Democratic backsliding is no longer a distant concern. Across the world, and within Europe, core institutions are eroding, civil liberties are under strain, and authoritarian tendencies are on the rise. In response, the Collective Future students are co-creating a methodology to identify and assess the most promising democratic interventions.

The approach builds on the ITN framework and enables The School for Moral Ambition to evaluate and rank interventions based on three key criteria: Impact, Tractability (feasibility), and Neglectedness (level of current attention and resources). The method offers a structured way to evaluate existing interventions grounded in political science research, helping to identify those that are both most promising and underexplored.

These insights will directly inform School for Moral Ambition’s decision whether to start a Fellowship program focused on democracy, designed to place talented professionals in roles where they can implement the most effective strategies to safeguard European democracy.

The project not only addresses urgent societal challenges but also gives UvA students a chance to collaborate across disciplines, apply their research in real-world contexts, and contribute to the future of European democracy.

More information

For more information mail to collective-futures-science@uva.nl.