A Reboot Special with John Davenport (US), Ali Al Hajj Sleiman (Mali) and Roberto Castaldi (Italy), moderated by Nico A. Heller.

A Round Table on Constitutional Reform

Written constitutions, such as the American or the German Constitution, are treated often almost like divine texts or laws (timeless and eternal, written in stone), that can be referred to by anyone, but only a 'chosen few' (constitutional judges) are allowed to interpret them, when it comes to legal disputes.

Yet, all constitutions are products of their time and to maintain legitimacy sometimes need changing/reforming.

Kenya is a case in point: Following the post-election violence that broke out after the December 2007 presidential elections, a reform process was set in motion that led to the adoption of a new constitution in 2010, which contributed significantly to the stabilisation of Kenyan democracy post 2007.
In this round table on constitutional reform we look at three very different contexts: the US, a mature/old democracy, the European Union, an emerging/young supranational democracy, and Mali, a highly fragile state. We will be talking about the scope for and possible impacts of constitutional reform within these specific contexts and share insights gained and lessons learned within one context that might be of use in another.

Joining Nico for this Reboot Special are John Davenport (US), Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University and author of Saving American Democracy: The Case for Constitutional Reform in the US (2023), Ali Al Hajj Sleiman (Mali), Deputy Country Director and Electoral advisor for the NDI Mali, and Roberto Castaldi (Italy), Associate Professor of Political Philosophy at eCampus University and General Editor of EURACTIV Italy.​

For more information about John Davenport, Ali Al Hajj Sleiman​and and Roberto Castaldi, please visit our contributors page. This Reboot Special builds on a previous Reboot Dialogue and is presented by Nico A. Heller.

Further Reading

• A summary of The Democracy Amendments
• Sample sections 1-4 of the The Democracy Amendments
• A summary of A League of Democracies
• A League of Democracies sample chapter 
• A League of Democracies publisher flyer/discount

A ​Reboot Special with Yoshua Bengio and John Bunzl, moderated by Nico A. Heller.

Round Table on AI and International Cooperation

In this Reboot Special we talk about the strengths and limitations of current artificial intelligence, why it may become a dangerous instrument of disinformation, why superintelligent AI may be closer (years) than most previously expected (decades) and how this could yield to catastrophic outcomes - from AI-driven wars to the extreme risk of extinction. This in turn we argue motivates the need for international cooperation to avoid, for example, the catastrophic risks arising from AI arms races – or indeed from economic races, driven by similar self-destructive game-theoretical competition.

Participating in this virtual round table are Yoshua Bengio and John Bunzl. Yoshua is recognized worldwide as one of the leading experts in artificial intelligence. John founded the Simultaneous Policy Organisation (SIMPOL) in 2000 with the aim of countering what he calls Destructive Global Competition (DGC) by empowering citizens everywhere to use their votes to drive politicians at the national level towards global cooperation. SIMPOL by now has supporters in over 100 countries and enjoys the backing of a growing number of parliamentarians around the world.

More information about our discussants is available here.

A Reboot Special with Robert Hinkley, Francesca Leucci, Susanna Cafaro and Young-Jin Choi, moderated by Nico A. Heller.

Round Table on Corporate Citizenship

Existing law provides that directors must “act in the best interests of the corporation.” Bob Hinkley, a renowned American attorney and one of the Democracy School’s regular dialogue partners proposes a Code for Corporate Citizenship that would add “but not at the expense of severe damage to the environment, human rights, public health and safety, dignity of employees or welfare of the communities in which the corporation operates.” He believes that, if adopted, this simple addition to corporate law would fundamentally transform the way corporations (can) operate and (must) do business.

In this Reboot Special four discussants place Bob’s proposed code under the microscope within a European environmental and climate change context and discuss it from both a legal and an investment/economic point of view.
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More information about our discussants is available here.