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Technological Intervention for the Inclusion of People With Autism
a woman with short dark hair looking to the left while talkingRemo Sugimoto at the Japan-India Transformative Technology Network 2023 program. Photo Credit: Katrin Kerschbaumer
Technological Intervention for the Inclusion of People With Autism
By: Madhumitha Srinivasamoorthy 

Salzburg Global Fellow Remo Sugimoto on her ambitions for autism inclusion in Japan and experience in the JITTN program 

Remo Sugimoto is a Fellow of the Japan-India Transformative Technology Network. She is the chief operating officer and project manager at OHANA CO., a company that aims to include and empower people with different abilities. Remo specializes in building livelihood opportunities for people with severe ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).

Madhumitha Srinivasamoorthy, Impact Fellow, Salzburg Global Seminar: Can you tell me about yourself, your work, and how your work is related to Japan, India, and technology?

Remo Sugimoto, COO and Program Manager, OHANA CO.: I am working at a company that offers specialized support for people with severe autism and their families in Japan. Our company is running two nursing care centers for autism. One is a residence for people with the most significant level of autism in Akita prefecture in Japan. In our care centers, we also provide them with vocational training and employment opportunities based on their skills and capacity. For example, I oversee the development of original coffee products made by autistic workers. Since they pay specific attention to the details, they're good at hand-picking the coffee beans.

MS: Why did you join the Japan-India Transformative Technology Network? How do you see yourself in the network?

RS: My first exposure to this program was through a Zoom session conducted by Tobitate scholarship in Japan about the Japan-India Transformative Technology Network. As a Tobitate scholar, I was able to participate in this session. The reason why I joined this program was because I felt limited in my network due to the specific nature of my job. While we have some expertise and specialized knowledge on how to support people with severe autism, we lack a network both domestically and internationally. Even in Japan, there are not many organizations working in this domain. I want to utilize the JITTN platform to try a new approach to expanding my network. I want to share my experiences in Japan with other people outside and also collaborate with other people with the same passion and common interests.

MS: How do you like the JITTN program so far? Do you already see potential avenues of collaboration with the network?

RS: The program has been exceptionally amazing for me. I believe that I have met my future business partner in the [program]. Paras is running his own company and develops mobile applications to detect autistic traits of kids based on games. I was impressed by his work because the way he approaches the issue is very different from what we do. While his approach is more fun and interactive, ours is structural and procedural. He has a technological background, which we don't have. At the end of the program, we decided to form a team and collaborate. I believe our discussions will continue, even after this program ends. I think our collaboration will deliver [a greater] impact on society.

MS: What advantages do you think international platforms like JITTN provide for Japanese participants? 

RS: Before participating in this program, I didn't know much about India. Through this program, I learned a lot from Indian people about the technological expertise that India provides. Indians seem to know and use technology and AI more than the Japanese. For example, when I was talking with Paras, I indicated the technology I would like to employ for the issue area. He then showed me some products using the relevant technology that are already in circulation in India but that I had not seen or heard of in Japan. So, Indians are very, very advanced in terms of technology. I think the Japanese people have to learn from them about how to create more innovative and impactful solutions. Collaborations like these are not possible if there is no participation in such international forums by the Japanese.

MS: How would you describe your general experience in the JITTN in-person program in Salzburg?

RS: I think it's been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me... Personally, I am quite shy. But there were many casual and interactive ways to communicate with other Fellows. The venue only enhances the experience. So, I felt very comfortable talking in public and being more open-minded. I felt mutual respect and trust with other Fellows, which will, I believe, help in the future [so that] we can collaborate.

Since coming to Salzburg in June 2023, Remo has been working alongside other Salzburg Global Fellows on a project centered around the theme of inclusion titled "Empowerment of People With Autism and Their Parents".

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Community at the Forefront: Building Trust for Transformational Community Investments
Ankita Bose (left) and Kelley Buhles (right)
Community at the Forefront: Building Trust for Transformational Community Investments
By: Ankita Bose and Kelley Buhles 

Ankita Bose and Kelley Buhles reflect on the discussions at Salzburg Global's latest Health and Health Care Innovations session

A relentless challenge remains when investing in community and essential social infrastructure – and that’s the gap between the goals of funders and the needs of communities whom the investments initiatives should most serve.

In June, more than 45 leaders contemplated this challenge at the Salzburg Global program Connecting Capital to Communities: How Investors Harness Financial Markets for Essential Social Infrastructure. Participants explored ways communities around the world are gaining more control over capital, and investors are better integrating the voices of community into regenerative investment decisions. During this group discussion, some of the more challenging nuances of community-led processes were discussed. Fellows named common concerns held about community-led processes, as well as shared examples of practices being used to mitigate those concerns.

Community knows best - or not?

The belief that communities always know what is best for them was challenged during the discussion. As an example, Tee Thomas, former State Water Finance Director at Quantified Ventures, recounted an experience with a US Midwestern community that had a cluster of cancer occurrences in young people that are highly associated with exposure to agricultural chemicals via water, air, and food. While at the funeral of a 21-year-old who died from this aggressive cancer, she noted that many people in attendance were wearing hats or clothing of the local fertilizer distributor. She felt that the community was unable or unwilling to see the impact of the industrial agriculture system on the health of their families. Even if they could be convinced that exposure to these dangerous chemicals was killing their children, it would require them to put their livelihood at risk by having to seek alternative employment in an extremely economically depressed area.

Another concern raised by the group was that sometimes communities don’t have the expertise they need. As Abrar Chaudhury, Research Fellow and Climate Expert at the University of Oxford, shared. In his native Pakistan, traditional knowledge of suitability for growing a particular crop (like cotton) in a region is challenged due to climate change. This burdens the community with a lot of technical decisions, sometimes leading to suboptimal outcomes.

The needs and interests of groups within communities often vary– sometimes they directly conflict. During the conversation, distinct groups within communities came to the forefront. An example of rural communities in South Asian countries like Bangladesh and India came up, which portray bifurcated structures between groups who hold power and those who do not. Distinctions can be based on landholding, monetary resources, gender, historical factors like caste hierarchy, and other social dynamics. What might appear as a homogeneous community to an outsider actually comprises these distinct sets of people who have their own expectations and varying authority within the community.

To be clear, the conversation wasn't advocating for eliminating community engagement, there was general consensus that community input is critical, and that top-down approaches are often more likely to fail and/or cause more damage. However, by naming some of the challenges and questions that come with community-led processes, the group was able to share practices that can help those processes be more successful.

For example, in Tee Thomas’s story, she felt that external interventions play a critical role in promoting a common understanding of community needs and supporting community mobilization. Without these capacities, the lack of social cohesion can be exploited by companies harboring extractive practices.

External interventions can be enabling

Building a solid foundation of communication, awareness and collaboration within a community is essential for investment partnership that truly meets the long-term, sustainable needs of those most marginalized. Monica Altamirano, Director of Climate Impact at WaterEquity cautioned that “external experts shouldn’t tell the community what to do; but instead, we should have expert facilitators that facilitate a participatory system analysis process. These need to work with community members to clear [up] any misconceptions, and by bringing external expertise into these processes at the right time and way support communities in zooming out from the symptoms they experience, connect the dots and gain insights about the mechanisms and root causes for the problems they face. It is from this shared understanding that they can then themselves propose effective plans and strategies”.

In working with marginalized rural communities in India, we would aim for “enabling external interventions” for the successful implementation of community empowerment programs. A predominant focus was getting the voices of the community involved right from the project building stage, with inputs from the community in program design. Once the project rolls out, feedback loops are a vital component - going back to the community and getting feedback at every stage helps in modifying the program as per the evolving needs of the community.

A similar example in the African context came up during the panel discussion. Chanda Banda, Government Relations and Policy Manager at the One Acre Fund, shared that their work on carbon agro-forestry with communities in Zambia depends upon building a strong channel of communication with all stakeholders involved, including the community, traditional leadership, and government officials. For example, spending the initial two years on community conversations before starting the project helps in building the trust of communities and avoid skepticism about the project. Maintaining a high level of engagement throughout is crucial to ensure that the project is informed by community voices, thus facilitating capital absorption within the communities.

Creating feedback loops as a theme also emerged among the social enterprises that shared about their community engagement practices. Michaela Kauer, Director of the Brussels Liaison Office for the City of Vienna who promotes Vienna’s uniquely successful model of social and affordable housing, pointed out: “It is important to keep revisiting the decisions made to ensure true empowerment and transparency, keeping in mind human and women rights, a long-term perspective and a high quality of living for all citizens.”

An enabling external intervention, when it respects and engages a community’s knowledge, wisdom, and expertise, can work with the community to highlight factors of influence that can lead to greater communal freedoms. Bi-directional knowledge flows help to “grow expertise within the community by bringing together multiple forms of non-financial capital like social or relational capital, as opposed to “experts” coming in and telling the community what they should do.” as Cathy-Mae Karelse, Systems Change Lead at Resilience Capital Ventures highlighted.

External experts also should appreciate the multiple ecosystems that exist within a community. It is the interaction between both external and internal players that helps in collaborative decision-making towards greater capital absorption where it is needed most.

Trust-based and participatory process

Building long-term relationships, creating feedback loops, capacity building, and collaborative decision making are practices that we also see in the growing movements of Trust-based Philanthropy and participatory methodologies, such as Participatory Action Research, Participatory Grantmaking, Participatory Budgeting, etc.

They point to a trend towards re-thinking some of the assumptions that underpin our typical investment processes, such as hierarchical power structures, qualitative measurements, and profit driven decision making. With trust-based and participatory processes, the process is the point. The empowerment of communities is one of the returns on investment.

Community-led doesn’t need to mean that communities need to be the experts or even have a clear understanding of their situation from the start - community-led means that communities have a voice, as well as decision-making authority over decisions that affect their livelihoods and wellbeing.

Ultimately, community needs are best understood by members of the community themselves. External experts need to keep an open mind to appreciate the multiple ecosystems that exist within a community. Interaction between external and internal players can help in collaborative decision-making that results in greater capital absorption capacity by communities.

Ankita Bose has worked extensively in social impact for more than 8 years. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Public Policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of National University of Singapore. Prior to this, Ankita worked to provide access to water for marginalized communities in inherently dry areas in India. She attended the UNLEASH global lab 2022 to curate innovative solutions for addressing sustainability challenges related to water and sanitation. Earlier in her career, Ankita was a documenter for UNICEF project and worked towards the elimination of communicable diseases in India. Ankita has a holistic outlook, having engaged directly with communities at the grassroots level and in strategy as part of a corporate donor team. She holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from St. Xavier's College, India, and a Master's in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India.

Kelley Buhles is a consultant working at the intersection of philanthropy and community governance. She is passionate about liberating charitable money to provide non-extractive capital to entrepreneurs and movements, and to create economic models that build and retain power and wealth in communities. She has over 12 years of experience with participatory grantmaking, has designed and led over 20 participatory processes, and is a founder of the Participatory Grantmaking Community. Kelley also has 15+ years of expertise working with integrated capital, Donor Advised Funds, and philanthropy. She is a fellow of the Just Economy Institute and sat on the Transformative 25 2023 review committee. Previously, she was a Senior Director at RSF Social Finance, where she co-created the integrated capital approach to financing, ran the philanthropic programs, facilitated community pricing conversations, and supported organizational culture. She volunteered with Showing Up for Racial Justice and enjoys sketch comedy writing. Kelley holds a B.A. in anthropology from San Diego State University.

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Technology and Innovation for Global Health
Nidhi Khurana at the 2023 Japan-India Transformative Technology Network. Photo credit: Katrin Kerschbaumer
Technology and Innovation for Global Health
By: Madhumitha Srinivasamoorthy 

Salzburg Global Fellow Nidhi Khurana on her work as a thought partner in global health and her expectations of the 2023 Japan-India Tranformative Technology Network

This interview was conducted in April 2023, prior to Salzburg Global's Japan-India Transformative Technology Network in-person program in June 2023.

Nidhi Khurana is a global health professional with experience in policy development and analysis and has been a Salzburg Global Fellow since 2017. Having focused on health systems and health systems delivery in the past, Nidhi, as a Fellow of the Japan-India Transformative Technology Network 2023, would like to expand her knowledge network to approach development problems in a multidimensional way.

“Increasingly, when we talk about solving healthcare, we are not just solving health, we are often solving sanitation, gender equity, mobility, and women's empowerment all at the same time. This is because these are not problems that can be addressed in single interventional approaches. The approaches must be multi-dimensional, training different lenses, which is made possible by this program,” explained Nidhi.

Nidhi shared her extensive experience in global health and development. She is currently working as part of the UNICEF net technical advisory team in the South Asia office. Her role involves documenting lessons learned from various sectors, including health systems, humanitarian response, education, and risk communication. Nidhi mentions global mechanisms for coordination, such as the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator for vaccines, as well as the role of networks and collaboration in crisis response and system strengthening. She highlights the intersection of technology and innovation in addressing complex development problems and emphasizes the importance of collaboration and bringing together diverse expertise to drive social change.

Before transitioning to global health, Nidhi worked as a strategy consultant, helping companies make informed decisions on market entry, business growth, and diversification. Currently, she focuses on the intersection of strategy and global health, working as a thought partner with various development actors, including multilateral organizations, philanthropic foundations, and the research and academic space.

Nidhi's work also highlights the potential of technology, particularly during the pandemic, and its ability to address challenges and empower vulnerable populations. Keen to meet other professionals working on similar issue areas, Nidhi has already met a few Fellows of the Japan-India Transformative Technology Network program in Bangalore. Her expectations from the 2023 program are high, also in part due to her great experience from the 2017 Health program. She believes that the in-person program in Salzburg, with the setting of the Schloss Leopoldskron, can improve the collaboration potential between Indian and Japanese professionals by leaps and bounds.

“I'm particularly interested in the ability to enable people who have very powerful ideas, powerful solutions for difficult problems, and to be able to help them advocate for those solutions and to convey those in a way that speaks to policymakers, program designers and program managers,” reflected Nidhi.

Regarding her expectations of the program, Nidhi expresses her support for innovators and their solutions for various societal issues. Nidhi believes that the lives of innovators can be made easier, and the network can support innovators in overcoming regulatory and access barriers. She has been reaching out to create support networks and expects to continue doing so. Nidhi believes that the network from this program would maximize her potential as a development professional and open new avenues of innovation and implementation.

Nidhi's role involves shaping investments in public health programs by identifying needs, addressing gaps, and considering the urgency at a population level. She believes that people-to-people connections and multidisciplinary approaches are crucial in translating global coordination efforts to effective action at the local level. Therefore, Nidhi is extremely excited about the in-person program in Salzburg. She considers it an opportunity to develop a “toolkit for the future” to ensure better preparedness for improved systems and effective crisis response.

“I think the power of networks ... and collaboration is key. The idea of bringing together minds who are trained differently who have different experiences and bringing them together to collaborate on solutioning for difficult problems, wicked problems in development, to drive social change is essential and Salzburg Global has been doing it in a global context,” said Nidhi. 

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Democracy and Governance in Peacebuilding
Mochamad Mustafa at the 2023 Asia Peace Innovators Forum. Photo by Christian Streilli
Democracy and Governance in Peacebuilding
By: Sadaf Taimur and Madhumitha Srinivasamoorthy 

Mochamad Mustafa on peacebuilding through democracy promotion and his expectations of the Asia Peace Innovators Forum

This interview was conducted prior to Salzburg Global's Asia Peace Innovators Forum in-person program in June 2023.

Mochamad Mustafa is a Fellow of Salzburg Global’s 2023 Asia Peace Innovators Forum. He works as the program director for democracy and governance at the Asia Foundation Indonesia. With over 15 years of experience in the field, he currently leads the implementation of various democracy promotion, human rights, and peacebuilding portfolios. We spoke to Mochamad regarding his experience and expectations from the Asia Peace Innovators Forum 2023 at Salzburg Global Seminar.  

Sadaf Taimur, Salzburg Global Impact Fellow: Tell us more about what you're currently working on. How is your work related to peacebuilding? 

Mochamad Mustafa: I am Mochamad Mustafa from the Asia Foundation international office. The Asia Foundation is an international organization based in San Francisco. We are working in 20 countries in Asia. And part of the program with the Asia Foundation that I have been concerned about is peacebuilding and conflict resolution. I'm now the director for the democracy and governance unit, within which we have our portfolios in democracy promotion, building and promoting freedom of religion tolerant society, as well as countering violent extremism. 

While I moved towards democracy, social inclusion, and tolerance issues about five years ago from the local governance domain, I was expected to include the aspects of governance in peacebuilding. This is because, at that time in Indonesia, many thoughts on peacebuilding relied on civil society action and movement rather than enforcing the State or the government. We are thinking of a new approach involving governance in peacebuilding and within the Asia foundation itself. In terms of this network, the first consideration is the range aspect of Asia. I think that anything that I can get from the networking will benefit my organization as well. The Asia Foundation in Indonesia is now trying to build connections with other Asian organizations. We hope this connection with a network of Asia experts expands my knowledge, also my capacity to work more broadly at the ASEAN level.  

ST: You're working for democracy and governance right now. What are your thoughts on how democracy and governance are related to peacebuilding directly in Indonesia and why? What keeps you motivated or inspired to work in peacebuilding? 

MM: First, democracies should lead to peace based on respect, tolerance, and equal society. Right. But in the context of Indonesia, where democracy doesn't deliver well, it has led to majority populism and bad governance in the existing fragility of conflict in recent years. Minority groups have always been the victim because the calculation will be of political populism. In that case, we think that we need to work directly with the government, the politician, and at the governance level to limit the behavior of the state or give better guidance for the state in resolving the conflict. The second aspect is that, in the Indonesian context, most of the conflicts are boosted by political and trade interests as well, where political actors are involved in the conflict and try to be part of the competing groups that are conflicting. The final aspect is that we have seen a good improvement in some areas where local politicians and governments also show an initiative in peacebuilding with support from other civil society actors and us. I'm really excited to spread out the initiative throughout the country and among other countries, especially in ASEAN, where similar conflict and political patterns can be observed. 

ST: Why did you decide to join the Asia Peace Innovators Forum? 

MM: There are two reasons why I joined the program. First is a personal reason. I heard about the global program from my supervisor, I have a country representative and deputy country representative that have been involved in one or two global seminar programs. They recommended me to participate and expand my network. When the announcement came from Salzburg Global Seminar and the issue of peacebuilding, it made me more excited because it is my focus area right now. And also, even though I've been doing it for five years and expanding my network and knowledge, maybe we can set our experience to other participants as well. 

ST: What are you hoping to experience through this program?  

MM: The first thing that I expect within the program in Salzburg is people with a lot of expertise and experience. So, maybe I can absorb a lot of new approaches, new knowledge, or new strategy or in dealing with peacebuilding in Indonesia. I might also contribute to the new knowledge to understand as well. So I expect to have dialogue, conversation, and sharing sessions in the seminar. The first takeaway from [Salzburg Global] is the knowledge itself. Secondly, it is the network. From the global network, we can think of having one as a continuous setting. The second is potential collaboration for work. As I said before, in the case of ASEAN, there are a lot of opportunities for collaboration. For example, I don't know about community best practices or program collaboration at the ASEAN level. 

Since coming to Salzburg in June 2023, Mochamad has been working alongside other Salzburg Global Fellows on a project about digital peacebuilding.

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Technology for the Future of Education
Tomoko Imai, pictured on the left, at the Japan-India Transformative Technology Network 2023 program. Photo by Katrin Kerschbaumer
Technology for the Future of Education
By: Madhumitha Srinivasamoorthy 

Tomoko Imai on her work in education focusing on international collaboration, social and emotional learning and her expectations from the Salzburg Global program 

This interview was conducted prior to Salzburg Global's Japan-India Transformative Technology Network in-person program in June 2023.

Tomoko Imai is a product designer and education enthusiast and is a Fellow of the 2023 Japan-India Transformative Technology Network program. Tomoko is currently the director of Education at Jiyugaoka Gakuen High School, where she is responsible for designing, developing, and implementing programs on the future of education, with a particular focus on social and emotional learning, STEAM education, and international collaboration. Tomoko is passionate about revolutionizing the future of education by incorporating technology and visual tools to promote social, intercultural, and emotional skills. She shared her motivation and vision of the Japan-India Transformative Technology Network program with us.  

Madhumitha Srinivasamoorthy, Impact Fellow, Salzburg Global Seminar: Can you tell me about yourself, your work, and how your work is related to Japan, India, and technology?

Tomoko Imai: I am now designing a high school program at a Japanese high school. I'm developing a new curriculum for Japanese kids. I was an engineer, and I had been doing research in virtual reality. I went to the University of Illinois at Chicago, and there I researched collaborative virtual reality. I really enjoyed collaborating with diverse people in the US and found it significantly lacking in the Japanese education system. 

I spent some time working on User research and User experience at a tech company in Japan in collaboration with researchers in Europe. However, I was still very interested in contributing to the educational experience in Japan – to expand the international and emotional learning of students by providing multicultural collaboration opportunities. Therefore, I undertook this project to develop an international network so that students can collaborate online. While my project began with Zoom, I'm thinking of using much more sophisticated technology so that students can work on content rather than language. So maybe, I want to use Artificial Intelligence, virtual reality or augmented reality if students can start a project. This is a starting point of my endeavor. I am currently in conversation with teachers in India. In the next academic year, teachers from Bombay International School and us- we are going to meet over Zoom and see what we need as a tickler for technology so that students using different languages and different cultural backgrounds can work together.

MS: Why did you join the Japan-India Transformative Technology Network, and what are your expectations from the program?  

TI: So far, my network for international collaboration has been through my friends and colleagues. I started to feel a limitation in the network I could build. When I came across the Japan-India Transformative Technology Network, I realized that this is a real global network that could help me expand on my idea. Regarding my expectation, in the first year, I want to observe what we need by collaborating with international students. And after that, if we find out necessary technologies or support, we want to develop infrastructure for students so that students can continue to work on their own projects seamlessly with different students in different countries. And I want to provide infrastructure for students in different worlds, in Australia, Africa, and in different countries, can communicate with each other.

MS: How do you like the platform so far? Do you already see potential avenues of collaboration with the network?

TI: The people in the network are so intuitive to discuss, kind and positive. I really like the people there. They are so interesting to talk with and discuss about the future. There are many Fellows across disciplines in Japan already. I have met a few Fellows already, and we plan to meet a few more in Tokyo before we fly to Salzburg. 

MS: Are you looking forward to the in-person program in Salzburg?

 TI: What excites me about coming to Salzburg is that I can take up the discussions face to face and actually draw a path on how to commence collaborations. I am expecting innovative ideas. We can gather ideas from different people to get further support from people in different domains, especially engineers, to develop good infrastructure for international students.

I'm expecting that when we start developing this infrastructure, this will be distributed over different countries and continue to be used for more than ten years. And students can discuss, for example, peace and happiness. Students and young children have a good idea about how to make this work better, but their opinions are often neglected. I hope that the infrastructure we build enables listening to their voices and paying heed to their desires. On matters such as war – we know that nobody wants to do it. Suppose the kids and parents have power. I think we can do something better than staying there and suffering from big powers. That is my ambition, and I am looking forward to Salzburg.

Since coming to Salzburg in June 2023, Tomoko has been working alongside other Salzburg Global Fellows on a project centered around the theme of inclusion. Her team is working on a project titled "Inclusive Communication, Education, and Empowerment in the AI Era".

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The Fall of a Nation: A Story of Resilience and Hope
Mustafa Aryan during the 2023 Salzburg Global Weekend. Photo by Christian Streilli
The Fall of a Nation: A Story of Resilience and Hope
By: Mustafa Aryan 

Salzburg Global Fellow Mustafa Aryan recounts the vivid memories he has of the Afghan government collapse

The 15th of August 2021, a date forever etched in the memory of the Afghan people, marked the catastrophic fall of the Afghan Republic. As the sun rose on that fateful morning, casting its golden glow upon the city of Kabul, little did I know that the day would forever change the course of my life.

I embarked on my daily routine, unaware of the storm brewing on the horizon. The lively streets of Kabul hummed with their usual energy, but beneath the surface, there was an unmistakable air of unease. Whispers of political unrest and the encroaching presence of the Taliban lingered in the minds of the people.

As the hours passed and the sun reached its peak, the city became a canvas for chaos. The news spread like wildfire that the Afghan government had collapsed, and the Taliban fighters had seized control of Kabul. Panic and uncertainty swept through the nation like a tidal wave, leaving no corner untouched. The once-vibrant streets turned into avenues of fear and apprehension.

Amid the turmoil, I found my world turned upside down. My home, a sanctuary I had taken for granted, suddenly felt like a fragile construct on the verge of crumbling. The rights and freedoms that I had grown familiar with, the very foundation of my existence, seemed to be slipping away.

The days that followed were filled with a deep sense of fear of the unknown. The history and reputation of the Taliban painted a grim picture of what awaited those who dared to oppose them. As the weight of the situation settled upon my shoulders, it felt as if my entire life, painstakingly built over decades of hard work and dedication, was being reduced to ashes.

Dreams and hopes, like delicate petals torn from a flower, withered in the face of the upheaval. The vibrant tapestry of Kabul turned into a scene of uncertainty, its colours muted by the shadows of doubt. Amidst the chaos, the flames of hope flickered and threatened to be extinguished by the darkness that loomed.

With a heavy heart and a mind filled with turmoil, I made the agonizing decision to leave behind my beloved homeland. The journey to safety was treacherous, fraught with danger and uncertainty at every turn. The once bustling Kabul airport now echoes with gunshots and the haunting cries of children caught in the gunfire.

As I boarded the airplane that would carry me away from the land I had called home, tears streamed down my face, mingling with the weight of grief and loss. They were tears not just for me but for the people whose dreams and aspirations were torn apart and whose lives were forever altered by the events that had occurred.

Three days later, weary and worn, I found myself in the embrace of a new land. Copenhagen and later Toronto welcomed me with open arms, offering respite from the chaos that had consumed my homeland. Yet, amidst the safety and stability, a sense of homelessness settled within me—a feeling that extended beyond the physical, permeating the depths of my being.

In those moments of quiet solitude, as I lay upon a bed and pulled a blanket tightly around myself, the weight of the journey settled upon my shoulders. It was in those moments of reflection that I realized the power of choice—the decision to rise above the circumstances that sought to define me.

Tony Robbins' words echoed in my mind, reminding me that life's quality is shaped not by our conditions but by the decisions we make. I resolved to embrace the lessons that the tumultuous journey had taught me—lessons that would serve as beacons of light in the darkness.

Lesson one: Recognize change. I found solace in routine, in the act of grounding myself amidst the uncertainty. I established a daily practice of gratitude, acknowledging the small blessings that remained in my life. Each morning, as I opened my eyes to a new day, I reminded myself to be grateful for the opportunity to rebuild and find strength in the face of adversity. I recognized that change was inevitable and that by acknowledging it, I could navigate its effects with greater clarity and resilience.

Lesson two: Adapt to change. The journey had taught me the importance of flexibility and adaptability. Like a reed that bends with the wind, I learned to adjust my expectations and embrace the unknown. I allowed myself to be shaped by the challenges I faced, knowing that it was through adaptation that I would find the strength to overcome them. I sought opportunities for growth, seeking out new experiences and connections that would help me rebuild my life in a new land.

Lesson three: Keep integrity. In the aftermath of despair, it is easy to lose sight of one's values and principles. But I refused to let adversity erode the core of who I was. I rebuilt my life from the ground up, embracing the challenges and opportunities that came my way with unwavering integrity. I made a commitment to myself to stay true to my beliefs, knowing that by doing so, I would leave a lasting impression on others and contribute to positive change in my community.

Lesson four: Be hopeful. In the darkest of times, hope is the beacon that guides us forward. I maintained hope like a lifeline, reminding myself that adversity is not the end of the story but merely a chapter in the grand tapestry of life. With hope in my heart, I summoned the courage to keep moving forward, believing that even the smallest seed of possibility could grow into a flourishing tree of opportunity. Each day brought with it the potential for a brighter future, and I held onto that hope with unwavering faith.

Lesson five: Live life. I recognized that life is a precious gift, and even in the face of adversity, I was determined to make the most of it. I seized every opportunity that came my way, whether it was finding a job, pursuing my passions, or connecting with like-minded individuals. I revelled in the simple joys, cherishing the moments of laughter, love, and connection that brought light into my days. I embraced the present, knowing that life is meant to be lived, even in the midst of uncertainty.

Over the course of two years, my journey has transformed me into a resilient person, unafraid to face the unknown, and committed to advocating for the rights and well-being of the Afghan people. Through writing and speaking, I strive to inspire hope, embrace change, and never lose sight of our dreams. As I continue forward with purpose, armed with the lessons of adversity, I am determined to make a difference, building a world where peace and prosperity flourish and where no one's dreams are extinguished by chaos. I carry an unwavering belief that change is possible, hope can conquer despair, and resilience will always be rewarded, making this my story of resilience and hope—an ode to the indomitable spirit of humanity and an unwavering pursuit of a brighter future for myself and the world.

Mustafa Aryan is a Research Officer at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. He is also the Director of the Security, Gender, and Development Institute, which operates as an international volunteer network of experts producing research and events focused on a gendered analysis of international security and development topics. Prior to the fall of the Afghan government, he served as the director of policy and strategy at the Office of the Chief Executive of Afghanistan, and then as the director of the Regional and International Affairs of Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation. Mustafa holds a master's degree in International Security from the University of Reading in the UK. He is a Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow and a Board Member of the Canadian International Council—Toronto Branch. Mustafa often writes op-eds in English and Persian, several of which have been published in well-known international media outlets. 

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Change Is Fractal, Contextual, Cultural, Layered, Catalytic
Photo credit: Simon Wilkes on Unsplash
Change Is Fractal, Contextual, Cultural, Layered, Catalytic
By: Murray Gray 

Salzburg Global Fellow Murray Gray reflects on (re)connecting capital(s) to communities

In June 2023, Salzburg Global Seminar curated a group of around 50 participants from around the world with a shared question: how do we better connect capital to communities to fund essential social infrastructure in the form of food, housing, and water?

The group spanned participants from a range of contexts. From global institutions like the IMF and OECD in New York and Paris, to entrepreneurs on the ground building affordable houses in Mozambique or building the infrastructure to connect smallholders farmers to markets across India. From funders at global institutions in Seattle, Amsterdam and Nairobi to nonprofits supporting direct action on the ground in Mexico to the Philippines.

There was an overwhelming depth and breadth of experience, expertise, and wisdom in the room. I stepped in as someone with less technical finance expertise than most. Here are some of the key (non-technical) lessons that emerged for me that I hope can trigger some thoughts for those working on directing finance to community-led solutions.

Change is fractal

To change the world, change yourself, then change how you work in small groups before you enact big change. Patterns scale upward and downward.

It is said that change is fractal: the micro reflects the macro, the macro reflects the micro. The issues outlined above are ones we face globally. These are reflected in smaller groups. They are reflected deep within ourselves. Reshaping global power dynamics, relationships, and collaboration requires us to start with inner transformation. 

Despite the inspiring, thoughtful, talented, motivated group we had, we fractally reflected the macro challenge we were tackling. We experienced certain power dynamics. We found it difficult to coordinate and collaborate cross-boundary. We found it hard to deeply listen to each other. We found it difficult to hold space so that everyone could contribute. We found it hard to sensemake together based on the different frames, perspectives, and experiences people brought in.

The larger the group we had, the more Europeans and Americans spoke and those from Africa and Asia more needed to be "invited in". Elsewhere, some of us felt judged by others based on the institutions we worked for that maybe were seen as "part of the problem".

Did we come in with the mindset that our role was to harness the maximal collective power of the group? To cultivate the collective genius (scenius)?  Step back to observe our thoughts and behavior, reserving judgment, challenging our mindset? Optimizing for the dynamic of the bigger whole rather than ourselves? Ultimately, be the change we want to see?

Change is contextual

We face the same overarching challenge and tension between goals, but they manifest very differently context-to-context. We can learn from each other, but to do that we will equally need to be comfortable adapting.

It seems to me that when we zoom out fully, we have shared goals. Social infrastructure that might have the following characteristics:

  • Ecologically sustainable (within planetary boundaries) for the long-term
  • Affordable and accessible for the many people
  • Healthy
  • Culturally rooted
  • Stewarded for the community, by the community
  • Economically self-sustaining

There are tensions between these characteristics. Finding a way to manage these tensions is the challenge we all face no matter where we are.

Yet how we manifest this goal is different in every context. Historically, richer and extractive countries have experienced development that has been linked to the destruction of nature and global inequality. These wealthier countries need a just transition within what is now a tight ecological margin – their carbon budgets are close to depleted. Countries who have development ahead of them are trying to not repeat the ecological destruction and issues of inequality created by these richer countries.

The more you zoom in to specific communities, the more the “how” of the change differs. What we “know” in one context starts to get challenged when exploring another context. How we communicate, frame, engage has to evolve too.

Universalism can be dangerous. The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals are a useful starting point, but not the be-all and end-all.

We can undoubtedly learn from each other. Yet every context will need differently adapted solutions, rather than ones off-the-shelf. We need to find ways for connective language and discourse, but we also need to sit with differences and adapt to specific contexts.

Change is cultural

We need both technical, political solutions and cultural solutions. We need to work to bring those to the table who can create the culture for change.

We talked about three key ingredients to connect more capital to communities: 1) shared priorities, 2) creating an investable pipeline of projects, and 3) developing the enabling environment. For all of these, I see that we need cultural approaches as well as technical ones.

We talked about the need to "build the piping". There is a detachment between where funding sits and where funding is needed. We need to build the connective tissue cross-boundary. Given the contextual differences, this tissue is not just structural – it is also cultural tissue that we need.

As outlined by Cathy-Mae Karelse, we need to shift deeper mental models, we need a multi-capital approach beyond finance (culture, social, spiritual, relational and so on), and we need catalysts and ecosystem builders. 

While there is space for more intellectual and technical innovation, there is a huge space to fill for soft skills, translators, facilitators, and storytellers in the transformation we seek. We will need to invest in these more intangible roles in local communities, changemaker organizations, funds, governments, in multilateral organizations. When we zoom out to the macro global scale of connecting capital to communities, this seems critical.

It would have been helpful to have more of these skills in our group.

We talked a lot about impact measurement. Not everything can be told through numbers. We are feeling, storytelling beings. Farmers may ‘just know’ whether the soil is healthy if they are working in harmony with nature. Stories from communities may act as an impact measurement. There is emerging energy to explore this method. What is a citizen's story, their feelings before and after they own their first home? Or easily access clean safe water? Eat healthy local sustainable food and support their local community in the process? 

Culture can be the soil for change. This soil is made up of narratives and stories. We can cultivate that soil. We need to find connective stories, connective language, connective common ground that connects people who are operating in quite different contexts. Not necessarily the same story or language.

Change is layered

We need to challenge ourselves to get into depth around problems, mechanisms of change, but also iterating our way through signal from the real world.

The scale of the issues is so big that it's hard to connect this to the very tangible things on the ground. We need to find ways of zooming between all the scales and contexts and leverage people who are great at that.

Our group leaned more towards technical and mechanistic thinking – the details of the "how". Sometimes we missed the deeper "what" and "why" of what we are solving and missed addressing a deeper root cause.

To get to powerful solutions, it is helpful to spend time understanding the true dynamics of the problems. In the startup world, where there is the ability to iterate and adapt to information quickly, this is less vital. You can iterate towards the solution that works. With infrastructure like houses, water and farms – and with more complex financial instruments – it is harder to just iterate and work things out.

When we immerse more in the dynamics of the challenge and the status quo we are looking to shift, we can better get into the roots of challenges and the systemic lock-ins that prevent change. I found myself wondering in some cases if improved financial instruments are the best way to address the root cause of some of these big problems. They may be treating symptoms of problems.

When we dug into the mechanics of "how", we missed out a bit on really understanding what our theory of change or impact thesis is for a given solution. Why is this the solution to drive change? What is the intended result? What are the critical assumptions in our model that will make or break whether this will work in the way intended? We might also consider ways we can prototype and iterate to learn from real life.

Combining these different approaches can help us come up with more effective solutions.

Change is catalytic

Catalytic organizations embody our best hopes to break the reinforcing feedback loops and lock-ins to the existing degenerative system we find ourselves in.

What we need to drive change are what we might call “catalytic organizations”. 

  • Catalytic organizations might have the following characteristics:
  • Integrates multiple SDGs
  • Finds a balancing point between the tensions of competing needs and goals (ecology, affordability, health)
  • Integrates multiple forms of social infrastructure
  • Leverages multiple forms of capital
  • Drives direct change and creates wider conditions for change
  • Led by the community, for the community

Organizations may drive both direct change (building houses) and enable wider change (creating the conditions for more houses and wider development) such as Casa Real. Elsewhere, they may act as the critical piping between sources of finance and projects. Or they may break reinforcing feedback loops that prevent change, where each vital resource is dependent on the existence of another resource. Or they may kickstart more transformative change in richer countries to widen the ‘path of progress’ which has become quite narrow. So narrow, in fact, that current innovation efforts risk merely optimizing the current degenerative extractive system rather than changing it.

We need to work out which critical catalytic role(s) are needed in each context. Then we need to get the resources (not just money) to the catalytic organizations playing these roles.

Looking back and looking ahead

When I zoom out, I see that what Salzburg Global did was find these catalysers from across the world. Then create the environment for them to engage while guiding them through a collaborative and emergent process.

I also see that these are five ways we can enact change better, to articulate shared priorities, create and execute an investable pipeline of projects, and improve the enabling environment for funding to land impactfully. I thank Salzburg Global, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and all the fellows for the experience. And I look forward to the cross-cutting collaborations that emerge from this group: hopefully marrying structural and cultural approaches to system change.

As Co-Director of Metabolic Ventures, Murray Gray specializes in enabling early-stage entrepreneurs achieve their business and impact objectives, helping them succeed in realizing their system change vision. After tinkering in entrepreneurial endeavours in his teens, Murray started his career in finance, before spending most of his 20s in entrepreneurship within the creative industries. Upon moving into the world of sustainability and social impact, Murray developed a strong view on the role of enterprise in driving a new sustainability agenda across a variety of life cycles: from impact-focused startups to SMEs within the B Corp movement and large-scale enterprises evolving their business models. Metabolic Ventures' work focusing on enabling entrepreneurs to design and develop ventures that aim for system change. A key part of this is building the enabling environments that empower them to succeed: through finance, expertise, networks and policy.

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Resilience, War, and Trauma: In Conversation With Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk
Resilience, War, and Trauma: In Conversation With Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk
By: Aurore Heugas 

Human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Oleksandra Matviichuuk opens up about her ongoing fight for Ukraine's freedom and reconstruction

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Ukraine Civil Society Recommendations on Civil Society's Role in National Reconstruction
Ukraine Civil Society Recommendations on Civil Society's Role in National Reconstruction
By: Salzburg Global 

Fellows of Salzburg Global's Ukraine Civil Society Forum established civil society priorities for the development of Ukraine's national reconstruction strategy

On 4-8 June 2023, Fellows of Salzburg Global Seminar gathered in Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria, for a meeting of Salzburg Global’s Ukraine Civil Society Forum.

At the meeting, several working groups set out priorities for the country, including concrete recommendations for stakeholders to support the rights, return, and reintegration of displaced persons and refugees, addressing both immediate humanitarian needs and long-term perspectives including the ultimate physical reconstruction and social integration of liberated territories as part of a Ukraine-wide project of national identity.

The working group on national reconstruction established civil society priorities for the development of the national reconstruction strategy of Ukraine and for the de-occupied territories, in recognition that such strategies must be inclusive and transparent to gain legitimacy among Ukraine’s diverse citizens. Fellows concluded that effective contribution of civil society will only be possible in the case of capacity support, taking into account the conditions in which public organizations work in Ukraine. The group prioritized two problems: lack of care and wellbeing problems in civil society organizations (CSOs); and invisibility of CSOs as economic actors in recovery processes.

The Ukraine Civil Society Forum provides vital connectivity for Ukrainian civil society leaders both inside and outside the country not only with each other but also with strategic actors and in the private sector, international donor, development, and political communities, and counterparts in other countries in the region. It enables continued prioritization, planning and collaboration among Ukrainian civil society leaders for both near term support during the ongoing war, as well as for future reconciliation, reconstruction, and rebuilding processes.

Read the working group’s recommendations here.

Read the Ukrainian version here
 

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Ukraine Civil Society Recommendations on Occupied Territories
Ukraine Civil Society Recommendations on Occupied Territories
By: Salzburg Global 

Fellows of Salzburg Global's Ukraine Civil Society Forum set out the immediate and longer term needs of populations in occupied areas of Ukraine

On 4-8 June 2023, Fellows of Salzburg Global Seminar gathered in Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria, for a meeting of Salzburg Global’s Ukraine Civil Society Forum.

At the meeting, several working groups set out priorities for the country, including concrete recommendations for stakeholders to support the rights, return, and reintegration of displaced persons and refugees, addressing both immediate humanitarian needs and long-term perspectives including the ultimate physical reconstruction and social integration of liberated territories as part of a Ukraine-wide project of national identity.

This working group on occupied territories discussed the immediate and longer term needs of populations in occupied areas of Ukraine, and how best to reintegrate these areas as more and more territory returns to Ukrainian government control going forward. Group members were mainly Ukrainian civil society leaders, several of whom had specific expertise and experience working in (or close personal connections to) various occupied territories. The group also benefited from the participation of international experts with previous experience working on challenges associated with reintegration challenges in the context of foreign occupation.

The Ukraine Civil Society Forum provides vital connectivity for Ukrainian civil society leaders both inside and outside the country not only with each other but also with strategic actors and in the private sector, international donor, development, and political communities, and counterparts in other countries in the region. It enables continued prioritization, planning and collaboration among Ukrainian civil society leaders for both near term support during the ongoing war, as well as for future reconciliation, reconstruction, and rebuilding processes.

Read the working group’s recommendations here.

Read the Ukrainian version here
 

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Ukraine Civil Society Recommendations on Education
Photo credit: Shutterstock
Ukraine Civil Society Recommendations on Education
By: Salzburg Global 

Fellows of Salzburg Global's Ukraine Civil Society Forum discussed the immediate needs and long term goals for Ukrainian education

On 4-8 June 2023, Fellows of Salzburg Global Seminar gathered in Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria, for a meeting of Salzburg Global’s Ukraine Civil Society Forum.

At the meeting, several working groups set out priorities for the country, including concrete recommendations for stakeholders to support the rights, return, and reintegration of displaced persons and refugees, addressing both immediate humanitarian needs and long-term perspectives including the ultimate physical reconstruction and social integration of liberated territories as part of a Ukraine-wide project of national identity.

The working group on education discussed the role of the national Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) of Ukraine and its role in attempting to continue to provide education to all. They also discussed the role of civil society organizations, which would ultimately be to support and monitor the MoES' efforts and to advocate for more transparency and more participation of all the stakeholders of education in shaping policy and in overcoming the current challenges faced by all the groups of learners and educators inside and outside the country to guarantee quality and inclusive education in the short and long terms.

The Ukraine Civil Society Forum provides vital connectivity for Ukrainian civil society leaders both inside and outside the country not only with each other but also with strategic actors and in the private sector, international donor, development, and political communities, and counterparts in other countries in the region. It enables continued prioritization, planning and collaboration among Ukrainian civil society leaders for both near term support during the ongoing war, as well as for future reconciliation, reconstruction, and rebuilding processes.

Read the working group’s recommendations here.

Read the Ukrainian version here
 

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Ukraine Civil Society Recommendations on Displaced Persons
Ukraine Civil Society Recommendations on Displaced Persons
By: Salzburg Global 

Fellows of Salzburg Global's Ukraine Civil Society Forum analyze the needs of internally and externally displaced persons

On 4-8 June 2023, Fellows of Salzburg Global Seminar gathered in Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria, for a meeting of Salzburg Global’s Ukraine Civil Society Forum.

At the meeting, several working groups set out priorities for the country, including concrete recommendations for stakeholders to support the rights, return, and reintegration of displaced persons and refugees, addressing both immediate humanitarian needs and long-term perspectives including the ultimate physical reconstruction and social integration of liberated territories as part of a Ukraine-wide project of national identity.

The working group on displaced persons analyzed the needs of two target groups: internally displaced persons (IDPs) and externally displaced persons (EDPs). According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), there are 5.4m IDPs in Ukraine and about 8.1m refugees or EDPs outside of Ukraine (IOM, April 2023), which represents about 35% of the pre-war population of Ukraine. It explored both the immediate challenges of adaptation and integration into the host communities, as well as long-term strategic goals aimed at creating conditions for the safe return of displaced persons to their places of residence.

It stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation between civil society groups working directly with Ukrainian diaspora and refugees, as well as internally-displaced persons and their host communities, to address both immediate needs as well as coordinating planning for their eventual return home when appropriate.

The Ukraine Civil Society Forum provides vital connectivity for Ukrainian civil society leaders both inside and outside the country not only with each other but also with strategic actors and in the private sector, international donor, development, and political communities, and counterparts in other countries in the region. It enables continued prioritization, planning and collaboration among Ukrainian civil society leaders for both near term support during the ongoing war, as well as for future reconciliation, reconstruction, and rebuilding processes.

Read the working group’s recommendations here.

Read the Ukrainian version here. 

Read the French version here.
 

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Ukraine Civil Society Recommendations on the Rule of Law
Photo credit: Shutterstock
Ukraine Civil Society Recommendations on the Rule of Law
By: Salzburg Global 

Fellows of Salzburg Global's Ukraine Civil Society Forum stress the importance of a strong rule of law to Ukrainian reconstruction

On 4-8 June 2023, Fellows of Salzburg Global Seminar gathered in Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria, for a meeting of Salzburg Global’s Ukraine Civil Society Forum.

At the meeting, several working groups set out priorities for the country, including concrete recommendations for stakeholders to support the rights, return, and reintegration of displaced persons and refugees, addressing both immediate humanitarian needs and long-term perspectives including the ultimate physical reconstruction and social integration of liberated territories as part of a Ukraine-wide project of national identity.

Stressing the importance of a strong rule of law as critical to the physical reconstruction of Ukraine, to external investment, and to anti-corruption efforts and systems of coordination with international partners (donor countries, foundations, investors, etc.), this working group identified and prioritized several needs from the rule of law perspective and proposed concrete activities for the primary stakeholders to effectively, collaboratively, and efficiently address those needs. These recommendations are intended to be the foundation for a strategic approach to promoting the rule of law at present and throughout the restoration process, as well as to sustainably implement broader institutional reforms in the judicial sector.

The Ukraine Civil Society Forum provides vital connectivity for Ukrainian civil society leaders both inside and outside the country not only with each other but also with strategic actors and in the private sector, international donor, development, and political communities, and counterparts in other countries in the region. It enables continued prioritization, planning and collaboration among Ukrainian civil society leaders for both near term support during the ongoing war, as well as for future reconciliation, reconstruction, and rebuilding processes.

Read the working group’s recommendations here.

Read the Ukrainian version here. 
 

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The Challenges of Balancing Representation and Participation: Insights From the Chilean Constitution-Making Process
Photo credit: abriendomundo / Shutterstock
The Challenges of Balancing Representation and Participation: Insights From the Chilean Constitution-Making Process
By: Esteban Szmulewicz Ramírez 

Salzburg Global Fellow Esteban Szmulewicz Ramírez reflects on “Democracy on the Front Lines” through the Chilean example

This op-ed is part of a series, written by Fellows and speakers of the Salzburg Global Weekend, with the theme "Democracy on the Front Lines".

On September 4, 2022, after almost two years of profound and sometimes heated conversations, the people of Chile finally went to the polls to vote on a proposed new Constitution. It was the first time in Chile’s history that a fundamental social pact was being written and discussed in a fully democratic manner: the people had elected a Constitutional Convention and a great deal of effort was focused on inclusion and participation. The electoral rules for the Convention contemplated gender parity, reserved seats for indigenous people, accounting for more than 10% of the Convention, and a significant presence of a wide variety of societal interests. 

Additionally, several instances of participation were introduced, such as citizens’ initiatives of constitutional norms, public hearings including decentralized sessions in remote areas, among many others. Citizens had the opportunity to follow the day-to-day workings of the Convention by a special online TV channel. The process for elaborating this new social pact seemed to resonate with the ideas of participatory and deliberative democracy supported by the international community (OECD 2020) and it has been considered innovative in terms of inclusion and citizens’ participation. 

It is all the more puzzling, then, how the process transited from an almost 80% approval of the idea of a new Constitution (in an initial referendum in October 2020) to a 62% rejection of the proposed text in the September 2022 referendum. Even more striking, the support for the proposed new Constitution gained majority support in only eight out of the 346 municipalities in the country, and in the poorer areas the difference was even larger than in more well-off localities, in favor of the rejection.

Considering that democracies everywhere are facing enormous legitimacy challenges and in their capacity to effectively govern the complex 21st century problems, how can citizens reconnect with the representative institutions? How can declining trust in the democratic political system be rebuilt in the face of perma and poly crises, especially if participatory mechanisms are devised and used at its most, but still failed to deliver, like in the Chilean case?

A first step is the necessity to recognize the magnitude of the challenges and their complexities. For instance, a recent paper by Ionica Berevoescu and Julie Ballington (2021) acknowledged that despite major gains in democratic innovation and inclusion, women still remain highly underrepresented in politics, with over three quarters of the world depicting less than 30% of women incorporated in parliament. In an even worst situation are indigenous people and marginalized communities, which is where democratic innovations like the recent Chilean process might still propose interesting practices to help close the gap between political realities and the democratic ideals underneath.

A second insight is that we have to consider the cyclical nature of certain processes and how this can shape our understanding of them. The Chilean constitution-making process was a response to a severe crisis of representative institutions, manifested in massive and critical protests by the end of October 2019 that mobilized millions of people into the streets and posed a real threat of government breakdown. Therefore, the institutionalization of this severe societal conflict into a peaceful democratic process is positive, even if it has not yet resulted in the expected new Constitution. Even after last year’s referendum, political parties in Congress rapidly agreed in a new attempt at constitution-making, currently on its way, and the Expert Commission that emerged from it reached a consensus from alt-right to the communist party, just last month, on a new draft Constitution that is now being debated by an elected Constitutional Council. We will now have to wait for a new referendum in December of this year to see if the text elaborated by this new process is approved by the people, but the fact that the political system was able to channel both the large and massive protests and the rejection result of last year, speaks to me on the resilience of democracy and its capacity to self-learn, while at the same time the necessity to avoid the so-called “confidence trap” (Runciman 2015). 

Lastly, if these participatory innovations are to have a real impact on our societies, they need to be considered in the larger scheme of democratic politics. Social movements need to engage with political elites and political parties. As Eisenstadt, Levan and Maboudi (2017) show, well-developed social movements are necessary but far from sufficient: they benefit from mediation, both from interest groups, as well as from political parties. Regardless of the wave of criticisms they have been facing in recent decades, political parties are still indispensable for the democratic process (Szmulewicz 2019). In the same line, elections are crucial for processing conflicts, but political life never stops and what happens between elections is relevant. Elected bodies should not take their mandate for granted and should continue speaking with civil society, the opposition, and diverse societal interests (Przeworski 2019), as shown by the polarizing turns in the recent electoral super cycle in Chile. 

Considering last year’s Chilean experience, which failed to adequately balance representation and participation, how can citizens’ inclusion and participation mechanisms feed into the representative circuit, so that the entire scheme functions to further reconnect citizens with democratic institutions? Or, as the distinguished democratic theorist Carol Pateman (2012) has said, how to make participation work so that citizens can see an impact of their contributions, while at the same time representative institutions properly manage the complex climate of uncertainty, uneasiness, and the mounting challenges of the 21st century democracies on the front lines, keeping a constant deliberation with civil society? More than providing direct answers, the Chilean ongoing experience helps us pose the right questions and focus on finding the adequate balance between participation and representation for the effective and democratic governing of our societies.

I am grateful to Aurore Heugas for valuable editing, and to Helia Nazari and Mary Helen Pombo for their motivation. Naturally, any mistakes are mine.

Esteban is currently a PhD candidate at Leiden Law School in The Netherlands. Previously, Esteban studied Law at the Universidad Austral of Chile and later obtained a Master in Political Science from Universidad Autónoma of Barcelona, Spain (2009) and a Master of Science (MSc) in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom (2010, with distinction). Esteban is affiliated to the Universidad Católica del Norte, in Coquimbo, Chile, where he is an academic in the fields of constitutional and administrative law. Also, he is a member of the Chilean Association of Constitutional Law, the Chilean Association of Administrative Law (ADAD), the Chilean Chapter of the International Society of Public Law (ICON), and the Society of Tourism Researchers of Chile. He has conducted research in the fields of constitutional and administrative law, especially about decentralisation, participation and deliberation, the political system, political equality, social rights and constitutional jurisdiction.

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Navigating Afghanistan’s Complex Path Towards Freedom and Inclusion
Navigating Afghanistan’s Complex Path Towards Freedom and Inclusion
By: Mustafa Aryan 

Salzburg Global Fellow Mustafa Aryan explores "Democracy on the Front Lines" through the lens of Afghanistan's setbacks towards democracy

This op-ed is part of a series, written by Fellows and speakers of the Salzburg Global Weekend, with the theme "Democracy on the Front Lines".

The current situation in Afghanistan presents a critical challenge to the pursuit of democracy as the country faces the return of Taliban rule. Afghanistan's path towards democracy has been marked by complexities, setbacks, and persistent challenges. In this reflection, I aim to shed light on the multifaceted nature of Afghanistan's democratic journey, particularly in the face of the Taliban's restrictions on women's rights, education, and the broader goals of inclusivity and freedom.

The front lines of democracy in Afghanistan today are defined by the fight for human rights, freedom, and inclusivity. The oppressive measures imposed by the Taliban, particularly the bans on women's rights and education, are clear violations of human rights and represent significant obstacles to achieving a democratic and inclusive society. The Taliban's regressive policies undermine the progress made over the past two decades in promoting women’s rights and gender equality. The front lines encompass the struggle to break down these barriers and ensure that every Afghan, regardless of gender or background, can actively participate in shaping the country’s future.

Over the past 20 years, the growth of freedom of expression and civic liberties has fostered a vibrant civil society that has engaged in open dialogue and held the authorities accountable. These gains, although erased or facing challenges amid Taliban rule, serve as a testament to the progress Afghanistan has made on its complex path towards democracy.

Democracy on the front lines means standing up for the principles of human rights, freedom, and inclusivity, even in the face of adversity. It means advocating for the rights of all men and women and ensuring their active participation in society.

In the current context of Afghanistan, democracy on the front lines entails opposing the Taliban's oppressive policies, including the bans on women's rights and education. It means mobilizing national and international support and resources to protect the gains made in women's rights, education, and gender equality. It also involves fostering alliances with Afghan civil society activists, human rights defenders, and women's groups to ensure their voices are heard and their rights protected. Additionally, it means providing equal opportunities for all Afghan citizens to work towards a society where every voice is heard and considered.

Looking ahead, the future of democracy in Afghanistan is undeniably challenging, given the current authoritarian rule by the Taliban. The Taliban's approach and outlook is not aligned with democratic principles. While the future of democracy is uncertain, it is crucial to maintain hope and actively work towards a future where democracy and human rights prevail. This requires engaging in dialogue, utilizing all available means to exert pressure on the Taliban to respect human rights obligations, and supporting inclusivity and freedom.

The new generation of Afghans that has emerged over the past two decades remains a force of hope for democracy in the country. This generation, characterized by their exposure to education, technology, and global connectivity, has demonstrated a strong commitment to democratic values, human rights, and freedom of expression. They have been at the forefront of democratic movements, advocating for human rights, civil liberties, and inclusive governance. The new generation is a driving force behind the continued fight for democracy, and their determination and resilience will be instrumental in shaping the future of Afghanistan.

Overall, Afghanistan's complex path towards freedom and inclusion requires unwavering dedication to democratic principles, active engagement at the front lines of democracy, and collective efforts to overcome the challenges and realize the aspirations of the Afghan people for a democratic and inclusive society.

Mustafa Aryan is the executive director of the Security, Gender & Development Institute, which operates as an international volunteer network of experts producing research and events focused on a gendered analysis of international security topics. Mustafa has worked in Afghanistan's private and public sectors for the last 11 years. Prior to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the fall of the Afghan government, he served as the director of policy and strategy at the Office of the Chief Executive of Afghanistan, and then as the director of the Regional and International Affairs Commission of Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation. Mustafa holds a BA in social science from Kabul University, an MA in international relations from the University of Afghanistan, and a second MA in international security studies from the University of Reading in the UK. He is a fellow of Women in International Security and of Salzburg Global Seminar.

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“The Brutal War and Breakup of Yugoslavia Fundamentally Changed My Life”
Sonja Biserko (pictured in the center) at Salzburg Global's 2015 symposium on International Responses to Crimes Against Humanity: The Challenge of North Korea
“The Brutal War and Breakup of Yugoslavia Fundamentally Changed My Life”
By: Sonja Biserko 

Salzburg Global Fellow Sonja Biserko explores the theme of  "Democracy on the Front Lines" through her experience in former Yugoslavia

This op-ed is part of a series, written by Fellows and speakers of the Salzburg Global Weekend, with the theme "Democracy on the Front Lines".

The brutal war and breakup of Yugoslavia fundamentally changed my life. They placed in front of me different priorities and challenges, as they did for millions of Yugoslavs.

I had worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was probably the most liberal federal institution in Yugoslavia. Despite this, the Yugoslav leadership, even its pro-European part, failed to understand dramatic historical development and acted by inertia. 

After the failure of the Hague Conference in 1991, which was an attempt to maintain the Yugoslav state framework, I left the Ministry and joined the anti-war movement. Although not massive, it raised its voice against Belgrade's aggression leading to the collapse of the country that many in the West had considered to be the best candidate for a democratic transition. In that respect, Yugoslavia was offered several options.

The war decade, 1990 to 2000, became the reason for my subsequent actions, primarily through the Helsinki Committee (HC) for Human Rights in Serbia. It was founded in 1994 as one of the successors of the Yugoslav Helsinki Committee. 

The challenges were grave and numerous for us and many other newly founded NGOs dealing with the aftermath of the war. We were involved in many HR issues. Still, I want to single out our work with the refugees. In the war, ethnic cleansing was used as an instrument to create ethnically pure territories. Refugees from Croatia were a specific case. Their exodus was organized by Belgrade, while Zagreb gladly accepted and supported it. 

Our main goal was to help them return home. And we organized it through the project I WANT TO GO HOME. The project was not supported either by Belgrade or by Zagreb, nor the international community. The latter had already tacitly accepted the local leaders’ fallacy that "we cannot live together". 

From 2000 to 2012, my focus was on the cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and dealing with the past. In addition to the HR issues, the Helsinki Committee focused on a thorough analysis and critique of the Serbian imperial nationalism and its perniciousness not only for the region, but also for Serbia itself. At that juncture, both I personally, but also the HC, were under extreme political pressure. Still, we have managed to publish hundreds (to date, over 170) of reports, publications and books on those topics. They have become indispensable in the study of Serbia’s policies and war effects in the last decade of the 20th century. 

Nevertheless, that period also marked a step forward in the political environment despite the difficult legacy of Milošević and the criminalization of all institutions, especially the judiciary, the police and the army. All the accused war criminals were handed over to The Hague Tribunal, including Slobodan Milošević. Public dialogue started over time to the fierce opposition from the academia, the church and most political parties. Then, the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić brutally exposed the true nature of the undemocratic rule which has continued to this day.

Thus, my deliberations and activities today take place in what I consider as the third period in my human rights defender (HRDs) work. The period began with the emergence of the Serbian Progressive Party and its undisputed leader, Aleksandar Vučić. Having presented himself in the beginning as a pro-European politician and enjoying the support of the West, over the decade he has moved to authoritarianism, steeped in the politics and propaganda of the 1980s. 

Today’s revived Serbian aspirations to “a unified Serbian World” echo, as evidenced by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, a similar Russian vision of a “unified Russian World”. A part of “the Serbian World” narrative relates Kosovo as the mythological “cradle of Serbia”. I have been active in Kosovo for thirty years and hope that this last phase of Yugoslav disintegration - and the Serbian colonization - will not be further delayed.

All this has given a new urgency to my activities, as well as to the whole civil sector in Serbia. For ten years now I have been working on the HC’s strategic project - Yugoslavia History. We have gathered several dozens of eminent historians, researchers and experts from all over the region to put together a scholarly, objective insight into Yugoslavia, its relevance as a multinational state project, and its cultural and overall legacy, and the vanguard of multilateralism in the world.
In the long run, I believe, the two published books and the planned third will become an indispensible reference for all those interested in the twists and turns of history in this part of Europe.

In conclusion, I want to stress that the bloody collapse of Yugoslavia was emotionally shocking for each of us because our collective and individual losses were devastating. It was not just the collapse of the country. It was also the collapse of the vision on which my generation had grown up. We witnessed the most egregious crimes against human rights. It was as agonizing as it is agonizing watching today the horror that Russia has brought upon the Ukrainian people. The great support that I got internationally from many quarters and from many prominent individuals encouraged and sustained us morally, and, ultimately, ensured our safety.

Of course, personally and professionally I would not have been able to withstand all the ordeals without the support and cooperation on the part of my close collaborators. We all acted like one family and have remained so. Many older antifascists saw in us their successors. Because, indeed, what we did was resisting Belgrade’s rabid nationalism and imperialism.

Finally, all my activities, my commitment and dedication to the defence of human rights and freedoms in Serbia  - but also in Kosovo, Bosnia and Hercegovina and Northern Macedonia where the pernicious presence of Serbia is still present - have their origin in my deep anguish over the civilizational, political, social and cultural decline of the country, the rebirth of nationalism and authoritarianism, the policies which have destroyed peace and progress in the region and moved Serbia wide apart from the European family of nations. Despite all the efforts on the part of the EU and the US to help the democratic transition, the fundamental change can only come through the efforts of the society itself. We have a long way to go.

Sonja Biserko is a Serbian campaigner for human rights. She is the founder and president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia. Established in 1994, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia began its mission at the time nationalism had not only culminated in disastrous wars, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and genocide in the territory of Yugoslavia, but also in massive human rights violations in Serbia proper. On 8 May 2013, she was appointed as a member of the United Nations human rights investigation into North Korea, with Michael Kirby and Marzuki Darusman. Sonja is a Fellow of Salzburg Global Seminar.

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New Netflix Documentary Explores Queer Lives in Rising Nazi Germany
Klaus Mueller (pictured on the left) and Benjamin Cantu (pictured on the right)
New Netflix Documentary Explores Queer Lives in Rising Nazi Germany
By: Salzburg Global 

Eldorado - Everything the Nazis Hate shows queer lives in 1920s Berlin and the shift from the Weimar Republic to National Socialism

On June 28, 2023, the documentary Eldorado - Everything the Nazis Hate is coming to Netflix. 

The film tells the story of how a nightclub in 1920s Berlin became a haven for the queer community and explores the freedoms lost amid Hitler’s rise to power.

The director, Benjamin Cantu, explains his thinking behind the plot: “We wanted to show queer lives that took place in Berlin and who experienced the shift from the Weimar Republic to National Socialism. What was important to us was to show how homosexuality was defined at that time from different directions - socially, scientifically, and politically. 

“It was completely new at that time to talk so broadly and publicly about homosexuality. The topic was politically instrumentalized by the Nazis as well as the Social Democrats and Communists. The characters this film is about were affected by these dynamics in different ways. Within a few years, many LGBT* people experienced their sexual and emotional freedom and, at the same time, extreme oppression. The film attempts to trace these major movements.”

Benjamin Cantu is a Salzburg Global Fellow and attended the Salzburg Global LGBT* Forum, led by the Forum’s Founder and Chair, Klaus Mueller, who served as the film’s dramaturgical and historical consultant. The filmmakers behind Eldorado were also inspired by his documentary, Paragraph 175, in which Klaus interviews survivors of the Nazi persecution of queer people. 

Paragraph 175 was like a driving force for us at that time. When Nils Bökamp (Executive Producer) and I saw it, it was clear to us that this was a topic we wanted to go deeper into. We asked ourselves the question: If all happened here in Germany almost 100 years ago, what do we really know about it?”

Benjamin and Klaus talk about their cooperation, the challenges of remembering queer people often marginalized in history, and how the film is informed by the Salzburg Global LGBT* Forum here

Eldorado - Everything the Nazis Hate will be available worldwide on Netflix on Wednesday, June 28. 

92 min. Germany 2023
Directed by Benjamin Cantu
Recreation Director: Matt Lambert
Executive Producers: Felix Kriegsheim, Nils Bökamp, Benjamin Cantu, Ryan White, Jessica Hargrave 
Dramaturgic and Historical consultant: Klaus Mueller

Watch the trailer below:

 

* LGBT: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. We are using this term as it is currently widely used in human rights conversations on sexual orientation and gender identity in many parts of the world, and we would wish it to be read as inclusive of other cultural concepts, contemporary or historical, to express sexuality and gender, intersex and gender non-conforming identities.

 

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The Intersection Between Art, Power and Marginalization
The Intersection Between Art, Power and Marginalization
By: Khaled Barakeh 

Salzburg Global Fellow Khaled Barakeh reflects on what "Democracy on the Front Lines" means to him and his work

This op-ed is part of a series, written by Fellows and speakers of the Salzburg Global Weekend, with the theme "Democracy on the Front Lines".

Democracy on the front lines is messy, complicated, and uncomfortable. In its ideal form, it is about inclusion, representation, and equality, but when one is on the front lines, these ideals often clash with the stark realities of power and injustice. This brings into question the very core of what we understand as democracy, which should push us to challenge the comfortable definitions of democracy we often cling to in “democratic countries”, especially since the establishment of United Nations organizations after the Second World War.

Perhaps the greatest challenge to this concept is the question of priorities. In some parts of the world where people are fighting for basic survival and human rights, can we truly talk about democracy in the same way? Can we prioritize voting and political participation when people are fighting against displacement, starvation, and violence? Can we blame them for not meeting the “Western standards” of democratic values? This doesn’t mean that democracy becomes irrelevant on the front lines. On the contrary, it becomes even more crucial. But it forces us to expand our understanding of democracy. It’s not just about political systems, but about human dignity, representation, and voice in all aspects of life.

“Democracy on the Front Lines” embodies the tension between the ideal and the real, between what we aspire to be and where we currently stand. It is about both participation and resistance—participation in structures that allow us to express our agency, and resistance against forces that seek to silence, marginalize, or oppress. These intangible front lines are where I engage in my work. I find myself constantly questioning and pushing against the boundaries of our societies, asking us to reconsider the status quo and inviting us to imagine new possibilities.

Art, for me, is more than just a tool for expression. It’s a lens, a megaphone, and a call to action, shaping and reshaping our understanding of society and our place within it. My front lines are the spaces where art, culture, and activism intersect with structures of power and marginalization. My front lines are not only in parliaments, local councils, and election booths. They are in galleries, studios, streets, refugee camps, and communities where people’s voices are often suppressed or ignored. Front lines should not be limited to physical spaces but extend into the realms of thought, perception, and dialogue.

Take my project “The Untitled Images,” for example. By removing the subjects from press photos of Syrian victims, I wanted to challenge the dehumanizing effects of media portrayal, to give back individuality to those reduced to mere statistics. This was my way of questioning the democratic principles of representation and voice: who gets to be seen and heard, and who doesn’t? Likewise, my “Syrian Biennale” initiative was a response to the lack of representation in the art world. I wanted to create a platform where artists outside the mainstream could be seen and heard. Here, the challenge was to the democratic principle of equality: why do some voices dominate while others are marginalized in art and elsewhere?

In essence, “Democracy on the Front Lines” to me is about active engagement, not passive acceptance. It is about questioning, challenging, and pushing back against the dominant narratives and structures that govern our societies. It’s about making space for marginalized voices, fostering inclusivity and dialogue, and building empathy. It is less about formal political structures and more about the daily fight for dignity, voice, and representation. It’s about challenging the mainstream narratives that often exclude the marginalized and voiceless.

Khaled Barakeh is a Berlin-based conceptual artist and cultural activist. Driven by his observations of longstanding social injustice, Khaled approaches creative practice as a tool for societal change; manipulating commonplace visual and cultural touchstones to expose and undermine stagnant power structures. In a recent major shift in his practice, Khaled developed coculture in 2017 - a non-for-profit umbrella organization with a suite of initiatives that leverage artistic thinking to directly address issues of contemporary mass migration. Among these projects is the SYRIA Cultural Index and the Syrian Biennale. Khaled has exhibited at Hamburger Kunsthalle, The 11th Shanghai Biennale, The Frankfurter Kunstverein, Salt Istanbul, The Busan Biennale, State Gallery of Lower Austria, Krems and MKG Hamburg, among many others. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus, Syria, in 2005, completed his MFA in 2010 at Funen Art Academy in Odense, Denmark, and a Meisterschuler study in 2013 at the Städelschule Art Academy in Frankfurt, Germany.

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The Education for All Coalition’s Fearless Leader
The Education for All Coalition’s Fearless Leader
By: Genevieve Paddock 

Rose Cardarelli: Fellow Spotlight

Dr. Rose Cardarelli was a member of the Whole Child Development for Displaced Learners Network which ran until March 2023. She is the founder and president of the Education for All Coalition, a soon-to-be author, and life-long service leader. Based in Washington, DC, she agreed to meet me at Salzburg Global’s DC office to discuss her work and the journey that led her to becoming a champion of education for displaced children. 

Rose grew up in Massachusetts in a family that highly valued education. A good student with a strong sense of adventure, Rose enlisted in the Army after high school in the hopes of seeing the world.

After a few years of adventure, she decided that she not only wanted to serve, but also wanted to lead. She returned to Massachusetts to attend Fitchburg State University, where she joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and graduated as an Army Medical Service Corps Officer. She spent the next years running hospitals, commanding thousand-person battalions and brigades, serving on missions like the Chernobyl Medical Task Force, taking care of wounded warriors from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and traveling the world. 

After retiring from the Army, Rose worked as an operations director and professor of human security at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University. It was there that her interest in refugees and displaced individuals took hold. While conducting security programs in the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa and serving as a congressional liaison on human security issues, the ramifications of inconsistent educational opportunities amongst displaced individuals become increasingly evident and an issue she could no longer ignore.

She recalled: “I could see that there were now generations of children growing up as adults that really lost some of the basics. They had not received an education, they in turn could not be employed in professions that would help their countries or families in any way, and that there were large populations of young people that were angry.”

Although larger organizations provided basic education services en masse to refugees, there were gaps in areas like social-emotional learning, trauma response and environmental well-being. Seeing an opportunity to fill those gaps, Rose left academia and started the Education for All Coalition (EFAC) in 2018. She recalls: “I thought the best thing I could do was create an NGO that could fill those gaps and connect resources and opportunities to these children”. The organization, which offers curriculum/workbooks, classroom toolkits and teacher trainings in over six countries, focuses on four practice areas: social-emotional learning, trauma-responsive training, literacy and early childhood development, and climate resilience.

Elaborating on the rationale behind the practice areas, Rose says: “Although children are having to be displaced because of war, conflict and crisis, the elephant in the room is climate”. Teaching children about the environment helps them connect with their new or changing environment and develop a positive relationship with the world around them. She added: “Whether it be sea levels rising and islands disappearing, whether it be drought, it’s all related to food security, water security, health security, and ultimately psycho-social well-being.”

Despite the daunting reality of climate change that will continue to displace people in large numbers across the globe, Rose is hopeful about the future of education for displaced children. Speaking about the progress made since EFAC’s founding, she explained: “When I started this organization, there were silos - there were the big operators and small operators, and nobody was talking to each other. Now people are talking to each other and working collaboratively and sharing resources…So I see progress, I have hope.” 

For the next few months, Rose is taking a break from her work to complete a book on climate change as a humanitarian crisis. The book investigates the intersection of children, migration, social-emotional learning, climate and well-being. She explains that it is a book of best practices for not only government stakeholders, but also individuals experiencing forced migration. 

At the end of our interview, I asked Rose what makes her proud, and what advice she has for rising leaders. To the former, she responded “service”. Regarding leadership, she said: “to be a leader you have to be a follower. You have to be able to listen, understand, assimilate, you have to be able to understand who you’re leading.” Finally, she added: “you can become intimidated in this world, you can become afraid... You can’t if you’re a good leader. You have to be brave enough to confront challenges”.

Since its founding, EFAC has engaged in Yemen, Ukraine, Greece, Mexico, Lebanon, Malawi and in various countries in Southeast Asia. EFAC’s organizational partners include UN-DGC, UNHCR-GRF, UNESCO, UNICEF, The Committee on Teaching about the UN (CTAUN), USAID, Childhood Education International, Rotary International, mEducation Alliance, Kappa Delta Pi – the International Honor Society in Education, and more.
 

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Defender of Democracy: Reflections on American Studies and the Two Koreas
Defender of Democracy: Reflections on American Studies and the Two Koreas
By: Wenise Kim 

Salzburg Global Fellow Wenise Kim reflects on American Studies in the next 75 years in a context of political polarization and extremism

This op-ed piece is part of a series, written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program "Democracy on the Front Lines: Polarization, Culture and Resilience in America and the World."

The future of American Studies, and America for that matter, demands a reckoning with the excesses and limitations of the US as a force of influence, as noted in A New Era for American Studies.

On November 2, 2022, President Joe Biden in his "Standing Up for Democracy" speech at Columbus Club reminded Americans that history and common sense tell us liberty, opportunity, and justice thrive in a democracy, not in an autocracy. Indeed, these are not only "common sense" ideas that need to be protected, but also the essence of America as a nation-state and values that need to be better realized for the next 75 years. Is it time for American Studies to reclaim its heritage as a defender of democracy and ensure that the American pendulum of critique does not swing too far to one side.

Despite some glaring policy failures and criticisms of America that tend to dominate conversations, the fact that America has played a key role in promoting global peace and prosperity through global democracy seems to have been lost. This “fixation” on critiques and criticisms diminishes the positive impact that the US has provided in strengthening the foundations of and expanding democracy around the world. To young American voters, this can breed a sense of apathy and cynicism that undermine the strength of democracy in America.

Appreciating the positives and drawing lessons from them is helpful as we acknowledge the role of American Studies as a witness of history in today’s political climate of polarization and extremism. To me, the case of the two Koreas, and the stark difference in the quality of life between them, is one of the most compelling reminders of America’s historic influence in laying a foundation for a new country to thrive, by defending and securing democracy. 

As a millennial South Korean, my appreciation for the US does not come from the media, nor the time I spent in the country. Instead, my school days in South Korea involved learning about the US’ role in the Korean War and the rebuilding process from the ashes of this war against communism. My father was a veteran with an injury sustained during his 3-year mandatory military service, like many other young Korean men on the border. This “border” is a creation of the Armistice agreement signed under the leadership of the American Lieutenant General William Kelly Harrison Jr., on July 27, 1953, which will commemorate its 70th anniversary this year. Inaugural President Rhee Syngman, an Americanophile with an Austrian wife, refused to participate as this was only a half-win of freedom and democracy on the peninsula. 

The rest is history. Now, generations of “northern” Koreans living less than an hour’s drive from the thriving metropolitan city of Seoul continue to live, largely unknowingly, as hostages of a regime akin to George Orwell’s Animal Farm. This is a fact documented by the UN’s 2014 Commission of Inquiry paper on North Korea, for which Salzburg Global held a special session the following year. In her book, While Time Remains, a 29-year-old defector and a “new” American, Yeonmi Park pleads with America, urging young Americans to value the fundamentals of freedom with responsibility, by recounting her life in North Korea, South Korea, and the USA. It is ironic that we must see or experience not having something to truly appreciate when we do have it. 

America belongs to Americans- but the old news is that American Studies does not. To whom is American Studies answerable then, ultimately? Humanity. To be on the right side of history is no easy job, and America may be fatigued for a reason. But it is no time to look elsewhere or destroy it. Governments, policies, and generations will change but the fundamentals of democracy that provide humanity with dignity like no other institution does is worth the American legacy that must be close to everyone’s heart- especially at the American Studies. This is not politics. Let this be the strength and signature of American Studies as a community of diverse yet unified defenders of democracy. 

Wenise Kim is currently working on a small-scale, independent living history project featuring a documentary and photo exhibition on the ANZAC legacy, tracing stories around streets and bridges across Australia named after the lesser-known battlefield of Kapyeong. It aims to highlight the democratic values the two countries of Australia and Korea share, and friendship(s) forged through the war against communism 75 years ago. Previously, she has served as a political and economic officer and public diplomacy officer at Korean Embassy in former conflict zones such as Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Eritrea. She has a BA in heritage and museum studies, and studied, under an EU scholarship, master's in human rights and democratisation at the University of Sydney, Australia. Wenise is a Fellow of Salzburg Global Seminar.

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Salzburg Global at the 9th World Summit on Arts and Culture
Salzburg Global's Long Table discussion at the World Summit on Arts and Culture
Salzburg Global at the 9th World Summit on Arts and Culture
By: Faye Hobson 

Program Director for Culture Faye Hobson recounts her key takeaways of Salzburg Global's Long Table discussion at Stockholm’s World Summit on Arts and Culture 

In May 2023, the 9th World Summit on Arts and Culture took place in Stockholm, Sweden. Salzburg Global Seminar was a partner in this global gathering which brought together cultural policymakers, practitioners, artists, and experts from around the world.

During the Summit, the threats to artistic freedom posed by technology emerged as a prominent concern. Participants expressed apprehension regarding uncontrollable AI surpassing human intelligence, intellectual property issues, algorithmic mediation of knowledge access leading to echo chambers, and more. The media's recent focus on these concerns, including warnings from AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton and policymakers calling for investments in AI safety and control, has amplified fears and anxieties.

Salzburg Global convened a Long Table discussion on May 3rd, “The Arts on the Frontline, the Arts in the Online”, focusing on the challenges, opportunities, and responsibilities faced by cultural policymakers and artists in the digital environment. The Long Table session was moderated by Faye Hobson, Program Director for Culture, and involved Salzburg Global Fellows Ayodele M. Ganiu, Anasuya Sengupta, and Kira Xonorika

Here are some of the key takeaways: 

Engaging with the Digital Landscape

Cultural policymakers and artists must contemplate how to effectively engage with the internet, AI, chatbots like Chat GPT, and online image generators such as Midjourney or Dall-e. One essential aspect is supporting each other within the sector and remaining cognizant of the potential suppression, surveillance, and lack of accountability that exist online. Simultaneously, it is crucial to harness the opportunities for freedom of expression, creation, and community that the digital space offers.

Avoiding Replicating Inequities

In order to prevent the perpetuation of existing inequities and systems that marginalize individuals, cultural policymakers and artists must prioritize several key actions. First and foremost, bridging the digital divide and ensuring equal access to digital tools and resources is crucial. Additionally, adopting inclusive design practices that involve diverse voices and perspectives in the development of digital technologies is essential. Promoting digital literacy programs that empower artists and communities to navigate the digital landscape effectively is another important step. Lastly, fostering global collaboration and establishing partnerships are vital in amplifying the voices of artists from the majority world and ensuring their inclusion in the digital age. By actively engaging in these efforts, cultural policymakers and artists can work towards a more equitable and inclusive digital ecosystem.

Ethical and Responsible Use of Technology

Cultural policymakers and artists must navigate the ethical implications of AI, algorithms, Web 3.0, and other emerging technologies. They should advocate for transparency, regulation, and policy development, ensuring the human-centered design of technology. Continuous dialogue between artists, technologists, policymakers, and stakeholders is essential to shape the evolving relationship between art, technology, and society. 

Opportunities in the Online Space

The online space presents numerous opportunities for artists and cultural practitioners. It allows for digital collaboration, community building, and creative exchange on global platforms. Open access initiatives, Creative Commons licensing, and knowledge sharing enable artists to freely share and build upon each other's work. Emerging technologies, including AI-powered chatbots and image generators, offer avenues for experimentation, innovation, and pushing artistic boundaries. 

The World Summit on Arts and Culture highlighted the complexities of engaging with the digital landscape. Recognizing the threats posed by technology, such as AI and algorithms, cultural policymakers and artists must navigate these challenges responsibly, while actively seeking opportunities for creative expression, cultural exchange, and community building. By prioritizing inclusivity, digital literacy, and global collaboration, we can shape a digital age that supports artistic freedom, empowers marginalized voices, and fosters a more equitable and diverse cultural ecosystem. 

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The Salzburg Statement on Supporting Artists on the Front Line
The Salzburg Statement on Supporting Artists on the Front Line
By: Salzburg Global Seminar 

Salzburg Global Fellows came up with a set of actions to be taken to protect artists on the front lines and freedom of expression

From March 25 to 30, 2023, Salzburg Global Seminar hosted On the Front Lines: Artists at Risk, Artists Who Risk.

Through the lenses of around 50 artists and allies from over 40 countries, this program explored the intersection of contemporary art, activism, politics, law, research, technology, ethics and organizing. The program was a space where artists were central, and where debate, introspection, and exchange attempted to bridge a diversity of perspectives, create new ideas and build commitment to strategies for action.

After the program, Fellows came together and wrote a set of reflections, meant for various stakeholders, from policymakers, evaluators and funders, to human rights organizations, and art institutions. With these reflections, Fellows produced a call for action, targeted towards policymakers, funders and international, national, and regional stakeholder organizations and networks, to support artists on the front line and protect freedom of expression.

Download the Salzburg Statement as a PDF

Read the full Salzburg Statement below:

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The Role of American Literature in Expanding Awareness and Fostering Democracy
The Role of American Literature in Expanding Awareness and Fostering Democracy
By: Cassandra Falke 

Salzburg Global Fellow Cassandra Falke explores the role that American Studies play in reinforcing democratic values

This op-ed piece is part of a series, written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program "Democracy on the Front Lines: Polarization, Culture and Resilience in America and the World."

Recounting the first Salzburg Global Seminar session, Timothy Ryback tells a stunning tale. Just two years after the end of the war, the first participants included a Czech resistance fighter, an Italian anti-fascist, a Jewish-Romanian snatched from a gas chamber line at Auschwitz, and an Austrian Nazi who learned English in a prisoner-of-war camp. They read together Nathaniel Hawthorne´s The Scarlet Letter, a work of American literature about a community who fails to see a woman for who she is, blinded by a mistake she made in the past. One participant recalled the atmosphere as “devoid of any political or ideological prejudice.”  What impresses me first about this story is the way individuals, once stripped of the contexts that made them hero, victim, or perpetrator, saw in each other a chance for learning, warmth and joy. Secondly, because I am a literature professor, I am struck by the role a work of literature apparently played.

Being concerned with the space different stories occupy in the public sphere, literary scholars insist that in addition to the traditional democratic values of freedom and equality (Morlino), successful democracies require awareness of comparative political frameworks. They require knowing histories of injustice and histories of resistance. While “America’s political culture is astonishingly insular,” its literature is capacious.  Studying American literature serves democracy by expanding awareness of real and imagined political alternatives.

2022 is no more stable than 1947 depending on where you are, but today´s instability doesn´t threaten most American Studies practitioners. No one faces execution for reading Steinbeck now, as our Italian predecessors might have in the 1940s (The Moon is Down, xiii). We know the facts of our present – 100 million displaced people, 26 ongoing wars, a “dizzying rise” in global inequality, and bread more dear everyday – but for those “beneficiaries” (Robbins) who live in peace and plenty in a violent and unequal world, these facts are grim headlines. We wake up to them in the morning as words in our inbox, not reality outside our doors. Recalling his attendance in Salzburg in 1947 and 1951, the American literature professor Alfred Kazin wrote that by 1951, the “sense of political urgency surrounding us in 1947 was gone” (64). Since stable higher education requires peace, scholars do most of our thinking without a war-begotten sense of urgency.

However, for readers in the U.S. and around the world, American literature can evoke the urgency of crises unfolding today, even when that crisis does not touch a reader directly. If a non-migrant student reads Dragonfish, in which a woman escapes post-War Vietnam as a refugee only to fall victim to domestic abuse, maybe the ongoing relationship between foreign wars, displacement and vulnerability to gender-based violence becomes more clear, not only causally, but in terms of a human experience of war. Maybe a resident of Bethesda, Maryland, a posh DC suburb with an average home price of over $900,000, never looks three-hours south, where in rural Virginia a two-bedroom doublewide goes for $130,000 and the average income is $37,000. But they might read Blacktop Wasteland. These are popular crime novels from the last ten years - a tiny, single-genre sampling of an immense and diverse body of American literature. If novels can be democratic, these ones are. When literary works are brought into the public sphere through teaching, portraying anti-democratic factors like inequality and injustice, then they grant visibility to untold stories. They give readers a form of knowledge that requires more active imagination and investment of thought than any brush with statistics.

It´s easy to forget the strength of conceptual compounds American Studies professors handle everyday – democracy with freedom, ambition with opportunity, education with a clear view of inequality. Explosive stuff. Democracies require people to have access to a forum in which their opinions about these contested values can be safely voiced and publicly heard (Benhabib), and the literary classroom provides a forum for debating conflicting visions of a just and good society. The space of literature, even if it represents the same place and time in which we read, is always a space apart, so it forces us to discuss values and political priorities beyond the comfort of pre-defined discourses. There is no straight-party ticket in literary interpretation.

Finally, the U.S. itself functions as a social imaginary – an exemplary case study in segregation, but also civil rights; in poverty and how to escape it; in missionary zeal for humanitarianism and the perils of foreign invasion – and literature reveals America in all its moods and moments. Walt Whitman claimed that “the Unites States are essentially the greatest poem.” As a poetic experiment, the U.S. is both object and facilitator of interpretation. Whitman also claimed the poet “judges not as the judge judges but as the sun falling round a helpless thing.” On the international scene, the U.S. is not often a gentle judge, but its literature brings illumination.

Cassandra Falke is a professor of English literature at The Arctic University of Norway, where she leads the English section and the interdisciplinary phenomenology research group. She has taught in higher education for over twenty years. She is the author of two monographs and around forty articles and book chapters on topics ranging from liberal arts education to romantic poetry to human rights in literature. She has edited or co-edited four essay collections and two journal special issues. Much of her work concerns the ethics of representation in literature, especially in relation to working-class people and victims of state-sponsored violence. She investigates ways literature can challenge clear divisions of victim, perpetrator and witness, and champions the "common" reader's ability to read in complex, ethically meaningful ways. Her monograph, Global Human Rights Fiction is forthcoming. She is a former Fulbrighter and president of the American Studies Association of Norway.

 

 

 

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American Studies in the Next 75 Years: Navigating Democracy, Climate Change, and Global Challenges
Nina De Bettin Padolin - photo by Richard Schabetsberger
American Studies in the Next 75 Years: Navigating Democracy, Climate Change, and Global Challenges
By: Nina De Bettin Padolin 

Salzburg Global Fellow Nina De Bettin Padolin discusses her vision for the future of American studies

This op-ed piece is part of a series, written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program "Democracy on the Front Lines: Polarization, Culture and Resilience in America and the World."

From the mainstream radicalization by right-wingers to the incessant pumping of fossil fuels into the air, American Studies scholars have virtually anticipated such developments and provided tools to critically evaluate our prospects on the future and to suggest solutions in the next step. The field has always been good both at holding up a mirror to the world and examining extant injustices and at simultaneously pointing out exactly what can be done to counteract these tendencies, systemic predicaments, and institutional shortcomings.

Climate change and its impacts are one of the greatest crises humanity has faced, and will undoubtedly fuel our discussions in the decades to come. This year’s Salzburg Global Seminar session, Democracy on the Front Lines: Polarization, Culture and Resilience in America and the World, asked how scholars are dealing with a term that is currently in an unwelcome state of flux: democracy. As democracy and understanding(s) of national belonging will continue to change in the coming decades, American Studies must necessarily grapple with issues of economic hardship, the changing political landscape, and the role of humans on a planet that may become partially uninhabitable.

Activist scholarship and political discourse oriented toward strong foci on democracy are needed more than ever before. Non-Eurocentric ways of perceiving and structuring the world are being approached already and will become even more recognized. Research on and with Indigenous ecological epistemologies, conceived by and with Indigenous scholars and peoples in the Americas, provides a glimpse of future multidisciplinary focus areas in our field. This scholarship has been vocal about the fact that states and countries cannot operate in the future as they do today.

A brief glimpse into the achievements of American Studies’ past reveals that scholars’ critical perspective on U.S. shortcomings has helped shape the nation’s current landscapes.

America’s self-portrayal as the land of the free has been critically evaluated in recent decades by American Studies scholars. Furthermore, BIPOC scholarship is outspoken about the construction of nations, borders, and other “bounded wholes” (Levine 2015).

In recent decades, we have seen American Studies develop new fields when a changing world demanded it. The discussion of borders and nations has evolved into a much-needed discourse of planetary connections among people. Conceptualizing the existing rhizomic connections between humans and nature is one of the steps American Studies has taken to find viable solutions to an uncertain future. To give one example, some scholars have argued that relationships are becoming more reciprocal as opposed to material and technical. The solution to prevailing doomsday scenarios may, to some extent, be to conceive of a planetary future based on equality and equity.

Even if the future of our field sometimes seems uncertain, especially as funding becomes more difficult every year, the production of knowledge is undoubtedly essential for humanity’s future. Therefore, the relevance of our discipline will not diminish over the next 75 years, as it plays an important role in communicating social and institutional critique, particularly in times of geopolitical change and political uncertainty.

Which role, then, can American literary studies play? Literature and broad ranges of performances are powerful vehicles to communicate and encourage democratic values. The recent literary landscape has been characterized by democratizing developments. Two examples of this would be the successful coexistence of multiple canons and the constant updating of those with works by non-white, non-male authors. Despite recent bans on books in many states that predict other restrictions for the future, scholars of American Studies address the problematic and undemocratic aspects of these measures and will do so in the next 75 years.

Literature is, and always has been, a powerful means of conveying and approximating democratic values. Therefore, I see the next 75 years as bringing an even greater focus on the interconnectedness and interrelatedness of cultural and literary studies. Inclusive scholarship that addresses previously silenced voices and epistemology is a field that will matter more than ever in light of the crises afflicting the planet. With one eye on the past and our undivided attention to a more equal and reciprocal future, American Studies are strong contributors to assessing and shaping the future.

Nina De Bettin Padolin is a Ph.D. candidate in American literature and a project assistant at the Institute of American Studies at the University of Graz. Her dissertation explores ecocritical theater with a focus on planetarity and indigenous ecological knowledges. During the academic year 2020/2021, she served as a foreign language teaching assistant at Washington and Lee University in Virginia. In November 2021, she was awarded the "Talentförderungsprämie" (a stipend geared towards recognizing young talents) by the state of Upper Austria in the category "cultural studies and the humanities." She graduated from the University of Graz with a joint master's degree in English and American studies with honors and a master's degree in interdisciplinary gender studies.

 

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Celebrating Salzburg Global Women
Our featured female Fellows.
Celebrating Salzburg Global Women
By: Christina DeNatale 

Thank you to all the incredible women that have attended Salzburg Global programs, who continue to shape a better world and pave way for a brighter future

To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’ve highlighted some of the amazing women that have attended Salzburg Global programs within our five pillars. 

Education:
Ashlee Burnett, a Trinbagonian-born educator and advocate, is a 2022 Chevening Scholar pursuing an MSc in Education (Policy and International Development) at the University of Bristol. Ashlee participated in Salzburg Global’s 2022 program, “Education Transformation and Gender: Better Outcomes for Everyone.”

Olena Orzhel is a senior researcher at the Institute of Higher Education with the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine. She participated in Salzburg Global’s 2022 program, “Connecting and Supporting Ukrainian Civil Society in Time of War.”

Eva Keiffenheim is an independent associate for Big Change. She participated in Salzburg Global’s 2022 program, “Education Futures: Shaping A New Education Story.”

Peace & Justice:
Noyuri Mima is a professor at Future University Hakodate in Japan. Her research and development have focused on promoting learning, communication, and networking in science, technology, and art from a wide range of knowledge and experience in computer science, cognitive science, and education.

Sebabatso Manoeli-Lesame is the executive director at Columbia University's Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity. Former Acting Deputy CEO at DG Murray Trust, one of South Africa’s largest private foundations. Skilled at championing collaborative efforts with funders, government, private sector, and civil society.

Penny Low is the president and founder of Social Innovation Park Ltd in Singapore. Penny pioneered movements and entrepreneurship across the media, academic, private, public, and people sectors. A trusted global connector and innovator, she advises technology organizations on strategy and mindful leadership. 

Finance & Governance:
Amélie Champsaur is a partner at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. She leads the firm’s EU financial regulatory practice, advising EU and non-EU banks, infrastructures, sovereigns, investment funds, and other market participants on prudential regulation, governance and compliance, cyber-security, bank resolution, state aid in the financial sector, as well as related enforcement and litigation before the European Court of Justice.

Mathilde Mesnard is deputy director at the OECD - OCDE Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs (DAF). She is also the Coordinator for Climate and Green Finance. Mathilde’s current portfolio at the OECD covers financial markets, sustainable finance, corporate governance, and responsible business conduct. She was also the OECD Deputy Deputy Finance for the G20 and G7 Finance Tracks.

Melissa Obegi is president of Conduit Capital Partners, an impact investment platform that innovates financial products to mobilize capital for social and environmental change. She provides leadership for mission-critical business initiatives and is responsible for fiduciary oversight and implementation of its strategies.

Health:
Lorraine Sibanda is a lifelong activist for women's rights, workers and human rights. She is currently the President of StreetNet International. She is also the National President of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA), a pioneer organization that has revolutionized the struggle for the rights of informal economy workers in Zimbabwe.

Jennifer Okwudili is a Deputy Director at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and leads a team focused on policy, advocacy, and communications for gender equality. She is passionate about reducing inequalities and working to accelerate progress and exploring innovative approaches toward achieving policy and financial goals.

Sonia Malaspina is HR Director Italy & Greece at Danone. She developed key performance indicators that clearly demonstrates the value of care leave and support. She is debunking the idea that motherhood and fatherhood penalize companies. These experiences give companies professionals with stronger skills that can unleash their creativity, organizational abilities and lots of other skills that can be recognized and measured with Lifeed.

Culture: 
Chloe Hakim-Moore is an award-winning social entrepreneur, humanitarian, sociologist, and public speaker. Dedicated to actualizing a more joyful and just world, Hakim-Moore has worked with organizations worldwide to articulate and implement equitable systems' transformation. For her work, Chloe was awarded the Forbes 30 under 30 distinctions and asked to deliver a TEDx talk on the role of wellness in societal healing and liberation.

Chidinma Chikwe is a master's student at the University of Lodz. She is a project management and development professional passionate about advancing women's rights, gender equality, child protection, and the prevention and response to gender-based violence.

Anasuya Sengupta is the co-director and co-founder of Whose Knowledge?, a global multilingual campaign to center the knowledge of marginalized communities (the majority of the world) online. She has led initiatives in India and the USA, across the Global South, and internationally for over 20 years to amplify marginali

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Empowering Minds and Inspiring Hearts: Reflections on the Pune International Literary Festival 
Empowering Minds and Inspiring Hearts: Reflections on the Pune International Literary Festival 
By: Helia Nazari 

Salzburg Global’s Associate for Program and Engagement Helia Nazari recounts her time at PILF 

On December 2, 2022, the Pune International Literary Festival (PILF) marked its 10th anniversary and gathered like-minded authors, poets, activists, entrepreneurs, and storytellers worldwide to share and learn from each other. Part of a partnership with Salzburg Global Seminar, a select group of Fellows convened in Pune for a main-stage panel, engaging with event participants. The festival also hosted young students from the region to attend the sessions, contribute, and meet many of their favorite authors, creating a heartfelt atmosphere. As we face the many challenges of our times; events like PILF remind us of the power of literature and the arts to inspire empathy, understanding, and a sense of shared humanity. 

Last year, PILF’s theme was Mental Health and Empowerment. The Salzburg Global Seminar plenary panel focused on the philosophy of mental health and the need to integrate it into various forms of education, from school curriculum to games and teaching. I (Helia Nazari) moderated the panel and panelists included our Fellows Umaima Ehtasham, Romana Shaikh, and Parag Mankeekar. The panel discussion allowed Fellows to share stories on how they have become mental health advocates, and what our education system can do better. Furthermore, a group of Fellows from Salzburg Global's Japan-India Transformative Technology Network hosted a webinar on their project, Suno Sunao, during the online portion of the Festival. This project aims to empower underserved urban women and adolescent girls to become financially independent and support their families with the help of a dedicated application where the video is the primary service of engagement. 

This year marked the 75th anniversary of Salzburg Global Seminar, and as part of the celebrations, I hosted a conversation with Dr. Manjiri Prabhu, Founder of the festival, on the Schloss Leopoldskron, Past, and Present book. It includes the complete history of our home Schloss Leopoldskron, the founding of Salzburg Global Seminar, and what the future holds for the organization. The session was formatted in a storytelling way, and the audience consisted of young students and other participants who were enthusiastic and excited to one day come to one of our programs. In addition to fascinating conversations and panel discussions, the atmosphere at the festival felt like a breath of fresh air, and a sense of community that can only be found in stories and poetry was created.  

The festival also allowed me to host a Salzburg Global Fellows’ reunion in Mumbai with Fellows who attended our programs from the 1980s to 2022. During the reunion, old friendships were reunited, and new ones were created.  

The Pune International Literary Festival created a sense of camaraderie, where individuals with diverse backgrounds and perspectives can come together in a spirit of mutual respect and understanding. PILF is a celebration of literature, culture, and ideas and a reminder of the power of human connection. Through events like these, we can create a community of individuals who share a passion for literature, culture, and ideas and find innovative solutions to the challenges we face.  

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From the US' "America First" Policy to China's Belt and Road Initiative
Photo by Richard Schabetsberger
From the US' "America First" Policy to China's Belt and Road Initiative
By: Joshy M. Paul 

Salzburg Global Fellow Joshy Paul writes about the United States' previous example of democracy and China's expanding influence

This op-ed piece is part of a series, written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program "Democracy on the Front Lines: Polarization, Culture and Resilience in America and the World."

When World War II ended, the United States took the initiative to rebuild a new world order – the liberal international order. However, it was not something that the U.S. had newly created but instead something they sought to translate its domestic practices such as democracy, market economy, rule of law, freedom and prosperity, and respect for global commons at the international level. 

Indeed, this has become the standard norm for modernity and the U.S. became the champion of liberal democracy, and the countries joined with the western system have embraced democracy as their domestic systems. Previously, many of them were imperial powers, who had no experience of democracy. Similarly, the newly independent countries have also adopted democracy as a form of government. Some have survived, while many have fallen into authoritarianism. With the end of the cold war, former Soviet bloc countries joined the league of democracy, and now the U.S. has formed a democratic alliance comprising India, Japan, and Australia, popularly known as Quad (Quadrilateral Security Initiative) against authoritarian China.

The world economic system has been preserved by the unwavering economic leadership of the U.S., starting with the Bretton Woods systems, then with globalization, and later free and open global order to challenge the Communist-Socialist forms of Russia and China. However, after the 2008 financial crisis, there has been a tendency toward an inward-looking approach by the U.S.. This was started by the Obama administration but heightened by Donald Trump's “America first” policy. This shattered the confidence of  other democracies who entrusted great faith in the U.S. to drive the global economy with a free market and free trade principles. However, a big question is naturally emerging in various parts of the globe: can the U.S. lead the global economy the way it did during the second half of the 20th century?

On the other side of the spectrum, China is expanding its economic influence across the globe with its latest strategy of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) where state-owned enterprises with government funds are the investors. Previously, the U.S. set the standards and rules globally which strengthened U.S. multinational corporations throughout the world, while with the BRI Beijing is looking to promote a "Chinese-led globalisation" with Chinese rules and standards. This results in two competing models- a liberal and market-oriented economy of the West and a state-owned enterprises-led authoritarian model of the rest led by China, reinvigorating the old East-West debate. 

Importantly, middle-income countries have been looking at the U.S. for market and technology to strengthen their economic position. For instance, the East Asian tiger thrived economically due to the beneficial trade policies of the U.S. in which they found a good market for their finished and semi-finished products. This is now threatening because of the Trump administration’s “America first” policy, while the Biden administration has not reverted, focusing on “China decoupling”, a trade restrictive practice. President Trump withdrew from the Trans-pacific Trade Partnership (TPP), but the Biden government has indicated it had no plans to join the new trade forum Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), formed by the TPP members, barring the U.S.. The new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) promoted by President Biden to counter China in the Indo-Pacific has failed to generate enthusiasm among middle-income countries, particularly in Southeast Asia, because it gives no incentives for them to find the U.S. market. 

The world expects the United States to be a good rule maker, facilitator, and promoter, that benefits all sections of society across the globe. However, this belief has changed. The more the U.S. retreat from the international liberal economic order, the greater China increases its influence in the rest of the world. 

Joshy Paul is currently a research fellow at the Centre for Airpower Studies (CAPS), New Delhi. At the CAPS he is focusing on India and Major Powers, US-China relations, and US and Asia. He has seventeen years of research-cum-academic experience on Asian Security, East Asian Affairs and Maritime Security of the Indo-Pacific. Before joining CAPS, he has been an Assistant Professor at the Department of International Studies, School of Law, Christ University, Bangalore, and also with a premier naval think tank, National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi. He has published a number of articles in reputed journals which include India Review, South Asian Survey, International Studies, Air Power Journal, and Maritime Affairs.

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Promoting the Values of Democracy and Human Rights
Photo by Richard Schabetsberger
Promoting the Values of Democracy and Human Rights
By: Mark Elliott 

Salzburg Global Fellow Mark Elliott reflects on Salzburg Global Seminar, the UDHR and what the United States could learn from them

This op-ed piece is part of a series, written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program "Democracy on the Front Lines: Polarization, Culture and Resilience in America and the World."

The founding of the Salzburg Seminar in American Studies as it was called in 1947 coincided with the creation of a committee to draft a “Declaration of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms” that would provide the newly-formed United Nations with a set of specific, normative principles to support and promote around the world. The committee, headed by Eleanor Roosevelt, might have been expected to produce a manifesto of “American principles” to be used for anti-communist or neo-colonial propaganda. What it produced instead was something quite different. A diverse group of academic, religious, and political leaders from across the globe including communist nations contributed to an expansive list of thirty inviolable rights that include traditional liberal-democratic rights alongside social and economic rights as well as visionary new international rights like Article 14’s “right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution” and Article’s 16’s “equal right” of men and women “to marry and found a family.” The document went far beyond rights guaranteed in the United States laws and constitutions and was quickly deemed too radical to be a binding declaration and so was adopted by the UN as an “aspirational” statement of values. 

In its 75th year, the now Salzburg Global Seminar should take inspiration from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and its origins. Although the document did not instantly become a legally enforceable “bill of rights,” it set an agenda that has led to a body of international law, treaties, courts, and institutions that grown more effective over time. Powerful interests within the United States have often felt threatened by it and the UDHR has served more often to indict the U.S. for its human rights failures than it has propaganda. In a similar vein, Salzburg Global promotes the values of democracy and human rights in its “American Studies” program, while not fearing to be critical of all anti-democratic forces at work in the world, including those within the United States itself. Whether the United States or any national government can be trusted to stand behind an expansive human rights agenda is doubtful without international bodies to pressure them (or punishing them when possible). Educational and academic deliberative bodies are essential too—without constant dialogue about what constitutes democracy, inherent rights or social justice, these concepts weaken.  

The UDHR and the United Nations itself were created in the wake of the greatest failure of the modern international system—the Second World War with all its attendant mass murder and destruction. Their attempt to articulate an international agenda based on human rights and dignity were meant to set a new path that would avoid repeating the horrors that the world had just endured. Maintaining peace, enjoying freedom and achieving economic security were their goals. Their wisdom was hard-won and the UDHR contains wisdom in short supply at the present time. Once again, the same forces that led the world into the global disaster of 1937-1945 have returned. Hyper-nationalism, cynicism, authoritarianism, racism, economic insecurity, and fear. China is a rising, expansionist empire not unlike Japan of the 1930s while Russia is an aggrieved, defeated great power trying to reconstitute its lost empire, not unlike Nazi Germany. The international community must confront these authoritarian states and halt the spread of their principles and methods. The United States has never seemed less prepared to do this on its own. Without international solidarities to bolster the democratic nations, the will to overcome authoritarianism may never materialize.   

Salzburg Global Seminar should continue to emulate the inclusiveness of the drafting committee of the UDHR because a diverse body of deliberators will deepen and broaden definitions and understandings of democratic values.

Mark Elliott is an associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro where is he is also the associate head of the history department. His current research focuses on ideas of human rights and American nationalism in the nineteenth century. He is the author of Color-Blind Justice: Albion Tourgée and the Quest for Racial Equality (2006). The book won the Avery O. Craven Award from the Organization of American Historians. He also coedited Undaunted Radical: The Selected Writings and Speeches of Albion Tourgée (2010) with John David Smith. 
 

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Changing the Narrative of "Make America Great Again"
Photo by Richard Schabetsberger
Changing the Narrative of "Make America Great Again"
By: Ruby Maloni 

Salzburg Global Fellow Ruby Maloni examines the current dynamics affecting the U.S.’ image and influence worldwide

This op-ed piece is part of a series, written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program "Democracy on the Front Lines: Polarization, Culture and Resilience in America and the World."

As an Indian who has always lived in her own country, my personal impression of the image of the United States has been positive, in fact, a “fabulous” one, replete with benevolent power and starlit glamour. This was especially true during my teenage years (during the “swinging” 70s), when like all young people worldwide, my holistic impression was that  America led the way in music, movies and popular culture. No politician could be handsomer than President Kennedy, no musician could be more electric than Elvis Presley, no actress could be more beautiful than Liz Taylor. The image of the U.S. has held the world in thrall much earlier than the 1970s, and still attracts throngs to its shores.

Today, after visiting the U.S. several times, impressions and images have changed. Reality is far removed from imagination. Poverty and homelessness stare you in the face and cannot be avoided, even while walking down Manhattan or the Bay area. Racial tension, the opioid crisis and other negative elements in the U.S. are commonly known to American watchers all over the world.

American global influence has eroded rapidly in the new millennium. The “golden age” of the U.S., which mesmerised the globe, seems to have vaporised into thin air. While teaching my graduate students of history at Mumbai University, the roots of America’s unprecedented prosperity and emergence as a world power have been discussed in detail. The country’s resilience in the “frontier” days, its rapid development in both the industrial and agricultural sectors, the progressive movement of the early 20th century which tried to make right many wrongs, are some of the factors which particularly interest me and my students.

But there are many discordant and unreconciled historical roots which still echo at present. In fact, they are raising their heads in new formations. This is especially true of the racial and ethnic question. Affirmative action is being consistently undertaken since the post-civil war and reconstruction period. Yet, what strengthens the hands of far right and white supremacist groups today? Is this due to the role of politicians at the lowest and highest levels of governance, or that of the media? January 6, 2021, has given a massive blow to the image of the U.S. worldwide. It was incredible and almost surreal to watch a country like the U.S., with its strong constitution and rule of law, descend to this abysmal and savage level. Television and other media formats made these images vivid, such as that of rabid citizens erecting gallows for the hanging of the vice president.  It will take a long time for the U.S. to repair the damage to its image. America’s image as a mega violent country can do with a makeover.

The role of the U.S. as the peacekeeper of the world and as a super power is also profoundly transformed. The use of its military might in Iraq and Afghanistan have not yielded any positive outcomes. Vietnam did not teach any lessons to the policy makers, and body bags kept returning home, to the dismay and sorrow of its citizens. The rise of terrorism and 9/11 have created a fear psychosis among American people, as never seen before. The U.S. has always been prone to an isolationist policy and it would seem there is a return to this once again. To many observers in the wider world, this makes America look weak and powerless. 

Current world dynamics are ever-changing. China looms large for all countries –economically, politically, and militarily. The Taiwan issue is a tinder box ready to be lit. The Ukraine crisis has been going on for a protracted period, holding a Damocles sword over the anxious world’s head. In the U.S., preparations are being made for any impending nuclear disaster. All this dampens the world’s dependence and hope on the U.S. as a peacekeeper. The country appears to have a diminished sense of self confidence and strength. It is the task of politicians, media and the people to address such crucial issues and do their best to bolster their country in every way and recapture the elusive vision of the past “glory days”.

Still, there is hope. Immature and self-serving politicians need to be kept at arm’s length, to prevent and preclude further damage to America’s image and influence, and most importantly, to the tenets of its constitution. The U.S. dollar continues to hold its own globally, which is a major “influencer”. Therefore, the American economy needs to be kept on an even keel,  preventing any chance of 1929 or 2008 from happening again. 

“Make America Great Again”, divorced from its specific political affiliations and sloganeering, does make sense!

America’s overall image around the world remains largely positive, although there are variations among regions and countries. As the world’s two largest democracies, India and the U.S. have close historical bonds of shared liberalism and freedom, which need to be strengthened, with the best possible efforts from all quarters.

Ruby Maloni is former Head and Professor of the Department of History, Mumbai University. She has been teaching and framing the syllabi at the graduate level for the History of the United States at Mumbai University for more than thirty years. She has mentored many students conducting research on American Studies. She has participated in two earlier sessions of the Salzburg Seminar and found herself to be academically enriched from the experience. She is Director, Historian's Atelier, which does mostly pro bono work for scholars and social scientists. She is an alumnus of both Calcutta and Mumbai University, having done her graduation from the former institution, and obtained the master's and doctoral degrees from the latter. 
                                                                         

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Defending US Development in the Indo-pacific Region: Analysis From Nepal
Photo by Richard Schabetsberger
Defending US Development in the Indo-pacific Region: Analysis From Nepal
By: Pawan Poudel 

Salzburg Global Fellow Pawan Poudel reflects on the U.S.' declining influence in Nepal, leaving way for China

This op-ed piece is part of a series, written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program "Democracy on the Front Lines: Polarization, Culture and Resilience in America and the World."

Xi Jinping has recently become the most powerful political figure in the world's biggest populous and second-largest economy. As from neighboring countries, Nepal has seen China's proactive diplomatic involvement in recent years. After the increasing strategic programs being introduced in the Asia and Oceania regions and becoming closer to the new era of Xi's new renewal for the infinitive terms, China has become prominent and vocal against the U.S. and its strategies.

China was regarded as a silent power and in the global context, it had the belief that it will only conduct its diplomatic activities by being non-vocal. But Xi has gathered enormous power in handling the country's policy for the long term, which will directly affect the U.S. and its policies in its Indo-Pacific strategy.

Because of its long and strict covid restrictions, China has increased and regained its diplomatic strength in the Indo-Pacific region to tackle the U.S. influence. Along with its security-based Indo-Pacific strategy, the U.S. has at the same time, started another military collaboration platform with Australia, India, and Japan.

As the U.S. has felt the rising threat from China, it has expanded its collaboration and partnership programs in the region to tackle and prevent influence. But due to China's proactive diplomatic effort and recently being established as a towering figure in the country, the country has shown the U.S. strong resistance.

Disinformation and failure of the U.S.' State Partnership Program in Nepal

A few months ago, Nepal was in the process of implementing the U.S.’ assistance program, MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation). In the meantime, China mobilized its diplomatic power more vocally. The Chinese high-level delegation along with its diplomatic representative played a strong role in preventing the program. Traditionally aligned with the establishment of the country, China, this time favored left ideological parties in fueling against the sentiment, citing this will allow U.S. to mobilize military forces inside the country to guard it. Along with this, a disinformation campaign went so viral that the effort was seen as an anti-China military agreement.

After long dealings among political parties and to prevent more protests, some of the government parties issued a statement citing that this won't be part of any military alliance and will revoke the agreement if it happened like that. They also get pressure to convince the U.S. to accept their announcement with clarification in the agreement. After long discussion and protest between the ruling and opposition, the government, with difficulties, has become able to get approval from the parliament.

Just after this, another U.S. strategic program came to existence. A State Partnership Program (SPP) came to the surface in the political arena, after it nearly being endorsed by parliament. To tackle China, the U.S. tried its best to convince Nepal to form an alliance with the U.S. Utah National Guard to make its military stronger in disaster risk management. But after being fueled by sentiment against the U.S.’ Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Nepalese leadership failed to convince of its purpose. After a strong vocal protest from China, Nepal declared it would not join the SPP.

These two incidents show that China has become able to utilize its diplomatic strength in the region to prevent the rise of the U.S.' presence and limit its influence over the South China sea, Taiwan, and the Indo-Pacific region. And recently, being elected for infinity with its own principle of reviving Chinese glory with a strong military presence and threatening Taiwan and its allies against possible freedom, will act more in the future.

U.S.’ military vs China's assistance with the Belt and Road Initiative

The U.S. has failed to support the Indo-Pacific region after the Trump administration's priority of more domestic interest, rather than its military alliance. China, however, is trying its best to expand its need for economic support by developing bigger infrastructure. The main aim of the Belt and Road initiative (BRI) is to expand its influence through economic diplomacy. BRI has become China's soft tool to expand its diplomatic presence and tackle the U.S.' policy of promoting rule-based, democratic, and rights-based approaches and is gaining popularity. 

“More engagement, more benefit”

Previously, the U.S. had tried its best to engage more with civil society by promoting democratic practices, human rights, media freedom, and good governance. But after the Trump administration's domestic politics, foreign civil society felt less prioritized. If we look at the case of Nepal, this has resulted in China playing a key role in influencing society, which resulted in a negative view of the MCC and SPP programs. Disinformation campaigns especially played a key role in creating that perception. This gap has resulted in China becoming proactive in neighboring foreign policy especially in the case of Nepal. 

Among the public, because of one-sided information and because of the decreased engagement in the public, media and civil society, the U.S.' hand in Nepal significantly decreased.

To prevent this, the U.S. should start over and engage civil society again. To tackle one-sided and disinformation, it should plan and prioritize engagement programs. This could play a vital role in the promotion of democratic practices and increase of the U.S.’ influence in the region.

Pawan Poudel is a senior sub-editor for Galaxy 4k, the nation's leading news television, where he reports on diplomatic, political and social affairs with a keen eye on foreign relations, political development and human rights. He has nearly two decades of experience in the field of journalism. Pawan has successfully conducted various public debates on democracy, public diplomacy and local development. 
 

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Pallet, Palate, Palette
Lucas Koski. Photo by Richard Schabetsberger
Pallet, Palate, Palette
By: Lucas Koski 

Salzburg Global Artist in Residence Lucas Koski writes about his background from hospitality to artist and his experience at Schloss Leopoldskron

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Sharing New Ideas About Emerging Education Issues
A photo of a child running through a field during sunset pretending to be a rocket.
Sharing New Ideas About Emerging Education Issues
By: Salzburg Global Seminar 

Read articles by Salzburg Global Fellows published via the Transforming Education channel on Diplomatic Courier

In 2022, Salzburg Global Seminar launched a dedicated Transforming Education channel with Diplomatic Courier, which sees new content published on a regular basis.

The Transforming Education channel offers a platform for sharing new ideas about critical and emerging issues in education, including social, emotional, and creative skills, psychosocial support and well-being, ecological education, and education leadership.

Since October, 16 articles have been published. This has included a mini-series on different aspects of education transformation in Africa and an article on the difference between education reform and transformation, which was followed by a three-part piece on a new global vision for education.

Salzburg Global Fellows from Education Transformation and Gender: Better Outcomes for Everyone co-authored a piece on women and girls in STEM, and in the run-up to Education Cannot Wait's High-Level Financing Conference, the channel published pieces on system strengthening for education crises and on the moral imperative for refugee education.

Salzburg Global is grateful to everyone who has submitted articles and to Diplomatic Courier for the partnership. If you are interested in writing for the channel, please email Dominic Regester, director of the Salzburg Global Center for Education Transformation.

Explore several of our articles below.

The Moral Imperative of Refugee Education

February 16, 2023

Refugees have not only their physical and mental well-being jeopardized but also their education - which endangers every aspect of their future. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi argues this means to bolster education, we must invest in development, human rights, and peace.

Tomorrow's Education Crises Require Preparedness, System-Strengthening

February 15, 2023

Protracted crises like armed conflicts and climate change impacts are disrupting education systems-and those disruptions are likely to escalate. We need more resilient and smartly funded systems, particularly in low- and lower-middle-income countries, write Hollie Warren and Marc Neesam.

Women are Shunning STEM, That has to Change

February 10, 2023

Women are still grossly underrepresented in STEM and ICT programs despite clear evidence that bias claiming they are less suited to these roles is wrong. This is a problem, but SGS Fellows Lara Zwittlinger, Amy Kardel, and Horacio Alejandro Reyes Leon suggest actionable steps to change things.

Key Components of a Global Education Vision

February 1, 2023

We are at a unique point in time where not only do we have need for a global education vision but there are also conditions in place that give us powerful opportunities to adopt such a vision. Pilvi Torsti, Vishal Talreja, and Joanne McEachen illustrate what some components of that vision would be

Bringing a New Global Education Vision to Fruition

January 31, 2023

Despite the many challenges posed by our fast-changing world, this moment in history also offers us exciting new opportunities that can make it possible to proceed and make a global difference in education within one generation, write Pilvi Torsti, Vishal Talreja, and Joanne McEachen.

Adopt a Global Vision, Curriculum to Meet UN Transforming Education Goals

January 27, 2023

National education systems are no longer enough. A new, global vision and curriculum for education systems is key to attaining the UN’s goals for education transformation, write Pilvi Torsti, Vishal Talreja, and Joanne McEachen.

A New Definition of the Next Normal

January 19, 2023

It took a pandemic for us to acknowledge the fault lines in our “normal” way of being. We need to reframe our definitions of normal, for it is not normal for a young person to be caught in the throes of an irrelevant definition of success, write Dream a Dream's Vishal Talreja & Dr. Varsha Pillai.

The Difference Between Education Transformation and Reform

December 11, 2022

We are in a global learning crisis. To solve this challenge and create education systems that allow all children to thrive, we must collectively co-define and build upon new purposes for education while improving the existing system, writes Eva Keiffenheim.

Africa's Education Opportunity

November 27, 2022

Africa is on the cusp of an education transformation. The greatest challenge currently facing schools in Africa is enabling students to develop a capacity for learning, and several countries, including Sierra Leone, are determined to do better, writes President of Sierra Leone Julius Maada Bio.

Transforming Higher Education in Africa

November 1, 2022

COVID-19 has caused a global education crisis that affects nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 190 countries. But the pandemic has had a particularly devastating effect on already-impaired universities in Africa, highlighting the urgent need for reform, writes Moha Ennaji.

Tanzania Promotes Pre-Primary Education Interactive Learning

October 14, 2022

Tanzania currently suffers a shortage of well-trained teachers, teaching/learning material, and appropriate spaces for teaching, especially in early-childhood education. To improve this condition, several initiatives have been adopted, writes Hawa Selemani and Salvatory Alute.

Mainstreaming Values and Life Skills Education in Kenya's Curriculum

October 12, 2022

Like adults, children face challenges from the dynamics of their society. Education should provide tools for learners to face these challenges, equipping them not only with cognitive tools but also values and life skills that will help them thrive in the modern era, writes Grace Ngugi Maina.

Transformation in Education in South Africa's Western Cape

October 9, 2022

Like other education departments worldwide, those in South Africa’s Western Cape are exploring ways of transforming education to make schooling more relevant and meaningful, with numerous changes and innovations having been implemented in recent years, writes Glynis Schreuder.

A Gift to my Younger Self: Building the Classroom I Never Had

October 7, 2022

There are design features in the schooling system that have acquired a quality of being sacred and untouchable. This is a blind spot when we talk about transforming education, but we must challenge ourselves to imagine an education experience many of us never had, writes Enseña Perú’s Franco Mosso.

Inspirational Leadership Can Usher in a Better Future of Education

October 4, 2022

Our world is evolving at a breakneck pace, but our global approach to education has evolved only slowly, inviting calls for a transformation of education systems. However, for this change to occur, we need leadership in schools and across society, writes Alex Battison.

The Case for Global Competence in Education

October 3, 2022

If we consider transforming all essential aspects of the education system post-COVID-19—including content knowledge, civic preparedness, developing social and emotional skills, and empathy—we must also deeply embed global competence into the education systems of the future, writes Jennifer Manise.

 

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Developing a Whole Systems Approach for a Less Violent Future
A photo of Dan Wilhelm speaking at Salzburg Global SeminarDan Wilhelm speaking at Salzburg Global Seminar
Developing a Whole Systems Approach for a Less Violent Future
By: Alexandra Alden 

Dan Wilhelm, president of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, discusses the opportunities that have emerged since the creation of the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative

The Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative seeks to tackle youth violence and promote youth safety and criminal justice reform. The initiative is supported by three partners: The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the David Rockefeller Fund.

In February 2023, Daniel F. Wilhelm, president of The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, spoke with Salzburg Global Seminar about the Foundation’s research agenda, new approaches, whether violence is becoming more prevalent, and what’s emerged from the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative so far.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Alex: What are the new research agendas the Foundation is developing with respect to youth violence?

Dan: We're very interested in the issue of democracy and how violence threatens democratic institutions, norms, and practices. We are in the process of planning a new project that looks at that topic. Youth violence fits to the extent that we seem to be at a period in world history where young people feel increasingly alienated and disconnected from the systems of government that are supposed to keep them safe and protect them.

Alex: Why is that?

Dan: In many places, it’s because these systems have failed young people. Our continued interest in youth violence, how to understand it better, and how to prevent it will be a key part of how we look at this issue in relation to broader threats [to] democracy.

Alex: What has come out of the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative since 2021?

Dan: I think the initiative here has provided some very rich opportunities to develop a more coherent understanding of what youth violence means. As the participants in the [program] have noted repeatedly, there is no such thing as a youth justice system. There are, in fact, many different systems and factors that affect young people, their safety, and their propensity toward violence.

The topic is difficult and hard to define. Accordingly, we need to examine it from a variety of perspectives, not just through a US or European lens. Beyond that, we need to further sharpen the definition of youth violence in order to more effectively prevent and ameliorate it.

Alex: Are there any approaches you've discovered since you've been here you think could be very useful for the US?

Dan: The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation is primarily a research organization, so what I think I've been most impressed by is the high quality of research that has emerged globally to examine the occurrence and prevention of youth violence.

One of our colleagues from Scotland, for example, has been developing research for nearly two decades that looks at violence reduction from a public health perspective, placing greater emphasis on epidemiological and criminological approaches rather than traditional modes of looking at policing practices. 

Other Fellows from the United Kingdom have been engaged in an extensive effort to catalog and evaluate the worldwide evidence base of research related to youth violence – how to measure it, prevent it, and respond to it. Their work complements efforts in the United States that have more broadly rated existing crime and violence research. But their specific focus on youth makes this undertaking especially relevant to our conversations in Salzburg and potentially valuable in developing effective practices and policies aimed particularly at youth violence. 

Alex: Do you think funding should be equal across different research programs?

Dan: Well, in an ideal world, there would be plenty of money to support all types of research efforts. But the unfortunate reality is that any funding institution, even very well-resourced governments, has limited resources. All must make decisions about which projects are most reflective of their interests, which can produce the most useful knowledge, and which have the greatest likelihood of success. So, sadly, it’s unrealistic to think that all projects would be funded equally.

Furthermore, not all projects are of equal quality in terms of their rigor, conceptual design, or research methodology. So, money tends to go to those researchers who can meet the highest standards. But, some institutions, like Guggenheim, will encourage researchers with a promising idea who have been denied funding to do some further work on their research designs and reapply later. We try to be helpful and give worthy applicants second chances.

Alex: What are the Foundation’s plans with respect to research on populist threats to democracy?

Dan: We’ve already done some work by looking at the rise of white nationalism and other extremist groups in the United States. A great deal of attention is suddenly being paid to this threat after having been largely underappreciated in recent years. Obviously, the events of January 6th have focused new attention on this in the US.

We will also look at the rise of political violence both in the US and in Western Europe with an eye to understanding more fully the relationship between political violence and the phenomenon of democratic decline that we’re witnessing in Europe and North America.

Alex: Do you think that violence is becoming more prevalent in general?

Dan: If you follow what certain scholars, like Steven Pinker at Harvard, say, there has never been a better time to be alive. He says that the risk of death at the hands of another human being is the lowest it’s ever been in recorded history. 

More relevant to the topic of this [program] and Guggenheim’s work generally is our interest in developing – and communicating – a better understanding of contemporary violence. In part, this is necessary because of relentless media narratives which create and amplify the perception that violence is out of control and rising at alarming rates. In the US context, this is particularly portrayed to be the case when it comes to violent crime crimes committed by strangers, youth violence, political violence, and mass shootings. While all these are serious issues that deserve vigorous research and analysis and energetic policy responses, the reality of each of these topics is far different from how they are portrayed in the media and on social media. Facts and context will be essential to restoring some perspective so these problems can be understood and acted on in appropriate and beneficial ways.

For example, if you pay attention to traditional and social media, as most of us do, one would think that democracy itself is at an extinction moment – the recent abortive coup in Germany, the attack on the Capitol in Washington, and other extremist events demonstrate conclusively that political violence is out of control and democracy hangs by a thread. There may well be sufficient reasons to be concerned about the future of democratic governance in the West, but research indicates that, while having increased, incidents of political violence in the United States are still quite rare. 

One of the ways that we're trying to be useful is to identify facts about the actual dangerousness of our times and ask what is the appropriate amount of alarm that we should be sounding about, say, political violence. When we have a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of a particular threat, we will be better positioned to do something about it. 

Alex: What kind of future do you want to be a part of?

Dan: I hope, a less violent one. The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation exists to try to make a positive difference in the world by developing and applying knowledge to answer really tough questions [such as] "Why do people do harm to other people?" and to ask how we can understand such phenomena better so that we can prevent them.


Dan Wilhelm was a participant in the Salzburg Global program “A Whole Systems Approach to Justice: Creating a Brighter and Safer Future for Today’s Youth,” which is a part of the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative. The program was hosted in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the David Rockefeller Fund.

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Bridging Divides and Working Together
Lisel Petis speaking at Salzburg Global SeminarLisel Petis speaking at Salzburg Global Seminar
Bridging Divides and Working Together
By: Christina DeNatale 

Lisel Petis, resident senior fellow for criminal justice and civil liberties at R Street, explains what she sees as the biggest gaps in criminal justice reform  

Lisel Petis is a resident senior fellow for criminal justice and civil liberties at R Street, a public policy research organization. She recently participated in Salzburg Global Seminar’s A Whole System Approach to Justice: Creating a Brighter and Safer Future for Today’s Youthprogram, which is part of the multi-year Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Christina: What got you into youth justice reform work?

Lisel: So, I was a prosecutor for several years, and certainly, as a prosecutor, I mean, I appreciated being a prosecutor. I think most people that are prosecutors are doing it for good reasons, but you do see some things are just broken into a  system. But after that, I started working with victims. You see here how the system is even more broken for victims. When I also served in my local city council, and just from a budgetary standpoint and a governmental standpoint, you got to see some of the issues going on. So, I think, between all those different examples, or all those experiences, it made me just realize there's so much more work we could do to fix the system.

Christina: What are the biggest gaps in justice reform?

Lisel: There's a lot I focus on some of the things that I think not a lot of people focus on. [For example], training specifically for prosecutors. Prosecutors wield an immense amount of power in the courtroom and on people's lives. They are trained on how to win trials and how to do their job, but they are rarely trained on mass incarceration or the impacts of detention. So, to me, that is a huge area that just actually should be low-hanging fruit. 

Christina: What needs to get done that isn’t?

Lisel: I think, again, I want to try and see something that's different than [finding] the easy answers. But to me, it's different people on different sides working together. So, we're seeing a lot of people who are either in the reform space or they're in the pro-police space, and they're working on their own agendas in their own silos instead of trying to cross the bridge and do it together. I'm finding better legislation and more sustainable things coming out of those collaborations where people can actually work together. You see them in some areas, I shouldn’t say it’s not happening anywhere, but I just don't feel like it's happening enough.


Lisel Petis was a participant at the Salzburg Global program A Whole System Approach to Justice: Creating a Brighter and Safer Future for Today’s Youth, which is part of a multi-year series Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice. The program was hosted in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation and the David Rockefeller Fund.

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Maintaining a Strong Moral Compass in a Complicated World
Goodwin Liu in conversation at Salzburg Global SeminarGoodwin Liu in conversation at Salzburg Global Seminar
Maintaining a Strong Moral Compass in a Complicated World
By: Christina DeNatale 

Goodwin Liu, associate justice of the California Supreme Court shares what inspires him as a leader

As an associate justice on the California Supreme Court, Goodwin Liu takes inspiration from many different places, but especially young people. 

“Young people sort of come into the world and combat issues as if it's the very first time, which it is for them,” he said. “And they're not jaded by decades of experience, and so you want to be able to have that freshness and not lose inspiration just because you've been around the block many times, and you know how slow change can be."

Before his appointment to the California Supreme Court, Goodwin was a law professor and associate dean at the University of California Berkley School of Law and a visiting professor at Harvard University. Part of the reason Goodwin stayed close to teaching is because of young people, stating, “you never want to lose the idealism that young people have.”

Liu’s decision to attend Salzburg Global’s A Whole System Approach to Justice: Creating a Brighter and Safer Future for Today’s Youth program was mostly out of curiosity. 

“My work as a judge has intersected with juvenile justice, actually, quite frequently. And I’m not an expert in this area, but I’m here to learn,” said Goodwin, who emphasized the importance of learning from experts. “One of the most important things is to cross national perspectives, which is something sorely lacking in most American contexts.” 

Goodwin also finds inspiration in other leaders’ commitment to a cause and that sense of a shared purpose.  

Notably, Goodwin clerked for fellow Salzburg Global Fellow Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the US Supreme Court, who he described as an amazing person.

“Tremendous tenacity. Tremendous life story, a tremendous perseverance in the face of many challenges, both personal and professional in real life,” said Goodwin. “And I think when you see someone overcome those challenges and still do it with a kind of hopefulness that the world is not just destined to be wrong or bad or whatever, but you can actually do something about it. I think it's pretty inspiring.”

He stressed the importance of having a strong moral compass as a leader. “You have to have a sense of what you feel are the injustices in the world. And I don't mean like ideologically, I mean through careful observation, study and experience,” Goodwin said. “Sometimes you have to kind of observe as such, I mean, the world is complicated, and it's not black and white. But every so often, you have to encounter a situation and just say, ‘I’m sorry, but that’s just wrong,’ and know that. That is the motivation for doing something about it. Making a change.”

In the future, Goodwin hopes to see youth justice issues more humanized. “As judges, policymakers and advocates, it’s crucial to be grounded in research and data and have [an] evidence base for what we do…[B]ut what really moves people is their hearts,” he said. “You need to make issues sort of real and almost emotional for them…And that’s hard to do at scale.”


Goodwin Liu was a participant at the Salzburg Global program A Whole System Approach to Justice: Creating a Brighter and Safer Future for Today’s Youth, which is part of a multi-year series Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice. The program was hosted in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation and the David Rockefeller Fund. 
 

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Forging a New Way Forward
From left to right, photos of Tess Peacock, Rosette Sifa Vuninga, Nontsikelelo Dlulani, and Enhle Mpungose at Salzburg Global SeminarFrom left to right - Tess Peacock, Rosette Sifa Vuninga, Nontsikelelo Dlulani, and Enhle Mpungose
Forging a New Way Forward
By: Aaisha Dadi Patel 

Tess Peacock, Rosette Sifa Vuninga, Nontsikelelo Dlulani, and Enhle Mpungose reflect on the challenges facing South Africa and possible solutions

South Africa is 29 years into a democracy, underpinned by a constitution often lauded as one of the best in the world. 

Nevertheless, challenges remain. A recent report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (Gitoc), published in September 2022, notes:

"Our assessment of 15 illicit markets traces how organized crime has flourished in South Africa and highlights its profound social, economic and political harms. Violence – always present in society – has become embedded in the evolving criminal economy; depredation of the natural environment and critical infrastructure has run rampant; and entrenched gangs and extortion networks have sought to establish criminalized forms of governance that operate beyond the remit of the state monopoly. Its victims can be found across the social spectrum, but invariably South Africa's poorest citizens have suffered the most."

Between 14 and 19 May 2022, during the first in-person program of the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety & Justice initiative, Salzburg Global asked Tess Peacock, Nontsikelelo Dlulani, Enhle Mpungose, and Rosette Sifa Vuninga for their thoughts on how the country can look at forging a new way forward in the context of justice and inclusion.

Tess Peacock

Director, Equality Collective, South Africa

Equality Collective is based in a remote part of the Eastern Cape, South Africa, and aims to work with community groups across the poorest municipalities in the Eastern Cape to build a rural justice network fighting for ukulingana nokulingana ngoku ("Real Equality Now!"). Tess is a trained lawyer.

"There have been strides of improvement in the livelihoods of millions of people over the past 28 years. I think our biggest challenge as we move into the next decade of democracy is we need to have a serious reckoning with accountability. There's no accountability [in] our system, and there [are] no consequences for people who are supposed to be public servants but don't serve the people... If we don't improve methods of accountability, we're not going to improve trust in the justice system. We're not going to improve inclusion and have a sense that people believe in the justice system in South Africa. While we might have an independent judiciary, that doesn't mean anything to people who are waiting eight years for their cases, and it doesn't lend itself to building trust with [the] police.

"I want to make one point about active citizenry. South Africa is often characterized as having an active citizenry, and I think that's actually not true. I think we have an active citizenry in certain parts of South Africa, but I think in most of South Africa, particularly in our rural areas and our rural provinces, we don't have an active citizenry. Our communities don't show up to public participation meetings at [the] local government level. They're not participating. In those processes, I think we actually really have to work hard to build an active citizenry across the country that helps contribute to building a culture of accountability. We know that we have a major challenge in relation to youth in South Africa, youth unemployment and lack of opportunities. I think people just don't know what to do.

Rosette Sifa Vuninga

Part-time lecturer/Ph.D. fellow, University of the Western Cape, South Africa/Congo

Rosette's research is in the field of "migrating violence." It explores issues related to the politics of identity and belonging in ways in which Congolese negotiate their socioeconomic integration in South Africa. She has spent the last 17 years in South Africa.

“I tend to compare [it] to Congo, and there are things South Africans complain are not working, but for me, the first reflex is to appreciate the system they have compared to ours. Nevertheless, especially in black townships in South Africa, there are so many complaints, especially with regard to service delivery and also to the justice system. One of the biggest things tied to that in South Africa is the land issue and the question of resources being distributed more equally. I think these are things that will only change with time. 

“In South Africa, they complain about immigrants a lot – African immigrants – because they accuse them of stealing their jobs. In reality, they are exploited as cheap labor; you always hear and see about the xenophobia. You can also still see the legacy of apartheid moving through different areas across the country; it is still clear what areas are designated for what races.”

Nontsikelelo Dlulani

Head of Organizing in the Western Cape, Equal Education, South Africa

Nontsikelelo (Ntsiki) is a black woman activist and fighter for socioeconomic justice for the marginalized, and a member of the Khayelitsha Community Action Network, a black community network in Cape Town

“I think it's sort of like accountability to say you need to implement policies which are progressive in terms of black and white. But in the implementation, it's a total different story. Some of these policies are needing to be revisited to speak to the issues that are currently faced by people. And I mean, there is still a long way to go. In terms of accountability, I don't always think that there isn't effort from community members, but there's more no effort from [the] top down, from the government, it's like they don't care about rural places. 

"I think right now, as young people, we are a frustrated generation. We don't know what to do; there's no accessibility, [and] there's so much inequality that still exists. There's poverty [and this] is playing a big part in everything that is happening. But at the same time, we can look at how this has presented an opportunity to maybe conscientize people better about the issues that are currently happening and think about how we can build a better future. 

Enhle Mpungose

Formerly Project Coordinator, Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre, South Africa

Enhle is passionate about human rights and was responsible for educating visitors at the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre 

“Most of the youth [are] running out of patience. There's no patience anymore within the community generally, and people aren't interested anymore. People have given up. There's no sense of hope that something will change. There's no more togetherness. It's every man for himself. So as a young person, am I optimistic about South Africa's future? Unfortunately, no. Nobody listens to us. Nobody's trying to understand where we want to go. It's quite scary with the mental health situation because we're connected with all these gadgets, and we can see what other kids can have and [what] people have access to. The inequality is so stark. Then, to get this, you can tell that from a black person in South Africa, it would either take crime or maybe a miracle. 

“They don't feel the need to participate because where has that gotten the previous generation? So I think there's a bit of a sense that a lot of people have given up. The government itself doesn't put South Africans first.” 

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Learning from Others and Making Progress
Laurie Garduque in conversation at Schloss Leopoldskron in 2021Laurie Garduque in conversation at Schloss Leopoldskron in 2022
Learning from Others and Making Progress
By: Mako Muzenda 

Laurie Garduque, criminal justice program director for the MacArthur Foundation, reflects on her work in criminal justice reform

Laurie spoke to Salzburg Global during "Safe and Secure and Humane: Opportunities for the Future of Justice System Reform." This program took place between May 14 and May 19, 2022.

As criminal justice program director for the MacArthur Foundation, Laurie Garduque focuses on criminal justice reforms and juvenile justice. The latter is connected to her academic career and research with the National Academy of Sciences and the American Educational Research Association.

She explained, "I've always been interested in how scientific research could inform child and family policy. My background is in developmental psychology. The MacArthur Foundation was funding research, and they were interested in having someone like me who worked at the intersection of research and public policy. I came on board to help both the people who were conducting the research, as well as to think about new mechanisms for communicating the research to those audiences."

Laurie's work in child family policy and developmental psychology led her to work in criminal justice reform, specifically researching how people become involved in the justice system, adolescent development, and the law. The multi-faceted research covers the treatment of adolescents under the law and juvenile sentencing, racial, social, and economic inequality, and the influence of families and communities in advocating for a less punitive justice system.

In her years of focusing on juvenile justice and legal reform, Laurie has seen progress. There's also still much to be done. She said, "The juvenile incarceration rate has dropped by probably about 60%, while the number of juvenile arrests has dropped by half. Children in conflict with the law or involved with the law are more likely to remain in their community and to receive programs and services that work with them as well as their family.

"We're much more conscious of their mental health needs. (…) We worked locally and made changes which we then tracked and monitored in terms of their outcomes. We also worked with system actors to make those changes. They became our best advocates in terms of changing law and policy. I remain optimistic. However, I think some of those early efforts are in jeopardy because of the impact of the pandemic and the recent surge in crime," said Laurie.

The space provided by the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety & Justice initiative has two significant roles for Laurie. First, as a representative of the MacArthur Foundation, one of the initiative's partners, she hopes that participants can share with and learn from each other equally.

Laurie said, "Participating in this for the U.S. is a good experience for us to pause and reflect. I think it's also important in terms of international relations to show that people from the U.S. are willing to be reflective about their own work. It's illuminating for the U.S. folks, in particular, to look at U.S. policies and practices [from] a cross-national perspective to see that there are options and alternatives to the way we respond to people in conflict with the law. Compared to other Western countries that are in similar situations, we are overly harsh, punitive, and retributive in our response. The evidence suggests that, in fact, that doesn't improve community safety. We need to look at others, to be both self-aware and self-critical about the choices that that the U.S. has made."

As participants return to their home countries, they take with them the ideas and perspectives shared during the program. Laurie believes this is what makes Salzburg Global a supportive platform for such a complex issue.

"Places like Salzburg Global have a very useful role to play. I know there's often skepticism about something like what Salzburg Global attempts to achieve, but it gives us hope. (…) I like to think that even in the face of what we see as these challenges and existential crises, we can still make progress."

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Supporting People Working Across Countries and Cultures
A photo of Karen Edge, the Salzburg Global Seminar and Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron logo, and text that says, "Reckmeyer Family Fellowship - Karen Edge."Karen Edge, the inaugural recipient of the Reckmeyer Family Fellowship
Supporting People Working Across Countries and Cultures
By: Valeriia Chernysh 

Karen Edge, the inaugural recipient of the Reckmeyer Family Fellowship, reflects on her ongoing intergenerational leadership research during her stay at Schloss Leopoldskron

In January 2023, Karen Edge became the inaugural recipient of the Reckmeyer Family Fellowship. During her stay at Schloss Leopoldskron that month, Valeriia Chernysh spoke to Karen about her ongoing intergenerational leadership research.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Valeriia: You have been Salzburg Global Fellow for almost a year. How have you changed within that time?   

Karen: The first time I came was in May 2022, and I came for Education Futures: Shaping a New Education Story. It was the first time I had traveled since the pandemic. So, it took something quite extraordinary for me to travel and leave home. I had some connections with some members of the Fellowship community, but when I was invited, I was thrilled.  

I've made some incredible professional connections who are also now really good friends. I think Salzburg Global Seminar has changed my work. I'm willing to be a bit more creative and push back when, at the university, people may not necessarily see the value of generalist working. So, at the university, often you're an expert in one area, and I am an expert in many different areas, maybe not as deeply. Coming to Salzburg validated the choice I've made, the choice to work in education, but across lots of different topics, to be able to bring people together and have different conversations.  

Salzburg Global has changed my professional network. It might have even changed my ambition a bit. My career has often oscillated between working internationally, across 30 countries, conducting research, and then working domestically on a particular project. I've been working quite domestically for a while, in England. Coming to Salzburg and having the conversations we had, made me really excited about working internationally again.  

Valeriia: You came to Salzburg Global as the inaugural recipient of the Reckmeyer Family Fellowship to work on your paper. What is its main focus? 

Karen: The links of what we're going to work on at Salzburg are very closely tied to what I've worked on at the university and around the world. My research work, more generally, is a combination of education policy, systems change, looking at generational theory and how different generations of leaders have access to opportunities. The work that I'm doing at Salzburg through the Reckmeyer Family Fellowship is to pause for a second and think about, 'What do we actually know about intergenerational working?'  

"The work that I'm doing at Salzburg through the Reckmeyer Family Fellowship is to pause for a second and think about, 'What do we actually know about intergenerational working?'"

Within the climate discussions, within businesses, there's a growing conversation about the fact that we have to work intergenerationally to make change happen. But it's occurred to me, in reading the academic research and looking at how the business community talks about intergenerational leadership and how we talk about it in development and social change, that the concept is often tossed around as the ideal way of working. But there isn't really a lot of discussion about, 'How do you make that work?'

What we thought would be a good focus for my time within the Fellowship and then extending it beyond is 'What can we do between myself in the education team and the Center for Education Transformation about helping people?' Giving them access to a different way of thinking about intergenerational working. […]

The first thing we're doing is a scoping exercise by looking at the academic research. We're going to look at 'How does the business community talk about it?' We were looking today at how different social agencies are talking about intergenerational working, and we are going to pull out what are the definitions. Is there actually a definition that stands across all of those disciplines, and then what resources exist already to help people?

What we're going to try and do is get underneath how best to support intergenerational leaders. 'What are the things that would really make a difference?' and 'How could we create some tools or access to information that would actually help the short-term project work?' For example, resources for when you come together as an intergenerational project team. But also, 'How do you help systems and organizations really consider what it means to recognize and allocate power across different generations?'

Valeriia: The concept of leadership is different for every culture. How do we shift the power or balance it in such a global and diverse context?   

Karen: There's been some amazing work done by an academic named Erin Meyer, who's written a book called The Culture Map. It is one of the books that I have multiple copies of and I give to people on a regular basis. She gives people tools to think about: How leadership is designed or functions in your country. What do we expect from our leaders? What does it take in terms of the social relationships that you need in different countries before you can have a conversation about how work is going or how you want to negotiate?  

I've done a decent amount of work within the university trying to have conversations about the evidence base that exists on intercultural working. Basically saying, these are the things you need to be able to know in order not to be a jerk when you're working with people across borders and across boundaries.  

"These are the things you need to be able to know in order not to be a jerk when you're working with people across borders and across boundaries."

From an academic perspective, there are lots of things that are known about that way of working that, as often is the case, aren't necessarily translated into what's helpful for you if you're going to start working - let’s say - with a Canadian. In the past, we had a delegation of people from England going to work with Canadians, and I was the person organizing the visit. I sat them down at the beginning and said, 'Canadians are very non-hierarchical. They will often treat everybody the same way.’ I came from a family where we had to treat everybody the same way, regardless of job and background. But, what I had to explain to my colleagues was that ‘People are just going to call you by your first name because they don't either accept or understand the hierarchy and titles that you're used to in England. […]’

Here at Salzburg, it's amazing because you have so many different people from so many different countries. But do we do enough to make the most of our shared insight? Being able to then say, 'Look, we have people going to Ukraine: what do you think people need to know about living and working in your country that will help them be successful and care for the people where they're going?' It's a combined answer of 'Yes, there are differences.'

Leadership, wherever you are, is about relationships and your ability to work with people and to be able to help them do their job better. But, how people want to be led can differ from country to country. You can use the research, but it's also using the human knowledge that we have and the people that we have to try and find ways to make sure that we're working kindly and carefully across those different spaces.  

"Leadership, wherever you are, is about relationships and about your ability to work with people and to be able to help them do their job better. But, how people want to be led can differ from country to country."

Valeriia: Are there any examples of intercultural leadership approaches you used or maybe you've seen people use?  

Karen: I think so. When we were talking about the project at the university on how we help people understand and develop the skills to be able to work across cultures, the one thing that I think was probably the most helpful was a tagline that I tried to create for the project. Basically, our task was, 'How can we support people working across countries and cultures without being a jerk?'

And it sounds really simple, but it was actually really helpful at helping us understand the basic principle is 'What do you have to do to be able to go to another country and to be respectful of the norms and the cultures that are there, to be self-aware enough, to be able to understand what you know and what you don't know, and to be confident enough, but also sensitive enough to be able to go into a space that's not one that you've historically belonged in?

Valeriia: It is not just about the culture but generation and its values. How can we build bridges across both different generations and cultures? What narrative is needed, so we start listening to each other and ultimately act together?  

Karen: For me, there are issues about how different generations experience the world, how they behave. We know that every generation, as we watch younger and younger generations, wants to have a better work-life balance. They don't want to work 80 hours a week. They don't want to work in one place. They want to be able to have sabbaticals, and they want to be able to have internships. They want to be able to keep learning in a way that their schools have hopefully taught them to seek learning. So for me, the way we position the work that we do is to say, 'Okay, different generations are going to be different, right? How they work and how they experience work.' If you're of an older generation and you have a house, and you have a family, and you need to keep those going, your approach to freedom of movement and work and other things will be different.

What we need to do is find a way for individuals, when they meet somebody who's not like them for whatever reason, […] to be able to say, 'Ooh, they're not like me,' and to be able to lean into it. Why is it that they're not like me? Is it that we come from a different background? Is it because we speak a different language? Is it because we come from a different place? And within those sorts of points of analysis, you're going to find things that you have in common. That is the foundation for moving forward.  

"I think for me, it's about looking at generations as a way of understanding how different groups of people might have grown up, but then also understanding within that, there's going to be different nationalities, there's going to be different ways that your country functioned as you were growing up, different languages, different gender, and that all of those things make us stronger when we work together."

I think for me, it's about looking at generations as a way of understanding how different groups of people might have grown up, but then also understanding within that, there's going to be different nationalities, there's going to be different ways that your country functioned as you were growing up, different languages, different gender, and that all of those things make us stronger when we work together. But each of us individually has a responsibility to get better at being able to work with people who are not like us.

Valeriia: What approaches do you use in your work? Could you share your best practices?    

Karen: One of my nerd superpowers is to be able to take complicated theory and turn it into something that isn't a lecture but allows people to understand the area of work and to be able to see how it affects their everyday life.  

"Because if you get angry, you're not going to change. But if you're uncomfortable, it gives you the space to think about something new."

In terms of talking about different generations, we conducted a study funded by the Economic and Social Science Research Council in England. We were looking at Generation X leaders in London, New York, and Toronto. We learned so many different things about how the country you work in and the system you work in shape your life, even if you're the same generation. […] We learned something about work-life balance and that Generation X leaders wanted to have a better work-life balance than their predecessors, but they also had a different way of looking at it. We needed to find a way to take that evidence and help people think about their work life and being role models and turn that into learning opportunities that would make people uncomfortable but not angry. Because if you get angry, you're not going to change. But if you're uncomfortable, it gives you the space to think about something new.  

We have a set of questions for leaders: Do you consider yourself to be a good leader? Do you nurture talent who comes after you? Are you good at role modeling? Are you a good role model for work-life balance? And you could watch groups of powerful leaders say 'Yes, yes, yes.' And when you get to the 'Are you a good role model for work-life balance?' question, you can watch a group of people, who had great posture, physically shrink down and look at their feet, hoping, 'Oh, gosh, I hope she doesn't ask me.'  

What we realized was that leaders can celebrate all the things you're amazing at, but the next generation of leaders is watching every move you make. If you stay at the office till midnight, if you don't have a good relationship with your family and friends because you're working all the time, the generations coming after you won't want your job because you're not making it look like it's a good job to have. Unless you start sorting out having a life and taking care of yourself, it's not just you that you're doing damage to; it's the system.

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Engaging in Utopia: Towards More Inclusive, Joyful Civic Engagement
An illustration of a colorful cityscape.Illustration by ooceey on Unsplash
Engaging in Utopia: Towards More Inclusive, Joyful Civic Engagement
By: Salzburg Global Fellows 

This op-ed piece is part of a series written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program “Public Policy New Voices Europe” 

This op-ed was written by Nadia Hafedh, Mariam Dawood, and Diana Raiselis.

Imagine, for a moment, that it's 2053, 30 years into the future. You're a resident of the City of Salzburgia, where citizen engagement is effortless, inclusive—and maybe even enjoyable. 

One morning, you and your neighbors wake to news of an upcoming community meeting on an important issue. It’s easy to find the time: multiple meeting times are offered across the week, with free transport, food, and childcare provided. All employers must offer paid time off for civic participation, and stipends are available for those who freelance or are out of work. Before the meeting, you receive a magazine-style info sheet containing the facts, arguments, and equity analyses, plainly described in multiple languages. You text a couple of questions to a city hotline and get quick answers.

At the meeting, you grab lunch and plug into a translation app to listen in your first language. Facilitators actively engage with attendees to answer questions, gather insights and provide support. A task force of residents is selected to study the issue further, with paid leave and support. As the meeting ends, you chat with a student reporter who’s covering the meeting as part of their civic education core class. You think back briefly to when this approach was adopted in the mid-2030s and how feelings of civic engagement and belonging have skyrocketed since then.

As Salzburg Global Fellows, Ana Rold of the World in 2050 posed us the question this past fall: "How do we innovate for a future that is more Star Trek and less Mad Max?" As policymakers, organizers, and researchers focused on empowering communities, we looked to one key challenge of equitable citizen participation.

When it comes to participating in policymaking processes, marginalized communities often encounter obstacles, including underrepresentation, discrimination, language barriers, limited time and resources, and a lack of trust in government institutions. Effective citizen engagement can address these issues by giving marginalized groups a voice in decision-making and ultimately restructuring cities in ways that benefits all members. However, despite municipal efforts to make engagement inclusive, marginalized communities continue to face barriers to participating in decisions that most directly affect them. 

We suggest five main points for cities to improve citizen engagement and make it more inclusive and effective. These are based on analyzing the drawbacks of current consultation methods and envisioning a better future:

  1. Center "experts by experience" and those most affected by an issue. Challenge the traditional emphasis on professional or academic experience. As the proverb goes, “He who wears the shoe knows where it pinches.” 
  2. Provide material support to reduce barriers to involvement: provide participation stipends, and for in-person functions, food and childcare.
  3. Meet people where they are. Use language reflective of citizens' experiences, and perform meaningful outreach to ensure that citizen participation in an initiative reaches those it will affect most.
  4. Address biases and inequalities to ensure that marginalized groups do not come to harm through these processes. Identify unconscious biases and unequal structures. Build trust with historically excluded groups. 
  5. Give residents actual power to influence, design, and implement solutions. As in Arnstein’s ladder of participation, move beyond simply informing or consulting the public, to a focus on collaborative governance, in the spirit of “Nothing about us without us.”

And while “Salzburgia” may sound utopian, many elements come from approaches to civic engagement that are already in action.

Originating in Porto Alegre, Brazil, participatory budgeting is now being enacted in cities like Wuppertal, Germany. Universal Basic Income advocates are drawing the link between cash stipends and increased democratic participation. Organizations like Singapore’s Participate in Design prioritize communities’ involvement in designing housing and urban planning projects. London’s The Politics School fills a civic education gap in the national curriculum by engaging young people from primary school to university in politics, democracy, and change-making through fun and interactive activities. The USA’s HeadCount makes it easy to register to vote at Ariana Grande concerts or RuPaul’s DragCon. And countries across the EU are lowering the European Parliament voting age to 16—a move linked to greater participation, even years later.

 Our vision of the future is reflected in the values behind these diverse initiatives: 

  • Breaking down barriers to participation, 
  • Putting marginalized groups like youth first, 
  • Empowering citizens in decision-making, and 
  • Seeing civic responsibilities as something capable of being joyful. 

Inclusive citizen engagement is not an unattainable utopian vision but rather a reality that can be achieved. By addressing the root causes of suffering and empowering all individuals to have a voice in shaping their communities, we can work towards a better future for all.


The authors of this article wish to thank Salzburg Global Fellows Tunji Offeyi, Nex Bengson, Constantin-Alexandru Manda, and program mentor Robb Gray for their contributions and development of the ideas in this piece.

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Creating Inclusive Communities: The Need to Design a Social Entrepreneurship Public Policy
A poster that reads "Community is strength."Photo by John Cameron from Unsplash
Creating Inclusive Communities: The Need to Design a Social Entrepreneurship Public Policy
By: Salzburg Global Fellows 

This op-ed piece is part of a series written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program “Public Policy New Voices Europe” 

This op-ed was written by Hannelore Pourier, Alexander Kuch, and Diana M. Pintér. This op-ed was updated on 20/2/2023 to include examples of social enterprises and references.

Over the past decades, the world around us has changed significantly following various political, technological, economic, socio-cultural, and environmental developments [1, 2, 3]. While some of these developments have benefitted our societies greatly, others did the contrary.  

Profound social challenges affecting most countries include social exclusion, fragmentation and polarization, poverty, unemployment, gender inequalities, and growing wealth and health disparities [2, 4, 5]. These problems result in societies not being inclusive or cohesive. This situation is problematic and runs counter to the public policy ideal of creating inclusive societies [5, 6].  

Following the 1995 United Nations World Summit for Social Development, an inclusive society was defined as “a society for all in which every individual, each with rights and responsibilities, has an active role to play.” Such a society “over-rides differences of race, gender, class, generation and geography, and ensures equal opportunities for all to achieve full potential in life, regardless of origin [7]."

The social challenges often termed “wicked problems” stress the shortcomings of the public, private, and civil sectors to deal with such challenges [8, 9]. As such, a profound disconnect appears to exist between prevailing approaches and structures to problem resolution and those necessary to face wicked problems [8, 10].

To address “wicked problems” effectively or, at the very least, manage them, we need more dynamic and innovative strategies [11]. It is against this backdrop that social innovation (SI) and social entrepreneurship (SE) have received increasing attention over the past years [8, 9].  

There are numerous definitions of SI. Common themes and features that the definitions share include the explicit aim of addressing a social need, novelty, processes involving multiple stages and phases, cross-sectoral, grassroots, changed social relations and resilience.  

According to the Young Foundation, “Social innovations are new solutions (products, services, models, markets, processes etc.) that simultaneously meet a social need (more effectively than existing solutions) and lead to new or improved capabilities and relationships and better use of assets and resources. In other words, social innovations are both good for society and enhance society’s capacity to act.”  

Various actors can drive the SI processes, and these actors can also come from any sector [8, 12]. In this article, we focus on social entrepreneurs as drivers of SI processes.  

Just like SI, SE is defined in many ways. One way SE can be understood is as a process in which socially oriented individuals – social entrepreneurs – devise innovative solutions and use entrepreneurial and market-oriented approaches to start and develop socially oriented organizations – social enterprises – to leverage social change [9, 13, 14, 15, 16]. Here are two examples:

Chatterbox is a social enterprise that started as an online language school, helping marginalized professionals find their way back to the workforce. The initial idea was that refugees could become language coaches in their mother tongue. Silicon Valley investors then backed Chatterbox, which has since become an online language-learning platform.

This enterprise is inclusive in many ways. It offers affordable classes from anywhere in the world, creates jobs for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and helps refugees to integrate and have meaningful work again.

Matyodesign is a sustainable business that creates handmade products while providing work to older women in Tard, a small northeast Hungarian village and UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This enterprise has existed for more than 10 years now. It employs 27 women, keeps the Matyo culture alive, educates people through guided tours, and creates jobs for women in their hometown.

It is important to add that, as you can see in the examples above, SE is fundamentally about creating social value instead of wealth. Profit is perceived as a means, not as its main end [9, 14].

The emergence and ability of SE to flourish is highly context specific. Some environments or ecosystems are more conducive and supportive of SE than others. The differences can be explained by differences in the configuration of formal and informal institutions (e.g., government institutions, norms, and values) [17, 18, 19, 20]

Social entrepreneurs frequently encounter problems related to a lack of financial resources, limited market access, restricted skill sets, and regulatory barriers [21, 22, 23].

Governments can play essential roles in helping social entrepreneurs overcome such barriers, given their formal power and ability to exert influence on formal and informal institutional arrangements [20, 24, 25, 26]. This, in turn, calls on public policymakers to design and create specific SE public policies [19, 20, 27].

Public policymakers can use various policy instruments to support SE and create supportive environments. Examples include tailor-made legal forms, social impact bonds, social procurement, public campaigns, and education (see below for a more elaborate list of policy instruments).  

Aside from targeting social entrepreneurs and their respective social enterprises, policy instruments for supporting SE also target different stakeholders in the SE environment, such as government institutions, corporate companies, and the public.  

Overall, policy instruments for SE are aimed at leveraging social entrepreneurial intentions and promoting the legitimacy, recognition, credibility, visibility, and sustainability of SE and social enterprises [28]. 

When designing the SE policy instrument mix, it is essential to ensure a context-specific approach. As has just been explained, the contexts within which SE is embedded and unfolds differ, with differences also evident in the extent to which these contexts promote or hinder SE. Due to these contextual differences, SE instrument mixes can be designed in different ways.  

For that matter, a one-size-fits-all SE instrument mix does not exist. To ensure that the instrument mix is relevant to the time, place, and people, it is essential that public policymakers acquire a thorough understanding of their respective context, establish baseline SE ecosystem conditions, benchmark, and evaluate existing SE policy frameworks (if any) and collect any best policy practices.  

In addition to taking a context-specific approach, it is important that the instrument mix selected is consistent as well as comprehensive. This implies that the policy instruments positively interact with one another and address all the different domains that comprise a supportive SE ecosystem. The latter is important since ecosystem domains are interconnected. The ecosystem domains typically include legislation and regulation, finance, markets, culture, human capital, support services and structures, and research and impact [28].  

It is essential that SE policies are rooted in and supported by strong formal institutional frameworks. Such frameworks set out clear operational definitions, strategies, action plans, and programs and enjoy strong and sustainable support from institutional bodies (e.g., statutory bodies and public agencies) and political parties and networks. Strong formal institutional frameworks are furthermore coherent, transparent, and inclusive.  

Horizontal and vertical policy coherence is essential because social enterprises frequently operate across policy domains and policy development is often decentralized to the lower levels of government. This, hence, demands effective communication channels among the different levels of government. Transparency about policy objectives and policy processes is essential for leveraging institutional legitimacy and reinforcing coherency.   

Finally, inclusivity assures that SE policies consider and reflect the views and perspectives of SE ecosystem stakeholders. To this end, it is essential to develop, implement, monitor, and evaluate SE policies through stakeholder consultation and engagement processes [28]. 

A List of Public Policy Instruments for Supporting SE

  1. Adapted or tailor-made legal forms and legal statuses;  
  2. Public registers;  
  3. Grant- and subsidy schemes;  
  4. Loan schemes;  
  5. Fiscal benefits (tax- and fee exemptions);  
  6. Guarantee schemes;  
  7. Social impact bonds;  
  8. Social stock exchanges;  
  9. Socially responsible public procurement;  
  10. Voucher schemes;  
  11. In-kind resources (non-cash);  
  12. Public campaigns;  
  13. Education (awareness);  
  14. Networks and mutual support structures (awareness);  
  15. Certification schemes (marks and labels);  
  16. Competition- and award schemes;  
  17. Education (knowledge, skills, and competencies),  
  18. Training programs;  
  19. Legal and business advisory services;  
  20. Networks and mutual support structures (human, social, and physical capital)  
  21. Research [28]

Learn more by watching our pitch for the policy challenge: “Social Innovation” 

The information and views set out in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commission.

Sections/parts of the text above are excerpted from Hannelore’s bachelor’s and master’s thesis. See references below.

  1. Kose MA, Ozturk EO. A World of Change. Taking stock of the past half century. Finance Dev. 2014;51(3):6–11.
  2. Schwab K. Welcome to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Rotman Management Fall. 2016;18–24.
  3. Lopez-Claros A, Dahl AL, Groff M. The Challenges of the 21st Century. In: Global Governance and the Emergence of Global Institutions for the 21st Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2020. p. 3–29. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108569293
  4. UN. Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 2015. Available from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld/publication
  5. Brown T. Building an inclusive society in the post-pandemic world. 2021. Available from: https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/building-an-inclusive-society-in-the-post-pandemic-world/
  6. Lutfiyya ZM, Bartlett NA. Inclusive Societies. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. 2020 [cited 2022 Dec 19]. Available from:  https://oxfordre.com/education/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-1022.
  7. United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Social Integration – Social Policy and Development Division. Social Inclusion. n.d. Available from: https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/social-integration-social-policy-and-development-division.html
  8. The Young Foundation. Social Innovation Overview: A deliverable of the project: “The theoretical, empirical and policy foundations for building social innovation in Europe” (TEPSIE), European Commission – 7th Framework Programme [Internet]. Brussels: European Commission, DG Research; 2012. Available from: https://i3w7d2w8.stackpathcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/TEPSIE.D1.1.Report.DefiningSocialInnovation.Part-1-defining-social-innovation.pdf?x28445
  9. Zahra SA, Gedajlovic E, Neubaum DO, Shulman JM. A typology of social entrepreneurs: Motives, search processes and ethical challenges. J Bus Ventur. 2009 Sep 1;24(5):519–32.
  10. Nicholls A, Murdock A. The Nature of Social Innovation. In: Nicholls A, Murdock A, editors. Social Innovation: Blurring Boundaries to Reconfigure Markets. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK; 2012. p. 1–30. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230367098_1
  11. Head BW, Alford J. Wicked Problems: Implications for Public Policy and Management. Adm Soc. 2015;47(6):711–39.
  12. Portales L. Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship: Fundamentals, Concepts, and Tools. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2019. Available from: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-13456-3
  13. Bacq S, Janssen F. The multiple faces of social entrepreneurship: A review of definitional issues based on geographical and thematic criteria. Entrep Reg Dev. 2011. 1;23(5–6):373–403.
  14. Huybrechts B, Nicholls A. Social Entrepreneurship: Definitions, Drivers and Challenges. In: Volkmann, Tokarski K, Ernst K, editors. Social Entrepreneurship and Social Business. Gabler Verlag; 2012. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-8349-7093-0_2
  15. Morris MH, Santos SC, Kuratko DF. The great divides in social entrepreneurship and where they lead us. Small Bus Econ. 2021;57(3):1089–106.
  16. Mair J, Martí I. Social entrepreneurship research: A source of explanation, prediction, and delight. J World Bus. 2006 1;41(1):36–44.
  17. Arabadzhieva M, Vutsova A. Social enterprises’ ecosystem - status quo and its auspicious development. REVESCO Rev Estud Coop. 2021;137:e71864–e71864.
  18. Hazenberg R, Bajwa-Patel M, Mazzei M, Roy MJ, Baglioni S. The role of institutional and stakeholder networks in shaping social e    nterprise ecosystems in Europe. Soc Enterp J. 2016;12(3):302–21.
  19. OECD/EC. Policy brief on social entrepreneurship: entrepreneurial activities in Europe. Paris: OECD Publishing; 2013. Available from: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/industry-and-services/policy-brief-on-social-entrepreneurship_13d53589-en
  20. Terjesen S, Bosma N, Stam E. Advancing Public Policy for High-Growth, Female, and Social Entrepreneurs. Public Adm Rev. 2016;76(2):230–9.
  21. EC. Social enterprises and their ecosystems in Europe: comparative synthesis report. [Internet]. Publications Office; 2020. Available from: https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2767/567551
  22. Davies IA, Haugh H, Chambers L. Barriers to Social Enterprise Growth. J Small Bus Manag. 2019;57(4):1616–36.
  23. Roundy PT. Social entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ecosystems: Complementary or disjoint phenomena? Int J Soc Econ. 2017;44(9):1252–67.
  24. Shockley GE, Frank PM. The functions of government in social entrepreneurship: theory and preliminary evidence*. Reg Sci Policy Pract. 2011;3(3):181–98.
  25. Stephan U, Uhlaner LM, Stride C. Institutions and social entrepreneurship: The role of institutional voids, institutional support, and institutional configurations. J Int Bus Stud. 2015;46(3):308–31.
  26. Zahra SA, Wright M. Entrepreneurship’s Next Act. Acad Manag Perspect. 2011;25(4):67–83.
  27. Wolk A. Social Entrepreneurship and Government: A New Breed of Entrepreneurs Developing Solutions to Social Probems. 2007. Available from: https://rootcause.org/publication/social-entrepreneurship-and-government-a-new-breed-of-entrepreneurs-developing-solutions-to-social/
  28. Pourier HSM. Stimulating and facilitating social entrepreneurship - a guide to comprehensive policy intervention and design (Unpublished master's thesis). Maastricht University/ United Nations University - MERIT; 2022.
  29. Pourier HSM. Social innovation: the social entrepreneur as a driver for addressing health system challenges in Europe (Unpublished bachelor's thesis). Maastricht University; 2020.

 

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Future-Proofing Change: Encouraging Consensus-Based Policy for Long-Term Solutions
Two hands putting jigsaw pieces together.Image by PublicDomainPictures on Pixabay
Future-Proofing Change: Encouraging Consensus-Based Policy for Long-Term Solutions
By: Salzburg Global Fellows 

This op-ed piece is part of a series written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program “Public Policy New Voices Europe” 

This op-ed was written by Chougher Maria Doughramajin, Roquia Gonçalves Guerra Camara, Lauri Heikkinen, and Leila Laing. 

Our world is becoming increasingly fragmented, a reality reflected in our policy-making practices and institutions. Policy development and implementation cycles, which typically follow the pattern of election cycles, are a barrier to meaningful future-forward, strategic thinking on the most pressing issues facing humanity. 

While these issues are global and will require international cooperation, national and local policy-making institutions also play a critical role in the funding of and implementation of ambitious, progressive policies for global change.  

The often ineffective and non-inclusive nature of the current policy making process is an affliction deepened by persistence of short-term focus. Policies are often engineered to appeal to a more radical faction of the governing party’s voter base at the expense of cooperation and broad consensus.  

This hinders the ability to cultivate a political culture of long-term-ism, which the philosopher William MacAskill describes as "the view that we should be doing much more to protect future generations.” Creating robust mechanisms to genuinely hold policymakers to account over the effectiveness of their policies is necessary if the policies developed are to have the desired outcome, delivering change in the face of global issues.  

Mainstream policy-making practices should be disrupted in line with four core pillars: 

1. The adoption of human-centric policy-making, which places the beneficiaries of policies at the heart of decisions. Understanding the social, economic, historical, and sociological contexts of the communities affected by policies will enable the development of policies that are fit for purpose.  

2. Ensuring pluralism in the policy development and design phase will make all stakeholders feel they have a stake in the policy, leaving it less susceptible to being abandoned during changes in political administration. Public institutions, grassroots groups, citizens, civil society, elected representatives, independent researchers, and the private sector should all play a significant role in shaping policy.  

3. Reframing thought to introduce the concept of living policy by treating policy solutions with long timelines as adaptable. This will ensure that policies remain fit for purpose while being able to respond to developments that occur over the policy’s implementation period. 

4. Honoring the evaluation phase of the policy cycle and creating mechanisms for accountability is critical to ensuring that policies remain fit for purpose.  

Taking a long-term approach to creating policy for the world’s largest issues does not preclude a focus on delivery in the short and medium term. Practical, measurable deliverables should sit alongside broader strategic objectives.  

The negotiation process which drove the creation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was successful in involving a range of stakeholders to the benefit of creating robust objectives. The Future We Want outcome document noted that sustainable development can only be “achieved with a broad alliance of people, governments, civil society and the private sector, all working together to secure the future we want for present and future generations.” 

However, the successes of the negotiation process have not yet been reflected in the delivery of the SGDs. This year’s Sustainable Development Report, which provides an annual assessment of progress of all United Nations Member States, has found that “for the second year in a row, the world is no longer making progress on the SDGs”.  

The importance of delivering on the policies to which power-holders on all levels have committed must not be understated. However, pragmatism and practicality must play a role in the machinery of policy-making if we are to deliver on longer-term, strategic global goals.  

The hubristic insistence that the alteration policy is conceding a mistake must be dismantled. This is an endeavor critical to encouraging change and reflection, ensuring that policies remain fit for purpose in an ever-changing world. 


Learn more by watching our pitch for the policy challenge: ‘Disrupting Policy Making” 

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The Impact Model: A Toolkit for Gen Z?
Pieces of wood with lettering on them which spell out "Who are you?"Photo by Brett Jordan from Unsplash
The Impact Model: A Toolkit for Gen Z?
By: Salzburg Global Fellows 

This op-ed piece is part of a series written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program “Public Policy New Voices Europe” program

This op-ed was written by Mariam Harutyunyan, Sude-Meryem Fidan, Alia Al-Wir and Safiullah Safi. 

Towards the end of October 2022, we went to Salzburg to participate in the first ”Public Policy New Voices Europe” program. It was a profound moment to finally come together in person after one year of virtual program sessions. During the virtual meetings, about 30 inspiring Salzburg Global Fellows were able to exchange ideas and engage in enriching conversations with a variety of speakers.  

Upon arrival, one felt immediately welcome in the great halls of Schloss Leopoldskron and Salzburg Global Seminar. The week-long program we attended included workshops on mental health, growth, megatrends, and DEI practices. At the same time, a panel discussion and a live library also took place.  

Despite the different backgrounds and levels of experience among the Fellows in attendance, we were all able to meet each other on common ground. I was impressed by the hands-on approach of the program and the warmth of the people participating. 

During a virtual session in April 2022, we had the opportunity to meet Yasmine Ourhrane and Jana Degrott from "We Belong" and listen to their impressions about entrepreneurial responses to policy gaps. We were very inspired by the work of “We Belong” and discovered parallels in our own group presentation, which we prepared.  

We went on to discuss current world affairs and how the next generation will cope with emerging crises. Generation Z is the generation of those people who came into the world in the years 1997 to 2012, which includes us. We have the energy and skillset to make the world a better place, so it is important to ask ourselves, "How can we use this energy to its maximum potential for the greater good?"

In the workshop, we learned about megatrends for a world in 2050. We touched on the topic of exponential technologies and how they could potentially change the world when used correctly. During the workshop about DEI in Practice, we learned the importance of understanding the current system and how this can affect initiatives.  

In the workshop about well-being, we realized how important it is to put our well-being first, and subsequently, the world around us will also begin to reflect this change. We wondered, “Is there also a way to make a living from this?” We questioned further. Is it, therefore, helpful to find yet another policy organization for advocacy? Would this potentially become a selfish means to advance my own career more than be of benefit to those we would want to advocate for?  

With the above questions in mind, we dove into our group sessions to tackle the challenges faced by citizen engagement.  

Providing Gen Z with a toolkit to counteract the challenges and encourage citizen engagement became our central focus. This led us to launch the concept of the “Impact Model.”

It’s a similar idea to the popular 16 personality test, which analyzes the personal traits of the test-taker through multiple-choice questions. They are designed to systematically elicit information about a person's preferences, interests, and more to get an overall picture of their personality.  

We wanted to build on this idea, so we developed it further. In the Impact Model, you will be required to take a test after signing up for the Impact Platform. Upon completion of the test, AI then processes the information to help assign missing information to you. 

It measures your level of expertise in different areas and will provide you with the necessary tools to help you grow and develop further.  

As an example, one may be very knowledgeable in business but doesn’t have the right connections to help launch their start-up. The Impact Model will provide this person with a network of people to contact to further their ambitions. The roles can also be reversed, and the idea extends to many scenarios where there is a "need" to develop or learn for the individual. 

Through research and technology, the model can be fed and developed further to be even more detailed in its service. This makes it possible for theory and practice to work in parallel with each other.  

As Gen Z learns these tools and skills, they – or we – can set the agenda in the future and no longer be invited to the big table of decisions. The big table, so to speak, would be more accessible to all. In our view, this idea is suited for a long-term approach and helps to improve the current system.  

Even though the project was only for the purpose of the presentation and a mere conceptual exercise, we had the impression that this could really be helpful and was well-received by our peers. We appreciated the opportunity to receive feedback and evaluate the pros and cons of the idea. 


Learn more by watching our pitch for the policy challenge: “The Impact Model”

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Building Inclusive Communities Through Cross-Collaboration: Reflecting on COP27 and the Youth Narrative
A web of green, blue and purple wires on white background.Photo by optimarc from Shutterstock
Building Inclusive Communities Through Cross-Collaboration: Reflecting on COP27 and the Youth Narrative
By: Salzburg Global Fellows 

This op-ed piece is part of a series written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program “Public Policy New Voices Europe” 

This op-ed was written by Jessica Antonisse, Claudia Batz, Rebecca Bassey, Etinosa Erevbenagie – Johnbull, Noma Nkala, and Great Udochi. 

Inclusive communities value and provide equal opportunities for the participation of groups experiencing marginalization; allowing them to be meaningfully engaged in public decision-making, including policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. 

There is growing recognition that the societies that we live in are not conducive to active participation for all citizens. Recent interest in climate (in)action, civil unrest, and political instability has proved that we need to engage affected groups more strategically.  

Inclusive communities cannot be nurtured by safeguarding outdated systems. Rather we must promote diversity of thoughts and experiences and welcome new practices and approaches to foster what we describe as “inclusive communities.” 

By working towards fixing the system, rather than altering the people who are from marginalized groups, we can offer an alternative to the status quo of minority rule and tokenistic engagement of groups experiencing marginalization.  

In the current world, only the privileged few have the power to make decisions and politically engage, due to the unequal power imbalances that are deeply rooted in our system. This is particularly apparent in international negotiations with the overrepresentation of men - in the infamous leadership photo at the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27), where only seven out of the 110 world leaders were women.  

Since 1995, only four women have been elected as COP president, despite growing evidence that climate change disproportionately impacts women’s and girls’ livelihoods, health, and safety - augmenting existing gender inequalities. 

The compounding impacts of global climate change and the considerable demographic and social change across the globe spark a big question: are our systems equipped to address climate change? If not, is there a political will to adapt them to address environmental change and strengthen resilience?  

From our discussions and research, unequivocally, we deemed better cross-collaboration as a pathway to building inclusive communities. Rather than simply altering the practices of the people that are excluded from politics, the goal should be to adapt our current system to be more hospitable to various demographics.  

Today the world is home to1.2 billion young people aged 15 to 24 years, accounting for 16 percent of the global population. Although the largest demographic, young people are not traditionally at the center of political decision- making, posing a barrier to building inclusive communities. Where we have seen progress, it has been the result of tireless advocacy, often at the expense of mental health, to gain the trust of political leaders and be seen as ‘experts’ that deserve a seat at the table. 

At COP27, the Egyptian presidency announced several steps pursuant to its commitment to ensuring the voices of youth and future generations were included by hosting the first- ever Children and Youth Pavilion, introducing a Youth Envoy to the process, supporting COY17 to remove the barriers that normally affect inclusive and meaningful participation of young people. Even more importantly, these were reflected in the Sharm El Sheikh Implementation Plan – with a call to action for similar mechanisms to facilitate integration at future COPs.  

These initiatives have not only fostered cross-collaboration between youth, but it has also created the space for young people to co-create with policy makers, to hold them to account for their lack of ambition and commitment to climate change mitigation and adaptation. The fruition of alliances, including the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP) and the UNFCCC constituency of Youth Non-Governmental Organization (YOUNGO) over previous years, have been valuable mechanisms. They ensure that individuals who cannot travel to COP equally have a say in collective positions brought to the formal negotiations. 

Having a seat at the table is not enough, especially when there are two tables. Young people were granted access to the COP premises and were able to reach decision-makers to some extent, but they were kept out of the negotiation rooms, which positioned them as observers.  

We need to further improve the engagement of youth in formal negotiations. This can be achieved by the provision of funding to join country delegations and by planning and funding capacity-building initiatives in the lead-up to COP. Unfortunately, the request of having future COP Presidencies facilitate financial support for implementing the COY and the annual youth-led dialogue was not considered. 

To build inclusive communities, we need to implement these actions across the board, scaling up our efforts to achieve collective goals together rather than working in silos. This is relevant not only in climate policy but in other domains of public policy, as building better alliances, promoting better leadership, and developing a system that encourages active participation from all people, no matter their background or identity, is fundamentally important for effective public policy.  

If we prioritize this, we will achieve a remarkable impact, reframing who leads by transferring power to societal groups that are classed as disadvantaged. 


“An inclusive community values and serves the basic needs of all its members, including communities experiencing marginalization. Inclusive communities promote civic engagement and provide equal opportunities for public participation and representation in decision-making processes. They are built on trust and respect and foster a sense of belonging and acceptance. Individuals can fulfill their human right to express opinions on issues that affect their lives without fear of exclusion and discrimination.’ 

Learn more by watching our pitch for the policy challenge: "Levers of Systems Change for Inclusive Communities"

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The United States’ Legacy and its Declining Credibility
Photo by Jonathan Simcoe on Unsplash
The United States’ Legacy and its Declining Credibility
By: Myrto Drizou 

Salzburg Global Fellow Myrto Drizou reflects on the current dynamics and unreconciled historical roots affecting the U.S.’ image and influence worldwide

This op-ed piece is part of a series, written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program Democracy on the Front Lines: Polarization, Culture and Resilience in America and the World.

From its very inception as a nation, the United States has fashioned itself as the proponent of liberal democratic values. This national narrative informs the U.S. cultural identity and shapes its image as the leading defender of democracy and human rights. This image, however, is undermined by a profound contradiction: while the U.S. champions democratic values worldwide, it often comes short of securing these values domestically as well. A long history of unreconciled historical roots, including the legacy of slavery and violence, and a resurgent wave of religious conservatism are causing the U.S. to lose its credibility, hurting its image and influence worldwide.

This is primarily the case for younger generations who are losing their trust in the promise of American democracy. Teaching American Studies both in the U.S. and abroad has offered me a vantage perspective of students’ attitude toward the U.S. as an ideal and a lived reality. Bogaziçi University, where I am currently teaching, is an interesting case; though it is a Turkish public research institution, it was founded by American missionaries—as the first American university outside the U.S.—and keeps strong ties to the U.S. through its progressive orientation and liberal arts education. My students are bright kids who aspire to pursue graduate studies in the U.S. and, in fact, feel more at home talking about American than Turkish culture.

In American Studies courses, we read foundational political documents such as the American Declaration of Independence along with controversial texts such as Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, where the dehumanization of African Americans is supported by eighteenth-century “scientific” racism. Driven by their youthful idealism, students react with indignation at the contradiction between blatant racism and the alleged defense of democratic values—the oft-cited “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” of the Declaration of Independence. This contradiction is interestingly reproduced in the students’ reaction toward the U.S. On one hand, they are drawn to the promise of American democracy, which is especially resonant nowadays in Turkey; on the other hand, they revolt against the enduring legacy of racism and inequality.

This legacy is sustained by violence not only in the marginalization of historically underserved communities but also in the consistent practice of racial profiling and abuse of authority against minorities. Violence continues to target marginalized groups as seen in the excessive use of police force and mass shootings that affect vulnerable communities. The lack of effective gun control breeds a culture of violence that seems incompatible with the image of the U.S. as a safe haven and refuge. Perhaps the main difference between the violence in American society and the one we see in heavily militarized (or even authoritarian) regimes is the arbitrary nature of the former, which corrodes the U.S.’ image as the arbiter of social justice on a global scale as well.

Speaking of justice, one cannot ignore the current dynamics of deep-seated divisions that drive controversial debates, such as women’s right to abortion. The recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade is the result of a widening gap between the conservative forces of American society who usually align with a Republican, religion-centered tradition and progressive groups who emphasize the importance of choice, especially for women’s lives. While this polarity is not unique to the US, it carries further weight in the American context, precisely because the global US image is based on the liberal discourse of self-determination and freedom of will.

The social, political, and economic dynamics of these differences are complex yet not irreconcilable. What needs to be considered, though, is how—and, perhaps most importantly, at which cost—reconciliation can be achieved. What is certain is that sincere dialogue, open debate, and courageous conversations can make a change for the U.S. and the world.

Myrto Drizou is assistant professor in the department of Western languages and literatures at Bogaziçi University in Istanbul, where she teaches courses on American studies, American literature, and critical theory. Her scholarship addresses the intersections of politics and literature, with emphasis on historical and cultural constructions of identity in 19th/20th century US literature. 

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Countering Threats to Democracy in the United States
A photo of several "I Voted" stickers featuring a US flag designPhoto by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
Countering Threats to Democracy in the United States
By: Pamela Camerra-Rowe 

Salzburg Global Fellow Pamela Camerra-Rowe reflects on democratic erosion in the United States and the steps it can take to strengthen its liberal democratic regime

This op-ed piece is part of a series written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program “Democracy on the Front Lines: Polarization, Culture and Resilience in America and the World.”

Despite the relatively peaceful nature of the 2022 midterm elections, democracy in the United States remains under threat. The U.S. has experienced an erosion of the democratic institutions, norms, and beliefs that help sustain democratic rule. An OECD survey in 2021 showed only 40.5% of U.S. citizens have confidence in the national government. Moreover, voters increasingly view the other party and its adherents as the enemy. A recent Pew Research Report shows that Democrats and Republicans see the other party not just as people they disagree with but as immoral, dishonest, and a threat to the well-being of the nation. This party polarization raises the stakes of each election and undermines collective policy-making.

Many Republicans have contributed significantly to this erosion of democracy. They have questioned election results, even in cases where there was no evidence to support their claims, and used the legal system to pursue unwarranted claims. They have spread disinformation and condoned violence. Alarmingly, studies show that a substantial minority of both Republicans and some Democrats now believe the use of violence may be necessary to achieve their political goals. 

Democratic erosion is not an isolated phenomenon. Right-wing populist parties have made substantial electoral gains in west European democracies and even formed governments. However, the threats to democracy are greater in the U.S. than in west European countries. Far-right parties in western Europe do not generally question electoral outcomes or threaten to overthrow democratically-elected governments. Mainstream party politicians have more forcefully denounced the use of violence and been less likely to demonize their political opponents. Among citizens in western Europe, trust in government is higher than in the U.S. 

Part of the explanation for these differences lies in the political institutions and the willingness of politicians to work with other parties. The proportional representation electoral systems in much of western Europe (with the exception of France and the UK) make it easier to form new parties and enable those parties to gain a foothold in the legislature. The ability to give differing opinions a voice can mitigate voter frustration. Most west European countries are also parliamentary systems with multi-party coalition governments, which provide political parties with an incentive to compromise with other parties if they wish to participate in government. Disagreements between coalition partners can act as a check on one party becoming dominant. 

In addition, the media and civic education in western Europe differ from the U.S. Most west European countries have widely-watched, well-trusted, publicly-funded media outlets, which provide explanatory, non-partisan news. Public broadcasters also have free news apps that go into greater depth about the issues. Education investment at the primary and secondary levels in western Europe tends to be high, and the majority of citizens are willing to pay additional taxes to support it. It has not seen the type of partisan polarization that has plagued the U.S. Within much of western Europe, education for democratic citizenship is an explicit part of the curriculum. It is designed to explain the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and help young people understand and address pressing social problems. 

What steps can the United States take to strengthen and maintain its liberal democratic regime? What lessons can it learn from other democracies? 

The first step the U.S. should undertake is to adopt institutional reforms that promote inclusive representation and incentivize moderation and compromise. While it is unrealistic to imagine that the U.S. will make radical institutional changes, such as eliminating the electoral college system or introducing proportional representation, political parties can pursue meaningful incremental reform. One way would be to promote ranked-choice voting, which gives voters a greater say in the candidates they elect to office and often benefits moderate candidates. Another would be to better regulate private financing of electoral campaigns to create a more level playing field. A third would be to create more independent commissions at the state level to create more competitive congressional districts. A fourth would be to make access to voting easier for citizens across all states so that politicians would have to be accountable to more voters.   

The second step is to invest in civic education, cultural exchanges, and study abroad including more funding for the U.S. Fulbright program. Civic education promotes citizens' political knowledge, trust, tolerance, and political engagement by promoting a deeper understanding of the principles, rights, obligations, and benefits of democracy. Studying abroad and cultural exchanges help citizens to better understand their own and other liberal democratic regimes and develop new ways of addressing the challenges to democratic governance. 

Third, the U.S. needs to consider how to counter the concentration of the private news media, which often relies on a business model that reinforces polarization, and to better fund and promote public television and radio. Journalism requires more explanatory, less partisan coverage, and better means to counter mis- and disinformation. Journalists must not simply report what politicians have to say or view every issue as a horserace. Balanced coverage does not mean spreading lies. Instead, journalists must hold politicians accountable by investigating issues thoroughly and explaining policies and political processes more fully.  

Most importantly, there needs to be a renewed focus by political elites in the U.S. on the importance of liberal democracy. Politicians must recommit to democratic principles and procedures. They need to avoid the type of divisive, inflammatory rhetoric that promotes polarization and focus on the principles that bind people together rather than solely on the identities that divide them. While political parties can disagree over specific policies, they also need to prioritize finding collective solutions that serve the overall needs of the country. Political activists on both the right and left need to avoid the type of moral righteousness that makes debate and compromise difficult and undermines empathy. Without a shared sense of purpose and shared values, it will be difficult to sustain liberal democratic rule in the U.S.  

Liberal democracy is more than simply individual freedom. It requires mutual toleration, an acceptance of pluralism and political equality, and a commitment to the rule of law. It requires the active participation of a knowledgeable citizenry. It requires compromise, negotiation, and sustained hard work to achieve collective outcomes. While no individual or group will get all of what they want in a liberal democratic regime, they will enjoy more freedom, security, and prosperity than under an authoritarian regime. 

Pamela Camerra-Rowe is a professor of Political Science at Kenyon College, where she has taught comparative, European, and American politics since 1994. Her research focuses on the role and changing nature of political parties and party systems in western Europe, interest groups, and their influence on policy, democracy, and democratic backsliding. She is currently a guest professor at the University of Salzburg, where she is researching the strategies of European center-right parties in response to the rise of right-wing populist parties.

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American Studies in the Midst of Contemporary Alarm 
A photo of Mark Jensen speaking at Salzburg Global Seminar in Schloss Leopoldskron's GalleryMark Jensen speaking at Salzburg Global Seminar in Schloss Leopoldskron's Gallery (Photo by Richard Schabetsberger)
American Studies in the Midst of Contemporary Alarm 
By: Mark Jensen 

Salzburg Global Fellow Mark Jensen reflects on the role American Studies can play in addressing contemporary problems

This op-ed piece is part of a series written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program “Democracy on the Front Lines: Polarization, Culture and Resilience in America and the World.” 

Many of us find the world alarming today. We fear the neo-imperialism of China and Russia. We worry about the nuclear weapons in North Korea and Iran. We have a nervous eye on the forces of Al Qaeda and ISIS reconstituting in the lawless regions of Somalia, Syria, and elsewhere. More generally, we are concerned about the global impacts of modern industrialism on our soil, rivers, oceans, food, water, and climate. Focusing on the U.S., we are troubled by anti-democratic nationalism on the right and cultural zealotry on the left. At the same time, the tribalism evident in these movements is fed by increasing wealth inequality, regional polarization, as well as the persistent incompetence and spectacular failures of basic institutions such as schools, churches, unions, and police. 

Just as alarming, in many ways, is alarmism itself. Our popular news sources present the concerns above in dystopian rhetoric and with the aesthetic of urgency. At the same time, these sources constantly identify winners and losers across the social, political, and economic landscape, feeding a general narrative that we are trapped in a zero-sum game in which most of us—certainly anyone who consumes their content—are on the losing end. Social and political leaders amplify all of this, believing that our fears will drive us to vote for them. 

Clearly, however, alarmism is vicious. It encourages the “ethics of emergency,” in which our telos narrows to survival, and anything goes in order to achieve it. In other words, we are encouraged to focus increasingly on the short term, a focus that disincentivizes education, marriage and family-building, city planning, and long-term commitments to sustainable energy production and environmental stewardship. At the same time, the ethics of emergency encourages antipathy: when I “prep” my house for my survival or stock my closet with a “go” bag, I am telling myself that when the threat materializes, I alone matter.  

American Studies can help us both disarm the alarm and confront our contemporary problems. It is, therefore, worth our time to reinvest in serious engagement in American Studies. Let me note three dimensions of the American experience that are especially relevant to our problems today, both the problems that we actually face and the alarmism that distorts our understanding of them. 

Justice as Fairness. American philosopher John Rawls argued that distributive justice is best conceived of as fairness, where a fair distribution of important goods recognizes both the equality of citizens before the law and that social and economic liberty, even when it produces unequal material gain, can be good for all. In constructive dialogue with others (including especially Americans Robert Nozick, Carol Gilligan, Thomas Sowell, Carole Pateman, and Charles Mills), this conversation provides an important scholarly counterweight to traditionalist, utilitarian, and socialist alternatives. Unfortunately, this conversation seems to have vanished today. Reviving our attention to the sophisticated and nuanced discussion of justice among American scholars in the late 20th century could provide important theoretical and practical help to contemporary movements concerning human rights, human dignity, and social justice.  

Ingenuity. Americans have long tackled problems through the dogged and optimistic application of science and industry. To be sure: American ingenuity has, at times, enabled colonialism and the darker side of capitalism. But American ingenuity has also produced profound global benefits in agriculture, medicine, energy production, transportation, and communication. While many of the problems appear to call on us to cease activities of one sort or another, it may be that progress toward solutions can also be made through the careful and creative application of science and technology.  

Civil Society. As described by Toqueville and studied in depth by Robert Putnam, Nancy Rosenblum, and others, Americans have long been committed to achieving shared goods through the organizations of civil society: churches, clubs, sports teams, philanthropic organizations, affinity groups, and labor unions. Social scientists have observed that many legacy organizations of civil society have seen decline in recent decades. At the same time, the growth of social media has transformed the form, content, and communities in which we identify and participate on a regular basis. The models of civil society that we find in American history were unique in supporting the formation of positive communities among those with significant differences across race, ethnicity, gender, and other forms of cultural difference. At the same time, these communities demonstrate the ability to make decisions through deliberation, inclusion, and compromise. Perhaps these historical models can inspire innovations in contemporary cultures that will encourage a revival of these virtues. 

Mark Jensen is a professor of philosophy at the United States Air Force Academy. Mark's interests include civil society, aesthetics, deliberative democracy, political liberty and social justice. He has published papers on military decision-making, the philosophy of architecture, ethics, and political philosophy. 

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A Poem for Argentina and its Culture
Photo by Benjamin Rascoe on Unsplash
A Poem for Argentina and its Culture
By: Muna Mohamed 

Cultural Innovators Forum Travel Award recipient Muna Mohamed reflects on her time in Argentina

As I traveled through the bustling streets of Buenos Aires, I was struck by the vibrant art and culture that surrounded me. The colorful murals and sculptures seemed to come to life before my eyes, and I couldn't help but feel inspired by the creativity and passion of the Argentine people.

“A street art Mecca, with colors galore.
Splashes of paint adorn every wall,
Expressing the thoughts and feelings of all.
As I wander the streets, I can't help but reflect,
On the vibrant culture and all it's elect.
Buenos Aires is a city full of life,
A place where creativity and passion thrive.
From the sultry tango to the flavors of the land,
This city has captured my heart and hand.”

These works of art were not just decorative, but also convey powerful messages and represented the voices of the city's diverse communities. Street art in Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina, has a rich and vibrant history. It is a unique form of expression that has been used by artists to communicate their ideas and thoughts to political stance, as well as to beautify the city and engage with the community.

“Each piece spoke to me, telling a tale
Of the city's history and social scale
I saw portraits of leaders and activists,
Voicing their opinions and making lists
Of the things they wanted to change and improve
Their messages resonated, they couldn't be removed
I saw graffiti tags and stenciled designs
Depicting the city's culture, intertwined
With the struggles and triumphs of its people
A history rich and diverse, a mosaic, on display
The street art in Buenos Aires conveys
Messages of culture, politics, and ways
To improve and progress, to unite and stand strong
It's a reflection of the city's soul, all along.”

Street art in Buenos Aires can be traced back to the 1960s and 1970s, when political graffiti appeared on the city's walls as a form of resistance against the military dictatorship. In the 1980s, street art evolved to include more artistic elements, such as murals and stencils, as well as a wider range of themes, including social and cultural issues.

Today, street art in Buenos Aires is a diverse and multifaceted art form that includes a wide range of styles and techniques, from traditional graffiti to more contemporary approaches like installations and projections. It can be found in various neighborhoods throughout the city, from the historic San Telmo district to the trendy Palermo neighborhood. From colorful murals to intricate graffiti art, La Boca's street art is a testament to the creativity and talent of the city's artists.

As I reflect on my time in Argentina, I am reminded of the power of sports and art to bring people together and inspire us to be our best selves. Whether it's on the field or on the stage, the beauty of these pursuits lies in their ability to transcend boundaries and bring people from all walks of life together in a shared celebration of talent and passion. I was struck by the sheer talent of the Argentine athletes, who brought a unique energy and flair to their respective sports. Whether it was watching a thrilling soccer match at La Bombonera or admiring the grace of the tango dancers at a local milonga, I was constantly in awe of the skill and dedication of these performers.

“But sports in Argentina are more than just a game
They are a way to express identity and fame
From the barrios to the elite
They are a way to connect, compete
So, as I watch these sports unfold
Their stories are told
So here's a ballad for the youth,
As they play soccer with their hearts
The ball becomes their canvas, their art
As they skillfully weave and dart
A reflection of Argentina’s culture and heart
Sports truly are a work of art”

In the end, my experience in Argentina was one of great growth and understanding. I am grateful for the opportunity to witness the incredible impact that both sports and art have on this dynamic and vibrant city. They bring people together and provide a sense of community and belonging that is truly special and unique. My experiences have taught me the importance of intersectionality and the ways in which sports and art can be a force for positive change in the world. Whether it's through promoting diversity and inclusion, or using the platforms to advocate for social justice, I believe that both have the power to bring people together and create a more just and equitable world. So here's to the Argentine athletes and artists who showed me the true meaning of sports and art – may their talents continue to inspire and uplift us all.

Muna Mohamed is the co-founder of the Cedar Riverside Community Travelling Basketball Program (CRCTB), which housed the first ever AAU traveling basketball for Muslim female athletes. As a coach, she focuses on providing culturally-tailored sport program for East African girls. Currently, she is working on her starter up, Modest and Active, which will provide a provide modest active wear line that inspires women and girls to participate in an active lifestyle without comprising cultural and religious values. Muna is inspired to use coaching as a mechanism to empower young girls to engage in sports, and to be an active role model off and on the basketball courts. Muna took part of in a community-based research project 'The Impact of Culturally Sensitive Apparel Co-Design Project on the Physical Activity of East African Adolescent Girls', which designed and created culturally appropriate active wear for East African girls. She helped to initiate the creation of the first-ever sports uniform for Muslim girls. Muna received her Masters of science in kinesiology at the University of Minnesota. Prior to her studies, she was a youth basketball coach in the Cedar Riverside community.

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Blood Memory
Photo by Richard SchabetsbergerAdrienne Benjamin
Blood Memory
By: Adrienne Benjamin 

Salzburg Global Artist in Residence Adrienne Benjamin writes about her experience in Salzburg, language barriers, and the relation to her ancestral past

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Who Cares for the Carers? Black Women and the Care Economy
Photo by Ashwini Chaudhary(Monty) on Unsplash
Who Cares for the Carers? Black Women and the Care Economy
By: J. Jarpa Dawuni 

Salzburg Global Fellow J. Jarpa Dawuni "challenges societies and gender activists to think more about caring for the carers"

In the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic and racial social justice unrest in the US in particular, the arc of morality shifted towards the issue of women in the care economy. From the plethora of op-eds, books, convenings and conference panels on this issue, it is evident that the world is (re)awakening to the role caregivers play in the private and the public sectors of our societies. Most of these caregivers are predominantly women of color. A 2020 article by Salzburg Global Fellow Jocelyn Frye on the impact of COVID-19 on women of color indicated that 60.3% of maids and housekeepers, 50.3% of nursing assistants, and 45.7% of personal care aides are women of color.

In October 2022, I attended a Salzburg Global Seminar program Health and Economic Well-being: Gender Equality in Post-Pandemic Rebuilding. The five-day session convened a diverse group of women representing over 26 countries with diverse professional backgrounds and lived experiences. The energy that galvanized our five days of deliberation, sharing, co-creating ideas and strategizing for centering women in the post-pandemic rebuilding was simply infectious and invigorating. I came back hopeful that if we examine women in the care economy through an intersectional lens, we can move the needle forward for women in the care economy.

As we explore innovative and sustainable ways of addressing the care economy, I am struck by the narrow definition of the “care economy.” My call to action is to challenge societies and gender activists to begin to think more about caring for the carers. When we talk about carers in our societies, we often think of those who provide primary care - parents, babysitters, health professionals, and teachers. These groups consist largely of women of color, and immigrant women who remain underpaid.

We must expand our conceptualization of the care economy to include those I classify as secondary carers—and this group includes individuals who serve food at restaurants, the janitors who keep our surroundings clean, and those who provide direction and customer service at public venues such as airports.

Noticing the Unnoticed

Most women will probably relate to this example. Have you noticed that the lines to the women’s bathrooms/restrooms at airports are usually long—and longer than the men’s restrooms?

Maybe we need a feminist architectural redesign of public bathrooms. I began noticing this trend, especially at airports because I travel quite a bit. I also started noticing the invisible woman in the bathroom corner who was stationed there to clean and keep the place tidy, hygienic, and refreshed. For most of us, we go in and out of restrooms fast, either to run off to catch our flight or to catch a ride home after a long flight.

In 2018, I decided to develop a new habit, consciously noticing the cleaning lady in the corner of the restroom. Afterall, it was because of her that I could go to a clean and hygienic bathroom after a flight. I decided that each time I used the bathroom, I would take a few minutes to say thank you to the cleaning lady in the corner. I also decided to tip her if I had change on me.

Tips and Thanks

Due to the pandemic and the halt in traveling, I did a few of those “tips and thanks” up until 2019. But today, I was reminded of my pledge when I went through the ever-so-busy Hartsfield Jackson Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. I only had a $100 bill in my purse. I was tempted to give that to the lady, but I also had some budgetary needs to attend to. I ran out of the bathroom and went to the shop next door to buy gum so I could get change. The shop attendant told me she had no change, but the lady in front of me had smaller bills and kindly gave me five $20 bills. I went back to the restroom and fulfilled my pledge of “tip and thanks.”

Caring for the Carers.

I decided to share this experience with the world, not because I want to put my “little generosity” on display but to showcase how we all, in our little ways, can take care of those who care for us. A simple “thank you” goes a long way to boost the morale of a worker. Most of those who clean our public spaces are women, and a higher majority of those are women of color. In our attempts to center women in the care economy in a post-pandemic rebuilding, let us open our minds and hearts to the invisible faces in the care economy – who are everywhere around us. In caring for the carers, we all contribute to making the world of work better; we contribute to centering women in the care economy.

Sometimes, all it takes to care for a carer is simply to say thank you. Join this movement to care for the carers!

J. Jarpa Dawuni is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University, Washington D.C. She is a qualified Barrister-at-Law before the Superior Courts of Ghana. She holds a Doctorate in Political Science from Georgia State University. Her primary areas of research and advocacy include law and development, judicial politics, women and the legal professions, gender and the law, international human rights, democratization and women's civil society organizing.

 

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Salzburg Global Seminar Hosts "Children in War" Photo Exhibition
From left to right - Yuliia Kravchenko, Martin Weiss, and Olena Prokopenko at the "Children in War" photo exhibitionFrom left to right - Yuliia Kravchenko, Martin Weiss, and Olena Prokopenko at the "Children in War" photo exhibition
Salzburg Global Seminar Hosts "Children in War" Photo Exhibition
By: Salzburg Global Seminar 

Exhibition curated by Salzburg Global Fellow Olena Prokopenko is on display in Schloss Leopoldskron's Max Reinhardt Library

A photo exhibition highlighting the lives and experiences of children in Ukraine affected by war is now on display at Salzburg Global Seminar.

In cooperation with the Ukrainian Institute of Public Diplomacy, the "Children in War" exhibition was launched on December 14 in Schloss Leopoldskron's Max Reinhardt Library.

The exhibition, which has also been on display in Belgium, the US, Israel, and the Vatican, was curated by Salzburg Global Fellow Olena Prokopenko.

On Wednesday, Olena was present at Schloss Leopoldskron to launch the exhibition alongside fellow Salzburg Global Fellow Yuliia Kravchenko. Olena said, "The heroes of this exhibition sleep under rocket fire and live in the midst of destroyed schools and houses. All of them have their own tragic history."

Earlier this year, Olena and Yuliia both attended the Salzburg Global program, "Connecting and Supporting Ukrainian Civil Society in Time of War." An output of this program was theSalzburg Statement of Ukrainian Civil Society, a document that outlines the crucial role of civil society and rethinking Ukrainian reconstruction.

The program followed an initiative by Salzburg Global, which saw around 100 refugees accommodated in the Meierhof following Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the beginning of 2022.

Martin Weiss, president and CEO of Salzburg Global Seminar said, "Our future will be decided in Ukraine, you can't look the other way here...  Looking at these young faces [at the "Children in War" exhibition] shows the immediacy of what is happening. It's about much more than a war on a battlefield. The future is being taken away from a whole generation here.”

The exhibition is open to the public on December 22 and January 3 and 4, between 14:00 and 16:00. If you are interested in attending, please register first by emailing events@schlossleopoldskron.com.

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