavioural data of parliamentary candidates and parliamentarians with partly novel tools (such as sequence analysis, see below) and over long periods of time in order to obtain a fuller and dynamic picture of parliamentary careers. Why is this of importance? Elections are the quintessential 'instrument of democracy' ( Powell 2000 ). Running as a candidate, being endorsed by a party and then elected by voters, and subsequently re-running, being re-nominated and re-elected - or not - constitutes the most basic mechanism that secures political responsiveness and accountability in a representative democracy ( Manin, Przeworski, & Stokes 1999 ); see Figure 1, below. Within the party group the control of party leaders over the nomination process is also the most powerful tool to secure party discipline - and therefore one of the most important elements in the emergence of responsible government ( Carey & Shugart 1995 ; Cox 1987 ). Yet, despite its centrality we still lack a systematic, individual-level and dynamic understanding of the process of democratic delegation - and we therefore also lack in-depth information on how political careers impact parliamentary behaviour. This is partly explained by the scarcity of available data - in particular on episodes anterior and posterior to a spell in parliament. The project at hand aims to collect and analyse these data for two exemplary and in many respect similar cases, Switzerland and Germany, over a long period of time. We plan to analyse this data with respect to career dynamics, representative roles, parliamentary behaviour, democratic accountability and conformity with the party line. A first set of questions revolves around pre-parliamentary episodes. What are the various pre-parliamentary career paths (defined by party membership and political offices at the local/regional/national level) in Switzerland and Germany, and have they changed over time? To what extent are they dependent on the local, regional and national party? How can different pre-parliamentary career patterns be explained - are they a function of the personal preferences and characteristics of parliamentarians (e.g. gender, ambition, profession) or are they a function of the parties and the party systems, e.g. the regional structure of parties, their size, their local autonomy? With a second set of questions we investigate how political institutions influence careers. What are the effects of electoral rules (district magnitude, effective and legal thresholds, proportional vs. majoritarian rules) on careers? How do daily allowances and parliamentary pension schemes affect careers, what role does the interconnectedness of jurisdictional levels in federalist systems play? Do different degrees of 'institutionalisation' between militia and full-time parliaments lead to different career paths? Regarding post-parliamentary careers in Germany and Switzerland we will investigate whether and which individual and institutional factors drive the decision to retire, to continue the career or to seek higher public office or private employment after having served in parliament. A third strand of research questions will focus on the consequences of the different career paths on parliamentary behaviour and future post-parliamentary careers, in particular with respect to voting, committee membership, higher offices etc. We analyse whether MPs with career paths closely linked to a party follow the party line more faithfully and whether the parliamentary behaviour is reflected in the subsequent nomination process: Are loyal and active MPs rewarded and passive or dissenting MPs sanctioned with good (bad) list positions or promising and hopeless districts, respectively? What role do committee membership and chance to obtain higher offices (committee chair, chamber presidency, party group leadership, etc.) play? Moreover, we aim to compare pre-parliamentary career paths and the choice of post-parliamentary positions and see under which circumstances parliamentary service is a stepping or stumbling stone in a career. The project aims to provide a comprehensive and dynamic picture of the causes, courses and consequences of parliamentary careers in Switzerland and Germany. These two countries provide useful cases for comparison since they are both federalist countries but offer variation in important factors such as degree of parliamentary professionalization, electoral rules, orand the differing power of national parties.