Bettina Petersohn

My current research interests are in the area of local democracy, intergovernmental and local government coordination. With a background in comparative federalism, I am particularly interested in attitudes towards democracy, perceptions of place, and how place shapes evaluations of politics and governments. I am currently Co-Investigator of the Welsh Election Study 2026, investigating public opinion on place, communities, parties, campaigns, as well as vote intentions and policy priorities in the context of the Senedd election 2026. A second project, I am involved in focuses on the local level surveying local councillors and local mayors across European countries on their role perception, experiences in offices, priorities and attitudes towards more direct, participatory democracy at the local level.

Recent publications include an open-access volume on 'Horizontal Intergovernmental Coordination at Local and Regional Levels' (co-edited with Nathalie Behnke), and a co-authored chapter on Aggression Experiences of Local Councillors across Europe in 'Municipal Councillors in Europe Volume I' (editors: Hubert Heinelt, Björn Egner, Jakub Lysek, Tom Verhelst).