Global Freedom & Democracy Series

We gather leading thinkers to discuss the challenges to freedom and democratic processes in business, public service, civil society, and academia.

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CONVERSATIONS THAT STRENGTHEN
DEMOCRACY AMIDST GLOBAL THREATS

Freedom and democracy have faced numerous threats in recent years. With the COVID-19 pandemic, pressure to democratic institutions has worsened, due the rise of disinformation, government overreach, and restrictions on civil liberties.

MBC believes democracy and free enterprise together have been responsible for protecting and expanding human rights, creating jobs, and improving standards of living. We believe that with democracy under threat around the globe, so is free enterprise and the fruits of their alliance.

So, we started the Global Freedom and Democracy Series, in partnership with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, as one of our initiatives in protecting and strengthening democracy. Over the past two years, the series has drawn more than 344 leaders from the private sector, public service, civil society and the academe.

2020

MBC Global Freedom & Democracy Year 1 Webinar Series

GLOBAL FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY YEAR 1 WEBINAR SERIES

In its first year, we invited best-selling author and leading scholar Larry Diamond to talk about the “State of Global Democracy”, celebrated software programmer and government minister Audrey Tang to discuss about “Digital Democracy”, and Emily Lau on “Emily Lau, Former Chairperson of the Hong Kong Democratic Party”

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MBC The Global Freedom & Democracy Magazine

GLOBAL FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY MAGAZINE

We have also published a magazine that highlights stories of democracy from thought leaders in the Philippines and around the world.

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2021

GLOBAL FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY YEAR 2 AT THE GLOBAL IDEAS PODCAST

In the second year of the series, we featured Harvard Business professor Rebecca Henderson (“Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire”), Hong Kong activist Nathan Law, and Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism CEO Meredith Sumpter about the decline in democracy and civic freedoms in Asia, and why this is bad news for business.

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"DEMOCRACY IN EXILE" BY NATHAN LAW AT MBC'S BUSINESS MATTERS EDITORIAL COLUMN

In the second year of the series, we featured Harvard Business professor Rebecca Henderson (“Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire”), Hong Kong activist Nathan Law, and Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism CEO Meredith Sumpter about the decline in democracy and civic freedoms in Asia, and why this is bad news for business.

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2022

In the second year of the series, we featured Harvard Business professor Rebecca Henderson (“Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire”), Hong Kong activist Nathan Law, and Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism CEO Meredith Sumpter about the decline in democracy and civic freedoms in Asia, and why this is bad news for business.

"GLOBAL FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY YEAR 3: GROWING ECONOMY, RISING INEQUALITY: CHALLENGE FOR BUSINESS AND DEMOCRACY

This episode features Dr. Lee Hock-An (Hwok-Aun), co-editor of the book, Inequality and Exclusion in Southeast Asia: Old Fractures, New Frontiers, to discuss how inequality affects business and democracy. To bring the discussion closer to home, we also have Jerik Cruz, a PhD candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an affiliate faculty of the Department of Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University.

This podcast was produced as part of MBC’s annual Global Freedom and Democracy Series in partnership with the Embassy of Finland and Konrad Adenauer Sitftung.

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"GLOBAL FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY YEAR 3: UN-CORRUPTING CITY HALL: INTEGRITY IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

This episode features Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, a US State Department Anti-Corruption Awardee who ran on anti-corruption platforms. He talks about specific cases of corruption in their city, how they unearthed these schemes, and what they’re doing about it. To share the perspective of civil society, we have Hya Bendaña, sectoral coordinator of Move As One Coalition and People’s Budget Coalition.

This podcast was produced as part of MBC’s annual Global Freedom and Democracy Series in partnership with the Embassy of Finland and Konrad Adenauer Sitftung.

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"GLOBAL FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY YEAR 3: DISINFORMATION AND EDUCATION

This episode features Dr. Kari Kivinen, from Factbar, a Finnish fact-checking and digital information literacy service as he shares the best practices of Finland in fighting disinformation.To share how these best practices can be applied in the Philippines, we Katz Navarro, lead Manager of Making the Lives of Others Better program, PHINMA Education’s civics formation program.

This podcast was produced as part of MBC’s annual Global Freedom and Democracy Series in partnership with the Embassy of Finland and Konrad Adenauer Sitftung.

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"GLOBAL FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY YEAR 3: HOW FINLAND SAFEGUARDS FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY FROM GLOBAL THREATS

Despite the global threats to freedom & democracy—inequality, corruption & disinformation— Finland remains to be one of the leading countries with a well-functioning democracy, and low level of corruption and inequality. This episode features an interview with Ambassador Juha Pyykkö of the Embassy of Finland to the Philippines as he discusses the Finnish approach in keeping democracy alive, and how the global can adopt these best practices.

This podcast was produced as part of MBC’s annual Global Freedom and Democracy Series in partnership with the Embassy of Finland and Konrad Adenauer Sitftung.

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