Spanish National Research Council

The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) is Spain’s largest public research institution, ranking third among Europe’s largest research organisations and is listed, within the 7th Framework Programme, as the 1st organization in Spain and the 4th in Europe within the research organisations (726 signed actions) and by number of projects (643 projects funded in H2020 until December 2019). The CSIC supports training and research in all fields of knowledge, producing 20% of the national scientific output (over 10,000 publications in high impact international journals) and remaining the first institution in Spain in the generation of patents. It is also a major player in the development of the European Research Area (ERA) and therefore a significant contributor to the European integration process, playing a key role in scientific and technological policy in Spain and worldwide. 

The Institute for Advanced Social Studies (IESA) is a public scientific research institute (part of CSIC) that has extensive experience working both in basic and applied research in the field of social sciences. It carries out its scientific activities mostly under competitively funded calls for regional, national and European research projects and by its agreements and contracts with public and private entities. DEMOCRETS is the research group in charge of developing the project. The group includes sociology and political science researchers who analyse new forms of citizen involvement in public affairs. Their expertise includes developing and analysing different participatory institutions like citizen juries, deliberative polls, internet surveys and participatory budgeting.

Relevant previous projects and initiatives

• CIVICACTIVE, The determinants of active civic participation at European and national level, 6th Framework Programme, 2004-2006. The project evaluated the state of the art of the study of referendums on European integration and analysed available survey and aggregate data sets dealing with EU referendum voting. It collected and analysed aggregate data on participation and vote choice in European Parliament and other elections and related census-based data for all member states. Using European Social Survey (ESS) data, it examined the determinants of abstention in national elections in 23 countries and identified the dimensions and determinants of non-electoral civic participation. The project also dealt with variations in institutional contexts relevant to civic participation, examining variations in the structures of governance at supranational, national, regional and local levels and variations in institutional mobilisation and institutional facilitation across 25 countries. 
• MULTILEVEL, Democratic participation and political communication in systems of multi-level governance, 5thFramework Programme, 2000-2003 (PI: Richard Sinnott; PI Spain: Joan Font). This Fifth Framework research project dealt with electoral participation and political communication in systems of multi-level governance (sub-national, national and supranational). It employed a threefold research strategy (survey research, aggregate-data analysis and media analysis) incorporating recent developments in each of the three relevant methodologies, particularly last developments in the methodology of ecological inference. The survey and media components of the project covered all fifteen member states of the EU. The aggregate data component covered six member states of the EU (Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland and Spain) and three states in the USA (California, Michigan and Texas).
• Why people hate politics? (2014-2016), funded by Andalusian Research Centre (grant number PRY/079) (IP: Ernesto Ganuza). The goal of the project was to understand why people hate politics and what alternatives people imagine to improve the relationship between citizens and politicians. 4. An international comparative research on Participatory Budgeting: procedures, efficiency and deliberative opportunities, 2010-2012, funded by Science Spanish Ministry (grant number CSO2009-12020). (IP: Ernesto Ganuza) The goal of the project was to evaluate and compare participatory experiences in five countries (Brazil and