Professor Bob Mattes
Politics
Personal statement
Born and educated in the United States, I 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. My research examines the process of democratization, with a particular focus on Africa and South Africa. I am co-founder and Senior Adviser of Afrobarometer, a regular survey of over 30 countries in Africa (www.afrobarometer.org). I am 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).
Area of Expertise
Survey Research
Comparative Politics
African Politics
South African Politics
United States Politics
Prize And Awards
- 2025 Ronald F. Inglehart Honorary Lecture Award
- Recipient
- 31/5/2025
- Visiting Research Scholar, Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies
- Recipient
- 9/2016
- Academy of Science of South Africa
- Recipient
- 2014
- Visiting Scholar, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
- Recipient
- 4/2011
- STIAS Fellow. Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study
- Recipient
- 7/2010
- Principal's International Scholar Award. Queen's University
- Recipient
- 2005
Publications
- African legislators : unrepresentative power elites?
- Mattes Robert, Krönke Matthias, Mozaffar Shaheen
- Journal of Southern African Studies Vol 50, pp. 619-641 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2024.2434393
- WP208: Whom do African election campaigns contact? : And does it matter?
- Mattes Robert, Krönke Matthias, Lockwood Sarah J
- (2025)
- Conceptualizing and measuring support for democracy : a new approach
- Claassen Christopher, Ackermann Kathrin, Bertsou Eri, Borba Lucas, Carlin Ryan E, Cavari Amnon, Dahlum Sirianne, Gherghina Sergiu, Hawkins Darren, Lelkes Yphtach, Magalhães Pedro C, Mattes Robert, Meijers Maurits J, Neundorf Anja, Oross Dániel, Öztürk Aykut, Sarsfield Rodolfo, Self Darin, Stanley Ben, Tsai Tsung-han, Zaslove Andrej, Zechmeister Elizabeth J
- Comparative Political Studies Vol 58, pp. 1171-1198 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140241259458
- Political parties and democracy in South Africa
- Mattes Robert, Krönke Matthias, Lockwood Sarah
- Political Parties and the Crisis of Democracy Organization, Resilience, and Reform (2024) (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198888734.003.0023
- African Political Parties
- Krönke Matthias, Mattes Robert, Lockwood Sarah J
- Oxford Bibliographies African Studies (2024) (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780199846733-0238
- African Political Parties
- Krönke Matthias, Mattes Robert, Lockwood Sarah J
- Encyclopedia of African Politics (2024) (2024)
Research Interests
I work on issues of democratization primarily through the tools of survey research but also employ other methods of institutional analysis. I am co-founder of, and Senior Adviser to Afrobarometer, a regular survey of public opinion in 35 African countries (www.afrobarometer.org). I am also co-founder and co-Principal Investigator of the African Legislatures Project, a study of legislatures and legislators in 17 countries. Finally, I am the founder and Principal Investigator of the South African National Election Study, a longitudinal series of post-election surveys dating back to South AFrica's first democratic election of 1994 (www.cssr.uct.ac.za/daru/sanes). These studies are also carried out in association with the Comparative National Elections Project, and Comparative Study of Electoral Systems project.
Professional Activities
- Do MPs Reflect the People Who Voted for Them? We Studied 17 Countries to Find Out.
- Recipient
- 6/4/2025
- Democratization (Journal)
- Peer reviewer
- 3/3/2025
- European Political Science Review (Journal)
- Peer reviewer
- 2/3/2025
- African Affairs (Journal)
- Peer reviewer
- 2/3/2025
- Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties (Journal)
- Peer reviewer
- 30/12/2024
- European Political Science Review (Journal)
- Peer reviewer
- 30/11/2024
Projects
- Sustainable Development and Citizenship in Africa (SGSSS award)
- Mattes, Robert (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2022 - 28-Jan-2026
- The Quality of the Vote, the Election and South African Democracy: The 2019 South African National Election Study
- Mattes, Robert (Principal Investigator) Shulz-Herzenberg, Collette (Principal Investigator)
- ZAR 256,000 (@£143,659) Award from the South African National Research Foundation (Grant #118512) to support a 2019 national post-election survey
- 01-Jan-2019 - 30-Jan-2022
- Political Parties in Africa
- Mattes, Robert (Principal Investigator) Seekings, Jeremy (Principal Investigator) Lockwood, Sarah Jane (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2018
- Vote Buying in Local Elections
- Mattes, Robert (Principal Investigator) Justeson, Mogens (Principal Investigator) Shulz-Herzenberg, Collette (Principal Investigator)
- DKK 80,000 (£8800) Award from Copenhagen Business School to analyze 2015 South African Elections Local Elections Survey
- 01-Jan-2016 - 31-Jan-2017
- African Legislatures Project
- Mattes, Robert (Principal Investigator) Mozaffar, Shaheen (Principal Investigator) Barkan, Joel (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2008
- Global Barometer Surveys
- Chu, Yun-han (Principal Investigator) Mattes, Robert (Principal Investigator) Lagos, Marta (Principal Investigator) Haerpfer, Christian (Principal Investigator) Tessler, Mark (Principal Investigator) Shastri, Sandeep (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2000