Research

January – September 2022

The project examines long-standing and new challenges to societal cohesion posed by the rise of xenophobia, securitisation of minority communities and the re-emergence of polarising majority/minority dynamics in Europe’s multi-ethnic states, with a focus on Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Besides formulating new policy recommendations for (post-)Covid societies, the project’s events will strengthen collaboration with practitioners and academics, acting as a springboard for new projects combining academic research and public engagement on minority participation as a vehicle for integration.

The project is funded by the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account and is implemented in cooperation with Liverpool John Moores University. It runs from January to September 2022.

Objectives

• addressing new challenges to societal cohesion by unpacking the connection between self-governance, integration, and (de)securitisation;
• identifying opportunities to improve integration policy mechanisms in key areas, by promoting policies that are developed, implemented and evaluated through participation;
• examining the synergies between the guidelines/recommendations on minority participation of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM)
• gaining a better understanding of how ‘effective participation’ in its multiple variants relates to integration and (de)securitisation

Project Co-ordinators: 

• Dr Federica Prina (University of Glasgow)
• Professor Gaetano Pentassuglia (Liverpool John Moores University)
• Professor David Smith (University of Glasgow)
• Dr Andreea Udrea (University of Glasgow and Royal Holloway University of London)