Prof Nicola de Jager

I have two broad areas of current research, the first is an investigation of whether we are currently in an era of 'the return to history'? In a global context, where liberal democracy appears to be in recession and its normative support is in decline, are we returning to the pursuit of utopias and thus the return to totalitarian regimes?

My second area of interest is investigating the consequences of a decline in religious affiliation in the West. If Protestantism was key to informing many of the underlying values (such as the value of the individual) of liberal democracy, is the decline in religious affiliation  contributing to the retreat of liberal democracy?

Nicola was an AfOx-ASC Fellow in 2018.

During her 8 week AfOx fellowship in 2018, Nicola was hosted by the Department of African Studies and Brasenose College.

1. De Jager, N. and De Jager, P. 2019. ‘Evaluating the potential of Protestant Christianity to stimulate democracy and good governance in sub-Saharan Africa through the valuing of the individual,’ Democratization, 26 (2): 225-246. 
2. De Jager, N. and Steenekamp, C.L. 2016. ‘The changing political culture of the African National Congress,’ Democratization, 23 (5): 919-939. 
3. De Jager, N. and Du Toit, P. 2013. (editors) Friend or Foe? Dominant party systems in Southern Africa: Insights from the developing world. Tokyo, New York & Paris: United Nations University Press and Cape Town: UCT Press.
4. Du Toit, P. and de Jager, N. 2014. ‘South Africa’s Dominant-Party System in Comparative Perspective’. Taiwan Journal of Democracy, 10 (2): 93-113.
5. De Jager, N. 2009. ‘No ‘New’ANC?’ Politikon, 36 (2): 275-288.