Democratic institutions face growing strain. Systems designed for representation and collective decision-making struggle with complex global challenges, while public trust declines and citizens feel increasingly distant from political power.
Observers disagree on the causes and solutions. Some argue the nation-state is no longer the right container for democracy, while others believe outdated models of representation and participation must be reimagined. Still others focus on the challenge of building democracy where it does not yet exist.
This debate brings together two thinkers on democratic reform to explore how democracy might evolve to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Organized by the Democracy and Federalism Hub, Democracy Without Borders, the World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy and additional partners.
Speakers
Dr Hanno Scholtz, political and social theorist, developed the concept of “Civil democracy” and the underlying theory of democratic efficacy and partitioning representation. Author of seven books and many articles, a.o., Rethinking Democracy (2026, de Gruyter) and “Large scale democratic policy design” (2025, Policy design & practice). Grown up in West-Berlin, naturalized in Switzerland, economist, political scientist with a dissertation exploring novel approaches to vote splitting, sociologist with a habilitation thesis on the Two steps to modernity in European history, specializations in political and media sociology, since 2008 professorships and lecturer positions across Swiss and German universities.
Dr. Doina Stratu-Strelet is a political scientist, jurist, and researcher whose work sits at the intersection of democratic consolidation, political system resilience, and digital governance. She holds a PhD from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) — awarded the Extraordinary Doctorate Prize — for her thesis Unveiling the Power of Digital Transformation in Developing Countries: Towards a Theory of Democratic Consolidation from Inside Out, developing the theory of Dynamic Democracy: a paradigm shift redefining democratic consolidation as a continuous function-oriented process, validated across 84 countries. Currently Professor of Law and Business at ESIC Business School, she collaborates as an Expert with the European Commission on democracy and public research funding. She continues to bridge academic research and civic action as an Associate at Democracy Without Borders and Board member of Union of European Federalist-Spain.
Sessions
There are two sessions to accommodate different time zones:
Session 1: Thursday, March 19th, 8:00 PM Sydney, Australia Time/ 10:00 AM Central Europe Time (CET) – Registration link
Session 2: Thursday, March 26th, 8:00 PM Central Europe Time / 3:00 PM U.S. East Coast Time (EDT) – Registration link