PLEDGE Horizon project

🌍PLEDGE’s work is more relevant than ever, as Starmer condemns Farage’s “politics of grievance”.

➡️Read the full article and see the relevant video here: www.bbc.com/news/article...

#PLEDGE #Democracy

In today’s hyper-competitive world, people dismiss what they couldn’t achieve as “undesirable” while recasting themselves as righteous victims.

👉 Discover more here: www.pledgeproject.eu/the-sour-gra...

#GrievancePolitics #SourGrapesEffect #Democracy #EU

📢 Call for Papers is now open!

📝 Submit your paper or panel proposal by 31 October 2025!

👉 Visit our website for more information: www.pledgeproject.eu/call-for-pap...

#democracy #EU #PLEDGE #grievances #politics #governance #CallForPapers

Smiling young woman with curly hair and eyes closed, radiating joy while raising her hand, overlaid with bold text that reads: “Joy. Pleasant, Powerful, and Political.” Credit: MORES project.

Joy is short-lived—but it forms lasting memories and can be deeply social.

We explore how joy strengthens group identity and brings people together in moments of political meaning. 🧪

Learn why joy matters for democracy: mores-horizon.eu/glossary/joy

#MORESresearch #Emotions #Society #HorizonEU

How can collective emotions -and cardboard- fuel democracy under the strain of war?

👉 Read the full blogpost here: www.pledgeproject.eu/pledge-blog-...

#Ukraine #CardboardRevolution #Democracy #PoliticalEmotions #CivicEngagement #PLEDGE #EU

🌍🤝 PLEDGE consortium members were present at the #ECPR conference in Thessaloniki 🇬🇷 (26 – 29 August 2025), engaging in key debates on democracy, governance & grievance politics.
💬✨ Stay tuned — more posts & insights coming soon!!!

#democracy #EU

Georgia, on the Eastern flank of Europe, shows how deeply grievance politics can shift a nation’s trajectory.
🔗 This New York Times article takes an in-depth & personal look at this dramatic transformation: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/m...

#Democracy #EU #Autocracy #Europe #grievance

🔎 How is resentment marketed in today’s political landscape—and what does it mean for democracy?

Our -own- Steering Committee Chair, Mikko Salmela, joins the discussion alongside other experts.

📖 Read the Eurozine article and watch the attached video: www.eurozine.com/marketing-re...

🌍 Emotions drive action—but not always equally.
💡 PLEDGE shows: shared feelings fuel 🌱 climate protests, but not 🛂 immigration ones.
✨ Context matters for civic engagement!
👉 Read more: www.pledgeproject.eu/pledge-blog-...

#Democracy #CivicEngagement #EU

😤Is this what democracy should feel like?
💔Is our modern Idemocracy shaped more by emotions than by ideals.

🔗Find out more by following the link: www.pledgeproject.eu/an-overview-...

#democracyincrisis #affectivepolitics #PLEDGEproject #populism #polarization #democracy

📢 New Blog Alert!
How is the far-right thriving in today’s social media age?
📝 Read PLEDGE Blog Post #4
🔗https://www.pledgeproject.eu/pledge-blog-post-4-by-ulund-team-far-right-politics-in-the-age-of-social-media-where-grievance-meets-entertainment/
#PLEDGEproject #FarRight #SocialMediaPolitics

🧠How can we design democratic processes that truly feel public?

📘 Read the full report here:
🔗https://www.pledgeproject.eu/report-on-design-principles-for-emotion-sensitive-policy-making-wp6-pledge-project-on-zenodo/

#PLEDGEproject #PolicyDesign #democracy

🗣️On Ressentiment, Victimhood, and Revanchism
How is populism in Turkey shaped?
(📌This endeavor, delivered by Ayhan Kaya, Senior Researcher from the Istanbul Bilgi University and member of our Steering Committee, is available only in Turkish.)
👉Read more: www.yeniarayis.com/yazi/ressent...

Our sister project is running an impactful EU-wide survey, “Emotions in Politics,” examining how emotions shape public opinion on critical EU topics.
🔗 Take the survey now and contribute your perspective:
👉 crowdsourcing.ecas.org/en/Mores

🔍 The PLEDGE Codebook v.1 unpacks the emotional logic behind protests, polarization, and civic engagement—with real-world examples, emotional mechanisms, and research-ready tools.

📥 Interested in exploring more?
Download the full document here: www.pledgeproject.eu/research-rep...

PLEDGE Blog Post #3
📰 Why are citizens across Europe feeling alienated from democratic processes? What fuels the growing sense of disconnection from institutions meant to represent them?
📍Read it here: www.pledgeproject.eu/pledge-blog-...

📢 NEW RELEASE: PLEDGE Conceptual Framework v1
At the heart of the framework are two emotional engines:
💢 EMRes: Resentment, hostility, polarization;
💞 EMSoS: Empathy, solidarity, action.
📘 Download the full report here: www.pledgeproject.eu/research-rep....
🔗 Visit our website: www.pledgeproject.eu.

Across Europe, anti-immigrant rhetoric by right-wing populists is fueling real violence.
🎙️Prof. Bilewicz: When hate is normalized, attacks follow—as in Poland, 2015. This isn’t an isolated phenomenon.
🧠 #PLEDGE studies this shift.
📚[PL] Read more: pap.pl/aktualnosci/...
🌍 pledgeproject.eu

When people feel unheard, humiliated, excluded… They don’t compromise. They withdraw. Or retaliate.
🧠 PLEDGE maps the reasons behind that. You can’t fix what you don’t feel.
📘 This and many more to come at Grievance Politics Briefings.
🔗 Read more: www.pledgeproject.eu/1-what-is-gr...
Stay tuned.

🗣️ Politics making you miserable? You’re not imagining it. Is it all just toxic rhetoric, or a deeper emotional divide?
Read More 👇
🔗https://www.pledgeproject.eu/pledge-blog-post-2-by-css-team-are-political-discussions-making-us-unhappy/
#PLEDGEproject #PoliticalCommunication #EmotionsInPolitics

Why do we fear the poor?
This TED Talk unpacks aporophobia—the rejection of poverty—and how it fuels grievance politics. At PLEDGE, we explore these emotional drivers of exclusion & how to build an inclusive democracy.
🎥https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZODPxP68zT0
🔗http://pledgeproject.eu

📢 Save the Date: June 26 | Brussels

Smarter Together Workshop:

Emotions in Policy Making—How to Master Emotions to Better Solve Public Problems
With Dr. Thomas Legein & Prof. Dr. Karen Celis (PLEDGE, VUB)

🔗https://linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7329057878122598400/

👉 Don’t miss it!

💭Climate change isn’t just technical—it’s emotional.

Our new blog post looks at how frustration, fear, and hope can shape how people respond to green policies—and how those emotions can be a force for democratic connection.

👉Read the full piece here: l1nq.com/7mc7R
#EMSoS #DemocraticInnovation

🚨 The 2nd #PLEDGEProject Newsletter is out!

Discover our scientific progress so far + where we’ve presented the project at key meetings & conferences. 🧪🌍

📰 Read it here: www.pledgeproject.eu/category/new...

#Newsletter #Research #ScienceInAction #EUprojects #Collaboration

💙Today on Emotion Awareness Day, we highlight the power of emotions in shaping democracy.

@mores-project.bsky.social @protemo.bsky.social @cidape.bsky.social ape.bsky.social‬ @encodemotion.bsky.social

#EmotionAwarenessDay #EmotionsInDemocracy

👉Kirsten Xanthippe, supporting PLEDGE’s research at the University of Southampton, shared insights into how social media fuels polarisation and how real or perceived injustices are shaping today’s political grievances.

🔥 Can the arts heal divides?

At the Arts Festival Summit in Edinburgh, the PLEDGE Horizon Project tackled polarisation, free speech & grievance politics.

💡 Kirsten Xanthippe (Univ. of Southampton) shared how social media fuels polarisation & grievance politics. #FreeSpeech#Democracy#PerformingArts

Tereza Capelos on Persuasion This analysis is insightful. For readers wanting to delve deeper in ressentiment and its relationship to the political psychology of grievance politics, please see open access academic work: Salmel...

For readers wanting to delve deeper in ressentiment and its relationship to the political psychology of grievance politics, please check the link below:
open.substack.com/pub/persuasi...

🔊How do political grievances and ressentiment shape freedom of expression in polarized societies?

👉Join Tereza Capelos at the 69th Pearl* Conference in Athens on May 23 as she explores grievance politics, ressentiment, and artistic freedom.

🔗https://shorturl.at/i38G2

🔊How do EU policies make you feel?
The @mores-project.bsky.social is seeking your opinion on how these key EU policies affect you:
- Climate Action
- War in Ukraine
- Food Safety
- Migration
- Fiscal Policy
Engage in crowdsourcing and ensure your voice is heard: crowdsourcing.ecas.org/en/Mores