Our theme for the 2019-2020 academic year
In 2019-2020, the theme of Governance for Society will be central to Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam’s education and research activities, and specifically the key question of how to enhance the resilience of democracy through democratic leadership. In these times of polarization, machine learning, Brexit, mass migration and climate change, is our democracy resilient enough?
We are currently witnessing growing social tensions and inequality, and it seems clear that we need a new kind of leadership. We need leaders who are able to strike the right balance between creating societal support and taking initiative, between listening to citizens and turning their stories into the right kinds of action. Action that contributes to the resilience and responsiveness of people and organizations.
And of course, this is true not only of the political sphere but also in other areas of society where participation, responsibility, tolerance and leadership are democratically organized.
Governance for Society relates to organizational structures. It includes governments, businesses, international organizations and others. At VU Amsterdam, organizational scientists, philosophers, sociologists, economists, legal scholars, theologians and psychologists are all looking at the question of how we can help to build a better society by changing the ways in which we organize our society.