A rural-urban divide in Europe? An analysis of political attitudes and behaviour

A rural-urban divide in Europe? : an analysis of political attitudes and behaviour / Tintori, G ; Scipioni, M . Joint Research Centre (European Commission), 2021.

"This Technical report offers insights on how the spatial dimension of attitudes and political behaviour across Europe relates to the underlying socio-demographic and economic features. In investigating the existence and nature of a rural-urban divide, it aims to support the Commission’s activities towards a Communication on a Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas. This work builds upon the JRC Science for Policy report Immigration and trust in the EU. A territorial analysis of voting behaviour and attitudes (Scipioni, Tintori et al. 2019). It examines if and how a rural-urban divide may correlate and impact on Europeans' opinions and political choices, with specific reference to a series of issues considered to be particularly divisive in European public discourses in recent times. The study splits the analysis in two parts: one related to data on attitudes, the other on political behaviour. In the part based on survey data, it first looks at the 2018 Flash Eurobarometer on Regions and then, to gain a time perspective, it considers the Standard Eurobarometer series from 2003 to 2019. This section focuses on whether and how attitudes have shifted in rural versus urban areas towards the EU and national governments, as well as over immigration. The part on the political behaviour looks at the European Parliament elections of 2014 and 2019. The section first describes how the political offer of European parties has evolved between the two elections, in relation to the EU and immigration policies according to the Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES). Then, it analyses how European voters, divided according to their residence in urban, rural or intermediate territories, cast their votes in both elections for parties coded according to their positions towards the EU and immigration. Overall, the empirical analysis detects some signs of a rural-urban divide in the political attitudes and behaviour of Europeans, but unevenly across various Member States and, importantly, their occurrence is issue-dependent. In addition, the observed geographic differences are less territorial in nature than a second-order manifestation of socio-demographic structural characteristics. The study thus contributes to the framework of the JRC work to provide scientific analyses to identify and understand socio-demographic drivers and implications of territorial disparities across the EU, with a view to support knowledge-based policy design and inform tailored measures."

Equality, Freedom, and Democracy

Equality, Freedom, and Democracy Leonardo Morlino. Oxford University Press, 2020.
"A democratic regime is assumed to implement freedom and equality as the two critical and most important values. The question we intend to address here is: how and why has the actual implementation of freedom and equality been changing in the 1990–2020 period? Researching this topic, we cannot ignore the impact of the Great Recession since 2008. Thus, in this comparative research, we analyse France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom to detect the changes. As expected, the six largest European democracies have been differently affected by the crisis, as they also had different background factors. We address an additional question: what is the impact of the European Union on the two democratic values? Accordingly, we analyse economic inequality, social inequality, and ethnic inequality with the related changing trends and explanations. We also detect and analyse the trend of freedoms, and especially personal dignity, civil rights, and political rights. Thus, the relative decline of equalities and freedoms in the six countries emerge in the different complex facets. We also explore the demand for equalities and freedoms by citizens and the political commitments of party leaders. The other issues we address include how and why, respectively, equalities and freedoms are affected by domestic aspects and the role of external factors, especially the European Union. By connecting equalities and freedoms and drawing the lines of entire research, we show how there are three different paths in the future of democracy: balanced democracy, protest democracy, and unaccountable democracy. "

Deelname van personen met een handicap aan verkiezingen

Deelname van personen met een handicap aan verkiezingen: rapport / Unia, 2020.

"Nog te veel personen met een verstandelijke handicap of een psychische kwetsbaarheid kunnen hun stemrecht niet ten volle uitoefenen. Dat blijkt uit een onderzoek van Unia na de verkiezingen van 2018 en 2019. Unia ging praten met personen met een handicap zelf, hun families en professionals uit de sector.
Het onderzoek brengt verschillende hindernissen aan het licht en benadrukt de rol van familie en professionals bij de participatie van personen met een handicap."

Participatory Democracy - A success story written by the EESC

Participatory Democracy : a success story written by the EESC / European Economicand Social Committee, 2020.

"The compendium brings together all the opinions and reports which, over the last thirty years, have enabled the EESC and civil society organisations to strengthen participatory democracy and become an indispensable part of the European decision-making process."

Elections, digital technologies, human rights - Compendium (2020)

Elections, digital technologies, human rights /Council of Europe, 2020

Citizens’ Solidarity in Europe

Citizens’ Solidarity in Europe: civic Engagement and Public Discourse in Times of Crises / edited by Christian Lahusen. Edward Elgar publishing, 2020.

"Citizens’ Solidarity in Europe systematically dissects the manifestations of solidarity buried beneath the official policies and measures of public authority in Europe. In this exciting and innovative book, contributors offer comprehensive and original data and highlight the detrimental factors that tend to inhibit or annihilate solidarity, and those that are beneficial for the nurturing of solidarity."

Niet op school? Waar dan wel?: leer en oefen Democratie met eTwinning

Licht, A.; Pateraki, I.; Scimeca, S. (2019). Niet op school? Waar dan wel?: leer en oefen democratie met eTwinning.
Central Support Service van eTwinning - European Schoolnet, Brussel.

"In democratische samenlevingen vervullen alle burgers per definitie een sociale en politieke rol. Onderwijsautoriteiten in Europa zijn het er dan ook over eens dat jongeren de nodige competenties moeten verwerven om deze sociale en politieke taken te vervullen. De Europese Unie heeft via een aantal initiatieven duidelijk gemaakt dat ze onderwijs over burgerschap belangrijk vindt. Actief burgerschap bevorderen is een van de vier doelstellingen van de Europese beleidssamenwerking op het gebied van onderwijs en opleiding; daarin wordt met name gesteld dat onderwijs interculturele competenties, democratische waarden en respect voor de grondrechten moet bevorderen, alle vormen van discriminatie en racisme moet voorkomen en bestrijden, en kinderen, jongeren en volwassen moet leren hoe ze op een positieve manier kunnen omgaan met leeftijdsgenoten, ongeacht hun achtergrond. Ook de ET2020-werkgroep met betrekking tot de bevordering, via het onderwijs, van burgerschap en de gemeenschappelijke waarden vrijheid, verdraagzaamheid en non-discriminatie verklaarde in een recent rapport dat gedeelde waarden en sociale en burgerschapscompetenties het best worden aangeleerd via een interdisciplinaire benadering in verschillende vakken. Door ze te integreren in andere vakken en ze in te bedden in een schoolbrede democratische cultuur en ethos."

Scriptieprijs Binnenlands Bestuur "Guido Decoster"

Op 4 december 2019 reikte het Agentschap Binnenlands Bestuur voor de tweede maal de Scriptieprijs Binnenlands Bestuur Guido Decoster uit in het Herman Teirlinckgebouw te Brussel.
Lees hier alle scripties en de volledige uitslag van de Scriptieprijs Binnenlands Bestuur Guido Decoster, editie 2019.

To be Equal and Free: The Nexus Between Human Rights and Democracy

To be Equal and Free: The Nexus Between Human Rights and Democracy / Thandiwe Matthews. A Publication of Heinrich Böll Foundation,2019.

Free to Think 2019

"Free to Think 2019 draws on data from SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project to identify trends related to violent attacks on higher education communities, including a series of deadly bombings targeting scholars and students in Afghanistan; wrongful imprisonments and prosecutions of scholars, particularly in Turkey and Sudan; pressures on student expression involving more than one hundred documented incidents around the world; and restrictions on academic travel, deployed most prominently by authorities in the U.S., Israel, and China. The report provides detailed analysis of national pressures on higher education communities, including:

Political tensions in India that have led to violent altercations between students, security forces, and off-campus groups, and have driven legal actions and disciplinary measures against scholars critical of those in power;
Ongoing attacks on scholars in Turkey, who continued to face arrest, prosecution, and bans on public employment and foreign travel for signing a peace petition or for being associated with groups or individuals disfavored by the government;
Violent crackdowns on dissent in Sudan, where state authorities shuttered universities and security services used arrests and even lethal violence to quell dissent among students and scholars amid nationwide protests;
Heightened assaults on academic freedom in China, where scholars and students are punished for being out of step with CCP ideology and where so-called “re-education camps” are being used to imprison minority scholars and students; and
A surge in politically-motivated pressures on Brazil’s universities, including raids on campuses, threats against and attacks on minority students, and legislation that threatens universities’ activities and core values."

Beleidsnota 2019-2024. Welzijn, Volksgezondheid, Gezin en Armoedebestrijding

Beleidsnota 2019-2024. Welzijn, Volksgezondheid, Gezin en Armoedebestrijding / Kabinet van Wouter Beke, Vlaams minister van Welzijn, Volksgezondheid, Gezin en Armoedebestrijding, 2019.

"De beleidsnota bevat de grote strategische keuzes van de Vlaamse Regering op het vlak van welzijn, volksgezondheid, gezin en armoedebestrijding voor de periode 2019-2024. De nota geeft de visie van de functioneel bevoegde minister weer."

Open Access artikel: Mediating Structures: their Organization in Civil Society / Margaret Harris &Carl Milofsky

Mediating Structures: their Organization in Civil Society / Margaret Harris &Carl Milofsky. In: Nonprofit Policy Forum. 10(2019)2

“This paper explores a counter-weight to anti-democratic trends suggested by civil society theory: mediating structures (also known as‘intermediate’or‘intermediary’organizations). We look briefly at the range of ways in which the concept has been used in social science and then focus on literature which employs the conceptspecifically in the context of debates about sustainable democracy We discern from the theoretical literature fourdistinct functions said to be performed in democracies by mediating structures and we offer case examples of or-ganizations which perform those functions in the contemporary real world. We conclude by providing pointers to how mediating structures might be identified, supported and sustained in the face of anti-democratic trends today.”

Burgerdialogen en burgerraadplegingen

Burgerdialogen en burgerraadplegingen: belangrijkste conclusies (30 april 2019) / Europese Commissie. Luxemburg: Bureau voor publicaties van de Europese Unie, 2019.

"Dit verslag is gebaseerd op de bijdragen van honderdduizenden burgers die hun stem hebben laten horen tijdens ongeveer 1 600 burgerdialogen en via de onlineraadpleging over de toekomst van Europa. Het dient als input voor het overleg van de leiders van de EU-27 tijdens de informele bijeenkomst in Sibiu. Feedback van en interactie met de burgers zijn ook van grote waarde geweest met het oog op de bijdrage van de Commissie aan de strategische agenda die de leiders in juni 2019 zullen aannemen (Europa in mei 2019: voorbereidingen voor een meer verenigde, sterkere en democratischere Unie in een steeds onzekerder wereld."

Tienspraak: tieners betrekken bij het gemeentelijk beleid

Tienspraak: tieners betrekken bij het gemeentelijk beleid / Wouter Vanderstede. Kind & Samenleving, 2019.

"De voorbije jaren ontwikkelde Kind & Samenleving in heel wat gemeenten en steden inspraakprojecten met jonge tieners. Vanuit onze ervaringen geven we in deze publicatie graag de basics en concrete tools mee voor inspraak van tieners in het gemeentelijk beleid.

Tienspraak is in de eerste plaats ontwikkeld voor jeugdconsulenten en inspraakbegeleiders. maar ook beleidsmedewerkers kunnen hier inspiratie opdoen voor het betrekken van tieners in het beleid

Tienspraak bestaat uit drie delen:
•Een inleiding met onze visie op inspraak en participatie met tieners
•Acht vuistregels voor het betrekken van tieners bij het gemeentelijk beleid
•Tien methoden en technieken om tieners te betrekken bij het gemeentelijk beleid"

De stemwijzer

"Moet het vaderschapsverlof uitgebreid worden? Welke partijen willen gratis kinderopvang? Horen 'genot en plezier' thuis in de lessen seksuele voorlichting? En hoe staan de partijen tegenover quota? Doe de test en ontdek het zelf!
In aanloop naar de verkiezingen van 26 mei ontwikkelden Sensoa, çavaria en de Vrouwenraad een unieke ‘stemtest'. Destemwijzer.be handelt over gendergelijkheid, seksuele gezondheid en holebi- en transgenderthema’s. Aan de hand van 26 stellingen ontdekt de kiezer welke partij het best aansluit bij zijn, haar, hun mening over deze thema’s."

'Je Gemeente Telt' biedt inzicht in begroting van alle Vlaamse gemeenten

"Vorige week lanceerden 'De Wakkere Burger' samen met Tree Company 'Je Gemeente Telt’, een online platform dat de financiële cijfers van alle Vlaamse steden en gemeenten toegankelijk maakt. Zo kan elke burger op zoek gaan naar wat zijn/haar gemeente doet met het belastinggeld en dat vergelijken met andere gemeenten. Meer nog: op basis van inkomen en gezinssituatie kan elke burger ook zien hoeveel er van zijn/haar brutoloon gespendeerd wordt aan welke domeinen. Benieuwd naar de beleidskeuzes van jouw stad of gemeente? Neem zeker een kijkje op www.jegemeentetelt.be."

Digital Objects, Digital Subjects : interdisciplinary Perspectives on Capitalism, Labour and Politics in the Age of Big Data

Digital Objects, Digital Subjects : interdisciplinary Perspectives on Capitalism, Labour and Politics in the Age of Big Data / David Chandler & Christian Fuchs. London: University of Westminster Press, 2019.

"This book explores activism, research and critique in the age of digital subjects and objects and Big Data capitalism after a digital turn said to have radically transformed our political futures. Optimists assert that the ‘digital’ promises: new forms of community and ways of knowing and sensing, innovation, participatory culture, networked activism, and distributed democracy. Pessimists argue that digital technologies have extended domination via new forms of control, networked authoritarianism and exploitation, dehumanization and the surveillance society. Leading international scholars present varied interdisciplinary assessments of such claims—in theory and via dialogue—and of the digital’s impact on society, the potentials, pitfalls, limits and ideologies, of digital activism. They reflect on whether computational social science, digital humanities and ubiquitous datafication lead to digital positivism that threatens critical research or lead to new horizons in theory and society."

Crisis in Democracy: Renewing Trust in America

Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy, Crisis in Democracy: Renewing Trust in America, Washington, D.C.: The Aspen Institute, February 2019.

"Trust in American democratic institutions has steadily declined for decades due in large part to a rapidly changing information environment. Without trust, democracy cannot function. To address this, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program launched the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy in early 2017. For over a year, this nonpartisan commission of 27 leaders in government, media, business, non-profits, education and the arts examined the collapse in trust in the democratic institutions of the media, journalism and the information ecosystem, and developed new thinking and solutions around rebuilding trust.

The Commission’s charge was to:

Examine the causes and consequences of a collapse in trust in democratic institutions, with a focus on trust in the media, journalism, and the information ecosystem.
Identify the perennial and emerging values and social obligations that should guide those who produce, distribute and consume news and information to ensure a functioning democracy.

The scope of the Commission’s work included the following:

What is contributing to the collapse in trust in major media and journalism institutions as key components of our democracy?
How do citizens in our democracy experience issues of truth and fact today? How do they perceive current sources of information?
How is a rapidly changing technology landscape influencing the information ecosystem, including the distribution and consumption of news and information in the public interest?
What are the responsibilities and social obligations of institutions who produce, distribute and consume information to support a functioning democracy? What does an effective information ecosystem - including the role of journalism - look like in a functioning democracy?

The result of their work is reflected in this report. The Commission recommends specific actions to restore trust in media and in democracy. They are intended for an American future that promotes knowledge of the country’s democratic heritage, encourages a willingness to engage in local civic activities, and supports an array of inclusive institutions in government, media, business and civil society at all levels. The Commission sees vibrant and responsible journalism serving the goal of self-government and holding the powerful accountable, and a world where new forms of communication enhance rather than diminish a healthy democracy."

The Playful Citizen

The Playful Citizen/ Glas, René; Lammes, Sybille; Lange, Michiel; Raessens, Joost; Vries, Imar. Amsterdam University Press, 2019.

"This edited volume collects current research by academics and practitioners on playful citizen participation through digital media technologies."

Jubileumboek 'In de regel vrij, 100 jaar politiek rond onderwijs, cultuur en wetenschap'.

In de regel vrij: 100 jaar politiek rond onderwijs, cultuur en wetenschap / Pieter Slaman (red.). Den Haag: Ministerie van OCW, 2018.

"Het ministerie van OCW bestaat op 25 september 2018 precies 100 jaar. Ter ere hiervan verschijnt het jubileumboek 'In de regel vrij, 100 jaar politiek rond onderwijs, cultuur en wetenschap'." (Bron: website rijksoverheid.nl)