Democracies are founded on the promise of a life lived with dignity, freedom and security – regardless of gender, background, religion or beliefs. In a democracy, all people have the inalienable right to play a part in shaping the way society functions.
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Yet this democratic promise is coming under increasing pressure. Open and free societies worldwide face considerable challenges: climate change, demographic shifts, technological developments and geopolitical conflicts are having profound effects on people’s lives and raising pressing ethical, social and political questions.
At the same time, concerns are growing about the internal erosion of democracy. For some years now, even in mature, established democracies, a decline in democratic quality has been observed, extending to the rise of anti-democratic forces and autocratic tendencies in some states. These developments are accompanied by waning trust in democracy among sections of the population and a rise in support for populist or even extremist positions and actors. Where these gain power and influence, democratic values and fundamental rights are put at risk.
These developments, upheavals and crises challenge the problem-solving capacity of democratic systems and, at the same time, demonstrate that democracy cannot be taken for granted, but is an achievement that must be actively preserved and further developed. Consequently, questions regarding the preservation, further development and future viability of democratic systems are increasingly becoming the focus of political, social and academic debate. The humanities and social sciences play a key role in this regard: by contextualising social, cultural and political developments within both historical and contemporary frameworks, they help us to better understand current challenges and future prospects for democracies.
These developments show that democracy is not a given, but an achievement that must be actively protected and further developed. The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) will therefore, from 2026, provide targeted funding for research projects in the humanities and social sciences that address the current challenges and future prospects of democratic systems.
To this end, the BMFTR is launching a new, multi-year funding initiative in the field of democracy research. With the framework call for proposals “Current and Future Challenges of Democratic Societies”, which will be published shortly, the BMFTR is specifically strengthening democracy research in the humanities, cultural studies and social sciences. The aim is to generate both research findings and knowledge relevant to policy and society regarding the present and future of democracy, in order to discuss current crises, challenges and development paths of democratic systems in a fact-based and solution-oriented manner.
The framework announcement provides for the regular publication of calls for proposals on specific topics and research questions in the field of democracy research. A first call for proposals will be published at the same time as the framework announcement and will focus on addressing profound transformation processes in democratic systems.
All calls for proposals will be published on this page. All information regarding the topics and content to be funded, as well as the formal requirements, will be made available.
This is the starting point for the BMFTR with the framework announcement “Current and Future Challenges of Democratic Societies”, which was published on 18 May 2026. The aim of this multi-year funding initiative is to generate both research findings and knowledge relevant to policy and society regarding the present and future of democracy. This is intended to lay the foundations for discussing the challenges and development paths of democratic systems in a fact-based and solution-oriented manner.
The framework announcement provides for the regular publication of specific calls for proposals. These are published on the web portal for the BMFTR framework programme “Orientation for a Changing World” under Sustainable Democracies | Democracy Research. An initial call for proposals on the topic of “Transformation in Democracy” was published simultaneously with the framework announcement on 18 May 2026.
The calls for proposals published here contain all necessary information regarding the topics and content to be funded, as well as supplementary formal conditions. Please note that the conditions of the framework announcement must be taken into account in a complementary manner.
The application process is structured in two stages. The DLR Project Management Agency has been commissioned as the project management agency for the implementation of this BMFTR funding measure. It offers supplementary advice on the preparation of project outlines during the period between the publication of the call for proposals and the respective submission deadline. Following an evaluation process, DLR Project Management Agency also offers advice on the submission of funding applications for the selected projects.
