European Citizenship is not only a high priority theme in the political arena, but also of increasing interest to researchers in the field of social sciences and youth work.

With a little selection, we want to wet your appetite and hope that you will dig into some of these papers or go out on your own, hunting for more.

One excellent place to start looking is the
European Knowledge Centre on Youth.

Here are some recent research papers on European Citizenship for you:

«Choice, Voice and Engagement: An Exploration of Models and Methods which promote active Youth Citizenship in the new Europe.» By Terry Barber.

Terry explores both policy and practice imperatives for the promotion of Citizenship in the Youth Field across Europe. The focus of the discussion is to examine the efficacy of models of participation, their underpinning ideology, and their potential relationship with aspirations of youth citizenship.

Download Terry Barber’s paper here.

«Citizenship and Youth in Europe: Research or Politics?» By Lynne Chisholm.

Lynne outlines why linking citizenship, youth and Europe is both a research question and a political affair and asks whether one might wish for more research and less politics.

Download Lynne Chisholm’s paper here.

«Civic Concern: European Identity beyond Emotions and Metaphysics. An Argument against Mythification.» By Tamara Ehs.

Tamara argues that the past is often misused by telling stories instead of teaching history, by creating myths around “great events” instead of presenting pure facts. But such stories are already interpretations of the past, which take away the interpretation from the individual and the times and circumstances they are living in.

Download Tamara Ehs’ paper here.

«European Citizenship between Patriotic Sentiments and Universal Rights.» By Jan Dobbernack.

Jan asks whether we need love in order to further civic commitment, active participation and an internalisation of European values beyond the common market, and outlines how the answer could inform the approach towards the concept of European citizenship in civic education.

Download Jan Dobbernack’s paper here.

«Strengthening Opportunities for Citizenship Education on a local level: Examples from practice under difficult conditions.» By Franziska Süllke.

Franziska analyses approaches to strengthen opportunities for citizenship education on local level under difficult social, ethnic and economic circumstances, and explores how these experiences can more generally inform other efforts.

Download Franziska Süllke’s paper here.

More research papers can be found at he European Knowledge Centre on Youth.