Citizenship in the EU

Short Title	CITIZENSHIP IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
Full Title	Citizenship in the EU: Civic Participation and Identities of Young Generations and Vulnerable Groups with Special Focus on East and Central Europe
Brief Description	If citizenship in the Euroepan Union has been developing constantly during he past two decades, it remained in flux. The research project concentrates on major challenges to the processes of identification with the EU in particular in countries of East Central and Souths Eastern Europe. The empirical research will focus on young generations’ and vulnarable groups’ perception and expectation about European citizenship. The theoretical part of the research project wil focus on new dimensions of European citizenship in relation to identity and sovereignty.
Research Period	Spring/Summer 2013 – Winter 2014
Research Type	Empirical, historical, theoretical
Research Monitoring Body	IPDOS (Interdicsiplinary Platform for Doctoral Research)
Project Supervisor	Ferenc Miszlivetz, Centre for Social Science Research MTA
Research Manager	Angéla Kóczé, Centre for Social Science Research MTA, CEU
Researchers	András Gergely, Jody Jensen, Centre for Social Science Research MTA
External Researchers	Dr Mónika Mátay, ELTE Prof. György Csepeli, ELTE Dr. Márta Pankucsi and Dr. Kinga Szabó, University of Miskolc Prof. Stefano Bianchini, University of Bologna, Institute for East-Central Europe and the Balkans, Forli, Italy Prof. Slobodan Markovic, University of Belgrade; Serbia Prof. Zarko Puhovski, University of Zagreb; Croatia prof. Mitja Zagar, University of Ljubljana; Slovenia Peter Huncik, director, Forum Minority Research Institute, Slovakia Noemi Lendvai, University of Bristol, UK; Prof. James M. Skelly, University of Ulster, Ireland
Website	http://www.ises.hu
Contact	Ferenc Miszlivetz (miszlivetz.ferenc@tk.mta.hu)
Institutional Partners	ELTE; IGES-ISES, Corvinus University of Budapest; University of Bologna, MIRRES, Forli
Support	International Visegrad Fund, Central European Initiative, EU Jean Monnet Project
Research Summary	Civic participation on both political and social terms has traditionally been among the key subjects of research on citizenship. The project will adopt a broad notion of civic participation and focuses on both failed and successful cases of active excercises of citizenship. As part of the rather complex and often paradoxical post-1989 „transitions”, national identities were reconstructed and in some cases even reinforced in East-Central and South-Eastern European countries that joined the EU or are accepted as candidates. In this historico-political context, debating European citizenship inevitably implies assessing the notion of citizenship as a feeling of belonging to and identification with the EU polity. The research projects will explore and analyze recent trends and popular discourses about citizenship in ECE and will investigate the concerns and aspirations directed at the EU by the young generations. Some of the major research questions include: „Which groups of citizens do not make use of their rights and what hinders them? What could be done to allow a greater number of citizens to make their voice heard?”