The scientific objective of this project is to analyse the individual and societal factors that affect active civic participation. "Active civic participation" includes electoral and non-electoral participation at all levels of governance. Within this spectrum of civic participation, the project devotes special attention to participation in European Parliament elections and in referendums dealing with European issues. The project also aims to make policy recommendations designed to improve the extent and the quality of active civic participation. The research project will (1) identify the effects of four basic variables (gender, age, class, and disability) on civic participation; (2) identify the effects of two key actors (political parties and the media) on civic participation, with particular reference to the effects of these two actors on participation in the European Parliament elections of 2004; (3) identify the effects on participation of the different socio-political contexts that characterise different European societies; and (4) identify the ways in which the three sets of variables just outlined interact and thus determine the level and quality of civic participation. Successful completion of this research agenda will constitute a major advance in the scientific understanding of the factors promoting and inhibiting active civic participation. The project is pursued in collaboration with researchers from the following universities: Aarhus, Barcelona, Belfast, Bergen, Budapest, Dublin, Enschede, Florence, Gent, Grenoble, Manchester, Plymouth and Warsaw.
For publications see: www.uni-bamberg.de/sowi/polsociology/