MANTA – Mini-Publics And Other New Forms Of Political Participation

MANTA is an Erasmus+ project for schools. It focuses on Mini-Publics and new forms of political participation.

These new instruments of deliberative democracy are gaining traction internationally: Mini-Publics are organised fora in which citizens debate political problems and formulate recommendations for laws to parliaments and governments. Can these forms of participation – especially with regard to young people – help them regain trust in democracy and possibly further their long-term involvement into the public life?

Mini-publics are held on the most diverse topics: health, environment, urban planning, political institutions. Mini-publics are a tool that will have greater social relevance and they are a crucial topic to be taught in Civic Education curricula to expand students’ ideas about political participation.

The partnership involved in this project is made of professionals from Austria, Germany and Croatia. They worked on a set of resources for pre-service and in-service teachers, as well as school students. Experimentations with our material took place with elementary and high school students, and the material can be versatile and fit several purposes. The goal is the development of students’ civic competences.

You can find our resources below, free of charge.