Re-thinking our common futures in democracy

A society where the majority of the people feel they have no control over their own future(s), if not choosing among pre-defined ones, is a society that has lost its power to imagine, think and act differently. As trust in democracy and in each other is diminishing, we at Democratic Society will focus our work to reimagine democracy and the basis of the social contract that keeps us together and allows more people to regain trust in each other and in a common future(s).

We will know we are making progress in this field when (from the shorter to the longer term):

• More people and institutions feel comfortable and able to engage in debates about the longer term and the future of democracy, through increased ‘future literacy’ and the introduction in governments, and beyond, of participatory methods for imagining the future;
• More people have the power to imagine different future realities as the first step towards mobilising in order to make those realities possible in the present;
• From local to EU level, new policies are designed that are visionary and allow citizens to re-imagine our social contract creatively and collaboratively;
• New modes of democratic design and governance are developed or combined so that society can best respond to the challenges /opportunities we face.