Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RECLAIM (Reclaiming Liberal Democracy in Europe)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2022-10-01 al 2023-12-31
Under the title “Reclaiming Liberal Democracy in Europe” (RECLAIM), this Horizon Europe research project addresses the implications of the challenge of post-truth politics for the future of liberal democracy in Europe. The project aims to produce a theoretically and empirically robust visions for the future of liberal democratic institutions, reflecting on the meaning of liberal democracy in the 21st century in Europe and, in particular, developing recommendations, toolkits, narratives and methodologies to reinstate the legitimacy and effectiveness of liberal democracies.
Drawing on a multi-disciplinary approach, the project will:
a) reflect on the significance of the various phenomena subsumed under the caption of post-truth politics for liberal democracy in the 21st century in Europe and spell out the ways in which they constitute an existential threat to liberal democracy;
b) generate a conceptual definition as well as an operationalization and empirical indicators for the analysis of post-truth politics;
c) analyze the state of play as regards various dimensions of post-truth politics in a large and geographically diverse number of European states, including member and non-member states of the European Union (EU);
d) consider innovative teaching tools (starting from active and pervasive learning) for citizenship education along four key dimensions (i.e. a. European identity in students; b. digital literacy; c. learning to learn by experience and practice; d. social cohesion) to elaborate new models in teaching and learning, and to improve students’ skills in the face of changing democratic societies, and most importantly,
e) use its own empirical findings regarding the state of play of post-truth politics in Europe in order to develop policy recommendations as to how best to respond to and mitigate the various expressions of the phenomenon, as well as recommendations as to how to address the challenge of disinformation in terms of citizenship education and media literacy.
Although post-truth politics constitutes a potentially existential threat, it need not by any means mark the beginning of the end of liberal democracy. Indeed, there are considerable prospects for mitigating the effects of the phenomenon, and it is the explicit ambition of this research project to contribute to this mitigation not only by reflecting on the significance of post-truth politics for the future of liberal democracy, but also by generating evidence-based policy recommendations as well as the type of narratives, toolkits and methods/methodologies requested in the call for proposals. The project is nonetheless firmly grounded in the conviction that post-truth politics is part and parcel of broader developments that undermine democratic rights and standards, and that action is needed not merely to moderate the effect of the phenomenon, but indeed to reclaim liberal democracy.
The RECLAIM project has developed an elaborate plan to maximise the project’s impact, throughout its lifetime. The expected impact is divided into scientific, policy and societal impact. The project will contribute to reinvigorating democratic governance, safeguarding fundamental rights and shielding democracy from multidimensional threats by offering a scientifically solid and comprehensive knowledge base for sound and informed policy choices. The project will also contribute to improving citizens’ trust in democratic institutions, to empowering active and inclusive citizenship, and to expanding political participation, social dialogue and social inclusion, civic engagement and gender equality. This will be achieved by raising citizens’ awareness of the challenges posed by post-truth politics to liberal democracy, by providing citizens (with an emphasis on young generations) with platforms to express their views on what liberal democracy means in the 21st century and how it can equip itself to respond to the post-truth challenge, and by generating awareness on citizens’ demands for quality journalism.
Drawing on a multi-disciplinary approach, the project will:
a) reflect on the significance of the various phenomena subsumed under the caption of post-truth politics for liberal democracy in the 21st century in Europe and spell out the ways in which they constitute an existential threat to liberal democracy;
b) generate a conceptual definition as well as an operationalization and empirical indicators for the analysis of post-truth politics;
c) analyze the state of play as regards various dimensions of post-truth politics in a large and geographically diverse number of European states, including member and non-member states of the European Union (EU);
d) consider innovative teaching tools (starting from active and pervasive learning) for citizenship education along four key dimensions (i.e. a. European identity in students; b. digital literacy; c. learning to learn by experience and practice; d. social cohesion) to elaborate new models in teaching and learning, and to improve students’ skills in the face of changing democratic societies, and most importantly,
e) use its own empirical findings regarding the state of play of post-truth politics in Europe in order to develop policy recommendations as to how best to respond to and mitigate the various expressions of the phenomenon, as well as recommendations as to how to address the challenge of disinformation in terms of citizenship education and media literacy.
Although post-truth politics constitutes a potentially existential threat, it need not by any means mark the beginning of the end of liberal democracy. Indeed, there are considerable prospects for mitigating the effects of the phenomenon, and it is the explicit ambition of this research project to contribute to this mitigation not only by reflecting on the significance of post-truth politics for the future of liberal democracy, but also by generating evidence-based policy recommendations as well as the type of narratives, toolkits and methods/methodologies requested in the call for proposals. The project is nonetheless firmly grounded in the conviction that post-truth politics is part and parcel of broader developments that undermine democratic rights and standards, and that action is needed not merely to moderate the effect of the phenomenon, but indeed to reclaim liberal democracy.
The RECLAIM project has developed an elaborate plan to maximise the project’s impact, throughout its lifetime. The expected impact is divided into scientific, policy and societal impact. The project will contribute to reinvigorating democratic governance, safeguarding fundamental rights and shielding democracy from multidimensional threats by offering a scientifically solid and comprehensive knowledge base for sound and informed policy choices. The project will also contribute to improving citizens’ trust in democratic institutions, to empowering active and inclusive citizenship, and to expanding political participation, social dialogue and social inclusion, civic engagement and gender equality. This will be achieved by raising citizens’ awareness of the challenges posed by post-truth politics to liberal democracy, by providing citizens (with an emphasis on young generations) with platforms to express their views on what liberal democracy means in the 21st century and how it can equip itself to respond to the post-truth challenge, and by generating awareness on citizens’ demands for quality journalism.
The project is structured into three distinct phases, specifically a conceptual/theoretical/methodological phase (months 1-6), an empirical-analytical phase (months 7-24), and a critical-advisory phase. Each of the project’s phases is tailored to deliver specific outcomes in relation to the project’s overall objectives.
In addition, the project is divided into seven academic work packages that address distinct aspects of the broader phenomenon of post-truth politics, such as e.g. the role of citizenship education, quality journalism, technological aspects, but also efforts to meet the challenge of disinformation by means of policy making/regulation.
As the project is currently in its empirical-analytical phase, the project’s researchers are in the process of collecting all relevant empirical data in the respective work packages. This entails both the analysis of existing policy documents and other existing textual documents and the generation of primary empirical data in the form of interviews and surveys with relevant stakeholders.
In addition, the project is divided into seven academic work packages that address distinct aspects of the broader phenomenon of post-truth politics, such as e.g. the role of citizenship education, quality journalism, technological aspects, but also efforts to meet the challenge of disinformation by means of policy making/regulation.
As the project is currently in its empirical-analytical phase, the project’s researchers are in the process of collecting all relevant empirical data in the respective work packages. This entails both the analysis of existing policy documents and other existing textual documents and the generation of primary empirical data in the form of interviews and surveys with relevant stakeholders.
The project presents a novel and broadly encompassing task on the phenomenon of post-truth politics. It goes beyond the state of the art by drawing attention to the fact that post-truth/postfactual politics is a phenomenon that is constituted by the co-occurrence of various smaller phenomena that need to be analyzed independently of one another, but whose co-occurrence has fundamental implications for the present state as well as for the future of the liberal-democratic order. The project presents a nuanced account of the state of play in relation to the themes addressed in the work packages (which are the smaller phenomena that collectively constitute the broader challenge of post-truth politics); this newly generated empirical knowledge advances the state of the art in understanding the multifaceted phenomenon of post-truth politics and thereby creates opportunities for the development of evidence-based policy recommendations (which will be produced in the critical-advisory phase in the last year of the grant period).