Simon Willgosch-Eckert

This dissertation project lies at the intersection of public administration and political science. The project aims to investigate whether and how administrative failures and errors can contribute to undermining citizens’ support for democracy as a political system. The theoretical and empirical focus is thus on the influence of direct interactions between citizens and the state on democratic attitudes. Through a series of related studies, the project will examine the extent to which citizens who are confronted with errors or failures in public administration withdraw their support for democracy as a political system. In addition, the project aims to involve public servants in the research. This will be achieved through the development of a training module for public servants on how to deal with administrative errors and failures. The goal of the training module is to mitigate the potential negative effects of administrative failures and errors on the acceptance of democratic norms.