Open societies can only remain strong if people feel their voices are heard and are able to participate actively.
Trust in democracy, science and the media is under pressure. The rise of populism shows that institutions alone cannot keep it alive. They keep it legal – but only citizens keep it legitimate. Only citizens can fill democracy with life and meaning by their actions and engagement, by criticism and protest, by demonstrations and legal proceedings. Without this, democracy boils down to mere rules and procedures – and as such, it will not survive.
The community Transforming Democracies is exploring how citizens can be re-engaged in decision-making and knowledge development. From citizens’ assemblies and access to information: researchers are seeking new ways to keep democracy meaningful and future-proof. At the same time, we also look at key pillars of open societies such as science, expert knowledge and the media and ask ourselves: how can we build forth on such initiatives as Open Science, Community-Engaged Learning or Citizen Science to better communicate knowledge and forms of knowledge production? How can the media and universities open themselves up to the public?
The community is part of Utrecht University's research theme Institutions for Open Societies.
European GovernanceTogether with the interdisciplinary European Governance Master’s programme, we organise a yearly lecture featuring renowned speakers on a topical issue relating to the EU. The lecture is named after Wim Beyen, who is regarded one of the founding fathers of the European Union.
Rule of Law ParadeFor the second time in a row, we offer a mix of science, culture, and real-world stories about the democratic rule of law in order to engage more citizens.
Democratic EducationExploring how citizen participation and trusted knowledge can renew democracy and strengthen open societies, we focused on how to encourage citizenship in education? Several renowned guest speakers highlighted different aspects of this topic.
