Project description
The transformative path to power
Modern democracies face increasing distrust and polarisation, making the training of political leaders more essential than ever. However, the specific educational pathways within political parties remain largely unexplored. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the Path2Power project will address this gap by studying a leadership school for young activists within the Swedish labour movement. Through ethnographic research, including interviews and fieldwork, the project will explore how these future leaders develop their political identities and skills. Path2Power seeks to deepen understanding of how collective identities are formed and how power structures within parties are shaped. Ultimately, it aims to provide essential insights into how the next generation of leaders is socialised to uphold democratic systems.
Objective
Political parties are crucial in representative democracies, allowing citizens to influence political agendas and decision-making. A key aspect of this role is the education provided by parties, from orienting new members to training future leaders. Given the growing challenges of distrust, polarisation, and anti-democratic leadership in liberal democracies, examining the educational dimensions of political parties is essential. Despite extensive research on societal participation and democracy, the intra-party educational paths of politicians remain largely unexplored.
This project addresses this gap by investigating the intra-party education of young political leaders within the labour movement in Sweden. It focuses on a leadership school that collaborates with the Social Democratic Party, its youth wing and the Trade Union Confederation. This setting is particularly relevant due to the Social Democratic movement's strong ties to Nordic popular education and its history as a mass party with significant member influence.
Drawing on theories of adult learning and identity formation, the study examines how young political activists are trained for leadership and how they perceive their own learning processes. The project moves beyond seeing political education merely as a means of acquiring political skills, instead focusing on individual development and the formation of collective identities within political movements. Using ethnographic fieldwork—including participant observation, interviews with participants and alumni, and textual analysis—it explores how young leaders experience the leadership school as a transformative process and how they negotiate multiple roles within the broader movement. By emphasising these political educational journeys, the project contributes to understanding how new leaders are socialised and how power structures are shaped within political parties.
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.
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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.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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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) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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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.
20500 ABO
Finland
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.