Libby Maman
Libby Maman

Libby Maman

I am a political scientist working on two connected questions: how to restore trust in democracy, and how to advance the quality of governance. In January 2027 I will join Esade as Assistant Professor in the Governance faculty of the Law and Governance School, supported by a Ramón y Cajal fellowship (2027–2031). I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the RegTrust ERC project - in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a visiting researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute. I hold a PhD in Public Policy and Governance from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Trust in Democracy and the Quality of Governance

My research asks why citizens trust some public institutions and not others, and what institutions can do to earn that trust back once it is lost. I study how the democratic qualities of public organizations, such as transparency, participation, accountability and representation, shape the trust of citizens, stakeholders and elites. I also develop tools to measure the quality of governance, from cross-national databases to local democracy indices. My work combines survey experiments across countries, measurement models, original databases and systematic reviews.

Current and Past Projects

Current

  • Restoring Trust in Democracies (Ramón y Cajal fellowship, 2027–2031)
  • Trust repair and distrust reduction: comparing repair from within institutions and repair from above, in Spain and Poland (in development)

Past

  • RegTrust: Trust and Regulation (European Research Council)
  • TiGRE: Trust in Governance and Regulation in Europe (Horizon 2020)
  • DEMOC: The Democratic Qualities of Regulatory Agencies and Public Trust in Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya, Principal Investigator)

Publications and Recognition

My research has been published in journals such as the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Journal of European Public Policy, Regulation & Governance, Policy & Politics and European Political Science Review. My article “The Democratic Qualities of Regulatory Agencies” received the 2023 Best Paper Award from Policy & Politics, and an earlier version received the Routledge Prize for Best Paper at the Questions of Accountability conference. My dissertation received an honorable mention for best PhD dissertation from the Israeli Political Science Association.

Research in Practice

Alongside my academic work, I founded Luminata, a consultancy that helps governments, municipalities, civil society and companies measure institutional quality and build trust. In Israel, I developed the first Local Democracy Index, mapped indicators for improving the public service, and advised on the construction of the first Israeli Trust Index. Read more about my practice work →

I welcome exchanges with researchers, practitioners and policymakers interested in trust, democracy and the quality of governance.