Demokratiezentrum Wien / Democracy Centre Vienna

National Network
Austria
Address

Hegelgasse 6/5
1010 Vienna
Austria

Telephone
0043 1/512 37 37
E-Mail
office@demokratiezentrum.org
Organisation Type
Non-Governmental Organization
Year of Establishment
2000
Fields of Activity
  1. Democracy and community development
  2. Gender
  3. Human rights
  4. Media
  5. Research
  6. Youth and education
General Information
The Democracy Centre Vienna is a non-profit NGO with four employees. It is part of the Conflict-Peace-Democracy Cluster and in this context the Democracy Centre collaborates with the Centre for Peace Studies and Peace Education (University of Klagenfurt), the University of Graz, the Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution as well as the Institute of Conflict Research (IKF). The yearly budgetary resources amout to € 300.000,00. The Democracy Centre is mainly funded through: the city of Vienna; Federal Ministry of Education and Women's Affairs; Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy, Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs. Current projects (selection): Teaching controversial issues (associate partner, Council of Europe); Peacemaking: analysis of Nobel Peace Prize awardings 1901–2014; Handbook on Conflict-, Peace- and Democracy research; touring exhibion and workshops: Migration on Tour; (Global) Citizenship Education: post-graduate university training course (co-organizer) and publications.
Mission and Objectives

The Democracy Centre Vienna (Demokratiezentrum Wien) is an academic non-profit organisation with an application-oriented profile, situated at the interface between the academic and public spheres. It is an academic research institution and a virtual knowledge centre which deals with basic questions of political culture and of the political system of Austria in the European context; it is concerned with the processes of democratization and their historical development, with current sociopolitical debates, with new concepts of citizenship, with e-participation, migration, democratic citizenship education, culture of remembrance and the European Union.
Due to its application-oriented profile and its longstanding experiences in relation to pedagogical and didactical issues, the Democracy Centre Vienna has been able to establish a large network within the Austrian educational sector, where it has worked together with different actors in formal/non-formal education and administration: schools, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, the Austrian Parlament, adult education centres, university departments, NGOs in the field of civic education etc. Through its participation in trans-boundary projects, it has also established contacts throughout Europe, contributing to a Europe-wide development of education and training.
The Democracy Centre Vienna addresses different and heterogeneous target groups: students, researchers, teachers and other practitioners in the field of education as well as the wider public. It collaboratively develops versatile teaching materials as well as print and online publications that can be used by all target groups and are also available to the wider public.

Main Projects / Activities

Research and Networking:

Processes of democratization and recent debates: political systems in flux, further development of democratic mechanisms, direct democracy, new concepts of citizenship, gender perspectives on society and politics

Europe and European Enlargement processes: historical development and recent perspectives, debates on reforms, processes of participation

Migration and Integration: Austrian and European migration policy, Asylum policy and human rights

Culture of remembrance: dealing with the past, historical-political education, collective memory

Media and image communication: media society, historical short movies, political visual strategies, deconstruction and analysis of historical and recent election posters
Workshops, touring exhibitions, publications:

(online) participation of pupils (project: PoliPedia.at / PoliPedia.eu)

migration and integration (project: Migration on Tour)

human rights and democracy

Global Citizenship Education
Virtual Knowledge Centre:
The Democracy Centre Vienna sets out to provide a virtual knowledge centre (available via www.demokratiezentrum.org) with an extensive supply of substantive material on relevant current and historical questions of democracy and sociopolitics addressing the wider public.

How can you contribute to the Network in your country?

The Democracy Centre Vienna can look back on a broad range of research projects and can enrich the Austrian Network with its expertise in the fields of democracy research, democratic citizenship education, migration and diversity.

Why do you want to join the ALF Network?

The Democracy Centre Vienna appreciates and supports the vision and goals of the ALF Network. The ALF Network is a great opportunity to connect with other institutions that are active in supporting democratic processes and civil society and that are dedicated to a peaceful society on the principles of democratic values on the one hand and on the other hand to develop new research projects and contribute to a profound exchange of ideas, information and experience in line with those goals set by the Anna Lindh Foundation.

Contact (1) Full Name
Mag. Gertraud Diendorfer
Job Title
Executive Director
Head of the organisation
Mag. Gertraud Diendorfer