King’s College London and the World Values Survey Association Present: The Ronald F. Inglehart Honorary Lecture
On May 21, the World Values Survey Association in cooperation with the King’s College London hosted this year’s Ronald F. Inglehart Honorary Lecture, an annual keynote event initiated in 2022 by the WVSA. Established in memory of the late Professor Ronald F. Inglehart (1934–2021), the founding president of the WVSA and a pioneer of cross-national survey research, this lecture series commemorates his extraordinary contributions to the study of cultural change, values, and democracy around the world. The WVSA is delighted to present this year’s Ronald F. Inglehart Honorary Lecture award to Robert Mattes, Professor of Government and Public Policy at the University of Strathclyde, UK.
Robert Mattes is a globally recognized scholar whose work has profoundly shaped our understanding of democratic attitudes, political behavior, and governance—particularly in the context of Africa. As a co-founder of Afrobarometer and a leading voice in comparative survey research, he has contributed to building an evidence-based foundation for understanding how citizens perceive democracy, trust institutions, and engage with political systems. His work is aligned with the mission of the World Values Survey: to promote a deeper, data-driven insight into the values and beliefs that shape human societies. His work has combined methodological rigor with an unwavering commitment to understanding democratic culture in its many diverse forms. The lecture delivered today exemplifies the spirit of this award: a forward-looking contribution to our ongoing conversation about the challenges and future of democracy in the 21st century.
Anti-Democratic Parties and Popular Support for Democracy
This research explores how the emergence and influence of anti-democratic political parties are shaping popular attitudes toward democratic governance. The analysis investigates whether such parties serve primarily to attract existing authoritarian-minded voters (a “cueing effect”), or whether they actively persuade their supporters to adopt more authoritarian attitudes (a “persuasion effect”)—and what these dynamics mean for the health and resilience of democratic institutions worldwide.
Robert Mattes is Professor of Government and Public Policy at the University of Strathclyde, UK. Born and educated in the United States, Mattes spent the past 25 years in South Africa working at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, and teaching at the University of Cape Town, before coming to Strathclyde. His research examines the process of democratization, with a particular focus on Africa and South Africa. Mattes is co-founder and Senior Adviser of Afrobarometer, a regular survey of over 30 countries in Africa (www.afrobarometer.org). Mattes is also co-founder and co-Principal Investigator of the African Legislatures Project, a study of legislatures and legislators in 17 countries (www.cssr.uct.ac.za/alp),and the Principal Investigator of the South African National Election Study, a longitudinal series of post-election surveys dating back to 1994 (www.cssr.uct.ac.za/daru/sanes).
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