A ground-breaking research project co-led by a King's College London academic aims to understand how economic inequality is undermining support for democracy across Europe - and what can be done to stop it.
The EDGE project (Enhancing Democratic Support under Conditions of Geographic and Intersectional Inequalities in Europe), has received a €3million grant from the European Commission's Horizon Europe programme and will bring together researchers from 10 institutions in eight countries including the UK, Germany, Greece, Poland and Denmark.
The project is co-led by Professor Sofia Vasiliopoulou, from the Department of European and International Studies at King's, with Professor Alexia Katsanidou, from the Leibniz Institute for Social Science.
The three-year study will seek to respond to growing concerns about 'democratic backsliding' in Europe, which has seen instances of eroded checks on executive power, media independence and the rule of law. Project organisers say economic resentment is increasingly being exploited by political elites to justify anti-democratic measures which run counter to the European Union's (EU) foundational principles.
The research will focus on how both objective inequality, measurable gaps in income and wealth, and subjective feelings of unfairness shape political attitudes. It will examine how these dynamics vary across geography, from prosperous cities to 'left behind' regions, and across social groups defined by gender, age and class.
Across 10 packages of work, researchers will conduct surveys in six countries, analyse two decades of media coverage, and test policy interventions through 'narrative change campaigns' targeting 10 million people online.
In her role as co-lead, Prof Vasilopoulou will lead the scientific elements of the project's research packages while also overseeing work package four, 'connecting inequality and democracy'.
The project team hopes through its work to provide policymakers with actionable tools to strengthen democratic resilience. Their insights are intended to directly support the European Democracy Shield, an ongoing EU initiative aimed at protecting democratic systems from internal and external threats.
