The NORFACE Network is pleased to launch its sixth joint transnational research programme with the topic Democratic governance in a turbulent age.

Researchers from the social sciences are invited to apply for funding on behalf of an international consortium, comprised of researchers from three or more countries that participate in this NORFACE Call for Proposals.

Democratic politics and governance in Europe are facing turbulent times. With this programme, NORFACE offers a timely investigation of the precise nature of the turbulence, but also of how European states can negotiate this turbulence and develop strategies to enhance the quality of democratic politics and governance. The NORFACE Governance Call for Proposals is now available on the NORFACE website, as well as the Governance Programme Text, application template for Outline Proposals, and further instructions on how to submit a proposal. The deadline for Outline Proposals is on 14:00 CET (Central European Time) on 19 February 2019.

This programme has three major objectives:

• To develop innovative and excellent research proposals addressing important challenges to democratic governance and politics;
• To produce added value through the development of European cross-national research collaborations exploring the impacts of variations in social, economic, cultural and political contexts on changes in how democracies work;
• To identify promising forms of policy innovation and institutional design and explore the conditions for their application in different jurisdictions.

The programme is structured around five of the most important current challenges to democratic governance and politics:

• inequality and redistribution
• the evolving politics of threat
• the democratisation of information
• shifting identities and representation
• the changing authority of institutions.

For this call specific national or regional eligibility rules apply, as specified in the Call for Proposals and the National and Regional Eligibility Requirements. This implies that eligibility may be defined at the individual or organisational level, depending on the country or funding agency.

Full call information, programme specifications and the application form can be found on the NORFACE website.