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Funding opportunities to strengthen our democracy
Horizon Europe Cluster 2 is funding eight calls with different approaches to strengthen European democracies
The Spanish writer Antonio Gala once said that “dictatorship presents itself armoured because it has to win. Democracy presents itself naked because it has to convince. And in this essence of democracy, that of convincing without violence or respect in coexistence, the European Union has much to say. This is why democracy is at the heart of several of the Horizon Europe Cluster 2 calls that end on 14 March 2023, with a budget of 75 million euros, which you can access on our platform.
In this article we share with you the priorities that the EU has established for this year in terms of democracy, a term closely linked to the right to accurate information, corruption or real equality among citizens. In this way, projects related to the following topics will be financed:
The concept of Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) goes beyond disinformation and focuses on how the information environment can be manipulated by suppressing independent and critical voices, both in authoritarian countries and beyond their borders. To counter this concept, the EU will fund projects that address it while respecting freedom of expression and media freedom. By understanding and studying the Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) that are intentionally used to manipulate information, it will be possible to combat them and prevent cyber-attacks or incitement to hatred, among other problems.
In line with the previous call, this call aims to have a better understanding of the short and long term social and behavioural effect of information suppression or manipulation.
With the use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain or encrypted data analysis, the aim will be to prevent and detect corruption and also undue political influences. After all, corruption is closely related to human behaviour, so a multifaceted research with contributions from political scientists, psychologists, anthropologists, economists, communicators, etc. is needed to tackle it.
HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-04: The Emotional Politics of Democracies.
This call will support proposals that explore how emotional landscapes interact in the practices and foundations of democratic politics. For example in voting patterns, activism, identity movements, extremism, trust, misinformation, political mobilisation, social movements, etc.
HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-05: The climate imperative and its impact on democratic governance.
How does the ecological transition impact on democracy? This call will support proposals that help determine whether more democratic societies are better able to develop policies to prevent and mitigate climate change crises. It also encourages consideration of the new policy structures needed to effectively address climate change in order to foster citizen engagement or civic participation.
A social contract is the agreement between members of a society that spells out the rights, obligations and roles of each citizen who accepts the contract. When parts of this contract are not fulfilled, citizens may feel disappointed, which can lead to political instability. In this case, the better prepared societies can adapt and continue to evolve, while in others a serious institutional and social crisis can be created. This call aims to better study the causes of success or failure in social contracts.
In order to provide a good analysis of power structures and good practices of participation and deliberation in democracy, this call will support proposals that pay particular attention to marginalised and vulnerable communities and the attitude of majority communities towards them in order to combat inequality.
In order to improve the EU’s neighbourhood policy and the accession process of future countries, this call aims to support proposals providing advice on strengthening diplomacy in the face of a possible stage of military intervention on the continent. Anticipation of possible geopolitical ambitions of China, Russia and other countries towards the Eastern Neighbourhood is also expected.
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