The first wave of the Public Attitudes towards the Liberal Script survey (PALS 1.0) provided the most comprehensive mapping to date of global support for and opposition to the liberal script. Conducted across 30 countries with around 60,000 respondents, PALS 1.0 identified systematic differences in how citizens relate to core liberal principles (individual rights, market economy, open society, and democracy) and revealed both cross-national and structural patterns in their foundations. PALS 1.0 thus established a baseline of how citizens across world regions relate to core liberal principles. Amongst others, it shows widespread support for liberal ideas, far beyond fully democratic contexts and among a broad range of social groups.

PALS 2.0 maintains this focus while gathering richer data to study the social embeddedness and consequences of contestation. We ask how citizens’ orientations are shaped by shifting social and political structures; how these orientations are embedded in collectivities, including the degree to which such collectivities are attitudinally homogeneous and socially closed; and, finally, how these orientations and group dynamics feed into patterns of public contestation. By examining when attitudinal clusters crystallize into organized collectivities or remain diffuse, and when abstract principles may translate into concrete actions or perceived trade-offs, PALS 2.0 identifies the conditions under which contestations of the liberal script may strengthen democratic engagement and pluralism, or instead fuel polarization, radicalization, and exclusion.