Climate protection needs broad acceptance

What do we have to do today to live in a climate-friendly future tomorrow? In January 2022, 100 citizens from all parts of the population came together in the Austrian Climate Council to answer this question. Six months later, they presented their 93 recommendations to the federal government. "Even if many of them have not yet been taken up, the Climate Council was an enormously important project that continues to have an impact," says Birgit Bednar-Friedl, environmental economist at the University of Graz. Together with Georg Kaser from the University of Innsbruck, she chaired the scientific committee that accompanied the citizens on the Climate Council.

Why active citizen participation is important for a functioning democracy

Voiceless: How politics could better integrate non-Austrians

It is a super election year, but almost a fifth of people over the age of 16 living in Austria are only allowed to have a limited say. This can jeopardise democracy, warns political scientist Katrin Praprotnik.

Democracy in lecture hall and lab

The University of Graz shows how democracy works in everyday research, study and work life. From participation in the Senate to curricula and student representation: all members of the university have the opportunity to help shape teaching, research and the university.