The Politics & Civil Society Cluster aims at critically analyzing the social, political and economic dynamics that transform contemporary European societies and exert an impact on the opportunities and challenges faced by minority groups.

The Cluster is principally interested in exploring the patterns of civil society activism by looking at the agency of ethnic minority groups at the national and supranational levels.

The current social dynamics and further academic debates draw our attention to the necessity of thoroughly exploring a number of key issues at the crossroads of civil society activism and ethnic mobilization and integration.

In particular, it is vital to examine the new forms of minority political and social participation on national and supranational grounds and look at the emerging patterns and implications of minority groups’ participation in national public spheres.

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Secondly, studying the ways in which ethnic minorities take advantage of the opportunities offered by new technologies is essential to understand the agency of minority actors and the transforming effect of shifting social and political structures.

The Politics & Civil Society Cluster also contributes to the theoretical and empirical discussion on social networks. The Cluster examines the effects of minorities’ embeddedness in the transnational setting and the implications of distinct types of networks for ethnic political and social mobilization.

Last but not least, the research on ethnic dynamics cannot overlook the implications of the current widespread economic crisis for the situation of minority groups. Scholars have widely agreed that the flagging economy reinforces socio-economic inequality. It has been observed that economic recession augments social and economic vulnerability of groups deprived of large financial resources.

These burning issues exert a profound impact on minority-majority relations in Europe and thus demand undertaking extensive theoretical and empirical research by the Politics & Civil Society Cluster.