Active Citizenship as a Theoretical Challenge
Channel: DISCIT Research
Date: 2013-03-08

DISCIT Work Package 2 (WP2): Active Citizenship as a theoretical challenge 

Leader: Bjørn Hvinden, NOVA - The Norwegian Social Research Institute
 
Description: First, WP2 provides an original analytical framework for understanding active citizenship and its interpretation in the context of persons with disabilities in Europe. WP2 introduces the DISCIT project by generating theoretical knowledge on Active Citizenship and related concepts such as capability, agency, empowerment and asset-based welfare. WP2 conceptualises active citizenship as a multidimensional phenomenon, conditioned by interacting institutional arrangements at different levels of governance.
 
Second, WP2 builds new and more precise knowledge about how selected European countries at different levels of governance deal with the challenges of ensuring Active Citizenship for persons with disabilities, building on the empirical results of WPs 4-9. The analysis of critical factors in meeting these challenges includes the impact of EU legislation and policies at national and sub-national level.
 
Third, WP2 concludes the project with an overall synthesis of policies for making Active Citizenship a reality for persons with disabilities in Europe, presenting a number of recommendations on how redefined institutional and multilevel arrangements can close current gaps between the goals embodied in the CRPD and the European Disability Strategy and the everyday experiences of persons with disabilities in Europe.

DISCIT aims to produce new knowledge enabling Member States, affiliated European countries and the European Union to achieve full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in society and the economy. In investigating the social and political conditions for making such participation a reality, the project adopts a multifaceted understanding of Active Citizenship to operationalise the notion of "full and effective participation" in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.