This research group studies the subnational, national and supranational institutions that regulate a political community, organize the political regime, and shape the interplay between elites and mass publics. It deals with long-term legacies and contemporary challenges to national and international regimes by focusing on two main areas: the historical trajectories that framed the modern nation-state, and the dynamics and trends of contemporary political regimes and elites. It pays attention to the specificity of the Portuguese case in comparative perspective, especially in regard to Europe and Latin America.

The research agenda is structured around the following issues:

• Processes of regime change;
• The transformations of representative democracy;
• The constitutional diffusion of political regimes;
• The development of multi-level systems of governance, above and below the nation-state;
• The institutional and political conditions that contribute to sustainable social, economic and environmental development, policy effectiveness and public accountability;
• The persistence, reproduction and change of political elites;
• And finally, the impact of social movements on institutional politics: the demand for more comprehensive control over policies and political elites by citizens.