International Symposium 2019: Challenges and New Horizons

The symposium Democracy in the 21st century: Challenges and New Frontiers was held at the Plenary Session Hall of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic in Waldstein Palace in Prague on September 15, 2019. Watch the event after-movie below.

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Modern democracies are epitomes of unprecedented progress, freedom and wealth. Their people live longer, are healthier, more educated, and far less threatened by poverty and violence. However, we should not take these developments for granted. In recent decades many democratic countries have also seen growing mistrust in political representation, widening social division, and increasing influence of ideological fringes of the political spectrum. These phenomena deserve our focused attention and careful examination, lest we lose what we hold dear.

For that reason, the Vice-President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Jan Horník and the mathematician and founder of the Institute H21 Karel Janeček joined forces to organize an international symposium Democracy in the 21st century: Challenges and New Frontiers. Its aim was to bring together politicians, academics, journalists, and other figures from public life from the Czech Republic as well as from abroad and facilitate a much needed conversation about current trends in modern democracies and potential threats to free societies. 

International experts presented a diverse collection of viewpoints to help us tackle hard questions about democracy in the 21st century; the topics ranging from philosophy of democracy, political science, innovative voting systems, the role of technology in society, and social games for implementing change.

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Speakers & Lectures

• Patrick Deneen, University of Notre Dame: The Crisis of Democracy and the Degradation of Citizenship

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• Tamar Newberger and Eric Adelstein: What’s so Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?

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• Fuad Aleskerov, Higher School of Economics in Moscow: Polarization of the Society and Patterns of Electoral Behaviour

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• Hannu Nurmi, University of Turku: Voting Theory and Democracy - Some Results and Their Relevance for Institutional Design

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• Peter Emerson, The de Borda Institute: The Good, the Mediocre, and the Hopelessly Inaccurate

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• Karel Janeček, Institute H21: From Conflict to Consensus - Introducing Innovative Voting Method D21

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• Bele Wollesen, Carnegie Mellon University: A Geometric Analysis of Alternative Voting Method D21

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• Dr. Jana Hybášková, former Ambassador of the European Union in Namibia: Lessons Learnt About Democracy in the Developing World

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• Nora Siklodi, University of Portsmouth: Participatory Democracy and Active (European) Citizenship During Crisis? Studying Citizen Activism in the Context of Brexit

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• Josef Holý, MSD IT Hub: AI and Algorithmic Governance Beyond Fake News

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• Vladimir Dzuro: Lethal Propaganda - Fake News in Post-Conflict Environment

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