Anne Heyer is an Assistant Professor in modern history with a research interest in the ideas and practices of political participation in different European countries (1800-today). She studies the changing perception and practices of mass politics in Germany, Netherlands, Britain and Spain. In addition to the in-depth analysis of primary sources, she uses computational linguistic methods to study large-n digitalized historical corpora. Her monograph ‘The Making of the Democratic Party in Europe, 1860- 1890’ combines history and social-sciences approaches to explains the emergence of the first parties in a comparative and transnational setting with case studies from Germany, Britain and the Netherlands.
As project leader of the research project ‘De redelijkheid omstreden: Debatregels en de toegang tot de democratie, 1870-1940’ (Contested Reasonability, debating rules and access to democracy, 1870-1940), which received funding of the Thorbecke fund, she is currently studying newcomer parties to explain why parliaments became democratic institutions. She recently also received funding by the Leiden University Fund Snouck Hurgronje for the project ‘Keeping the powerful in check: from small communities to large states’. The historical part of this project focuses on the transnational intellectual debate about the dangers of mass politics and possible political solutions in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Her publications include political parties, democracy, academic careers, mass media, political attitudes and populism.
Fields of interest
Political participation in Europe (Germany, Netherlands, Britain and Spain) in the period 1800 until today from an interdisciplinary perspective (history and social sciences). Research topics include modern comparative and transnational history, political culture, populism, democracy, political legitimacy, political parties, social movements and digital humanities.