Richard Traunmüller

Empirical democracy research, the way I understand it, is applied parrhesia. Parrhesia is an ancient Greek concept (παρρησία) that stands for freedom of speech, frankness, and the courage to speak the truth – even if this entails personal risks or incurs the wrath of those in power. The Parrhesia Politics Lab takes this ethos as its guiding principle, advancing the empirical-analytical study of democracy across three interrelated domains: the culture and practice of free speech, the confrontation of cultural elites with their blind spots and contradictions, and the systematic investigation of sensitive or controversial topics often left unexplored.

Free Speech Culture

This research area investigates the conditions under which individuals experience and practice freedom of expression. The lab examines both public and private contexts, analyzing perceptions of speech freedom, practices of self-censorship, and the social and institutional mechanisms that foster or inhibit open democratic discourse. A central concern is how cultural norms and sanctioning dynamics shape who dares to speak, what can be said, and at what cost. By grounding these debates in systematic empirical evidence, the lab contributes to a deeper understanding of free speech not only as a legal right but as a lived democratic practice.

Current project: The Cost of Speaking Freely in a Liberal Democracy

Speaking Truth to Cultural Power

This research area aims to challenge the views of cultural elites by confronting them with their blind spots, biases, and contradictions as well as the unintended consequences of their positions. By cultural elites, I refer to what Nassim Nicholas Taleb describes as “the circle of no-skin-in-the-game policymaking ‘clerks’ and journalist-insiders, that class of paternalistic semi-intellectual experts with some Ivy League, Oxford-Cambridge, or similar label-driven education who are telling the rest of us 1) what to do, 2) what to eat, 3) how to speak, 4) how to think… and 5) who to vote for.” By conducting research to expose the limits of this milieu’s world view and self-understanding, the lab enacts parrhesia in practice: speaking truth to cultural power, even or especially when that truth is unwelcome.

Current projects: Adversarial Collaboration: Free Speech at the University, The Dignity Hypothesis

Sensitive and Controversial Topics

This research area addresses questions that are often neglected or avoided because they are socially sensitive, politically charged, or morally contested. Such topics frequently attract controversy, stigma or sanction, leading to avoidance rather than open inquiry. The lab approaches them with empirical rigor, demonstrating that controversial subjects can and should be studied systematically rather than suppressed. A key methodological focus lies on the use of list experiments and related techniques to uncover sensitive attitudes and behaviors that individuals may otherwise conceal. In doing so, the lab broadens the scope of democratic research and models parrhesia by insisting that intellectual courage requires engagement with precisely those issues that others prefer to leave untouched.

Current projects: Antisemitism in Germany, Police Racism