RECONNECT is a four-year multidisciplinary research project on ‘Reconciling Europe with its Citizens through Democracy and the Rule of Law’. The project is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 framework programme for research and innovation. With an explicit focus on strengthening the EU’s legitimacy through democracy and the rule of law, RECONNECT aims to understand and provide solutions to the recent challenges faced by the European Union. On this basis, the project consortium seeks to build a new narrative for Europe, enabling the EU to become more attuned to the expectations of its citizens.

As one of the 18 academic partner institutions from 14 countries, the project team at the University of Münster's Department of Political Science collects and analyzes data on European citizens' attitudes toward institutional reform (Work Package 9). The team consists of the two principal investigators, Prof. Bernd Schlipphak and Prof. Oliver Treib, postdoctoral researcher Dr. Constantin Schäfer and several student research assistants. In addition to their core work on Work Package 9, the Münster team is involved in multiple other Work Packages, supplying information on the state of citizens' attitudes toward the European Union, democracy, the rule of law and toward more specific EU policies. In doing so, the two principal investigators benefit from their long-term experience in working on citizens' attitudes toward the European Union, European politics and toward global governance.

If you are interested in the work of the overarching RECONNECT consortium, please have a look at the RECONNECT website. For more information on the work of the Münster team, please consult the activities and team sections of this website, check out the personal websites of Bernd Schlipphak, Oliver Treib and Constantin Schäfer, or send an email to  reconnect-europe@uni-muenster.de.