On 17-18 October 2016 second Forum of the Association of Schools of Political Studies of the Council of Europe titled “In Search of Lost Universalism” was held in Berlin, Germany.

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.

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.

We live in the time of globalisation, and also of a global crisis, when all of the known economic, political and cultural approaches to dealing with looming problems and raging conflicts seem to have run their course everywhere. The latter is true for a wide range of problems we are facing today – the financial crisis, the refugee crisis, the environmental crisis, the crisis of the arms race. Under these conditions, would Europe, the cradle of most significant scientific breakthroughs and social inventions in history, produce an intellectual alternative to the crisis? Is there a way to correct the situation and redress the wrongs? The Founders of the Forum see a solution in the development of civic dialogue and in the culture of hospitality, granted that hospitality is free of coercion. The motto for civic enlightenment is: “Learn to understand. Learn to trust”.