In many European countries, democracy support is still treated as a project. It is time limited, thematic and often reactive. Germany’s federal programme Live Democracy! takes a different approach. Launched in 2015 and now entering its third funding period, it treats democracy not as a result to be achieved once, but as a social infrastructure that must be continuously built, maintained and renewed.Funded by the Federal Ministry for Education, Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, the programme supports civil society engagement at municipal, state and federal levels. Its ambition is deliberately broad. It seeks to promote democratic participation and diversity while preventing radicalisation, antisemitism and social polarisation before these dynamics harden into violence.What distinguishes Live Democracy! is not only its scale, but its architecture. The programme does not focus on a single ideology or risk group. Instead, it spans primary, secondary and tertiary prevention and operates across multiple social spaces. These include schools and youth work, prisons and probation services, digital environments, rural areas, sport, remembrance work and political education. Democracy is understood here as something lived locally and socially, shaped by context and everyday experience. A five-pillar architectureAt the national level, Live Democracy! invests in infrastructure. It supports networks that connect practitioners, develop shared quality standards and enable knowledge exchange across themes and regions. This prevents local innovation from remaining isolated and supports cumulative learning.In each federal state, State Democracy Centres provide counselling for victims of racism and antisemitism, exit counselling related to right-wing extremism, Islamism and left-wing extremism, as well as mobile advisory services. These centres anchor prevention work in everyday practice and ensure continuity beyond individual projects.At the local level, Partnerships for Democracy support municipalities in developing and implementing action plans to promote democracy and diversity and to counter extremism. This embeds prevention where it matters most, within local governance structures and community life.Alongside this, innovation projects are funded to develop and test new approaches to preventive educational work, including new ways of reaching target groups that are often underrepresented or difficult to engage. A dedicated pillar also focuses on preventing extremism in prisons and probation services, addressing radicalisation risks among incarcerated or supervised individuals.Across all areas of action, a central focus is placed on preventing antisemitism and strengthening Jewish life. Other forms of discrimination are also addressed, including anti-Muslim racism, antigypsyism and anti-Black racism, as well as the links between them. Civil society at the centre by designA defining feature of Live Democracy! is that measures are implemented primarily by independent civil society organisations, many of them community based. This reflects a core assumption of the programme. Democratic resilience cannot be produced by the state alone. It depends on trust, proximity and social credibility that civil society actors are often best placed to provide.This model is not without tension. Long term public funding raises questions about independence, accountability and evaluation. Rather than avoiding these questions, the programme addresses them through continuous exchange between funders, researchers and practitioners. Extensive external scientific monitoring and evaluation accompany each funding period and inform ongoing adjustments.The underlying logic is clear. Democracy is strengthened not by controlling civil society, but by enabling it critically, transparently and at scale. Why it matters beyond GermanyIn a context of increasing polarisation, Live Democracy! offers a structural response rather than a symbolic one. It demonstrates how prevention can move beyond short term projects towards institutionalised and adaptive ecosystems that address hate, radicalisation and democratic fatigue over time.Its lesson for other European contexts is not to replicate its form wholesale, but to recognise its logic. Prevention works best when it is long term, locally anchored, plural in methods and honest about its own tensions. Implementing authorityFederal Ministry for Education, Family, Senior Citizens, Women and YouthGet in touch!Dr. Christina Herkommer - Policy Advisorchristina [dot] herkommerbmbfsfj [dot] bund [dot] de (christina[dot]herkommer[at]bmbfsfj[dot]bund[dot]de) https://www.demokratie-leben.de/ General publications17 March 2026Federal Program Living Democracy
