A World Forum for Democracy as from 2012
Following the Summer Universities for Democracy and the resonance it found everywhere in Europe and far beyond, the project of organising a worldwide event gathering prominent political leaders to discuss and suggest new considerations on the challenges of democracy in the 21st century was born.
Democracy takes on various forms from one continent to another, which far from opposing, should on the contrary allow for a better adaptation of political systems to the realities in constant evolution in our societies. New technologies, climatic and environmental challenges, terrorism, organised crime and demographic evolution question our means of governing based on representative systems.
A global public opinion emerges and calls for new forms of power exercise, more united and closer to the citizen’s concerns. Power relations evolve towards models of participation and sharing of power which interpellate leaders.
This Strasbourg World Forum for Democracy will not only include the annual participants of the schools of political studies, but also national and European members of parliament, state officials, local representatives, civil servants and academics during one week in Strasbourg for a series of events and working sessions bringing together actors in public life from all continents. The objective will be to share experiences and good practices in the field of democratic governance as well as to suggest new initiatives aimed at strengthening the democratisation process everywhere in the world and to consolidate democracies, even the oldest ones, towards the challenges they are faced with.
Participation of the worldwide civil society, the medias and socio-economic leaders to the work in the Strasbourg World Forum for Democracy will open the dialogue at the global level on the defence and promotion of the universal values of peace, democracy, human rights and the Rule of law.
The Strasbourg World Forum for Democracy will be made up of various events, such as a hub of democratic excellence gathering prominent experts to sustain the debates of the Forum with conferences and thematic wokshops, “democracy in the 21st century” workshops bringing together actors of public life by professional categories as well as “consumer” events (youth parliament, fair of NGOs, cinema festivals, literature prize…)
