Bien que peu connus et souvent invisibles, les engagements des seniors pour le climat sont importants. De nombreux seniors s’engagent en rejoignant des associations telles que « Grands-parents pour le climat » ou en adaptant leurs modes de vie afin de réduire leur empreinte carbone. Cette recherche s’intéresse à la fois aux antécédents à ces engagements et à leurs conséquences pour le bien-être. Nous postulons que malgré les obstacles à vivre ce type d’engagement dans une société de consommation, leurs effets sont positifs pour certaines dimensions du bien-être. Ils permettraient en particulier de renforcer le sentiment d’accomplissement de soi des personnes qui s’engagent et d’améliorer leur bien-être social. Pour ce qui est des antécédents à l’engagement, notre hypothèse est qu’en plus de facteurs structurels, le type de préoccupation associé au changement climatique joue un rôle essentiel.

Funding agency : Fondation Leenaards

Project leaders : Jan Rosset et Jasmine Lorenzini

Website : https://www.unige.ch/senioretclimat/

La citoyenneté politique active des personnes âgées en institution médicalisée (EMS) ne va pas de soi aujourd’hui et l’entrée en EMS est porteuse d’un risque de désinvestissement politique. Or, l’exercice du droit de vote, mais aussi plus généralement la participation à un dialogue citoyen, loin d’être un détail de l’existence, peut être un facteur d’amélioration de la qualité de vie jusqu’à un âge très avancé, et ce malgré le déclin physiologique inhérent à la vieillesse.

L’objectif de cette recherche est de comprendre en quoi l’exercice de la citoyenneté politique peut être relié à une augmentation de la qualité de vie subjective des résident-e-s en instititution. Pour ce faire, nous explorerons l’hypothèse d’un lien entre citoyenneté active et capacité d’agir, sentiment d’appartenance et/ou reconnaissance. Ce projet vise également à identifier les bonnes pratiques au sein des institutions romandes ainsi que les conditions nécessaires  pour que ces pratiques contribuent effectivement à une bonne qualité de vie des résident.e.s. 

Cette recherche s’inscrit dans une réflexion initiée à partir du projet-pilote « Voter en EMS ! » mené en 2007-2009 dans le canton de Genève, grâce au soutien de la Fondation Leenaards. Dans ce cadre, des table-rondes avaient été organisées dans six EMS romands à l’occasion des votation, touchant près de 140 personnes résident.e.s.

Dans le cadre de la recherche, l’équipe mènera une étude empirique dans six EMS romands. La sélection s’effectuera sur la base d’un travail d’enquête préalable par questionnaire auprès de l’ensemble des EMS de Suisse romande, avec le soutien de Curaviva. Cette première étape permettra de documenter pour la première fois en Suisse les pratiques des institutions dans de domaine des droits civiques. Par la suite, des études de cas approfondies seront menées. Les données seront récoltées grâce à des entretiens avec des résident-e-s et avec les directions des établissements concernés, des observations d’activités mises sur pied autour du vote, ainsi que des focus-groupes avec des animateurs en EMS.

Ce projet est dirigé par Barbara Lucas (Haute école de travail social, HES•SO Genève) et Lea Sgier (Incite, Université de Genève).

Collaboratrice de recherche: Maëlle Meigniez. 

Publications :

• Rapport final: Lucas, Barbara; Sgier, Lea, Meigniez, Maëlle et Delessert, Yves. (2022). La citoyenneté politique comme dimension de la qualité de vie : une enquête dans six EMS romands. Haute Ecole de Travail Social de Genève (HES-SO) et Institut d’études de la Citoyenneté (Incite), Université de Genève.
• Meigniez, Maëlle, Barbara Lucas, and Lea Sgier. 2021. “La participation politique en établissement médico-social : ethnographie d’un objet difficilement saisissable”. TSANTSA – Journal of the Swiss Anthropological Association 26 (June):212-20. https://doi.org/10.36950/tsantsa.2021.26.7057.
• Sgier, Lea et Lucas, Barbara (2018). Citoyenneté politique et reconnaissance dans la vieillesse dépendante. Gérontologie et société, 40(157), 151-164. https://doi.org/10.3917/gs1.157.0151 

Dans les médias

• En EMS, l'accès au vote des résidents n'est pas toujours garanti (RTS)

Financement: 

Fondation Leenaards

Champs de recherche: 

Diversité et citoyenneté

Politiques publiques et sociales

Racisme, discrimination et droits humains

Vieillesse

Présentation du projet sur le site de la Fondation Leenaards

Collaborations(s) scientifique(s): 

Curaviva Suisse

This project examines the patterns of economic, social, civic and political integration of Muslim migrants and asks whether, indeed, they are different to those of non-Muslim migrants. The project will critically address the conceptualizations and operationalizations of 'Muslimness' and of 'integration' to overcome the theoretical and conceptual limitations in prior existing research on this topic. In the context of COST Action 16111 ETHMIGSURVEYDATA, it will locate, compile, make available, post-harmonize and pool the quantitative survey data available in Switzerland and Europe that include samples of Muslim and non-Muslim migrants. Using Propensity Score Matching, the project will address the methodological shortcomings of prior research that does not disentangle the effect of being of Muslim faith from that of other confounders linked to the migration process of Muslims living in Europe. With a research team formed by Prof Giugni, Dr Kolbe, Prof Morales and one post-doctoral researcher, this project will offer highly novel datasets and findings that will contribute to scientific progress in this area and that will be able to inform public and policy debates on the challenges of integrating migrants into European societies. fair and an applied game along with scientific and policy dialogue workshops and conferences.

More information here

This project studies the consumption of food be it, for instance, local, fair trade, organic, or vegan as political acts in the Swiss context. The aim is to understand the underlying political values and the political choices - if any - that citizens make when choosing to buy or refusing to buy specific goods and services in the food sector. This research focuses on a specific form of political participation based on an everyday engagement. It proposes to study this form of engagement in relation to specific conceptions of citizenship and democracy that different types of citizens and consumers may hold. Furthermore, the project analyzes the role of civil society organizations in shaping consumption choices and modes of political engagement. In so doing, the project contributes to understanding how citizens engage with politics through alternative modes of participation in times of growing political disengagement.

Funding agency: Swiss National Fund, Ambizione program

Scientific leader: Jasmine Lorenzini

Website: https://politicalconsumerism.unige.ch

Despite the polarization in public and policy debates generated by the post-2014 fluxes of refugees, asylum applicants and migrants, European countries need to work out an evidence-based way to deal with migration and asylum rather than a prejudice-based one. The proposed project, SIRIUS, builds on a multi-dimensional conceptual framework in which host country or political-institutional, societal and individual-related conditions function either as enablers or as barriers to migrants’, refugees’ and asylum seekers’ integration via the labour market. SIRIUS has three main objectives: A descriptive objective: To provide systematic evidence on post-2014 migrants, refugees and asylum applicants especially women and young people and their potential for labour market employment and, more broadly, social integration. An explanatory objective: To advance knowledge on the complexity of labour market integration for post-2014 migrants, refugees and asylum applicants, and to explore their integration potential by looking into their spatial distribution (in relation to the distribution of labour demand across the labour market), while taking into account labour market characteristics and needs in different country and socio-economic contexts. A prescriptive objective: To advance a theoretical framework for an inclusive integration agenda, outlining an optimal mix of policy pathways for labour market integration including concrete steps that Member States and other European countries along with the EU can take to ensure that migrant-integration policies and the broader system of workforce development, training, and employment programmes support new arrivals’ access to decent work opportunities and working conditions. SIRIUS has a mixed methods approach and innovative dissemination plan involving online priority action networks, film essays, festival, job fair and an applied game along with scientific and policy dialogue workshops and conferences.

Since 2008, the European Union has become synonymous with crises: the economic crisis, the Eurozone crisis, and finally the refugee crisis. As the economic crisis and the social spending cuts bit deeper into the social body, European societies further witnessed the weakening of solidarity policies for the social protection of the unemployed native-born, the migrants, and the newly arrived refugees and a rise in xenophobia and populist politics that blamed migrants and refugees for the economic upheavals and the struggle of the local communities, while emphasizing their ''otherness'' and position as outsiders. Against this background, this research project aims to: 1) Examine how the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE), by nature-oriented toward solidarity and reciprocity, can effectively contribute to building solidarity for, protecting and integrating refugees, migrants, and the unemployed native-born within local communities and labour markets, and what enabling policy environments are required. The potentials, challenges and tensions involved in this regard within a context of austerity and welfare retrenchment, growing xenophobia and populist politics will also be assessed; 2). Generate evidence and policy suggestions to maximize the potential of SSE actors to integrate refugees, migrants, and the unemployed native-born at local level, and to create spaces and relationships of solidarity in times when integration can become a highly contentious issue. Three localities will be examined as case studies: Geneva (Switzerland), Bergamo (Italy), and Heraklion (Greece). Ultimately, the project's comparative findings will inform scholarly and policy debates, by providing concrete recommendations on the SSE potential for addressing vulnerable groups in highly contentious times.

The proposed project aims to study the relations between inequalities and young people's ways of doing politics as well as to advance scenarios for future democratic models and political systems in Europe that are more inclusive for young people. It has three main objectives: (1) To provide systematic evidence on the ways in which inequalities are lived by young people and (re)acted upon, exploring the coping mechanisms which are embedded in young people's ways of doing politics; these coping mechanisms are manifested in multiple forms, i.e. as either political (dis)engagement and contestation online and offline or as (trans-)national democratic innovation and experimentation; (2) To advance knowledge on the conditions and causes underpinning young people's ways of doing politics; this involves an examination of their norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors regarding democracy, power, politics, policymaking, social and political participation (online and offline) and the organization of economic, social and private life in order to identify ways to strengthen youth political participation and engagement with democratic life in Europe; (3) To suggest a number of different future scenarios for the development of democracy and political participation in Europe, putting particular emphasis on implementing new democratic models that are more inclusive for young people especially those with fewer opportunities. The research design consists of a multidimensional theoretical framework that combines macro-level (institutional), meso-level (organizational), and micro-level (individual) explanatory factors, a cross-national comparative design that includes nine European countries with different institutional arrangements and policies towards youth, and an integrated methodological approach based on multiple sources and methods (policy analysis, claims-making analysis, organizational survey, panel survey, survey experiments, biographical interviews, and social media analysis).

To know more: https://www.unige.ch/sciences-societe/euryka/home/

To know more: http://nccr-onthemove.ch

The research project “Mobilizing for Basic Incomes: Social Innovation in Motion (MOBILISE)” investigates the role and influence of civil society organizations (CSOs) on the recent adoption of several Universal Basic Income (UBI) pilot tests in Europe. Rising levels of (long-term) unemployment, growing poverty levels and increasing income inequality in several European countries, have prompted greater interest in basic income schemes. Policy makers are under pressure to deliver solutions that redress the social consequences of the crisis, while the unfolding of the so-called fourth industrial revolution threatens thousands of jobs. In this context, several countries are experimenting with new social protection schemes. A basic (or universal) income is a periodic cash payment delivered to all citizens without means test or work requirements. UBI can be thought as a more universal form of minimum income (MI) which requires that beneficiaries meet those conditions. While MI schemes target the poor, UBI is aimed at all citizens or residents in a country irrespective of their socio-economic situation. As UBI programmes are not yet fully developed anywhere in the world, we understand that lower degrees of conditionality and higher degrees of coverage and generosity proximate MI to UBI ideals. MOBILISE investigates the role of civil society organizations in the unprecedented launching of several UBI pilot tests across Europe. The project adopts a comparative, mixed-methods research design that includes two levels of analysis (local and national). In the first step (national level), I conduct a comparative analysis of the influence of economic and political factors in shaping the trajectories of minimum income reforms in the EU since 2005.  In the second step (local level), I will study the social and political processes that have led three local administrations to start income support experiments that come close to UBI ideals: Barcelona, Utrecht and Edinburgh.

The Swiss Federal Council adopted a Integration Plan in March 2011 laying out guidance for federal and local policies and programmes on migrant integration. With the ultimate goal of reinforcing social cohesion, the Federal Office for Migration and cantonal governments began their implementation plan in early 2014 under the guise of 26 PCI, "programmes d'intégration cantonnaux", with the goal of standardising across all 26 Swiss cantons the reception and information provided to new arrivals. Through this project we want to examine the relationship between place-branding - an economic and cultural policy strategy used widely by cities and regions - and integration policy, an area of policy often missing from local development strategies. We focus our attention on five of the largest urban areas in Switzerland: Geneva, Lausanne, Lugano, Fribourg and Bienne.

Set during the legislative discussions and public debates which have followed the February 2014 Swiss vote on immigration, this research connects integration and urban studies with public policy to explore the positioning and relationship of local identity branding to official integration policies and programmes. Through this project we provide answers to the central questions of why and how city and cantonal governments adopt language to reinforce locally-tied identities, such as Genevois or Luganesi, as part of their strategy to integrate foreign residents. The Swiss Federal Council adopted its Integration Plan in March 2011 laying out guidance for federal and local policies and programmes on migrant integration. With the ultimate goal of reinforcing social cohesion, the Federal Office for Migration and cantonal governments began their implementation plan in early 2014 under the guise of 26 PIC, programmes d’intégration cantonaux, with the goal of standardising across all 26 Swiss cantons the reception and information provided to new arrivals. Additionally, cities employ place-based identity-branding often as a strategy of economic and cultural development, labelling their places as culturally rich and economically advantageous destinations to attract individuals and employers to the area. Once there, how do public policies and programmes encourage foreign yet local residents to identify with the place? Through this project we want to examine the relationship between place-branding—an economic and cultural policy strategy used widely by cities and regions—and integration policy, an area of policy often missing from local development strategies. To explore these questions and to compare the use and implementation of local identity and integration strategies, we focus our attention on five of the largest urban areas in French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland: Geneva (GE), Lausanne (VD), Lugano (TI), Fribourg (FR) and Biel/Bienne (BE). Among the most populated urban areas in Suisse latine, these diverse cities-cantons are expected to vary in their strategic use of local identity-branding across economic, cultural and integration policies. Examining multiple cities and cantons provides meaningful comparisons of the degree to which governments link local identity-branding strategies to their approach on integration. Further, the proposed work analyses integration and identity-branding discourses during the crucial implementation period of the Cantonal Integration Programmes (PIC), 2014-2017. Methodologically, the project employs both qualitative and quantitative techniques exploiting available data (public policy documents and government statistics on integration) and supplementing it with important first-hand perspectives obtained via personal interviews with key public actors. Specifically, across the selected cities-cantons, the research consists of: (i) comparative political discourse analysis of economic, cultural and integration policies and programmes; (ii) semi-directive interviews with city and cantonal officials responsible for promoting local tourism and economic and cultural development and those responsible for formulating the cantonal integration programme and (iii) quantitative analysis of official indicators of integration by the Federal Statistical Office.

The aim of this project is to analyze the outputs of participation, i.e. the impact of Participatory Budgets on the construction of citizenship and political trajectories for citizens, militants and bureaucrats in Brazil. Do PB institutions contribute to restructure the citizenship practices? At the individual level, how do these experiences influence the political trajectories of the participants? Does the integration in a PB process encourage other forms of political commitment (party adhesion, electoral competition, etc.)? In which condition are the PB used by the actors as a step in the political career? Our samples are grounded in three case studies in the state of São Paulo: the cities of Guarulhos, São Bernardo and Diadema. Two main hypotheses will be tested: (1) a positive influence of the participative budgets in the linkage between State and society, through an empowerment of the local democratic citizenship; (2) a densification of the politicization of the actors having been directly involved in experiences of PB, with a reorientation towards other forms of political commitment. The study of these post-‐participation trajectories will allow a better understanding of the linkage between democratic participation and representation.

The aim of this project is to assess the extent to which Muslim actors are included in the political life of the countries in which they live. More specifically, the project focuses on three countries—Switzerland, France and Britain—each of which has responded in its own unique way to the challenges of political inclusion. What we want to know is whether these different responses have resulted in variable patterns of inclusion. The fact that inclusion is necessarily a relative, ‘more or less’ term means that this project could not be successfully conducted in Switzerland alone.  By the same token, comparison is vital so that practical policy lessons can be learned—the Swiss approach is only one of many possible approaches. Hence, any comprehensive analysis of the political inclusion of Muslims must take a broader view. What marks this project out as unique is the originality of its methodological approach. That approach unites two areas of academic study, each of which has received considerable attention in its own right in recent years, but which have yet to be combined in systematic fashion—normative deliberative theory and empirical network analysis. This is the first large-scale project to combine the two into a single measure of political inclusion. It is intrinsically cross-disciplinary, requiring an international team of political philosophers and political sociologists encompassing expertise in the three countries to implement the research design. The data for this project will be generated in line with the project’s innovative methodological approach. On the one hand, we assess the quantity and quality of deliberation of all actors (e.g. government, political parties, civil society organizations including Muslim actors themselves) intervening in the public sphere with respect to issues of direct social and political concern to Muslims in Switzerland, France and Britain. On the other hand, we draw upon network analysis so as to deliver a systematic and comparative appraisal of ties that develop among actors through their deliberative interventions. These ties offer us a tangible expression of variable configurations of political inclusion and exclusion across the public and the policy domains. Data will also be generated in such a way as to control for local variations within each country, extending the project’s scope to the study of two cities in each country. The proposed research has four main components or workpackages (WPs). The first three WPs evaluate the content of ‘deliberative interventions’ as a vehicle through which to study the deliberative quality of the claims Muslim actors make in comparison to other actors. Accordingly, the research analyses any deliberative intervention pertaining to Muslims by any actor (state actors, political parties, NGOs etc.) as well as by Muslim actors themselves. Such an evaluation involves: an extension of ‘claims making analysis’ to assess the deliberative content of newspaper articles (a claim may or may not be deliberative, a point on which the traditional claims making approach is silent) and to capture the roles and positions of different actors within national and localpublic spheres (WP1); an organizational survey to gather information on key Muslim organizations operating at the national and local level and to shed light on the role of deliberation within them (WP2); network analysis to examine the relational outcome of deliberation, which spans both the public and policy domains (WP3). Finally, WP4 puts together the findings that have emerged from the preceding work packages and delves into a comprehensive cross-national comparison by generating valuable insights into the political inclusion of Muslims in the three countries under study.

The 2010-2011 youth-led wave of protests in the South and East Mediterranean, could be described as the coming on the scene of a new generation united by a shared experience of marginalization and by new ways to protest and act. Important as this phenomenon could be for the future of the SEM, it still escapes the main frames of analysis utilized by academic research. Youth studies in the SEM, while producing important findings and insights, have failed so far to give a multi-dimensional and comprehensive understanding of the economic, political and social disadvantages faced by youth in the region and of the possible evolution of young people’s role in national or regional developments. This project aims at filling this important gap in our knowledge of the SEM by offering a comprehensive multi-level, interdisciplinary and gender-sensitive approach to the understanding of youth in the region. By combining the economic, political and socio-cultural spheres and a macro (policy/institutional), meso (organizational) and micro (individual) level analysis, POWER2YOUTH will explore the root causes and complex dynamics of youth exclusion, while investigating the factors fostering youth inclusion. Building on a conceptualization of youth that gives prominence to youth as potential agents of change, the project starts out from the assumption that youth exclusion is the result of unequal power relations in society, in as much as effective youth inclusion can only be fostered by a bottom-up process of transformation of the systemic inequalities that lead to exclusion in the first place. From this premise comes the project’s emphasis on the study of the potentially transformative impact of individual and collective youth agency searching for instances of empowerment leading to active youth participation in society and overall change. POWER2YOUTH will finally produce innovative and concrete policy recommendations.

To know more: www.power2youth.eu

The proposed research deals with citizens’ reactions to economic crises and their social and political consequences. It examines in particular the ways in which European citizens have reacted to the crisis that, at different degree of intensity in different countries, struck Europe since 2008, but also how they deal with economic crises and their consequences more generally. We examine both individual and collective responses by citizens, both the “private” and the “public” dimensions of such responses, and both political and non-political responses. In addition, while the focus of the research is on citizens’ responses, we also examine policy responses so as to have a baseline for assessing citizens’ reactions to crises. The project has three main objectives: (1) to provide systematic evidence of the ways in which European citizens react to economic crises and their social and political consequences, both individually and collectively; (2) to advance knowledge on the connections between individual factors, contextual factors, and the ways in which European citizens react to economic crises and their social and political consequences; and (3) to suggest a number of good practices as to how to deal with economic crises, both at the social and political level, through which their negative consequences on European citizens can be avoided or limited. The project’s objectives are addressed by means of six main types of data and methods: (1) the creation of a cross-national comparative dataset on economic, social, and political indicators; (2) an analysis of policy responses to crises; (3) an analysis of collective responses to crises in the public domain; (4) an analysis of individual responses to crises by private citizens; (5) experiments designed to assess causal effects of different dimensions of crises on citizens’ attitudes and behaviors; and (6) an analysis of alternative forms of resilience in times of crisis.

The research project deals with offensive discourse, or negativism, during debates on political issues in Switzerland. Offensive discourse refers to the presence of direct and explicit attacks toward political adversaries (concurrent candidates or debate adversaries). The presence of such attacks in the political system, and especially in political campaigning, has extensively been analyzed in the last decades. However, to our knowledge, no cross-sectional research has been proposed in order to compare the presence of attacks in different political arenas. Furthermore, almost nothing exists on the Swiss case. The project aims to fill this gap. More specifically, we will attempt to shed lights on the forms, causes and consequences of offensive discourse in three political arenas: the parliamentary arena (through the analysis of parliamentary debates), the electoral arena (through the analysis of public debates in the context of direct democratic votes and electoral ballots), and the party organizational arena (through the analysis of debates in parties and ad-hoc referendum committees). Through original data collection and partial reanalysis of previously collected data, we will provide empirical answers to three main questions on the presence of offensive discourse: What are its forms? What are its causes? What are its effects? In order to answer these questions, the research project has six main components (workpackages): WP1 (Meta-analysis) aims to provide theoretical foundations on the presence of negativism in the political system; WP2 (Parliamentary debates) aims to provide insights on offensive discourses during Swiss lower chamber parliamentary debates; WP3 (Direct democracy) aims to shed lights on the forms, causes, and effects of offensive campaigning during popular votes (direct democratic ballots at the federal level); WP4 (Elections) aims to investigate forms, causes and effects of negativism in political campaigning for federal elections; WP5 (Political organizations) aims to study the forms, causes, and effects of offensive discourse within political organizations (parties and ad-hoc referendum committees); WP6 (Cross-sectional comparisons) aims to provide a cross-sectional comparison on offensive discourse in the political arenas covered in the project.

Protest participation has been surging throughout Europe and the world as a whole. In most countries political protest has become the modal repertoire citizens employ to demand political changes or to express indignation. Increasingly, governments are confronted with citizens in the act of protest. At the same time, societies have changed dramatically during the last few decades. In our globalizing world, transnational and supranational political institutions impact on people's daily lives and have transformed the supply of politics. Simultaneously, networks rather than formal organizations have become the prime mode of organizing in our society, while new technologies such as the Internet, e-mail, and cell phones have dramatically changed our means of communication. Yet, how people mobilize for protest in these 'new' societal arrangements remains poorly understood.

This project attempts to find answers to the questions of who participates in protest, for what reason, and how they are mobilised. As the motivational dynamics of different forms of participation vary, we chose to focus on one particular type of protest, namely, protest demonstrations. The decision to take part in a protest demonstration is not taken in isolation but within a wider social and political context. We will investigate the impact of contextual variation on the dynamics of protest by comparing demonstrations in different countries and mobilizing contexts. Studies of protest behavior typically focus on a single protest event, which takes contextual variation out. Instead, we will develop comparative designs that enable us to study the influence of the national and mobilizing context. To that end we have developed a common theoretical framework, standardized measures, and techniques of sampling and data collection

The central tenet of this study is that a specific national context generates a specific mobilizing context; that the interaction of nation and mobilizing context produces a specific type of demonstration; that a specific type of demonstration brings a specific group of protestors into the streets. We assume that the composition of the group of protestors, their motives and the way they are mobilized result from the interaction of national context, mobilizing context, and type of demonstration (see Figure).

 

 

EURISLAM is an European comparative research project that analyses how the incorporation of Islam in European Member States is influenced by national traditions of identity, citizenship and church-state relations. EURISLAM studies how these traditions have affected interactions between Muslim immigrants and their off-spring and the receiving society. Fieldwork is currently conducted in Belgium, France. Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK.

 The central research question of this project is:

How have different traditions of national identity, citizenship, and church-state relations affected European immigration countries’ incorporation of Islam, and what are the consequences of these approaches for patterns of cultural distance and interaction between Muslim immigrants and their descendants, and the receiving society? 

Differences across European countries have been an important factor hampering the emergence of a common European approach to immigration and integration. Although the need for such a common approach is widely endorsed, there is equally wide disagreement on what such a common approach should look like. The proposed research aims to contribute to resolving this issue by providing a systematic analysis of cross-national differences and similarities in countries’ approaches to the cultural integration of immigrants, and of Muslims in particular, and by relating these policy differences to cross-national variation in cultural distance and interaction between Muslims and the receiving society population.

We elaborate our core research question into three more specific questions and research methods:

I. What are the differences between European immigration countries in how they deal with cultural and religious differences of immigrant groups in general, and of Muslims in particular?

This question has two aspects. First, the more formal aspect of legislation and jurisprudence, which we will address by way of gathering a systematic set of cross-national indicators using secondary sources (work package 1). Secondly, in addition to formal law and jurisprudence, cultural relations are also affected importantly by how conceptions of national identity, citizenship, church-state relations, and the position of Islam in relation to these, are framed and contested in the public sphere. These more informal understandings of national and European identity and ways of dealing with cultural differences will be investigated by way of a content analysis of debates in the mass media on Islam and the integration of Muslim immigrants (work package 2).

II. To what extent do we find differences across immigration countries in cultural distance and patterns of interaction between various Muslim immigrant groups and the receiving society population?

On the one hand, we will focus here on attitudes, norms, and values, particularly those relating to democratic norms, gender relations and family values, ethnic, religious, and receiving society identification, and attitudes towards relations across ethnic and religious boundaries. On the other hand, we will look at cultural and religious resources and practices, such as language proficiency, adherence to various religious practices (e.g., attendance of religious services or wearing of a headscarf), interethnic and interreligious partnerships and marriages, the frequency and quality of interethnic and interreligious relationships with neighbours, friends, and colleagues, and memberships in social and political organisations of the own ethnic and religious group as well as of the receiving society. Both types of questions will also be asked – of course where relevant in an adapted format – with regard to members of the dominant ethnic group of the receiving society, because, obviously, cultural distance and interactions are determined by the perceptions, attitude, and practices at both ends of the relationship. All these variables will be gathered by way of a survey in each of the countries of a number of selected Muslim immigrant groups, as well as a sample of receiving society ethnics (work package 3).

III. To what extent can cross-national differences in cultural distance and patterns of interethnic and interreligious interaction be explained by the different approaches that immigration countries have followed towards the management of cultural difference in general, and Islam in particular?

This crucial question about the causal mechanisms linking policies to outcomes will be addressed from different angles, triangulating a variety of methods. First, multivariate analyses of the survey data will establish to what extent cross-national differences on our various socio-cultural variables (see above under point II) persist when controlling for individual-level background characteristics, such as gender, age, level of education, labour market position, and timing of immigration (work package 4). Moreover, these analyses can establish to what extent these cross-national differences are stable across Muslim groups from various countries of origin, or whether there are specific interaction effects between destination and source countries of immigration. The survey data will also be used to analyse the issue of the relation between cultural and socio-economic integration.

In addition to these analyses of our survey data, we will address the question of causal mechanisms in a more detailed, fine-grained way by organising focus groups with members of transnational immigrant families, whose members live in two or more of the immigration countries included in our study. This part of our research can be seen as a quasi-experiment, in which groups of people who are from a very similar background but who have ended up in different immigration contexts are systematically compared (work package 5). Finally, we want to get further purchase on the causal linkages between policies and outcomes by conducting semi-structured interviews with two crucial groups of stakeholders: policy-makers and leaders of Muslim organisations. This also includes an in-depth analysis of the policy processes, which result in specific policy outcomes (work package 6). In addition to being part of our data gathering effort, these interviews will also serve as a part of our dissemination strategy.

Project outputs

This research builds on previous work on social exclusion as well as on civic and political participation to advance knowledge on the causes, processes, and perspectives for change related to the social and political exclusion of unemployed youth. It will provide an integrated approach to the study of the effects of unemployment on the exclusion of young people from the social and political spheres.

Three main objectives: (1) to generate a new body of data on young unemployed (in particular, young long-term unemployed), but also precarious youth; (2) to advance theory and extend knowledge on the social and political exclusion of young unemployed; and (3) to provide practical insights into the potential paths for the social and political integration of young unemployed.

The overall design of the research has three main components: (1) a multidimensional theoretical framework that combines macro-level, meso-level, and micro-level explanatory factors while taking into account various dimensions of exclusion; (2) a cross-national comparative design that includes European countries with different institutional approaches to unemployment; (3) an integrated methodological approach based on multiple sources and methods

Three important features of the proposed research underscore its innovative impact: (1) its comparative approach allowing for bench-marking and best-practice analysis; (2) its multidimensional approach allowing to consider the mediating impact of European, national, or local public policy on the way people cope with their situation of unemployed; (3) its interactive research process spurring policy-learning by bringing together different expertise and knowledge, and allowing at the same time for the transfer of scientific findings into policy recommendations.

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Instruments:

Project Description

The Swiss public authorities are increasingly targeted by the demands for recognition made by a wide range of cultural minorities. In this dynamic, the state plays an important role in distributing symbolic and legal resources to different groups and therefore promoting social and political integration. However, the success of the strategy of accommodation implemented by the state is also dependent on the individual and organizational characteristics of the minorities at stake. A careful scrutiny of these dimensions is crucial in order to both understand the sociological and political factors fostering or preventing social and political integration as well as social cohesion and to normatively assess the success and legitimacy of the process of accommodation of cultural minorities. The Muslim minority is increasingly seen as the most difficult minority to accommodate within the Swiss multicultural system, and this for religious, social, and political reasons.

Project outputs

• Read the Final report in French.
• Read the Summary Sheet in French.   

The main objective of this project is to study the degree of political integration of the foreign-origin or immigrant population in several European cities, and therefore to study multicultural democracy at the local level. The concept of political integration is defined as the combination of the degree of socio-political participation and the level of trust and acceptance of the political values, institutions and elites of the host society. The concept of political integration is, therefore, operationalized through the consideration of two different dimensions:

• ·        Political orientations: political trust, interest in politics, political knowledge and information, feelings of identity and belonging, feelings of political efficacy, democratic values, social tolerance, concepts of citizenship, etc.
• ·        Socio-political behaviour: involvement in different kinds of associations (ethnic, political parties, trade unions, cultural groups, NGOs, etc.) and various forms of political action (electoral behaviour, and non-electoral behaviour). 

The questions that guide the whole research are the following:

(1) To what extent is the immigrant population politically integrated into the local life of their cities?

(2) Are there significant differences in the degree to which different ethnic, cultural or national groups are politically integrated into the local life?

(3) If such differences exist, what factors help explain the variations in the degree of political integration from one immigrant group to another?  

The analytical approach of the research considers the potential influence of four types of factors:

(1)  Immigrants' individual characteristics;

(2) The structuring of immigrants' organizations along ethnic, national or geo-cultural cleavages;

(3) The structure of institutional and discursive opportunities; and

(4) The characteristics of the immigrant groups within the host society.  

The research will collect the necessary information at three different levels of analysis:

(1) The contextual or macro level, through the use of secondary sources and interviews with political and administrative authorities;

(2) The organizational or meso-level, through the study of immigrants' organisational structures and networks, carried out with surveys to immigrants' associations; and

(3) The individual or micro level, through a survey to immigrant residents of different origins (with a control group of national-born citizens). 

 Finally, this research project focuses on the local level. That is, we limit the study of the political integration of immigrants to a number of European cities: Lyon (France), Budapest (Hungary), Milan (Italy), Madrid (Spain), Zurich (Switzerland), and London (United Kingdom).

Project outputs

Reports:

• Download the project's reports here: Reports.zip

Working papers:

• Download the project's working papers here: Working papers.zip

Publications:

• Download the project's publications here: Publications.zip

This project focuses on forms of deliberative democracy as they are elaborated “from below” and implemented both in the internal organization of social movements and in experiments of participatory decision-making. In particular, the project analyses the issue of active democracy as it emerges in the theorization and practices of the movements that have recently mobilized on the issues of globalization, suggesting patterns of “globalization from below”. Social movements criticize the fundamentals of the conventional practices of politics, and experiment with new models of democracy both in their internal structuring and in the way they interact with political institutions. The concept of democracy and its practice assume an even more central role for the “global movement” which has mobilised transnationally demanding social justice and participatory democracy. Social movements, moreover, need to come to terms with the task of mobilising a heterogeneous base of different generations and social positions within themselves, while, externally, challenging multilevel governance. Internally, the search for new models of democracy is expressed in such experiments as local social forums, self-organized assemblies on the part of the citizenship, and transnational movement networks. Moreover, these organized movements are becoming increasingly involved in policy decision-making, especially at local level. The ensuing debate on deliberative democracy is particularly relevant both for the development of a civic society, and for the legitimization of political institutions. The research — focusing on six European countries and the EU level — will consist of an analysis of documents pertaining to both movements and
public institutions, websites, semi-structured interviews with nongovernmental organizations and public administrators, surveys of movement activists, participant observation of movement groups and analyses of the experiences of participatory decision making.

 Read the project description here: ProjectDescription.pdf

Project outputs

Instruments:

• Work Package 2 (Searching the Net) - Codebook for the analysis of websites of social movement organizations [pdf]
  
• Work Package 3 (Visions of Democracy) - Codebook for the analysis of the organizational ideology of social movement organizations[pdf]
• Work Package 4 (Organizational Networks) - Short questionnaire for the survey of the 'real' behaviour of social movement organizations [pdf]
• Work Package 5 (Global Activists) - Questionnaire for a survey of participants in the European Social Forum of Athens [pdf]
• Work Package 6 (Practices of Deliberative Democracy)–
1. "General group description/portrait", organized according to a list of items useful to provide a general description of the group that is going to be studied [wp6group.description];
2. "Session reports" have been used to describe the character, content and course of every meeting. The reports draw a more general picture of the group meetings and allow putting a controversy into context [wp6session.report];
3. “Controversy protocols” was used to register participation, symmetry/asymmetry, the kind of power used in a controversy and a range of other variables for moments of controversy only [wp6discourse.protocol];
4. The "Codebook" explains the use of session reports and discourse protocol [wp6Codebook].

This project aims to advance knowledge in labor politics by focusing on the ‘contentious politics of unemployment’, i.e. the relationship between political institutional approaches to employment policy and political conflicts mobilized by collective actors over unemployment in the public domain. It is designed to study this topic at national, international comparative, and transnational levels. Key objectives: (a) to generate new data for longitudinal and comparative analyses of ideological and policy positions of actors and their relationships; (b) to study the potential for political participation ‘from below’ by citizens campaigning for the rights of the unemployed and the conditions under which existing organizational networks and policy dialogues transform in a more open civil policy deliberation; (c) to provide knowledge based on rigorous cross-national and EU-level transnational analyses allowing grounded empirical statements about the Europeanization of the field.

As the contested and negotiated character of the employment policy field expresses itself both in the public domain and in the institutional arenas for interest mediation, we look both at political claim-making in the public space and policy deliberation within the polity. The overall design of the research has three main components: (a) mapping the field of political contention, i.e. structures of ideological cleavages and actor relationships, both longitudinally and cross-nationally; (b) examining the nature of the multi-organizational field extending from the core policy domain to the public domain, i.e. networks and channels of political influence between core policy actors and intermediary organizations, on one side, and civil society organizations and social movements representing the unemployed (including the unemployed themselves), on the other; (c) studying the nature of the interaction between EU-level and national policy-making by determining the channels of political influence that exist between European institutions and national policy domains in the field (the multi-level governance of employment policy), and examining to what extent there are new political opportunities for the bottom-up empowerment of citizens’ organizations as a consequence of the emergence of the EU as an actor in the field. A new body of data will be generated which will allow for longitudinal (1990-2002) and comparative (F, D, I, S, CH, UK) analyses of ideological and policy positions of actors and their relationships in the unemployment issue-field. This will be backed up by interviews conducted with key actors in the organizational field (policy actors, employers associations, trade unions, parties, NGOs and social movements) both at the national and transnational levels. Innovative attempts will be made to establish networks and links between the involved actors as part of our dissemination strategy, which is key to the overall success of the project.

The success of this project is underwritten by the European dimension. It provides the first systematic cross-national comparison of the contentious politics of unemployment based on original data. It has a high potential for being a path-breaking academic study in labor politics, social movements and Europe. The findings will feedback understanding to the actors in the field, facilitated through our dissemination strategy which aims to contribute toward a constructive social dialogue. 

Implementation period: 01.2001– 12.2004
Contracting Authority: 5th Framework Programme (European Commission)
Scientific Coordinator: Marco Giugni
Scientific Collaborators: Michel Berclaz, Katharina Füglister et Julie Berclaz (anc.)