Over the years, CIRCaP has gained remarkable experience in high-profile research in the field of European integration. The Centre has recently coordinated two transnational projects of large size (IntUne and EuroPolis) under the 6th and 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development of the European Union.
IntUne. Integrated and United ? A quest for citizenship in an ever closer Europe

Between 2005 and 2009, CIRCaP has coordinated the IntUne project, one of the few Integrated Projects on the theme of Citizenship financed by the European Union within the scope of the 6th Framework Programme. The IntUne research project involving over 30 European Institutions and over 100 scholars across Central and Western Europe aims to study the changes in the scope, nature and characteristics of citizenship that result from the deepening and enlargement processes of the European Union. The project focuses on how processes of integration, at both the national and European level, affect three major dimensions of citizenship: identity, representation and scope of good governance. Problems of citizenship are addressed under this threefold approach by looking at the relationship between the public and elites and between European and domestic dimensions of political life. The four main research areas of the study concern mass public opinion, national elites, media and policy experts.

A selection of published books

  • Bayley, P. & Williams G. (Eds.) (forthcoming in 2012), European Identity: What the Media Say, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
  • Bellucci, P., Rattinger H. & Sanders D. (Eds.) (forthcoming in 2012), The Europeanization of National Polities? Citizenship and Support in a Post-Enlargement Union, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
  • Bellucci, P. & Conti, N. (Eds.) (2012), Gli Italiani e l’Europa. Opinione Pubblica, ELite Politiche e Media, Roma, Carocci.
  • Best, H., Lengyel G. & Verzichelli L. (Eds.) (forthcoming in 2012), The Europe of Elites. A Study into the Europeanness of Europe’s Economic and Political Elites, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
  • Conti, N., Cotta M. & Tavares De Almeida P. (Eds.) (2011), Perspectives of National Elites on European Citizenship. A South European View, London, Routledge.
  • Conti, N. (Ed.) (forthcoming), Party Attitudes toward the EU: Parties for Europe, Parties Against Europe, London, Routledge.
  • Sanders, D., Magalhães P., Freire A. & Tóka, G. (Eds.) (forthcoming in 2012), Citizens and the European Polity: Mass Attitudes Towards the European and National Polities, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
  • Westle, B. & Segatti P. (Eds.) (forthcoming), National Identity and European Identity, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
EUROPOLIS. A Deliberative Polity-making Experience

Circap is studying the formation of a European public sphere and the changing nature of citizenship in Europe. Since 2008, the Centre coordinates the EUROPOLIS project funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme, Compagnia di San Paolo (Italy), King Baudouin Foundation (Belgium), Bosch-Stiftung Foundation (Germany), the Open Society Institute (Switzerland). The project is a carefully designed experiment that assesses how political and social attitudes toward EU issues change as a result of exposure to information, and what implications this has for political participation and voter turnout. It provides a unique opportunity to rigorously observe and evaluate how citizens’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour are modified by exposure to thorough and balanced policy information and participation in thoughtful deliberation during electoral periods. EUROPOLIS gives citizens of different nationalities the chance to confront one another, policy experts, and political leaders at the European level. This is an innovative instrument for bridging the often-lamented gap between national and European views in EU democracy. EuroPolis is an important event in the history of deliberative democracy.

For further information, including the press release and results of the first Europolis Deliberative Polling event, which was held on May 29-31 2009 in Brussels, please visit the following website: http://www.europolis-project.eu/