The new homepage of I Connect EU, a project funded under the 6th Framework Programme of the European Commis-sion in the Thematic Priority “Citizens and governance in a knowledge-based society”, of which PAGANINI is a partner, has been launched.
October 23, 2007 - The Final Reports of WP 1-6 have been uploaded.
 
Focussing on selected key areas of the 6th EU Framework Programme for Research and Technology, PAGANINI investigates the ways in which participatory practices contribute to problem solving in a number of highly contentious fields of EU governance. PAGANINI looks at a particular dynamic cluster of policy areas concerned with what we call “the politics of life”: medicine, health, food, energy, and environment.

Under “politics of life” we refer to dimensions of life that are only to a limited extent under human control - or where the public has good reasons to suspect that there are serious limitations to socio-political control and steering. At the same time, “politics of life” areas are strongly connected to normative, moral and value-based factors, such as a sense of responsibility towards the non-human nature, future generations and/or one’s own body. In these areas traditional mechanisms of governance can be seen to hamper policymaking and much institutional experimentation has been taking place.
The overall objective of the proposed research is
•  to analyse how fields of governance related to the “politics of life” constitute a new and particular challenge for citizen
    participation and the generation of active trust.
•  to illuminate how citizens’ participation in key areas of European research and technology policy that are connected to
    the “politics of life” can be made more effective  and appropriate,
•  to investigate the changing role of civic participation in the context of multi-level governance in the European Union,
•  to contribute to institutional re-design in a the emerging European “politics of life”.
   
 last update 2008-05-01