Athens Democracy Forum

Since 2017, the Global Liberal Arts Alliance has partnered with Deree-The American College of Greece to participate in the annual International New York Times Athens Democracy Forum held in Athens, Greece each fall.

Through a competitive process, 24 students from 15 nations and 23 Alliance schools were selected to attend the 2019 Forum, “Reinventing Democracy – New Models for a Changing World”. Students met on the Deree campus for three days prior to the Forum to discuss the state of democracy in their home country and to consider the four Forum themes from the perspective of youth from their parts of the world:

  1. We and Them: The tectonic plates of nationalism and multiculturalism
  2. The echo chamber and the Agora: The use and abuse of new and social media
  3. The cost of Inequality: Where has all the money gone?
  4. Back to Basics: What must be done to restore faith in Democracy?

As in previous years, students were scribes for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals luncheon where SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities and SDG 13 – Climate Action were discussed. Notes from these conversations will be the basis for white papers the students write providing recommendations for how to achieve the targets for these two SDGs.

Program information and photos for student involvement from this year’s Forum can be found at Youth Democracy Forum.