Consortium to study extremism and design a strategy to boost non-violent political and social dialogue

Portugal is one of the case studies in this project, which launches in April and will run to 2026.

CR
Catarina Ribeiro
10 january, 2023≈ 3 min read

© UC | Ana Bartolomeu

The research project "OppAttune - Countering Oppositional Political Extremism through Attuned Dialogue: Track, Attune, Limit" has as its central mission to analyse the evolution and growth of political extremism in everyday life and to design a strategy to encourage non-extremist political and social dialogue. It will be developed by a consortium of fifteen countries in Europe and neighbouring countries, with Portugal as one of the territories analysed in the scope of this research, coordinated in the Portuguese context by the University of Coimbra (UC): Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies (CEIS20-UC) and the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research (iiiUC).

The project, gathering 17 partners, intends to limit the reach and progression of extremist and violent political narratives through social and political dialogue, including constructive opposition. The European Commission is the funding provider, through the Horizon Europe programme, under the Cluster 2 "Reshaping Democracies" call, which supports research dedicated to the study of the evolution of political extremism and its influence on contemporary social and political dialogue. Set to begin in April this year and end in March 2026, OppAttune will bring together the general public, young citizens, digital influencers, decision makers and political actors, as well as the research community.

Joana Ricarte, UC researcher and coordinator of the project in Portugal explains that "in the current context, in which we witness a worldwide growth of discourses and practices that challenge democratic institutions, such as, for example, the recent images from Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, it is vital to understand the processes that lead to the rise of extremist ideas and behaviours, developing strategies to counter violent political extremism". The CEIS20-UC researcher highlights that the project aims to show "that oppositional thinking is vital, being normal and healthy in a democracy, as long as it does not turn into violent narratives and practices".

English version: Diana Taborda

"It is fundamental to create democratic resilience and provide citizens with ways to deal with extremist opposition thinking, thus interacting constructively" highlights Joana Ricarte. It is based on the need that the "OppAttune" project will design an attunement model, which "will seek to encourage political dialogue and constructive opposition, increasing its flexibility, despite tensions of polarization", adds the specialist in Political Science and International Relations. This "attuning model" will also be supported through the creation of a tool, called "I-Attune", which, working as a kind of self-test platform, will allow citizens to recognize and work through extremist narratives which they may hold themselves, thus contributing to transforming extremist opposition into constructive opposition. Other contributions will also be developed, including tools and support materials to help identify extremist social and political environments, interactive online platforms, pedagogical tools to explain extremism, as well as several actions with decision makers, political actors and the general public to disseminate the knowledge produced in the scope of the research.

"OppAttune" will bring together 17 institutions from 15 countries, as the transnationality of extremist political discourses is at the very core of a study in this area. "Evidence suggests that extremist ideas, albeit articulated and adapted to suit specific national contexts, are increasingly spreading across national media ecosystems through social media, thereby accelerating the transnationalisation of extremist movements," contextualises the researcher.

In Portugal, the project will be implemented in several cities that include areas where there has been an "exponential growth of a political party whose ideological basis and statements are based on explicit racism, misogyny, xenophobia and populism, as well as on the propagation of hate speech, disinformation and conspiracy theories, following a transnational trend", explains Joana Ricarte. In 2025, Coimbra will host the OppAttune Winter Academy, aimed at decision makers and political actors. During 2025 and 2026, there will be several events in Portugal to promote the involvement of citizens in the project.

Being a multidisciplinary project, "OppAttune" will involve researchers from several countries, experts in areas such as Social and Political Psychology, History, Anthropology, Political Science and International Relations, Media and Communication, Law, Economics and Sociology.

The consortium is coordinated by Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece, with the scientific co-coordination of The Open University and the Glasgow Calendonian University, UK. Institutions from Germany, France, Sweden, Austria, Malta, Turkey, Cyprus, Slovenia, Serbia, Kosovo, Iraq and Bosnia are also part of the project.