The ActEU project first aims at mapping and examining the continual issues of declining trust, legitimacy, and representation in Europe. Particular attention is given to the polarization of societies on key issues in our time – immigration, climate change, and gender inequalities – and to the multilevel governance system of the European Union.
The research methods used range from descriptive analysis of series of public data (all EU member-states + other countries if necessary) to qualitative interviews with “focus groups” (Czechia, France, Germany, and Greece), including quantitative polls and “web scraping” techniques as well (Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain).
Based on these empirical results, the other main objective of ActEU is to develop an action toolbox (adapted to local contexts) to reinforce political trust and the legitimacy of European representative democracies. In cooperation with a recently created civil society network, the Youth Democracy Labs, in 13 European cities, and in partnership with the “Cartooning for democracy” political cartoonists, two toolboxes will be developed for (1) the European, national, regional, and local political decision-makers, and (2) civil society and the education sector.
ESPOL is in particular co-leading Work Package 3 on “Citizens’ behavior: The changing patterns of citizens’ political participation,” that explores how variations of political trust affect political participation patterns, by focusing on the way citizens act (behavior) and the way they perceive possibilities for participating (perception).
