Society & Culture
In the second of this three part interview, Dr. Ceasar McDowell details his vision for democracy as an ongoing process of interaction and engagement. He shares that the work of democracy is "how people come to know and understand both each other, the issues that are important to them, and how they want to make meaning together." He adds that his current work is focused on the idea of Big democracy which he describes as, "an aspiration. And at the core of this aspiration is the belief that the public is fully capable of working together to create sustainable, just, and equitable communities. But to do so the public must have ongoing, peaceful ways to interact around traditions that bind them, and interests that separate them, so they can realize a future that is an equitable improvement on the past.” Dr. McDowell is President of Interaction Institute for Social Change, and Professor of the Practice of Community Development at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also serves as Director of the global civic engagement organization, Engage The Power.