Political systems, political participation and Media in the European Union

ongoing

This project aims to build a center for debate, research, and teaching on European topics in the interior of Portugal, promoting the sharing of educational content with the UBI student population and the community of the Beira Interior region. We want to transform the Chair into a center for asserting citizenship and European identity, and we built the project based on a solid process of institutional consolidation at the host university, on a capacity to create synergies with local/regional entities and international partners (UNITA Alliance and Erasmus+ ICM partners). One of the UBI pillars and missions is to promote equal opportunities, and the Chair aims to allow students and citizens to participate in the curricula internationalization process. The focus is to establish active European citizenship that promotes the fundamental freedoms listed in the Treaty of the EU. Access to information, training opportunities, and internationalization is a decisive step toward mitigating the natural barriers faced by populations and institutions from rural and mountainous areas (European Strategy for Inclusion and Diversity). This proposal focuses on three key elements to understand European democracy: political systems, political participation, and media in the EU. These elements are very relevant to support and ensure a new push for European democracy, ensuring territorial cohesion and citizen involvement in politics. Europe is facing a problem with limited participation in democratic life and low levels of knowledge and awareness of European affairs and their effect on the lives of all European citizens, associated with a growing manipulation of the media and influence of social networks as priority information channels. With this first Chair in the interior region of Portugal, we try to contribute to the strength of the European identity and participation in democratic processes, reinforcing the EU future and the EU presence in the country.