EURACTIV's Agenda

of all European Affairs Events, conferences, presentations and workshops.

The Future of Democracy

Date

19 Apr 2013 11:00 to 12:00

Event Type

L - Conference, forum

Organiser type

Federations / Associations

Section

EU Priorities 2020
Public Affairs

Event Location

Online

Event Description

 
To attend the event, click here

Today the limitations of our democratic institutions are all too obvious. From the global financial crisis in 2008, the ongoing climate crisis and the immediate challenge of the EC to agree rapid responses to the Euro Crisis; it is clear that our local, national and global democratic institutions are stretched to breaking point.

Add to this that most western democracies are financially poorer now than they have been in a generation, are frequently mistrusted by their citizens and are struggling to find their feet in a digital world. Consequently the role, relevance and legitimacy of our governments has rarely seemed so precarious.

An yet simultaneously we are witnessing a global groundswell in citizen led democratic change. From the Arab Spring, to Occupy, to local Facebook Campaigns, to community Freecycle exchange, to many many les celebrated endeavours. In communities across much of the world, people are coming up with ways to make things better. Very often using the internet, almost never involving the government, and perhaps most strikingly theses movements are being made possible with little or no money.

Indeed the Greeks have famously been putting on arts events to be paid with food, and setting up buyers networks to get their vegetables at a fraction of the price being offered by supermarkets.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and in a cash poor world, with many immediate problems that need to be solved, people are doing their best to rise up and solve these problems.

But what does this mean for our democracies? Do our democracies serve us? And how could they work better?

These questions and more will be discussed at The Future of Democracy webinar 19th of April 2013, 1pm-2pm CET with Richard Wilson as the keynote speaker

Richard Wilson is an adviser to the UNDP on democratic issues, the founder of The Involve Foundation, an associate of OpenIDEO, writes for the Guardian and is the director of the OSCA social change agency. 

Join Us. Register by clicking on the Join in little http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/futurium/en/content/future-democracygreen icon in the upper right corner. 

NB: If you cannot see the "little green icon", this is because you have not yet signed up to Futurium. Click on "Sign up" on the top right hand corner of this screen in order to become a registered Futurizen. You will then be able to see the green icon, join events and comment on, vote for and contribute to all the content on Futurium.

 

 

Jobs

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Programme Component Manager (m/f/d) for ComSSA PCU
EuRIC aisbl
Technical Advisor
EBF - European Banking Federation
HR Officer
Cambridge Econometrics
Graduate Economist
ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability
Biodiversity and Nature-based Solutions
Euroheat & Power Aisbl
Events & Membership Assistant