Democracy in Debate 5

Viac o knihe

"The Academy's initial Democracy project, carried out from its inception under the leadership of Professor Dr. Hans F. Zacher, has now reached its final phase. As in each of the other areas under study, the Academy commenced its work on democracy by holding workshops and plenary meetings where papers by members and invited experts were presented and discussed. As this process went forward, it became evident that in order to meet its responsibility of providing the Church with the best possible information and the most promising ideas, the Academy could not limit itself to conducting and publishing academic lectures and debates. Thus, upon the completion of several meetings devoted to various aspects of democracy, the entire harvest of material was submitted for evaluation and review to external experts who were requested to report to the Academy and to discuss their findings with the members of the Academy. Once that review was completed, the final step was the preparation of a report, summarizing what could be regarded as results, that is, the elements of knowledge which the Academy could establish by means of the social sciences and which might be useful to the Church in the development of her social teaching. That document was submitted by Professor Zacher to the Academicians for comment, and received final approval at the Academy's May 2004 Plenary Meeting. With the publication of this Report, together with all the preceding reports and discussions on democracy, the Academy's initial democracy project is complete. Mary Ann Glendon President October 2004"--PASS website