Democracy Lighthouse, a new initiative from the Toda Peace Institute, will be launched on 31 May 2024.
The online platform is the result of collaboration between Toda Peace Institute and the University of Sydney. It aims to be an independent beacon and distributor of information on the renewal of democracy around the globe. The project has been funded by Toda Peace Institute as part of its Global Challenges to Democracy research programme. The website address is https://democracylighthouse.com/
Toda Peace Institute Director, Professor Kevin P. Clements, says the website is being launched during a period of mounting global anxiety and widespread political unrest about democracy’s future.
“This platform is perhaps the world’s first comprehensive depository of information about the hundreds of organisations and networks engaged in reimagining, advocating and researching the past, present and future of democracy.”
Currently the platform has more than 200 organisations listed and is actively encouraging other organisations to list their details.
Coordinator Professor John Keane of the University of Sydney says the platform isn’t a political organisation or party-political grouping.
“Democracy Lighthouse offers guidance to researchers, teachers, students, journalists, politicians, lawyers, public officials, NGO activists and citizens worried about the worldwide threats faced by democracy, many of them actively researching and inventing new ways of rejuvenating the spirit and substance of democracy.”
“Democracy Lighthouse offers visitors open and easy access to materials which are otherwise invisible, or not easily found on social media, radio and television, or in newspapers, magazines and books,” said Professor Keane.
Olivia Stokes Dreier, Senior Research Fellow at Toda Peace Institute, says Democracy Lighthouse does not comment on the work of the organisations and networks displayed on these pages.
“Its aim is more modest and ecumenical: to make publicly available a wide range of different materials, voices, opinions and ways of thinking. It does so in support of our passionate belief that in these troubled times, democracy – popular self-government and a whole way of life committed to the non-violent refusal of arbitrary power – remains an indispensable planetary ideal.”
The initiative is receiving a growing number of endorsements from global experts. (See below)
For further information, please contact:
Olivia Stokes Dreier olivia@karunacenter.org Professor John Keane john.keane@sydney.edu.au
The endorsements below appear on the platform and may be quoted.
“An ambitious, globally important project whose lighthouse metaphor does more than acknowledge the dark and stormy conditions threatening democracy almost everywhere. Democracy Lighthouse also makes available vital information resources to daring democracy mariners.” Abdelwahab El-Affendi - Provost and President of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies
“Democracy Lighthouse is a much-needed resource for all who seek inspiration and ideas from advocates and architects of people-centred solutions to big problems around the world. Each context is unique, but we also face common challenges and may have shareable solutions. This platform tells us we are not as alone as we think.” Cherian George is Professor of Media Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, and a founder of the Singaporean academic collective, AcademiaSG. His books include Hate Spin: The Manufacture of Religious Offense and its Threat to Democracy (2016).
“A future for democracy requires more than defending existing forms against assault. Instead, we need to imagine and experiment with democratic practices appropriate to twenty-first century global powers and the challenges of the Anthropocene. Democracy Lighthouse makes an essential contribution to this work.” Wendy Brown - UPS Foundation Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and Professor Emerita of Political Science and Critical Theory at UC Berkeley.
“Democracy Lighthouse is a fantastic initiative. Over the next decade democracy all over the world needs to be simultaneously strengthened, reformed and reimagined, to counter the many threats it faces. That work needs to be guided by understanding of both history and the present, by evidence as well as vigorous experiment and cross-pollination of promising ideas. After all, democracy is as much a verb as a noun and much more a work in progress than a completed project. All of us can play a part in the next phase of its evolution and Democracy Lighthouse can help weave the many threads together.” Sir Geoff Mulgan - Professor at University College London (UCL), former CEO of Nesta and the Young Foundation, director of the UK Government’s Strategy Unit, head of policy in the Prime Minister’s office.
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