Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) participates in the European INTERFACED project, which studies how political participation has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic and seeks to propose public policy recommendations that strengthen democracy. The consortium, coordinated by City St George's University of London (UK), brings together eleven research teams from ten countries.
At a time marked by growing distrust of democratic institutions, social polarization and increasing inequalities, the INTERFACED project will explore how political participation has evolved in the European sphere. It aims to bridge the gap between citizens and decision-makers by identifying ways to strengthen democracy.
“We want to understand how new forms of political expression can be integrated into decision-making processes to strengthen democracy and curb authoritarian tendencies,” says project manager Dan Mercea, an expert in digital and social change at City St George's University of London.
The project will therefore prioritize understanding and addressing the barriers that prevent certain groups from participating and engaging in the political sphere. INTERFACED also seeks to contribute to creating more inclusive political systems through concrete policy recommendations.
The study will be carried out in eight European countries and Tunisia, with the aim of covering diverse political contexts, including those where citizens actively confront authoritarianism. It will employ a variety of methodologies such as large-scale surveys, computational data analysis, experiments and ethnographic fieldwork.
The UC3M team, composed of Gema García-Albacete and Nerea Gandara Guerra, from the University's Department of Social Sciences, will be in charge of coordinating an international survey in nine countries: Spain, Hungary, Romania, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Austria, Denmark, Germany and Italy. "This survey aims to explore different forms of citizen involvement in public life, as well as the attitudes, motivations and obstacles that influence it. It will also include an experiment to better understand the population's preferences in terms of forms of political participation" the researchers explain.
he UC3M team, composed of Gema García-Albacete and Nerea Gandara Guerra, from the University's Department of Social Sciences, will be in charge of coordinating an international survey in nine countries: Spain, Hungary, Romania, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Austria, Denmark, Germany and Italy. "This survey aims to explore different forms of citizen involvement in public life, as well as the attitudes, motivations and obstacles that influence it. In addition, it will include an experiment to better understand the preferences of the population in terms of forms of political participation," the researchers explain.
For the development of this project, which will be carried out between 2025 and 2027, this European consortium has been funded with 3 million euros by Horizon Europe, the European Union's main program for research and innovation. The following institutions are part of the consortium: City St George's, University of London (UK), Dublin City University (Ireland), Edgeryders OU (Estonia), European Citizen Action Service (Belgium), HUN-REN Társadalomtudományi (Hungary), JFRC Fondation Jasmin Ltd (UK), Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main (Germany). Københavns Universitet (Denmark), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain), Università degli Studi di Parma (Italy) and Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai (Romania).
More information:
INTERFACED project website
www.interfaced.eu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqvlh9HFAKI