Deepening Democracy in EU Neighbourhood

Book

In the framework of their project ‘Deepening Democracy in EU Neighbourhood’, FEPS and the Foundation Max van dear Stoel organised over the course of 2018 and 2019 training seminars in nine countries: Tunisia, Morocco and Lebanon in the MENA region, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina in South-East Europe, and Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine in Eastern Europe and Southern Caucasus. The trainings were tailor-made for each country, but in general focused on the key topics of inclusive politics, youth participation and human rights. The present publication sums up the outcomes of those trainings, with contributions on those subject by our local partners in each country, and shows how, in spite of the many differences between these countries, some challenges were common to all of them: a lack of opportunities for young people and unemployment, corruption and a lack of inclusive institutions. The experience of the trainings organised by FEPS and FMS, however, also shows that young people are, on the one hand, open to a narrative based on social democratic values, and that, on the other hand, in spite of the widespread disenchantment with politics and institutions, many young people are ready and willing to turn to activism in order to produce political change in their countries.