Project description
Unveiling and resolving contested spaces in frontier politics
Contested frontiers between Indigenous self-determination and settler colonisation are battlegrounds for metapolitical struggles, where competing ideologies vie for dominance. These conflicts, historically subdued by settler force, have reignited with an Indigenous resurgence, raising questions about universal versus divisible demos, individual versus collective rights, and democracy versus self-determination. Yet, understanding and resolving such metapolitical contests remain elusive, escaping political science scrutiny. With this in mind, the ERC-funded CONFRONT project aims to develop a theory of frontier metapolitics. Specifically, it will analyse and compile data from settler federal territories, examining how contests over principles shape peripheries. By combining comparative politics, constitutional law and political theory, CONFRONT seeks to make these contests visible and comprehensible.
Objective
Between Indigenous self-determination and settler colonization lie contested frontiers, subject to metapolitics – i.e. to competition over the framing of polities. In the past, settlers, using force, domesticated frontiers. Recent decades have seen an Indigenous resurgence, rekindling metapolitics, particularly on settler-state peripheries. These contests are increasingly waged by weaponizing “constitutive principles”: Is the demos universal or divisible? Should individual or collective rights prevail? Should democracy or self-determination decide? Resolving such contests is difficult. Yet the metapolitics of today’s frontiers have escaped political-science attention.
CONFRONT aims to develop a theory of frontier metapolitics. It will study contests over constitutive principles in, and how such contests shape and are shaped by, settler-state peripheries. It will gather and test data from settler federal territories and related peripheries to pursue four research objectives: conceptualizing metapolitics to render it cognizable, compiling the first dataset of frontier constitutive metapolitical contests, analysing such contests and their interaction with the constitution of peripheries, and normatively theorizing how such contests should be approached/resolved.
CONFRONT will combine comparative politics, comparative constitutional law, and normative political theory to identify and open a salient new research field. Led by a pioneer of settler-metapolitical studies with a unique pre-academic background in peripheral areas, this project will make modern frontier metapolitical contests visible, comprehensible, and more soluble. If successful, it will place peripheries central to studies of metapolitics, inspiring and preparing scientists, decisionmakers, civil-society actors, and even colonized peoples to grapple with the rising metapolitical instability of peripheries and of the “late Westphalian” world at large.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
You need to log in or register to use this function
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
5020 Bergen
Norway
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.