March 22-27, 2026 | Tokyo International Forum & Toshi Center Hotel, Tokyo, Japan, and Online
In line with the International Academic Forum’s (IAFOR) mission of interdisciplinarity, we successfully held one of our most popular interdisciplinary conferences in Tokyo. The 12th Asian Conference on Education and International Development (ACEID2026) took place alongside The 16th Asian Conference on Psychology and Behavioural Science (ACP2026) and The 12th Asian Conference on Gerontology and Aging (AGen2026) from March 22-27, 2026. Altogether, the joint conferences welcomed over 860 delegates from 68 countries from around the world.
Dr Joseph Haldane, IAFOR and Osaka University, Japan Professor Jun Arima, President, IAFOR & University of Tokyo, Japan Professor Anne Boddington, Executive Vice-President and Provost, IAFOR & Middlesex University, United Kingdom Professor Barbara Lockee, Virginia Tech, United States Professor Donald E. Hall, Binghamton University, United States Dr James W. McNally, University of Michigan, United States & NACDA Program on Aging Dr Grant Black, Chuo University, Japan Professor Dexter Da Silva, Keisen University, Japan Professor Baden Offord, Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University, Australia & Cultural Studies Association of Australasia Professor Frank S. Ravitch, Michigan State University College of Law, United States Professor William Baber, Kyoto University, Japan
Dr Joseph Haldane, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan Dr James W. McNally, University of Michigan, United States & NACDA Program on Aging Professor Sela V. Panapasa, University of Michigan, United States Dr Miriam Sang-Ah Park, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom Lowell Sheppard, Never Too Late Academy, Japan
Dr Ratchaphon Amsuk, Prince of Songkla University (Suratthani Campus), Thailand Dr Cheryl Chong Zhiya, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore Dr Angela Koh, National Heart Centre Singapore, Singapore Dr Changsu Lee, the Korea Institute for Aging Prevention, South Korea Dr Rowena Mende, University of the Philippines Cebu, Philippines Dr Olushola Okigbo, The Federal Polytechnic Bida Niger State Nigeria, Nigeria Dr Sarinya Polsingchan, Praboromarajchanok Institute, Thailand Professor Mahendra Prasad Sharma, Tribhuvan University, Nepal Dr Sabrina Toh, National Healthcare Group, Singapore Dr Hoang-nam Tran, Tokushima University, Japan
Dr Evangelia Chrysikou, RIBA is Associate Professor within the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction at University College London, United Kingdom, and Founder/Programme Director of the university’s MSc Healthcare Facilities. A multi-awarded RIBA architect and healthcare planner, Dr Chrysikou has published widely and won several prestigious grants and fellowships from international organisations, including Horizon 2020, UKRI, Wellcome, British Academy, Royal Society of New Zealand, and the Sasakawa Foundation. Her research interests lie at the spectrum of inclusion in relation to design, spanning across the disciplines of built environment, health, digital technologies and the social sciences. Dr Chrysikou is a member of the National Accessibility Authority, Hellenic Republic by invitation from the Greek Prime Minister, and a member of the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Life Sciences and Healthcare Council Leadership Committee. She was the coordinator of the Environment Section of the EIPonAHA, EU, and has worked as a consultant for international government bodies such as the Japanese MOFA, Peru Reconstruction Mechanism, and the British Government for projects related to healthcare planning and architecture. She was elected Vice-President of the Urban Public Health section of EUPHA in 2018.
Keynote Presentation (2026) | Designing Care Futures: Built Environments, Health Systems, and Human–Robot Cohabitation in an Ageing World
William C. Frick
University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Biography
Dr William C. Frick is currently a Professor in the College of Public Policy at the University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, and a faculty developer with the Institute of Leadership in Higher Education. Previously, he was the Rainbolt Family Endowed Presidential Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education at the University of Oklahoma, United States. He is the founding director of the Center for Leadership Ethics and Change, an affiliate body of the international Consortium for the Study of Leadership and Ethics in Education (CSLEE) of the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA). Professor Frick has assumed editorial roles and been appointed to editorial boards in a number of prominent registers including, and most recently, Leadership and Policy in Schools, the Journal of Educational Administration, and the Journal of School Leadership. Prior to his higher education academic roles, Professor Frick was a practitioner in common education public schools including building and district-level administration. He has been awarded Core Fulbright U.S. Scholar and Fulbright Public Policy Fellow assignments. A doctoral graduate of The Pennsylvania State University, United States, his research interests include the philosophy of administrative leadership, school system reform within urban municipality revitalisation efforts, and broader cultural studies exploring the intersection of identity and schooling. A coauthored book with Jacqueline A. Stefkovich titled Best Interests of the Student: Applying Ethical Constructs to Legal Cases in Education (2006) is now in its third edition with Routledge. He has served in multiple officer and representative roles for national professional associations such as AERA, UCEA, and the CSLEE as well as local schools and school systems.
Featured Workshop (2026) | Navigating Academic Publishing
Kiichi Fujiwara
Juntendo University, Japan
Biography
Kiichi Fujiwara is a Professor in the Graduate School of International Liberal Arts at Juntendo University and Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, Japan. He taught International Politics at the Graduate Schools of Law and Politics and the Graduate School of Public Policy until 2022. Professor Fujiwara founded the Institute for Future Initiatives at the University of Tokyo, a university think-tank that engages in multidisciplinary approaches to global challenges. His publications include Remembering the War (2001), A Democratic Empire (2002), Is There Really a Just War? (2003), Peace for Realists (winner of the Ishibashi Tanzan award, 2005), International Politics (2007), Conditions of War (2013), A Destabilizing World (2020), and Predatory Imperialism (forthcoming). Professor Fujiwara is a commentator on international affairs and writes a monthly column for Asahi Shinbun. He is also a film buff, and serves as a film reviewer for the NHK.
Keynote Presentation (2026) | TBA
Héctor García
Author, Japan
Biography
Héctor García was born in Spain and worked at CERN in Switzerland before moving to Japan, where he has lived for over 21 years. During his fifteen years in Tokyo’s IT industry, he wrote the international bestseller Xcentric Culture: A Geek in Japan (2008) and later The Magic of Japan: Secret Places and Life-Changing Experiences (2020). He is also the co-author of the global hit Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life (2016), which has been translated into 70 languages. Notably, Ikigai holds the distinction of being the most translated book ever originally written in Spanish. To date, he has published ten books on Japanese culture.
Panel Presentation (2026) | Longevity, Happiness, and the Art of Community: Lessons from Japan and Beyond
Seoyoun Kim
University of Michigan & NACDA Program on Aging, United States
Biography
Dr Seoyoun Kim is affiliated with ICPSR and the Population Studies Center at the Institute for Social Research within the University of Michigan, United States She is also the director of the NACDA Program on Aging. She holds a dual-title PhD in Sociology and Gerontology from Purdue University, United States. Her research lies at the intersection of social gerontology, epidemiology, multi-omics, and cardiovascular health. Dr Kim explores how social and environmental factors shape health outcomes, particularly in ageing populations. She examines the impact of paid and unpaid productive engagement on the well-being of older adults, shedding light on the social determinants of health in later life. Her research also integrates multi-omics approaches to unravel the complex interactions between genetic, epigenetic, and environmental influences on health and ageing.
National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA), United States
Biography
Kathryn Lavender is the Data Project Manager for the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA), the aging archive at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the Institute for Social Research, the University of Michigan, United States. NACDA is funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Ms Lavender helps to guide data producers on data management and data sharing in the realm of data on aging populations/gerontology; promotes secondary research resources for public use; and contributes to spreading knowledge about quality metadata and data discovery through NACDA, as well as through the DDI Alliance. Ms Lavender has been an ICPSR staff member for more than 15 years and has been managing NACDA for nearly half of that time.
University of Michigan & NACDA Program on Aging, United States
Biography
Dr James W. McNally is the Director of the NACDA Program on Aging, a data archive containing over 1,500 studies related to health and the aging life course. He currently does methodological research on the improvement and enhancement of secondary research data and has been cited as an expert authority on data imputation. Dr McNally has directed the NACDA Program on Aging since 1998 and has seen the archive significantly increase its holdings with a growing collection of seminal studies on the aging life course, health, retirement and international aspects of aging. He has spent much of his career addressing methodological issues with a specific focus on specialised application of incomplete or deficient data and the enhancement of secondary data for research applications. Dr McNally has also worked extensively on issues related to international aging and changing perspectives on the role of family support in the later stages of the aging life course.
Dr Fathali M. Moghaddam is an award-winning professor of psychology at Georgetown University, United States. He previously worked for the United Nations and McGill University, Canada. Dr Moghaddam has published extensively on intergroup relations, the psychology of democracy and dictatorship, and subjective justice. His most recent books include Political Plasticity: The Future of Democracy and Dictatorship (2023), The Psychology of Assimilation, Multiculturalism, and Omniculturalism (2024), The Psychology of Revolution (2024), and The New Immigration Challenge: A Psychological Exploration Toward Solutions (with M. Hendricks & R. Salas Schweikart, 2026). Professor Moghaddam currently holds an h-index of 67.
Keynote Presentation (2026) | The Psychology of Democracy and Democratic Backsliding
Monty P. Satiadarma
Tarumanagara University, Indonesia
Biography
Dr Satiadarma is a clinical psychologist who has been teaching psychology at Tarumanagara University since 1994. He was one of the founders of the Department of Psychology at Tarumanagara and served as the Dean of Psychology, Vice Rector, and Rector of the university. He earned a degree in psychology from the University of Indonesia, a degree in art therapy from Emporia State University, Kansas, a degree in family counselling from Notre Dame de Namur University, California, and a certification in clinical hypnotherapy from Irvine, California. He has published several books nationally with a focus on educational psychology and the use of music and art therapy. He provided treatment to survivors of the Indonesian tsunami through the International Red Cross and the United Nations. Dr Satiadarma is a board member and chair of the area for the International Council of Psychology and a founder and a board member of the Asian Psychology Association.
Dr Yukiko Sawano is currently serving as a tenured Professor in the Department of Education at the University of the Sacred Heart, Japan. Her professional background includes significant roles as a government official and specialist of overseas research for the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT), as well as Senior Researcher at the Department of Lifelong Learning Policy Research of the National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER). Professor Sawano is a recognised expert in lifelong learning and comparative education, with a specific research focus on the Nordic model of lifelong learning and educational reform in post-Soviet countries.
Professor Sawano served as President of the Japan Association of Lifelong Education from 2016 to 2018, and as a member of the Lifelong Learning Subgroup of the Central Council of Educational Reform from 2019 to 2025. Currently, she serves as the Co-coordinator for Research Network 6: Learning Cities/Regions within the ASEM Lifelong Learning Hub.
Her recent publication includes Eastern Promise: New Wave Learning Cities in Japan in Edit. Seamus, OT, et.al. “Global Perspectives on Learning Cities”, Springer, 2025 (Co-author, In English), Lifelong Learning for GX and Sustainable Development in Europe, in “Bulletin of the Japan Association of Lifelong Education” No.46, 2025 (In Japanese), etc.
Panel Presentation (2026) | Longevity, Happiness, and the Art of Community: Lessons from Japan and Beyond
Lowell Sheppard
Never Too Late Academy & IAFOR, Japan
Biography
Mr Lowell Sheppard is an author, speaker, social entrepreneur, and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society with a lifelong commitment to social impact, ethical leadership, and exploration. He has worked extensively with established NGOs and start-ups, most notably as the Founder of HOPE International Development Agency Japan. Under his leadership, HOPE-JP has grown to rank among the top 2% of charitable organizations in Japan, achieving the prestigious nintei tax-deductible certification. Mr Sheppard has been a longtime supporter and past speaker at IAFOR Conferences. He currently serves as the organisation’s Director of Development, seeking to expand the Global Fellowship Programme and scholarship opportunities. Mr Sheppard’s passion for social and environmental improvement projects has driven his career. For over two decades, Lowell has served as an informal advisor to companies and boards around the globe.
In pursuit of adventure and deeper insights into ageing and longevity, Mr Sheppard moved onto a sailboat five years ago and has been sailing full-time around Japan, embracing the life of a digital nomad and explorer. After spending fifteen months moored and deeply immersed in the Blue Zone culture of Okinawa, Mr Sheppard set out in 2025 to revisit a journey that had first shaped his life twenty-five years earlier: chasing Japan’s cherry blossoms from south to north. What began as a seasonal passage became a year-long quest, repeatedly visiting and revisiting Japan’s key longevity hotspots—rural prefectures, islands, and communities where people continue to live long, healthy, independent lives. Between these journeys, he regularly returned to his own ‘longevity laboratory’” a remote island village where he lives and observes daily community life at close quarters, blending slow travel, field research, and lived experience.
As an author, his book Never Too Late (Lion Hudson PLC, 2005), published in four languages, became the inspiration for his latest social enterprise, the Never Too Late Academy. His most recent book, Dare to Dream, was shortlisted for the UK Business Book of the Year Award in 2023.
Professor Dexter Da Silva is Professor Emeritus at Keisen University in Tokyo, Japan, where he has been teaching for 35 years. He is an Educational Psychologist who has taught at junior high school, language schools, and universities in Sydney, Australia, and at various educational institutions in Japan. He was educated at the University of Sydney, Australia (BA, Dip. Ed., MA), and the University of Western Sydney, Australia (PhD). He has presented and co-presented at conferences throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and the United States, and published or co-published a number of books, articles, and book chapters on education-related topics. He is a past president of the Asian Psychological Association and currently a Vice-President of IAFOR. As an Educational Psychologist, he is very interested in how Artificial Intelligence will continue to be incorporated into and impact research and theory on the nature, types, and uniqueness of Human Intelligence(s).
The early twenty-first century marks a decisive shift from the optimism of globalisation we observed in the 1990s to an era of deglobalisation, one defined by geopolitical fragmentation, economic nationalism, and identity politics. This presentation examines the transition from a US-led unipolar and yet international order to an increasingly multipolar world with limited international cooperation, where the United States itself has evolved from a ‘democratic empire’ to a more openly ‘predatory’ one, prioritising strategic advantage over liberal internationalism. Economically, global trade has fractured: the number of trade restrictions surged from roughly 1,000 in 2019 to over 3,000 by 2023, signaling a structural move towards protectionism and regionalisation. Strategic reshoring, supply chain segmentation, and the rise of regional trade blocs have replaced the once seamless global production networks that underpinned globalization’s high point.
This fragmentation extends beyond economics into culture, education, and identity: a deglobalisation of the mind is unfolding as nationalism and nativism shape civic education, emphasising local loyalty over cosmopolitanism. Younger generations—highly connected digitally, yet confined within echo chambers—struggle to balance dual identities: rooted in national belonging while aspiring toward global citizenship. They face ‘responsibility fatigue,’ burdened by global challenges yet constrained by the turn toward economic nationalism and political inwardness.
Despite these trends, opportunities remain. Today’s youth display a distinct capacity for nuanced thinking, capable of reconciling local pride with global responsibility. Understanding how civic education, digital culture, and geopolitical realignment interact in this period of deglobalisation is crucial to envisioning a future that preserves both national agency and shared global accountability.
Challenges and Opportunities for the Internationalisation of East Asian Higher Education in a Rapidly Changing Environment
Keynote Presentation: Hiroshi Ota
The internationalisation of higher education has developed under the premise of ‘openness,’ encompassing the expansion of international student mobility, the deepening of international university partnerships, and the establishment of international collaborative networks. However, the international environment surrounding higher education has recently undergone unprecedented, rapid changes. In particular, heightened geopolitical tensions, coupled with a focus on economic security, are affecting the international role of universities, the process of internationalisation, and international student mobility. Consequently, major host countries for international students are adopting policies that run counter to the previous trend of expansive internationalisation. It can be said that the prevalent ‘attracting international students for economic benefits’ model has reached its limits, and solving domestic issues is increasingly prioritised over internationalisation. Governments are redefining international students from economic assets to, at times, security risks or even societal burdens.
Meanwhile in East Asia, policies aimed at attracting international students have become a national strategy. This is driven by domestic factors, such as under-enrolment in universities and a labour shortage stemming from the decline in the college-age population due to low birth rates. In this region, international student policies are linked to addressing domestic issues: ensuring the survival of higher education institutions and securing the future labour force. Internationalisation is integrated beyond education policy into economic and labour policy, with expectations of its societal contributions. These trends raise concerns about internationalisation becoming an end in itself, reliance on quantitative indicators such as international student numbers, and the marginalisation of educational principles in the internationalisation process.
Designing Care Futures: Built Environments, Health Systems, and Human-Robot Cohabitation in an Ageing World
Keynote Presentation: Evangelia Chrysikou
Population ageing represents not only a demographic or technological challenge, but fundamentally a design challenge. The built environment is not a passive backdrop to care; it actively shapes health, autonomy, behaviour, and social relations across the life course. Yet responses to ageing and vulnerability have often prioritised medical or technological solutions, while the spatial conditions of everyday life remain insufficiently addressed. This keynote integrates three interconnected domains: age-inclusive built environments, healthcare planning, and the emerging concept of human–robot cohabitation. Across hospitals, community facilities, and domestic settings, spatial design and health planning influence whether care environments promote dignity, resilience, and wellbeing, or reinforce dependency and exclusion. Effective planning therefore requires alignment between physical space, service models, and population needs.
Cohabitation is a particularly critical lens in the context of care robotics. Robots are not neutral machines: as they enter environments of vulnerability, they develop forms of agency, shape routines, influence human behaviour, and gradually reconfigure social norms. Coexistence becomes reciprocal: humans adapt to robots as much as robots adapt to humans. This process has direct implications for housing design, spatial organisation, ethics, and governance. By foregrounding cohabitation, this keynote advances an integrated, design-led agenda that positions architecture, health systems, and intelligent technologies as inseparable components of equitable and humane ageing futures.
Longevity, Happiness, and the Art of Community: Lessons from Japan and Beyond
Panel Presentation: Lowell Sheppard
As Asia and the wider world confront rapidly aging populations, a pressing interdisciplinary question emerges: What makes life not only long, but happy, connected, and meaningful in its later stages? This group of distinguished panellists will share their perspectives on how community environments shape emotional well-being, psychological resilience, and functional independence well into advanced age. Drawing on research centred in Japan’s super-aging society, the panel explores how community-driven structures such as moai (模合) groups, neighbourhood support networks, exercise rituals, festivals, and intergenerational spaces directly contribute to late-life happiness. And how education, in the form of continued learning, teaching, mentoring, and curiosity, can help sustain life-long purpose and emotional and mental vitality.
The discussion will highlight the interplay between psychology, behaviour, purpose, and social connection. The panellists will show how these factors collectively influence a healthy lifespan by integrating perspectives from gerontology, psychology, behavioural science, education, and development studies. The session will offer insights into why older adults thrive in environments where belonging is strong, relationships are deep, and lifelong learning is encouraged, and how purpose and social identity protect against loneliness and cognitive decline. The panel will specifically discuss how lessons from Japan can inform policy, community design, education, and behavioural interventions across cultures, where long life is lived richly.
Understanding Cognitive Impairment: Placing Dementia Within a Realistic Framework
Panel Presentation: James W. McNally
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) updated the definition of dementia in May 2013, during the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting in San Francisco. Major neurocognitive disorder’ (MND) replaced the term ‘dementia’ in order to reduce stigma and to focus on the decline from a previous level of functioning rather than the deficit. The DSM-5 also allowed for the inclusion of dementias where other cognitive domains were affected first, such as in vascular or frontotemporal dementia. Unfortunately, the redefinition of dementia to MND allowed a broad reinterpretation of risks associated with ‘dementia’ to emerge in the research literature, often incorporating chronic health conditions or sensory disabilities as predictors of future dementia. Based upon these loose interpretations, recent estimates suggest that 40 percent or more of the current world's population will have dementia in the coming decades. This panel will place definitions of MND within the framework of a progressive neurological disease and ways we can intelligently address the needs of individuals facing cognitive impairment.
Aging Data in the Digital Era: Leveraging NACDA Resources for Gerontological Research, Training, and Education
Featured Workshop: Seoyoun Kim, Kathryn Lavender
The establishment and maintenance of sustainable, accessible data archives are critical to advancing gerontological research across national and international contexts. Robust data archives, such as the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA), empower researchers, educators, and students to maximise the return on costly data collection by enabling secondary analysis, replication studies, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Internally managed archival systems further promote equitable data distribution and research autonomy.
This workshop explores NACDA, the world’s largest publically accessible collection of ageing-related studies with over 1,600 longitudinal and cross-sectional datasets, demonstrating hands-on strategies for discovering, accessing, and implementing curated data in research and teaching. Whether you are developing a thesis, designing a curriculum, or conducting advanced inquiries, publicly available ageing datasets can catalyse innovation.
In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) are revolutionising data analysis and discovery. The integration of AI-driven tools alongside traditional archival practices enables researchers to identify novel patterns, automate complex analyses, and foster new avenues for collaboration across borders. The workshop will briefly discuss these technological possibilities and provide guidance on how the latest digital tools can enhance gerontological inquiry.
All conference attendees are welcome to join, engage with NACDA instructors, and learn how to harness the power of ageing data—now amplified by state-of-the-art technologies—for research, education, and global partnership.
Publishing in peer-reviewed outlets is a central expectation of academic life. Yet many scholars, particularly early-career researchers and those working in resource-constrained or interdisciplinary contexts, receive limited formal training in how academic publishing actually works. This Continuous Professional Development (CPD) workshop is designed as a capacity-building session for conference participants seeking to strengthen their scholarly publishing practices across a range of formats, including peer-reviewed registers (journals), edited book chapters, monographs, and applied outputs such as consultation and advocacy reports.
The workshop offers a practical, demystifying overview of the academic publishing landscape, with attention to selecting appropriate outlets, aligning manuscripts with journal or publisher scopes, and understanding peer-review and editorial decision-making processes. Participants will be guided through common reasons for manuscript rejection, including issues of fit, originality, methodological rigor, theoretical and/or applied contribution, and clarity of argument. They will learn how these decisions are typically communicated by editors and reviewers. Particular emphasis will be placed on professional etiquette in responding to reviewers’ and editors’ comments, including strategies for revision, resubmission, and constructive engagement with critical feedback.
In addition, the workshop addresses broader considerations that shape successful publishing trajectories, such as ethical authorship practices, collaboration and mentoring, managing rejection and revision cycles, navigating impact and visibility, and balancing scholarly rigour with accessibility. The workshop will draw on real-world examples and reflective discussion, equipping participants with actionable knowledge, realistic expectations, and confidence to engage productively with academic publishing as an ongoing professional practice rather than a one-time achievement.
Living Together in Disrupting Times: Community and Intergenerational Learning
The Forum: Melina Neophytou, Apipol Sae-Tung (Online)
We are living in a world rattled by technological disruption, rapid advancement of AI technologies we do not fully understand, ecological destabilisation, social polarisation, and economic depression. Economic systems promoting competition and individualism have led to an increase in social isolation and the erosion of communal living. Human values and skills are being undermined, while technology keeps pushing the boundaries of what it means to be human.
In such a world, the transmission of knowledge and the reinforcement of human values are essential. Many of the challenges our societies face today can be tackled through information we already possess. Communities are the backbone of sustainable societal development, and hold the wisdom necessary for meaningful living, social cohesion, and long-term sustainability. Specifically, intergenerational living highlights the role of the community as a place where knowledge, values, and ways of living are passed on and evolve sustainably over time.
How can communities be reimagined to support intergenerational knowledge transmission, human values, and sustainable coexistence in an age of rapid technological and social change? How do we live together across generations, cultures, and borders, in a way that preserves wisdom, care, and sustainability, and that provides a meaningful and fulfilling life? What role do universities play as places of knowledge creation and reproduction? This Forum session invites delegates to revisit the role of communities and how education can assist in learning how to coexist more meaningfully in an increasingly complex and interconnected world.
The Psychology of Democracy and Democratic Backsliding
Keynote Presentation: Fathali M. Moghaddam
This presentation will discuss the psychology of democracy and democratic backsliding in two main parts: Part one will discuss the psychological foundations of democracy and dictatorship, while part two will explore pro-democracy solutions to the democratic backsliding we are currently experiencing in the 21st century. Democracy is not inevitable; in some respects, our psychological socialisation over thousands of years has been more in the context of dictatorships than democracies. In addition, the behavioural changes we need to make to achieve ‘actualised’ (fully developed) democracy are hindered by low political plasticity in certain domains, such as (1) leader-follower relations and authoritarian styles of leadership, and (2) certain aspects of group dynamics, such as collective reactions to perceived threats. The illustrative examples of our reactions to rapid large-scale migration and ‘sudden’ intergroup contact will be discussed. The conclusion of part one is that the psychological foundations of democracy are fragile and slow to develop. In part two, two proposals will be put forward regarding the role of psychological science in strengthening democracy, the first of which concerns nurturing the psychological characteristics of the democratic citizen, presenting ten psychological characteristics. The second proposal concerns developing omniculturalism, the active celebration of human commonalities, based on scientifically established evidence. It is argued that omniculturalism is especially compatible with actualised democracy.
Evangelia ChrysikouUniversity College London, United Kingdom
