PORTFOLIO

This research project devotes attention to the phenomenon of civic participation in the three South Caucasus states. It will be conducted by the University of St-Gallen, together with partners in the South Caucasus. The literature widely argues that civil society actors, including non-governmental and religious organisations, can build a bridge between the state and the society. Authors therefore often assume that these actors potentially facilitate democratisation processes. The Caucasus, however, has been regarded as a laggard with regard to the development of civic participation by organised societal actors and the society at large. We understand 'civic participation' as social and political engagement or the will to participate of individuals and organised societal actors at micro and macro societal level. Given the relatively weak development of civic participation in the South Caucasus societies, this research project asks for the attitudes towards civic participation. We will enhance the research on civil society development in the South Caucasus by identifying concepts and actors, which help people to express their political will and pursue their interests in political, social and cultural contexts.

The project will explore how the citizens grasp civic participation and what their perception of and attitude towards civil society organisations is. In a first step, the study will focus on the attitude of citizens towards non-governmental organisations as compared to political parties. The interest refers to the question of how the citizens perceive the societal role of civil society organisations and their relation to state actors. The research team is interested in the degree to which people depict these organisations as in conflict with or supportive to state actors. In a second step the study will especially focus on the question how religious values, loyalties and identities impact on the attitudes towards civic participation.

This project constitutes a unique opportunity for young South Caucasian scholars to be involved in a high quality international research project.

As part of the EU-funded ISSICEU project the supported survey focused on the sources of civic participation in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The surveys were developed in a close cooperation with the ISSICEU consortium partners from the region and thus constituted a a unique opportunity for young South Caucasian scholars to be involved in a high quality international research project. The conduction of the quantitative surveys in all three countries is completed and the first data analysis has been undertaken. The data constitutes an important source of information and will be particularly crucial for the study of instability factors embedded in the civil society sector, the religious communities, the relationship between central and local governments, the interplay of external factors and in local policy priorities by national governments. The first analytical publications based on the surveys’ data were produced by the end of 2015.