DEMOCRETS – Governance, collective action and political participation: challenges of contemporary democracy

The members of the DEMOCRETS group form part of the SOCIETY research area of the CSIC and develop the following three lines of research:

The renewal and quality of democratic institutions, with special emphasis on forms of citizen intervention in public affairs (from more traditional instruments such as surveys or sectoral councils, to deliberative tools that are part of the so-called democratic innovations).

Strategies for the governance of immigration, with special emphasis on its relationship with the opinions and attitudes of citizens in terms of immigration, as well as the evolution and determinants of these opinions and attitudes.

The analysis of political regimes, associative dynamics, social change and protest in North African countries, with special interest, on the one hand, in the processes of hybridisation of political institutions in terms of political representation and, on the other, in collective action for the defence of rights, freedoms and identities (women, young people, Imazighen, Islamists).

These lines are reflected in multidisciplinary and multinational research projects in which the group tries to address new issues with innovative methodologies, the results of which are disseminated in prestigious scientific journals and discussed in international forums. DEMOCRETS is also committed to excellence in the training of young pre- and post-doctoral researchers and, aware of their social responsibility, the group’s researchers regularly collaborate with the media, public administrations and civil society organisations.