Event details
Join us for a conversation and reception with Jon Alexander, author of Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us, and Graça Fonseca, former deputy mayor of Lisbon City Council, minister of culture, and secretary of state for Administrative Modernization, Portugal.
Alexander explores the breakdown of what he calls the “Consumer Story” — a narrative that reduces people to consumers and threatens the foundation of democracy itself. In its place, he proposes the “Citizen Story,” a powerful reimagining of democracy centered on citizen engagement and empowerment. In Citizens, Alexander offers a roadmap to understanding how power operates in today’s democracies and outlines the steps to build systems where everyone, not just elites, has a voice.
Graça Fonseca, a social scientist with a PhD in sociology, introduced bold democratic innovations while serving in the government of Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa. She led efforts to strengthen civic engagement across city and national government, including introducing the world’s first nationwide participatory budgeting process, after having piloted the process in Lisbon. She was named to the Politicians’ Democracy Innovator Hall of Fame by Apolitical Foundation in 2023.
This event is co-sponsored by Columbia World Projects and the European Institute.