Friedrich Faulhammer has been Rector of the University for Continuing Education Krems (Danube University Krems) since 2013. In this function, Faulhammer was appointed for his third term of office until 2025 by the Senate and University Council in 2020. Important milestones in the further development of the University for Continuing Education Krems, which was founded in 1995, have been reached during his tenure as Rector, such as its complete integration into the Austrian University Act, the establishment of PhD studies on the basis of the right to award doctorates and, most recently, the implementation of the Austrian continuing education reform.

The University for Continuing Education Krems has a strong international orientation towards Europe, especially towards Central Europe and the Danube region. This orientation is reflected in the university's memberships in the European University Association and the Danube Rectors’ Conference (DRC). In 2016, Friedrich Faulhammer was elected President of the DRC for the first time by the General Assembly. Faulhammer used his term of office in 2017 and 2018 to concretise the universities' contribution to the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region by setting up transdisciplinary research and networking projects and to anchor the Danube Rectors’ Conference as a stakeholder at the European level. On 11 November, the General Assembly of the Danube Rectors’ Conference re-elected Friedrich Faulhammer as President at its meeting in Maribor. Faulhammer aims to continue to position the Danube Rectors’ Conference as a strong partner in the implementation of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region in order to strengthen the contributions of science and research to the positive development of the regions along the Danube.

Friedrich Faulhammer is also committed to this important European region within the Vienna-based Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM). After being appointed to the IDM's board in 2019, Faulhammer took over as vice-chair in 2020. In October 2022, he was elected as the new Chair at the Institute's General Assembly. The Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) is a regional think tank on an association basis, financed mainly by public funds. Founded in 1953, the institute conducts research and works with a geographical focus on the countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, especially the Danube region. As the new chairman for the next three years, Faulhammer aims to focus on close cooperation between research and society. In doing so, IDM and the University for Continuing Education Krems will further deepen their long-standing cooperation. Friedrich Faulhammer's other functions include membership of the University Council of the Vienna University of Teacher Education since 2021 and membership of the Board of the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft (LBG) since 2018. The LBG is a research institution and operates the 19 Ludwig Boltzmann Institutes. 

We would like to congratulate the newly elected Presidency and are looking forward to the cooperation during the upcoming two years. We are confident the members of the new Presidency will continue DRC’s mission to strengthen the ties among its members and through the continuation of various initiatives to further increase DRC‘s presence in the Danube Region and beyond. 

“From Fictional to Functioning Democracy Developing Concepts and Strategies for an Inclusive and Participatory Europe (FIFUDEM)”

Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) in cooperation with Danube Rectors’ Conference (DRC)

The Rationale behind the accepted project proposal was based on the observation that liberal democracy has been eroding for years, so that in some cases we could speak of fictional instead of functioning elements of democracies. Whereas the project focuses specifically on the region of Central East and Southeast Europe, events during the project period such as the attack of the US Capitol or the severe repression of protesters in Hong Kong by the authorities shed light on the global dimension of the problem.  

Threats such as populism, attacks on the separation of powers as well as corruption are shared by both young and consolidated democracies. Nevertheless, countries of the Danube Region face region-specific issues regarding their geopolitical position, their historical legacies and non at least the existing socio-economic disparities between old and new EU member states and those waiting in limbo for potential EU accession.  

Based on this status quo, present project aimed to scrutinize the contexts and causes of so-called illiberal, respectively fictional democracy, to develop concepts and strategies of strengthening liberal, respectively functioning democracy and its functioning political communication as well as active citizenship in an inclusive and participatory EU. Furthermore, it followed the goal to disseminate the project’s findings through awareness raising activities, events and publications for different target groups on the local, regional, national, international and EU level.  

The consortium aimed to conduct research on European integration and enlargement in its focus region and disseminating the project’s results through the international IDM publications, events, and network as well as through the network of the IDM project partner, the Danube Rectors’ Conference (DRC), including 65 university members. All these various activities aimed to affect various segments of the public discourse on the importance of strengthening liberal and functioning democracy and to support active citizenship in an inclusive and participatory European Union. 

Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit hard and required a high level of adaptability to keep track with the goals of the project. While some activities had to be cancelled, particularly those outside of Austria, new digital formats were developed and offered the chance to connect people from various countries despite lockdowns and travel restrictions. In early 2022, when the pandemic seemed to finally calm down a bit thanks to vaccinations, the next crisis hit. With the Russian attack on Ukraine, some project activities had to be adapted once again. 

Some results of the project regarding Publications are IDM Info, which is the print newsletter of the IDM and is published four times a year with updates on the project in various issues during the project period; the IDM’s academic journal "Der Donauraum", which brings together contributions from experts in the fields of political science and communication studies, international relations, contemporary history and sociology and was conventionalized based on the FIFUDEM kickoff conference in January 2021; The IDM Policy Paper Series (IDM PPS) deals at regular intervals with current political issues with a focus on the Danube region, Central and South Eastern Europe. 

Some of the events that took place during the Project are: Kickoff Conference 2020, Young Scholars Forum 2020, Train the trainer seminar 2021/2022, DRC Annual Meeting 2021, IDM@GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum 2022, DRC Summer School 2022, Final Conference 2022, 5 Democracy Talks.

During the Final Conference in July 2022, project partners hosted a panel discussion on concrete actions for democracies in Europe. The 5th Democracy Talk entitled "Let's talk about anger management!" focused about forms of mobilisation and engagement. Thomas Prorok, panelist and Managing Director of the Centre for Public Administration Research (KDZ) in Vienna, brought up the idea of a "Greenpeace for Democracy". He stated that Europe, particularly the Danube Region, would need a membership-based international organisation similar to established civil society organisations in the areas of environment or Human Rights. Although starting as a small grassroot activist network,  International Non Governmental Organisations (INGOs) such as Greenpeace managed to institutionalize and transnationalize to a certain level without losing certain national and regional autonomy and embeddedness. Based on strategic professioal campaigns  they are able to mobilise a broad and diverse pool of followers. Whereas Greenpeace is considered an influential actor on supra-national levels such as the EU institutions, practice lobbying and are very active in scientific research, they have not neglected to organise local actions such as  occupations, sit-ins or other media-friendly protest activities. We suggest to further investigate the successes and constraints of INGOs, to identify best practices for a new movement or organisation - similar to "Greenpeace for Democracy" - that could learn from past successes and failures. Such research could provide the basis of a more media-affected communications and a campaign-oriented way of democracy promotion e.g. by utilizing storytelling methods and other mobilisation strategies known from Social Movement Research. This would require to deconstruct the abstract topic of democracy to more tangible pillars (media freedom, inclusion, participation, etc.) and to further  develop key stories and target groups for a more emotionalized and personalized approach. Also, Greenpeace's success is based on concrete wins against certain policies or projects. Therefore a democracy-focused INGO would need to first identify concrete cases of democratic backsliding, and act very goal-oriented against such attacks (e.g. on the rule of law). Successes need to be measured and made visible which poses a challenge for many existing actors and projects. 

You can check out the Final Report here: