The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for the Rule of Law and European Values (CRoLEV) would like to invite you to complete a short survey concerning access (and barriers) to participatory democracy tools, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and social justice tools, legal aid, and civil courts in your country of residence. Please remember that you do not need to have any knowledge of all or any these in order to participate in the survey.
Why is this topic important?
Democratic states have a duty to empower citizens to participate actively in the civic space, by ensuring the development and access to tools of participatory democracy, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and social justice tools, and legal aid. Only then can civic communities effectively assemble and help create a sustainable democracy. As history has proved many times before, a functional civil society, which is largely committed to the democratic project, is necessary in ensuring that governments do not rule by law, rather than upholding the rule of law. A civil society plays a crucial role in both the legitimisation and delegitimisation of a state by overseeing the actions of its political representatives, demanding accountability and redress when these fail to meet expectations, and can bear additional pressures on the state to uphold the rule of law by lobbying and mobilising citizens.
For more information, please see Laulhé Shaelou, S., Uibariu, A. M., Marcou, A., and Kalaitzaki, K. (2023). CRoLEV Scoping Paper. Retrieved from: https://crolev.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/CRoLEV_Scoping-Paper_D4.2.pdf.
Who can complete this survey?
You can complete this survey if you are over the age of 18 and a resident or citizen of:
-
an European Union (EU) member state. EU member states are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden;
-
the UK;
-
Israel;
-
Ukraine; or
-
Russia.
If I choose to complete the survey, what will I have to do?
If you decide to take part in the study, you will have to complete a short survey. The survey will ask several questions about your perceptions about the access and barriers to participatory democracy tools, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and social justice tools, legal aid, and civil courts, and should take about 15 minutes to complete. Some of the questions will ask you to select an answer from a pre-defined list. However, because there is very little information concerning this topic, and because we are interested in representing your experiences as accurately as possible, some of these questions will allow you to type in your responses (rather than choosing from a pre-selected pool of answers). We would be very grateful if you could offer as much insight as you are comfortable to when answering these questions. If you do not want to answer a question, you can refuse to do so and proceed to the next question.
Are there any possible disadvantages and risks in taking part?
There are no known disadvantages or risks associated with completing the survey.
Will my taking part in the study be anonymous?
Yes. We do not collect any personal data. As such, there will be no means through which anyone will be able to identify you. Please help us in ensuring yours – and other’s – anonymity by making sure that you do not provide any identifiable information (such as names or addresses) in your responses.
Will my taking part in the study be kept confidential?
All information you provide will be strictly confidential, and will only be accessed by the CRoLEV team. In reporting the findings of the survey, we will make sure to exclude any potentially identifiable information from the report.
How long will you keep my data for?
The data will be stored until January 2025, when the activities of CRoLEV will finalise, after which it will be disposed of securely. Your data will not be reused for the purposes of any other research project.
If you want to know more about how your data will be managed, please visit https://crolev.eu/privacy-policy/and https://www.uclancyprus.ac.cy/data-protection-policy/.
What if there is a problem?
If you have any questions or queries about completing the survey, or if you wish to be informed about the findings of the survey once data has been analysed, please contact Dr. Alexandra M. Uibariu at amuibariu@uclan.ac.uk
Can I change my mind once I have participated? Is there any way to withdraw from the study?
Because we do not collect any personal information, we will have no means to identify your responses once they have been submitted. As such, we would not be able to remove them from the pool of responses. However, if while completing the survey you decide that you no longer want to partake in the study, you can just close the survey tab. If you do so, your data will be deleted immediately, and will not be included in the findings.
Who is organising and funding the research?
The research is organised by CRoLEV. CRoLEV is a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ programme 2021-27, Jean Monnet Actions for the years 2022-2025.
Who has reviewed the research?
This research project was reviewed by the Cyprus National Bioethics Committee and granted a favourable ethical opinion on December 14th 2023 (reference number: ΕΕΒΚ ΕΠ 2023 01 327).
If you wish to participate in the survey, please click Next!
