1. CINEFOGO - a European network on Civil Society, Citizenship and Governance

Thomas P. Boje, Roskilde University (Denmark)

The CINEFOGO Network of Excellence is concerned with the importance of improving citizens' participation in governance. This requires new knowledge on the role of multiple identities, active citizenship and organised civil society. The Network seeks to strengthen the articulation between theoretical analysis and the dissemination of research results to a public beyond academia, thereby nourishing the public debate on issues of integration, participation, governance and social protection in Europe.

The scientific programme of the CINEFOGO network is focused on three thematic issues: 'Active citizenship: to promote citizens involvement and social participation in policy making'; 'Multiple Identities: to identify factors that help co-existence among European citizens of different gender, ethnicity and age'; and 'Organized civil society: to understand the impact of different forms of citizenship and civic participation'. We consider these issues as crucial in a European context. For more information about the scientific scope of the CINEFOGO Network and its future activities please consult the website, www.cinefogo.org, which also includes a list of the leading scholars affiliated to the Network.

Though scientific in scope and objectives the overall purpose of the CINEFOGO network is based upon a sincere concern for the role of citizen participation and civil society in emerging forms of multi-level governance in Europe. With this in mind we intend to provide knowledge on the relationship between multi-level governance, citizenship, and multiple identities in a Europe becoming more and more multi-cultural while simultaneously seeking further integration.

During the first year of the Network several conferences / workshops have been organised. Let me just mention the three major conferences: One on the theme Gender, Social Citizenship and Participation at London School of Economics, London in March 2006, another on National Identities at Charles University, Prague in September 2006, and a third on European Civil Society at Roskilde University in November 2006. The Network has for all the involved countries produced a literature review of the research and policy debate on the role of civil society in the making of European citizenship. These literature reviews will be published at the website during the winter 2007. Finally, a project website was created for general public and project members (www.cinefogo.org). This website has been an important instrument in disseminating the events taking place in the network and at the moment it is extended to also including a 'Student Discussion Corner' in the topic of civil society and citizenship studies.

Furthermore, a PhD workshop on civil society and civic participation has been organised at Wirtschaftuniversität in Vienna in May 2006, and a TV series on active citizenship and development of European democracy involving 10 national public service stations has been produced and will be broadcasted in spring 2007. For the spring 2007 several additional conferences / workshops have been planned culminating with the Mid-term conference on European Citizenship to be held in June at Roskilde University. All these arrangements are described more in detail at our website www.cinefogo.org.

In this issue of the CINEFOGO Newsletter you can read a lot more about the CINEFOGO Network of Excellence - and especially about the up-coming conferences and other activities.