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In the summer of 1947, following the horrors and devastation of World War II, a radical idea to create a permanent center for dialogue and reconciliation in Europe was born. This idea, “the Salzburg Seminar in American Civilization” as it was known then, was brought to life by one young Austrian and two young Americans. Its deeper purpose at the time – located in a former Axis country under military occupation – was to be an experiment in the pursuit of peace and democratic values.
This founding idea to create a place where former enemies could speak openly, where people could disagree civilly, and where intellectuals, artists, policy makers, and others could directly challenge the politics of power in pursuit of peace, is as important today as it was then.
Fast forward 76 years and the world is at another crossroads. Democratic systems face complex challenges and threats. Authoritarian power, populism, anti-democratic propaganda, political polarization, and military aggression have put democracy on the defensive. While direct conflicts between authoritarian and democratic systems have been escalating for years in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria, and elsewhere, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the full scale mobilization to defend its democratic values and right to self-determination is reshaping geopolitics for the 21st century. What happens next? Where do we go from here?
Perhaps more importantly, how can the citizens on the front lines – those who risk their lives every day to demand accountability, protect human rights, support the rule of law, and use their voices, their art, and their pens to defend democratic values and create movements for change – be strengthened and supported?
This year, for our annual Salzburg Global Weekend, Democracy on the Front Lines, we will dive deeply into how democracies – and their citizens on the front lines – are responding to these existential threats, how we can support them, and whether our democratic societies are on the brink of disaster, or on the verge of resurgence.
