Introduction

Since its first annual conference in 1990, the Alliance of Universities for Democracy (AUDEM) has provided an opportunity for universities in the United States and Europe to work together on themes of common interest. The name of the organization reflects what has been its primary interest since its inception: the constructive role that universities can play in the democratic development of their societies. In the historical overviews in the pages that follow, the interested reader can discover the background of the organization and its development over the years. Briefly, AUDEM was founded by universities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the United States in 1990, soon after the change in regimes in 1989, and though AUDEM welcomes universities from anywhere in the world, its regional focus continues to be CEE.

Many things have changed in the 20 years since 1989, especially in CEE. The countries of AUDEM’s founding European universities are now all members of the European Union (EU), and the range of their potential institutional partners and cooperative activities has expanded immensely. Through Bologna and other processes, universities in CEE, both within and outside the EU, are much more integrated into European higher educational networks than they were in 1989. Circumstances have also changed for universities in the United States. Most relevantly, American universities are today far more aware of the necessity of international engagement for the health and development of higher education. No university, whether in Europe, the United States, or anywhere else in the world, can develop and maintain a high level of scholarly and pedagogical activity without integrating itself into the international networks and activities of higher education. Furthermore, due to the increasing numbers of students studying in countries not their own, and to the pace of development of what has come to be called the “knowledge economy,” higher education worldwide is increasingly international.

While many things have changed, the basic mission of higher education retains many of the characteristics it has traditionally had. Among the most important of these is the university’s role in the economic and civic development of its region and its nation. The increasingly international character of higher education has, however, expanded the implication of this mission beyond the borders of any university’s nation. In other words, the strongest universities are no longer simply or even primarily national institutions, and that feature of higher education can be expected to continue into the future. Universities today must pursue their scholarly, pedagogical, economic, and civic mission in an international context.

The political and economic integration of nations has increased at an often bewildering pace. The problems that all of our societies currently face are themselves increasingly international in character, and they call for international cooperation for their solution. Environmental and security problems, for example, are oblivious to national borders, and their solutions are not merely national concerns. The same is true for the processes of democratic development. Just as environmental, security, and economic concerns have to be met in an international environment and through international collaboration, so too does democratic development. And in all these respects, universities have a fundamental and critical role to play. But to meet these expectations, universities throughout the world, including in the United States and CEE, cannot pursue their mission by looking only inward. If the problems and demands of the contemporary world are international, then the activity of universities in addressing them must be equally international. To help universities meet this contemporary demand is the mission of AUDEM.

With the launching of this new journal, AUDEM adds another tool in its effort to expand opportunities for international collaboration in higher education and to promote the role of higher education in social and civic development. In its peer-reviewed journal, AUDEM looks to publish essays from any field that speak to the many and complex dimensions of this process. Like AUDEM itself, the journal is open to all universities, their administrators at all levels, and scholars from all disciplines in the liberal arts and technical fields who speak to issues of contemporary concern, and to the many ways universities may address their role in social development.

The American...