Editorial Introduction

This inaugural volume of AUDEM: The International Journal of Higher Education and Democracy signifies momentous progress of thought and dialogue about democracy and issues facing institutions of higher education often discussed and presented at international meetings hosted by the Alliance of Universities for Democracy (AUDEM) in varying eastern European countries. This inaugural journal came to fruition just after AUDEM celebrated its 20^th anniversary of meetings focusing on complex issues related to its mission of promoting democratic values, civil society, civic engagement, and intercultural understanding. The immediate focus of AUDEM at its inception was to assist universities from the former communist countries to transition to socially responsible and proactive roles in democratic societies. Currently, AUDEM focuses on the integration of universities at competitive levels into the world academic communities. Both former and current foci are complex and continuously evolving, calling for international meetings between academic scholars but also for a scholarly method to capture the intellectual exchange and products that bear fruit from this international interchange.

The inaugural volume begins with a message from the President of AUDEM followed by a series of historical perspectives on the inception and progress of AUDEM throughout the two decades. Former AUDEM president, Julia Watkins, and former vice president of AUDEM for Europe, Ryszard Pohorecki, provide a detailed account of the inception of AUDEM and its strategic direction steered toward the developing needs of institutions of higher education and emerging democracies.

The following papers focus on higher education and democracy from a macro perspective, capturing both the change and direction of education in the global community. Marga, former minister of education in Romania and current rector of Babeş-Bolyai University, eloquently describes and provides solutions to the challenges for the university of the 21^st century. Marga discusses a number of complex issues related to the Bologna Declaration (1999), globalization, multiculturalism, sustainability and identity of a university, leadership, quality assurance, and many other emerging issues. Merrill, a post-Soviet scholar and former dean of academic programs and international partnerships for service learning and leadership, acknowledges and shows that although higher education was once thought to produce both a public and a private good, and a most current notion of a positional good, this understanding has evolved to mean something different in a world with global university rankings, for-profit academic institutions, and the transfer of immediate information, all of which push a new paradigm of purpose for U.S. higher education. Cernicova-Buca deconstructs some of these complexities from her former role of chancellor with organizational development and change in higher education. In her discussion about the complexity of change theory, Cernicova-Buca shows the history and most recent developments and challenges faced by higher education institutions, including and as a result of the implementation of principles from the Bologna Declaration that introduced new format standards and the requirement of evaluation to uphold espoused standards and requirements. Cernicova-Buca describes her experience of implementing Bologna principles from a chancellor’s perspective and explains the challenges of institutionalizing change and adaptation while providing solutions to those leading higher institutions.

These macro perspectives are followed by two positional papers and a personal interview. Hejj poses the challenges for the education of global citizens in the context of group size and communication, while Howell explores the assumptions that the role of higher education is to shed light on the rationale for adopting democratic values. Howell develops a cohesive and logical argument to justify the adoption of democratic values that generalize to societies, informal associations of friends, families, clubs, university committees, and other likeminded groups that value this ethos. The logical support for democracy presented by Howell and the advancements of democratic values since the fall of communism presented by all contributing authors spotlight the final interview that reminds us of the origins of democratic societies and what is sacrificed and endured for the advancement of truth and justice. The final interview with a Romanian psychologist gives light to her work on capturing the narratives of political trauma victims from a young and developing democracy in South Africa. Political trauma is explored in both the context...