Half a century ago the German legal philosopher and constitutional judge, Ernst-Wolfgang B\u00f6ckenf\u00f6rde formulated what would rapidly become widely known as the B\u00f6ckenf\u00f6rde Paradox: \u201cThe
\nliberal state lives on premises that it cannot itself guarantee. On one hand, it can only exist if the
\nfreedom that is bestowed on its citizens is regulated from within, that is from within the moral
\nsubstance of individuals and a homogeneous society.\u201d Today that paradox sounds like a prophecy. The unexpected worldwide rise of nationalism, populism and illiberal extremism as well as
\nthe deep crisis in Western democracies seem to amply confirm his view: in the recent decades of extended globalisation, liberalism has worn down those very ethical foundations that allowed it to\u00a0thrive in the first place. In fact, dominant individualism has not only challenged community and\u00a0religious alliances and national borders. It has also greatly undermined social capital and the civil\u00a0fabric on which societies are founded. The 2019 edition of Reset Dialogues on Civilizations will\u00a0be dedicated to these topics. The Dialogues have been organised by Reset in collaboration with\u00a0the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Ca\u2019 Foscari University, Venice and the Mominoun Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68740,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"cini_tax_event_categories":[1470],"cini_tax_institutes":[],"cini_tax_event_locations":[1464],"class_list":["post-70620","cini_events","type-cini_events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cini_tax_event_categories-events","cini_tax_event_locations-island-of-san-giorgio-maggiore"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n