For trustful, participatory and inclusive public policies

• Forschungsstelle: SBFI
• Projektnummer: 22.00570

Abstract (Englisch)

INVOLVE For trustful, participatory and inclusive public policies Across Europe there is evidence of the existing distrust in politicalinstitutions and the increased stratification of political involvement across Europe, with more vulnerable citizens having less access andinfluence in the decision-making process. The COVID 19 pandemic has exposed and reinforced these trends. These shifts pose a greatchallenge to the democratic welfare state. INVOLVE’s main objective is to help design scalable and generalizable strategies to reducesocial, economic, and political inequalities. The project builds on systematic quantitative research into the trends, causes and complexrelationships between democracy and inequalities. The project also focuses on how public and social services engage with vulnerablegroups of citizens, especially in the age of digitalization. It will involve vulnerable groups in 8 European countries as co-researchers tocomplement and refine the results. In a series of concrete pilots of action-research, their aspirational capacity and their power of voiceare strengthened to bring about concrete change in public services and social policies. INVOLVE will not only involve vulnerablecitizens facing multiple inequalities, but also political and public decision-makers, NGOs representing vulnerable groups and experts todevelop viable political strategies in order to achieve more trust-based governance in public services, to contribute to the developmentof a more participatory and socially responsible society. The final stage of INVOLVE aims to contribute to democratic participation insocial policies at local, national, transnational and European level through campaigns with viable policy recommendations. INVOLVEalso aims to enrich future research with an encompassing and innovative perspective on inequality and democracy, based on an ‘allianceof knowledge’.