Gender-roles in extremist movements and their impact on democracy

Call updates

Jun 14, 2024 3:58:06 PM

FLASH EVALUATION results

HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01

Published: 07/12/2022

Opened: 04/10/2023

Deadline: 07/02/2024

The total budget for the call was EUR 95.000.000.

The results of the evaluations per topic are as follows:

HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01-05

Budget for the topic: EUR 9.000.000

Number of proposals submitted (including proposals transferred from or to other calls): 25

Number of inadmissible proposals: 0

Number of ineligible proposals: 0

Number of above-threshold proposals: 12

Total budget requested for above-threshold proposals: EUR 34802170

Number of proposals retained for funding: 3

Number of proposals in the reserve list: 2

Funding threshold: 12,5

(Proposals with the same score were ranked according to the priority order procedure set out in the call conditions (see in the General Annexes to the Work Programme or specific arrangements in the specific call/topic conditions).

Ranking distribution:

Number of proposals with scores lower or equal to 15 and higher or equal to 14: 1

Number of proposals with scores lower than 14 and higher or equal to 13: 1

Number of proposals with scores lower than 13 and higher or equal to 10: 10

Summary of observer report:

The independent observer was appointed by the European Research Executive Agency (REA) to observe the evaluation process of the single stage calls:

• HORIZON-CL2-2024-HERITAGE-01

• HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01

• HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01.

The same independent observer reviewed the evaluation of the three calls. This enabled the observer to follow the entire process, to identify strengths and areas for possible improvements specific to the single stage evaluation, and to compare procedures and practices of a fully online evaluation with online consensus meetings and online discussions.

REA staff ensured that for the topics associated to these 3 calls, all actors involved were fully informed about the background guidance and legal documents, procedures and standards of quality. The organization and management were very challenging because of the large number of topics and proposals. Interdisciplinarity embedded in the call texts added layers to the overall complexity.

The overall evaluation process was executed in full compliance with the procedures, code of conduct, and guiding principles of fairness, transparency and equal treatment of proposals. The rules and guiding principles for the procedures concerning each evaluation step were known in advance to the applicants, the evaluators and all the persons involved in the evaluations. The briefing materials made available to the external experts were of the highest quality as they provided all the relevant information in a clear and comprehensive way. Experts were asked to declare any potential conflict of interest and to ensure confidentiality of all information. The evaluation process was robust. No preferential treatment of any proposal was observed by the observer or reported by any expert. The discussions were fair and consistent with open and detailed online deliberations covering all the criteria and sub criteria to ensure clarity of issues (both in remote discussion meetings and/or in written communications within the evaluation system) arising and providing impartial feedback to applicants. REA continues putting significant effort into assigning proposals to evaluation groups that cover all the key disciplines relevant to the topic and provides structured training to moderators on how to help experts bridge barriers between disciplines through informed discussions that leave sufficient space for each discipline.

We recently informed the applicants about the evaluation results for their proposals.

For questions, please contact the Research Enquiry Service.

Feb 8, 2024 6:50:25 PM

PROPOSAL NUMBERS

The call HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01 has closed on 07.02.2024.

287 proposals have been submitted.

The breakdown per topic is:
HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01-05: 25 proposals
Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in June 2024.

Oct 4, 2023 12:00:06 AM

The submission session is now available for: HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01-05(HORIZON-RIA)

Gender-roles in extremist movements and their impact on democracy

TOPIC ID: HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01-05

Programme: Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)
Call: Past, present and future of democracies (HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01)
Type of action: HORIZON-RIA HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Type of MGA: HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG]
Deadline model: single-stage
Planned opening date: 04 October 2023
Deadline date:  07 February 2024 17:00:00 Brussels time

ExpectedOutcome:
Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

Develop a critical understanding of the construction and performance of gender roles in extremist, identitarian and nationalist movements and their impact on democracy, EU values and fundamental rights.
Provide evidence-based insights into the role of online communities in the promotion of reactionary, identitarian and extremist ideals, focusing in particular on different forms of masculinity from an intersectional perspective and drawing on engagement with these communities and platforms.
Examine gender roles in political leadership styles and narratives, especially in nationalist and extremist parties, and their impact on democratic participation, decision-making and trust in governance, and propose alternative models for more democratic leadership.
Develop innovative methods, policy approaches and tools to tackle antidemocratic narratives and tendencies, characterised by identitarian, nationalist and extremist ideals.
Scope:
While gender and feminist scholarship in democracy tends to focus on the role of women and female representation, the role of men and different forms of masculinity are equally important to gain a comprehensive understanding of the impact of gender roles and inequalities on democratic discourse, decision-making and governance.

The past years have witnessed a rise of identitarian (alt-right), reactionary and other extremist politics, arguably strengthened by the pandemic and the isolation it created. Many of these ideals and politics are developing in online forums and platforms, often characterised by a contempt for the ‘liberal’ elite and perceived as tools for the radicalisation of (young) men. In extreme cases, such politics have been openly hostile towards women, LGBTIQ+ collectives and people with a minority racial or ethnic background, and even openly advocated for violence towards them, leading to increased hate speech, harassment, and hate crimes. More research is needed into these groups and milieus, especially through active engagement and deliberation with them on their perceptions around socio-political change, fundamental rights, and anxiety about perceived threats to their gendered identity. Therefore, proposals should develop strategies and practical solutions for the engagement and deliberation with men involved in reactionary, identitarian, or far-right nationalist online forums, and examine the influence of the online discourse in such platforms on the constitution of extremist movements, as well as their relation to mainstream (online) platforms and political discourse. This includes, but is not limited to, an analysis and engagement with different types of masculinity, how these relate to political violence, gender-based violence, and hate crimes, and perceptions around EU values and socio-political change. Interdisciplinary approaches, connecting social and political sciences with the use of information and communication technologies, including artificial intelligence, are particularly encouraged for this topic.

Moreover, the increased uncertainty and political challenges generated by the pandemic, has been coupled with a turn towards hyper-masculinistic modes of leadership and politics that require further analysis. In this context, proposals should consider the interrelation between top-down hyper-masculinistic leadership styles and bottom-up identitarian, nationalist and other extremist movements developing in online spaces, and analyse their impact on democratic participation, decision-making and trust in governance. Historical experiences of leadership and politics in crisis situations may also be considered in this regard.

Building on the evidence-based insights, proposals should develop innovative methods, policy approaches and tools for policymakers and practitioners to address the underlying roots of violent, discriminatory and illiberal political discourse and actions in both public and online spaces. This could include awareness-raising and training activities on the threats of identitarian and reactionary ideals for democracy and EU values, as well as innovative practices to deliberate with the targeted communities.

Proposals are encouraged to build on past EU-funded projects as well as plan to exploit potential synergies with project(s) funded under HORIZON-CL3-2024-FCT-01-04: Radicalisation and gender.