PLEDGE : Politics of Grievance and Democratic Governance

Contemporary politics is angry and vengeful, with affective polarization and uncompromising antagonisms posing a significant challenge
for European democracies and their governance. PLEDGE interprets political grievances as emotional signals of disaffection, frustration
and insecurities that can develop into either anti- or prodemocratic outcomes. By engaging in collaborative research design and
implementation involving academics, policy-makers, civil society actors, and citizens, the PLEDGE project intends to offer new
understanding of anti- and pro-democratic trajectories of political grievances, and to co-create tools and practices of emotionally
intelligent and responsive democratic governance and policy communication that promote prodemocratic forms of civic engagement.