Today, research at the Cevipof concentrates on two main domains: political attitudes, behaviour and parties and political thought.
With regard to the analysis of political attitudes, behaviour and parties the focus is on transformations in public attitudes to politics. This includes work on the crisis in political confidence, the erosion of social ties, the decline of conventional forms of political participation (increase in abstention rates, spoiled votes, etc.) and the rise in forms of protest-based participation and associative activity, the emergence of new cleavages on issues such as authority, Europe, globalisation, etc. The focus is also on the notions of political competence, knowledge and reasoning. Finally, research is also carried out on transformations in the ways citizens become involved in politics, and changes within political organisations, partisan culture and institutions.
Research on Political Thought concentrates on integrating the long-term context and collective memory into any reading of contemporary phenomena. It studies political groups, System Justification and changes in norms and rules in an increasingly fragmented society. This work, which is of a theoretical and historical nature, focuses on contemporary France. However, it also includes comparative, historical and international dimensions. In particular, it prioritises the birth of liberalism, the French republican tradition, the rise in nationalism, the metamorphosis of racism and the redefinition of democracy.

The Cevipof carries out research projects of various types: collective and individual projects juxtapose and complete each other. Major projects which last for three to four years involve the research community as a whole across all disciplines and research fields.  Once the project has been completed it gives rise to a colloquium on the subject and the publication of one or several edited works.

The first objective of the Cevipof in the coming years is to further federate the two main research themes mentioned above. This will involve integrating different levels of analysis together: individual actors, local, national and supranational organisations and institutions. New fields, such as the impact of scientific innovation and new technologies, the crisis in representative democracy and the question of public confidence will also encourage common work projects.

The second objective is to enhance the internationalisation of the Centre through increased participation in major European comparative survey projects (European Social Studies) and European Union research programmes.

The third objective is to better promote the knowledge and expertise developed by the Centre, both in France and abroad and to encourage the translation of research work so that it might be better known within the international scientific and academic community. Examples of this include Politics in France and Europe, Palgrave, 2009 and The New Voter in Western Europe, Bruno Cautres, Anne Muxel (Eds), Palgrave (to be published 2010).