Strengthening Democracy in Poland and Why It’s Important to Americans
In June 2023, the Evolution Institute (EI) co-sponsored our first Warsaw Summit: Democracy Bottom-Up: Building a Dialogue between Civil Society and Politicians. In partnership with Forum Ruchu Europejskiego, European Movement International, and Collegium Civitas, the summit gathered Polish and international civil society activists, independent media, academics, and politicians to discuss concrete steps of counteracting the ongoing democratic recession in Europe and the US. The highly successful conference was held prior to Poland’s October election, which resulted in a democratic uptick. Read about the 2023 summit here.
EI is building upon the success of this partnership with a fall 2024 symposium, Civic Engagement as a Key to Social Well-being and the Warsaw Summit II in spring 2025. Read about the developing plans for both programs in our July 2024 newsletter, and more will be announced in upcoming newsletters.
Background:
The EI invests time in partnerships with Norway, which has one of the world’s most democratic governments, and the Basque region of Spain, which has the world’s most democratic workplaces, in order to hypothesize a “universal methodology.” Such a methodology requires critical thinking and humanistic values for science-based solutions to social problems and objective criteria that define Quality of Life.
As members of a divided American society, we can learn from the unfolding Polish experience. Poland is a “freedom laboratory”: a country where a fight for freedom is part of a cultural DNA, and where, at the same time, 50 years under authoritarian Soviet occupation has taught and promoted a disempowered homo sovieticus. Many nations in Europe, and places in the US like Florida as the epicenter, have been hit by a democratic backslide. Poland remains a battlefield of democratic and authoritarian forces.
However, we believe the US can learn from the present Polish democratic process: specifically, what political, economic, legal, and cultural innovations can inspire the process of renewing democracy. One innovation includes providing a forum for a dialogue between civil society, free media, and pro-democratic politicians the precondition for a democratic rejuvenation; What can we learn from civic initiatives in Europe and the US, especially Florida; and how can transnational institutions like the European Union and the Evolution Institute help in reclaiming and strengthening democratic structures and the rule of law?
These are some of the questions that we are addressing. Democracy Bottom-up explores the unfinished work of bridging civic engagement and political decision-making in the struggle for a fair, just, and inclusive society.
The outcome will be a book on democratic innovations, but what is important is starting a process of imagining democracy 2.0 and signing a Declaration of Interdependence between civic groups and politicians.