The autocratic appeal: nature, drivers and strategies
HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-07
Funding Amount
€3.0M - €3.5M
Deadline
16/09/2025
Eligible Organization Types
Non-profit, Private Business, Research Institution, Public Institution
Trusted by
What is the The autocratic appeal: nature, drivers and strategies Call?
Grant Description
This call supports multidisciplinary research into the rise and mechanisms of autocratic tendencies within and beyond established democracies, including digital authoritarianism, erosion of human rights and disinformation. It funds the development of scientific knowledge, early warning tools and tactics for resisting and combating these tendencies, engaging policymakers, media, civil society and citizens to enable informed democratic decision-making.
Required Results for Successful Funding
Expected Outcomes
Projects will deliver:
• Updated, exploitable scientific knowledge and understanding of rising autocratic tendencies (including digital authoritarianism) and their socio-political drivers
• Methods and tools for early warning and characterisation of autocratic strategies and tactics
• Evidence-based tactics and recommendations for resisting and combating autocratisation in multiple domains (legal, cultural, digital)
• Enhanced capacity of policymakers, public authorities, media and civil society to make informed decisions when engaging with autocratic actors
• Insights into the use and misuse of gender-equality reforms by autocracies, and their effects on rights and equality
• A deeper understanding of the interplay between science skepticism, democratic distrust and authoritarian appeal
• Tested approaches for protecting and restoring democratic norms without resorting to anti-democratic measures or exacerbating polarization
• Strengthened international cooperation, stakeholder engagement and clustering with existing EU-funded democracy research initiatives
• Updated, exploitable scientific knowledge and understanding of rising autocratic tendencies (including digital authoritarianism) and their socio-political drivers
• Methods and tools for early warning and characterisation of autocratic strategies and tactics
• Evidence-based tactics and recommendations for resisting and combating autocratisation in multiple domains (legal, cultural, digital)
• Enhanced capacity of policymakers, public authorities, media and civil society to make informed decisions when engaging with autocratic actors
• Insights into the use and misuse of gender-equality reforms by autocracies, and their effects on rights and equality
• A deeper understanding of the interplay between science skepticism, democratic distrust and authoritarian appeal
• Tested approaches for protecting and restoring democratic norms without resorting to anti-democratic measures or exacerbating polarization
• Strengthened international cooperation, stakeholder engagement and clustering with existing EU-funded democracy research initiatives
Funded areas
Scope Requirements
Projects must:
• Address 21st-century autocracy dynamics both within and outside established democracies
• Examine factors driving autocratisation: disinformation, rule-of-law erosion, police excess, opposition demonisation
• Analyze resistance patterns: actors, modalities and strategies in offline and online contexts
• Integrate SSH disciplines and actor-based approaches; employ qualitative and quantitative methods
• Include historical, philosophical and social-psychological dimensions in the analysis
• Disentangle digital authoritarian practices and corresponding resistance (e.g. shutdowns, surveillance, digital protests)
• Investigate protective strategies for democracies that avoid anti-democratic pitfalls and minimize polarization
• Explore the role of media literacy, culture, creativity, arts, and minority activism in resistance
• Assess autocracies’ use of gender-equality reforms and resultant impacts on rights and equality
• Examine connections between science skepticism, distrust in democracy and authoritarian appeal
• Engage citizens, civil society organisations and public authorities in co-creation of research activities
• Foster international cooperation beyond Europe and cluster with related EU projects
• Address 21st-century autocracy dynamics both within and outside established democracies
• Examine factors driving autocratisation: disinformation, rule-of-law erosion, police excess, opposition demonisation
• Analyze resistance patterns: actors, modalities and strategies in offline and online contexts
• Integrate SSH disciplines and actor-based approaches; employ qualitative and quantitative methods
• Include historical, philosophical and social-psychological dimensions in the analysis
• Disentangle digital authoritarian practices and corresponding resistance (e.g. shutdowns, surveillance, digital protests)
• Investigate protective strategies for democracies that avoid anti-democratic pitfalls and minimize polarization
• Explore the role of media literacy, culture, creativity, arts, and minority activism in resistance
• Assess autocracies’ use of gender-equality reforms and resultant impacts on rights and equality
• Examine connections between science skepticism, distrust in democracy and authoritarian appeal
• Engage citizens, civil society organisations and public authorities in co-creation of research activities
• Foster international cooperation beyond Europe and cluster with related EU projects
Additional Conditions for Applicants
Special Conditions
• Action type: Horizon Research and Innovation Action with lump-sum funding (MGA HORIZON-AG-LS)
• Single-stage submission: Opening 15 May 2025; Deadline 16 September 2025, 17:00 Brussels time
• Maximum Part B length: 50 pages; mandatory detailed budget table using portal template
• Eligible participants: EU Member States and Associated Countries (see Work Programme Annex B); third-country co-funding provisions apply
• Evaluation: criteria, scoring and thresholds per Work Programme General Annex D; process per Annex F
• Legal & financial: lump-sum rules as per EC Decision 7 July 2021; standard MGA and HE Programme Guide apply
• Data output must be FAIR and interoperable via European Open Science Cloud and relevant ESFRI infrastructures
• Applicants should leverage services of social sciences and humanities Research Infrastructures (e.g. CESSDA, ESS, SHARE, EHRI)
• Collaboration and clustering with projects from previous Horizon calls (e.g. HORIZON-CL2-2022-DEMOCRACY-01-05, SU-GOVERNANCE-09-2020) strongly encouraged
Important dates
Open from: 15/05/2025
Deadline:16/09/2025
Application period has ended
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