The Module’s background stems from the need to equip European citizens with knowledge of what democracy is, as addressed by EU studies; to generate knowledge and skills which they can apply in their professional careers and competences; to raise awareness of common European Union values through the participation of all beneficiaries in the construction of a European observatory for democracy. All the foregoing aims are pursued in order to foster discourse between all academic, social or political participants and non-specialised social actors.

The rationale of the Module focuses on promoting democratic engagement in the EU public sphere and participation in EU political and social life. Its aim is to provide enhanced visibility about what the EU stands for in terms of democracy and what it intends to achieve in a globalised world.

DEAR promotes excellence in teaching; fosters dialogue among all participants during the summer school it organizes, as well as in forms of digital and distance learning, so that everyone engaged is taught the European values of democracy and what EU citizenship entails. It generates knowledge that addresses the needs and objectives of organisations participating in the Module and of the individual participants, in terms of promoting excellence in teaching an interdisciplinary subject-matter concerning what democracy is, what risks have to be dealt with and how an ongoing learning process can be applied in digital form. DEAR also promotes high-quality learning outcomes, as it reaches out to both undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as to the wider public, through seminars organized on democracy. DEAR reinforces the capacities and international scope of the Higher Education Institute in the consortium (The University of the Peloponnese) by spreading knowledge about the condition of democracy, beyond academia and specialists, to society at large. This has been achieved by establishing a European Observatory for Democracy (EOD) as its main output that can be accessed by everyone interested in learning about democracy in the EU. Thus, EOD contributes to participation, in-person dialogue, consensus-building and the visibility of what a European democracy stands for, beyond academia and specialised audiences, to society in general.

DEAR focuses on the following domains:
A. “EU democracy: risks within the political and the economic systems”,
B. “EU politics focusing on national and transnational risks” and
C. “A digital platform for Democracy @ Risk: why? who? how?”.