Berlin Forum: In Search of Lost Universalism

Seminar calendar

From Monday, 17 October 2016
To Tuesday, 18 October 2016

The second Berlin Forum “In Search of Lost Universalism” organised by the Association of Schools of Political Studies was held in Berlin on 17-18 October 2016.

The Berlin Forum started from the presumption that there are many cultures, but only one civilisation founded on Freedom, Human Rights, the Rule of Law and Democracy. This unique and unifying civilisation needs to be constantly reinvigorated.

The Forum brought together leading cultural figures, experts, representatives of European think tanks, international journalists and alumni of the Schools to address key democratic challenges facing Europe today and to suggest ways of promoting solidarity among young people to combat the current crisis.

The forum was attended by over 200 young public leaders from almost 40 countries: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldova, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the UK and the USA.

Many discussions in different formats covered, among others, topics such as Security vs. Freedom, Politics of Memory and History, Nationalism and Migration, War and Peace, Corruption, Rule of law and civic education.

Keynote addresses were made by the President of the Association of Schools of Political Studies and former Secretary General of the Council of Europe Catherine Lalumière, German politician and former Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Bundestag Ruprecht Polenz, the first Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Alvaro Gil-Robles, Director of Policy Planning of the Council of Europe Matjaž Gruden, the Founder of the School of Civic Education in Moscow Yuri Senokosov, and other prominent speakers.