Overview
Democracy is in decline in today's world. In numerous and growing contexts or sectors of the population there is a disenchantment or disaffection with Democracy that leads to the spread of populism, polarization, and post-truths.
At the 2022 IAJU assembly in Boston Fr. Sosa called on the Jesuit higher education network to explore the global crisis of democracy and to address it in practice. He placed particular emphasis on three alarming worldwide trends: populism, polarization, and the transition to post-truth societies.
At the same Assembly, the AUSJAL Observatory on Democracy presented its findings on the situation in Latin America. In the wake of the assembly, Fr. Sosa encouraged the formation of a Task Force on the Promotion of Democracy to build on and globalize the work of the Observatory.
Goals
- To leverage the immense academic and social value of IAJU to transform the world through knowledge, analysis, and policy advocacy.
- To create and organize a Jesuit Think Tank with global presence, credibility, independence, and influential capacity.
- To strengthen the links between Jesuit universities and social centers, among other institutions and organized citizenship, so that academic work is nourished by popular experiences and, in turn, contributes to citizen education and sociopolitical action.
- To be the main contribution of the Society of Jesus to reverse the erosion of democracy and human rights in the world, through training, knowledge transfer, advocacy, and direct intervention.
- To respond to the mandate of Father General expressed at the last IAJU assembly held in Boston in August 2022.
