In debates on citizenship in Europe, the need for active participation among citizens is increasingly stressed. But do normative ideas of what active citizenship is reflect people's lived experiences in present-day Europe? How is increased diversity affecting the ways in which people engage in their neighbourhoods? Does diversity entail less trust, greater distance between people and less participation, or do new forms of mobilization develop?
In Europe's culturally and religiously diverse societies, citizens have different frameworks for how they act and interact with their close and distant surroundings. We argue that this increasing diversity leads to diversified citizen participation that must be studied if the current participation agenda is to remain relevant. The ACT project will study active citizenship in culturally and religiously diverse societies through an analysis of present-day civic 1) motivations; 2) locations; and 3) contestations.
