REconfiguring EU DEMOcracy Support. Towards a sustained demos in the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood

The REDEMOS project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government’s Horizon Europe funding guarantee and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). REDEMOS is a major initiative that aspires to understand and address the resurgence of illiberalism in the EU’s eastern neighbourhood (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine), and to provide ways forward for EU democracy support in the region. The project will take a deep dive into the full array of political and governance regimes in the EU’s eastern neighbourhood, from flawed democratization in some countries to democratic regression and/or even repressive authoritarianism in others and will develop an innovative policy toolkit for the EU to make EU democracy support policies more effective and sustainable.

The project brings together a consortium of eleven research-oriented and academic institutions, including six universities, four independent think tanks, and one small and medium-sized enterprise from all across Europe, including non-EU partners in the EU’s eastern neighbourhood, the UK, Norway, and Switzerland:

• Norwegian University of Science and Technology [NTNU, Project Coordinator] (NORWAY)
• University of Surrey [SURREY] (UK)
• Yerevan State University [YSU] (ARMENIA)
• Kyiv School of Economics [KSE] (UKRAINE)
• Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies [GFSIS] (GEORGIA)
• Technical University of Dresden [TUD] (GERMANY)
• International Centre for Defence Studies [ICDS] (ESTONIA)
• Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul” [IDIS VIITORUL] (MOLDAVIA)
• Caucasus Research Resource Center CRRC – Georgia [CRRC] (GEORGIA)
• Athens Technology Center [ATC] (GREECE)
• University of St. Gallen [HSG] (SWITZERLAND)

ATC is the only technical partner of the REDEMOS consortium and will support the project’s research activities through the implementation of social media analysis tools and the development of tailor-made digital survey tools. Furthermore, ATC alongside with the University of Surrey, will co-lead the project’s communication and dissemination activities.