Renewing Democracy
With guest speakers Maarten Hajer and David van Reybrouck
Researchers and practitioners will join to discuss the future of democracy and will address democratic innovation and social change in Europe. The relation between top down government actions and bottom-up developments in civil society will be of crucial concern.
The symposium will use the results of the Borders to Cross conference as starting point.
During Borders to Cross up to 250 government professionals, active citizens, social entrepreneurs and academics in the field of social and democratic innovation will gather. At its heart are 40 fascinating innovative cases from all over Europe and beyond.
Central questions
Cases from europe raise several questions that relate to their significance for the future of democracy:
- How are relationships within civil society and the private sector changing and what implications does this have for how they relate to government?
- What new forms of deliberation and democratic engagement do we see emerging? In what ways do experiments in self-governance by citizens undermine or strengthen social cohesion and social integration?
- Do newly emerging forms of public-private collaboration and community organizing constitute a risk for attempts to make society more just and combat social inequalities?
- How is the balance shifting between standing processes and more ad hoc practices organized around conflicts, controversies, and entrepreneurial initiatives?
We will examine how to recognize such questions and trends from within and how to gain sufficient understanding to follow and support their development.
Organisers
The symposium is organised in connection with Borders to Cross, the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam, Network Democracy, the Leuven Institute for International and European Studies (LINES), and the G1000.
The symposium is also connected to the celebration of the Erasmus Prize, which will be awarded to Jürgen Habermas in the first week of November.
Registration
Participants of Borders to Cross are invited for this symposium. But the symposium is also open to other people who are interested and is free of charge. Please register with Rabia El Morabet Belhaj.
Location
Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke
Grond
Nes 45, 1012KD Amsterdam