New approaches for combatting corruption and other undue influences on political decision-making
HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-03
- Programme
- Standing up for democracy
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- December 14, 2022
- Deadline
- March 14, 2023
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €9,000,000
- Min Grant Amount
- €2,000,000
- Max Grant Amount
- €3,000,000
- Expected Number of Grants
- 3
- Keywords
- IntegrityPolitical systems and institutions, governanceSocial sciences and humanitiesopen governmentundue influenceCorruptionintegritytransparencyHORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-03
Description
Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Increased knowledge and data on political corruption and other undue influences[1] on policymaking and policy implementation, and on how these impact the understanding of democracy and rule of law and the adherence of citizens to those values.
- Advance knowledge on the use of technologies (including AI, blockchain, encrypted data analysis...) to prevent and detect corruption and other undue political influence in the EU and its neighbourhood.
- Reinforce national and EU legislative tools for preventing and fighting corruption, so as to bridge the gap between a fertile corruption measurement landscape and the different levels of commitment shown by governments to the prevention of and fight against corruption.
Beyond its financial and economic costs, corruption and undue influence – whether real or perceived – erodes the social contract underpinning democracies, and hence the system’s credibility and legitimacy. By undermining democracy and exacerbating inequalities, corruption and policy/state/ elite capture in general decrease the legitimacy of the democratic system and pave the way for citizen’s distrust and populist narratives. Despite abundant strategies, toolkits, approaches and indicators produced over the last two decades to win the fight against corruption, it can be argued that the practical results of anticorruption efforts have been disappointing. The problem appears resistant to solution and new / digitally enabled forms of undue influence seem to emerge.
Corruption and anticorruption are about human behaviour and require therefore multifaceted and multidisciplinary research. Proposals should aim at bringing together the contributions from behavioural and political economists, psychologists and anthropologists, historians, lawyers, political scientists, communication scholars, etc. Their research findings should contribute to a deeper understanding of corruption and further the evaluation of the quality of democracy and good governance. Proposals under this topic should aim at reproducing the level of ambition, both in terms of consortium composition and the breath, range and duration of their research plan, of the FP7 collaborative project ANTICORRP.[2]
On the conceptual level, research under this topic should build a solid and encompassing understanding of (i) the cross-border character of new expressions of political corruption involving a constellation of actors cutting across the political, administrative, financial and commercial spheres; (ii) integrity and its relationship to corruption and the requirements of effective models of integrity management, both in the public and private sectors; (iii) the role played by the data analytics sector in political communication to malignly influence and disrupt politics in foreign jurisdictions; (vi) and the role played by investigative journalism in strengthening accountability by revealing transnational corruption and illicit financial flows. Studying, especially through comparative and historical research, rhetorical, linguistic and cultural aspects of corruption will help to develop a stronger theoretical ground for the critical analysis of social representations of corruption. The role of education and media, in particular social media, and their impact on how corruption is socially constructed, perceived and dealt with in the public sphere, deserves special attention.
On the practical side, international cooperation is encouraged, in particular with countries from the EU Neighbourhood and accessing countries. Proposals should look at tools to strengthen public-private partnerships for fighting corruption, including inter-institutional and inter-sectorial collaborations among different stakeholders (such as small/large enterprises mentorship), or transparent guidelines for the inclusion of interest groups in political processes. Understanding the potential use of technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence, encrypted data analysis, blockchain, building information modelling…) to detect, prevent and combat corruption and other undue influences should receive particular attention, without overlooking their potential misuse. The analysis of open government experiences and dissemination of practices of civic tracking systems, as opportunities of transparency and prevention of corruption, may also contribute to the assessment of the hopes and challenges of digital anti-corruption efforts. While abundant corruption indexes help to understand different angles of this problem, most of them are perception based and/or focus on particular issues. Overall overviews of corruption within the EU are difficult and proposals should aim to overcome this shortfall.
Proposals are encouraged to seek synergies and collaboration whenever possible with projects funded under the topic HORIZON-CL3-2022-FCT-01-05: Effective fight against corruption.
Clustering and cooperation with other selected projects under this topic and other relevant projects are strongly encouraged.
[1] According to the OECD, undue influence is the act of attempting to influence the design, implementation, execution and evaluation of public policies and regulations administered by public officials, whether by providing covert, deceptive or misleading evidence or data, by manipulating public opinion or by using other practices intended to manipulate the decisions of public officials.
[2] Anticorruption policies revisited. Global trends and European responses to the challenge of corruption: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/290529
Destination & Scope
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which unfolds ominously while this work programme is prepared, has deep and extraordinary consequences on European security, international relations, as well as trust in democratic systems and in the media. However, it cannot be seen as an isolated event. It is part of an accelerated and ever intensifying movement of rejection and challenge of democracy and of the liberal international order. Indexes and reports measuring the overall situation of democracies in the world confirm their increased fragility and vulnerability over the last years: a process labelled as a “long democratic recession”, a shift in the nature of “autocratisation” or a “global expansion of authoritarian rule”, which quantitatively translates into the increase of the number of countries moving towards authoritarianism and the overall decline of the quality of democracies. [[ Cfr. the latest reports from Freedom House or the V-Dem Institute:
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2021/democracy-under-siege;
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2022/global-expansion-authoritarian-rule
http://www.v-dem.net/static/website/files/dr/dr_2021.pdf;
https://v-dem.net/media/publications/dr_2022.pdf]]
Interdisciplinary research on the past and present challenges to and facilitators of democracy can help to understand them better, with a view to strengthen their resilience and stability. It will also help to counter the shift from governance based on expertise, rules-based multilateralism and consensual policymaking towards majoritarianism, unilateralism, nationalism, populism and polarisation. It will foster democracy’s further development with a view to enhancing representation, participation, openness, pluralism, tolerance, the effectiveness of public policy, non-discrimination, civic engagement, the protection of fundamental rights and the rule of law. These reflect the European Union’s values as defined in Article 2 of the EU Treaty[[ Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union, Title 1 “Common Provisions”, Article 2: “The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail”.]].
Expected impact:
Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway to contributing to the following expected impacts of the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan:
- Democratic governance is reinvigorated by improving the accountability, transparency, effectiveness and trustworthiness of rule-of-law based institutions and policies and through the expansion of active and inclusive citizenship empowered by the safeguarding of fundamental rights.
The implementation of the research activities of the destination will assist in the re-invigoration and modernisation of democratic governance. The aim is to develop evidence-based innovations, policies and policy recommendations, as well as institutional frameworks that expand political participation, social dialogue, civic engagement, gender equality and inclusiveness. Activities will also contribute to enhancing the transparency, effectiveness, accountability and legitimacy of public policymaking. They will help improving trust in democratic institutions, safeguarding liberties and the rule of law and protecting democracy from multidimensional threats. Rich historical, cultural and philosophical perspectives, including a comparative dimension, will set the frame for soundly understanding present developments and help to map future pathways. In the medium to long term, the knowledge, data, scientifically robust recommendations and innovations generated will enhance decision-making on all aspects relevant to democratic governance. As the Destination aims directly at citizen engagement and at producing lasting change, it is of particular importance that the research and innovation actions promote the highest standards of transparency and openness. When applicable, it is encouraged to open up the process, criteria, methodologies and data to civil society in the course of the research.
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System
2. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
5. Evaluation and award:
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Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
-
Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
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Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes
Specific conditions
7. Specific conditions: described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]
Documents
Call documents:
Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
MGA
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 5. Culture, creativity and inclusive society
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 12. Missions
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Support & Resources
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Latest Updates
EVALUATION results
HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01
Published: 07.12.2022
Deadline: 14.03.2023
Available budget: EUR 75 000 000
The results of the evaluation are as follows:
Number of proposals submitted (including proposals transferred from or to other calls): 97
Number of inadmissible proposals: 2
Number of ineligible proposals: 0
Number of above-threshold proposals: 58
Total budget requested for above-threshold proposals: EUR 184 724 528,25
We recently informed the applicants about the evaluation results for their proposals.
For questions, please contact the Research Enquiry Service.
The call HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01 has closed on 14.03.2023.
97 proposals have been submitted.
The breakdown per topic is:
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-01: 10 proposals
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-02: 5 proposals
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-03: 4 proposals
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-04: 24 proposals
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-05: 11 proposals
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-06: 7 proposals
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-07: 19 proposals
- HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-08: 17 proposals
Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in July 2023.