We will be meeting daily for 6-7 hours of seminar discussion for the next two weeks. The syllabus is here. This year’s participants include professors and civic activists from Zimbabwe, Liberia, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Singapore, as well as professors, graduate students, NGO leaders, social entrepreneurs, and a civil servant from the US. Today we will be considering some topics that I’ve blogged before: why Margaret Mead’s exhortation to “change the world” is inspiring but flawed; Seamus Heaney’s vision of a “Republic of Conscience”; the relationship between education/human development and civic engagement; the work of Vincent and Elinor Ostrom; and Elinor Ostrom’s own framework.