Politics and Citizenship

The research group ‘Politics and Citizenship’ brings together researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds (e.g., political science, sociology, social work, urban studies, public policies) around the main objective of understanding the relationship between civil society, political institutions and political elites, as well as the results of these interactions in terms of public policies and governance.

The group has four main research focuses: political representation (i.e., the links between political representatives and their constituents, framed by political institutions, and its results on public policies), conventional and unconventional forms of participation and contentious politics, public policies and public administration, citizenship and social work.

COORDINATION

André Freire
André Freire

andre.freire@iscte-iul.pt

Guya Accornero
Guya Accornero

guya.accornero@iscte-iul.pt


 

In addition to being involved in numerous national and international projects on these topics, the group's researchers are actively involved in the development of informed research teaching at Iscte - University Institute of Lisbon: coordination of courses, supervision of students and integration of students in research and internships.

The group recently set up the ‘Observatory of Democracy and Political Representation’ (ODPR), which has the major aim of promoting collaboration between all researchers from the various scientific areas that are part of the group. In other words, the ODPR has pursued a long tradition in the study of political representation in CIES-Iscte.

Based on data from International IDEA, Freedom House, VDEM, etc., the ODPR also intends to produce annual reports on the state of democracy in the world.

STRUCTURES AND NETWORKS

Alliance of six Iscte research centers working in social sciences and digital technologies with relevance to public policy;
Technical and research structure coordinated by CIES-Iscte that studies democratic political representation;
Event that promotes multidisciplinary reflection around the themes related to social movements and the different forms of political action, militancy, and activism;
Multinational project with the goal of collecting data on candidates running for national parliamentary elections in different countries;
Infrastructure that aims to understand voters, parties, media and elites.

 

Keywords:
Political representation;
Political behavior;
Citizenship and social movements;
Public policies.