“Democracy needs to be born anew every generation, and education is the midwife.” - John Dewey -
In recent years, the global landscape has been defined by significant challenges to the democratic ideal. Considering the growing threat of democratic backsliding, the health and resilience of contemporary democracies cannot be addressed through institutional reforms alone. A crucial way to address this problem is through democratic education, through which higher education can play a pivotal role in fostering the next generation of informed and engaged citizens.
The quest for 21st-century higher education to take the lead in providing citizen-participatory education has become a significant topic of discussion. For example, a report published by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) advocates that higher education should play a pivotal role in prioritizing civic learning. According to the report, universities have a responsibility to create more suitable environments for students to acquire civic competencies. Fostering a civic spirit is a core tenet in schools today (AAC&U, 2012).
In the field of political science, the American Political Science Association (APSA) has emphasized that education for civic engagement and responsive governance were founding objectives of the political science profession from the beginning of the 20th century and remain essential for the 21st century. The three consecutive volumes on civic engagement education edited by APSA and uploaded on its website stress that universities hold a unique position as key institutions that can lead the preservation and development of democracy in society and the nation (McCartney et al., 2013; Matto et al., 2017& 2021).
In a similar vein, the International Political Science Association (IPSA) embarked on a new General Track on Political Science Teaching and Learning in 2023 at the Buenos Aires World Congress. The legacy will continue through 2025 at the Seoul World Congress. Not only the General Track on Political Science Teaching and Learning but also other special sessions and panels on citizen education and civic engagement education will be organized to discuss a range of challenges to and opportunities for the teaching of political science in universities and colleges around the world in the era of democratic backsliding (https://wc2025.ipsa.org/wc/track/gl13-political-science-teaching-and-le…).
This Special High-Level Roundtable focuses on the role of academia in resisting autocratization and seeking ways to promote democracy. The Roundtable will be structured with two keynote speeches, one by South Korean Minister of Education and the other by the President of Seoul National University (SNU), Dr. Honglim Ryu, a political philosopher and a former faculty member of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at SNU. A roundtable discussion with distinguished presidents of universities and political science associations will follow.
* Simultaneous Translation will be provided
Participants:
Minister of Education, South Korea (South Korea)
Honglim Ryu, President of Seoul National University (South Korea)
Pablo Onate, President of IPSA (Spain)
Yuko Katsuya, President-elect of IPSA (Japan)
Francesca Longo, Vice-Rector, University of Catania (Italy) and Executive Committee Member of IPSA
John Ishiyama, Past President of APSA, 2021~2022 (USA)