Young Researchers’ Perception in Romania on Involvement in Democratic Life - Methodological Perspectives
Young Researchers’ Perception in Romania on Involvement in Democratic Life - Methodological Perspectives

Summary/Abstract: This paper aims to analyze the perceptions of young people in Romania regarding the instruments of participation in democratic life in the period 2020-2024. The research problem in the field of international relations is represented by the low involvement of young people, a significant category of society, in democratic life, which exacerbates the democratic deficit. There search question that we will try to answer is the following “How do we streamline the process of using instruments of involvement in democratic life soas to reduce the democratic deficit?”. The purpose of the paper is to bring a range of theoretical contributions and a contribution to the specialized literature and the academic environment regarding the assessment of the level of awareness and knowledge of young people about democracy. The research method used in the data collection process will be a mixed method, this means the use of both quantitative and qualitative analyses. First, we will select the Eurobarometers from the period 2020-2024 and look at how they target the instruments of involvement in democratic political life and what is the level of knowledge and existence of a security culture. Second, we will conduct 50 semistructured interviews with young researchers from Romania who study or are graduates of the field of political science, international relations, European studies and security studies. The data analysis method is a mixed one, being both qualitative and quantitative. We will use multiple regression to analyze the Eurobarometers and deductive thematic analysis to analyze the semi-structured interviews. At the end of the paper, we are surprised by the fact that improving the efficiency of the use of democratic participation instruments among young people to reduce the democratic deficit can be achieved through a series of strategies and measures. Among these, the integration of civic education into the school and university curriculum, the organization of information and awareness campaigns, or even the simplification of participation procedures stand out.

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