Annual Governance Agora Workshop 2024

Critical and Alternative Thinking in Governance (CATG) AGORA Workshop

20-21 June 2024 – Barcelona, Spain

With the collaboration of ISC Paris

Re-searching, Re-teaching, Re-practicing Governance: Toward a new paradigm for ‘Buen vivir’ and Sustainability

CALL FOR PAPERS

From the mid 1980s, academics, practitioners and policy makers have failed, collectively, to address the issues of the limits of resources and the boundaries of the planet, including climate change, world inequalities, and social tensions. While an enormous effort has been made to introduce more ethics, sustainable development, and sustainability in the social sciences, and more particularly in organization sciences/studies, we consider that much of this work, while certainly useful, is insufficient to bring about the paradigmatic bifurcation needed to nurture “good living”. The latter concept represents the translation of “sumak kawsay,” a social philosophy deeply ingrained in the cosmovision of the Quechua peoples of the Andes. Frequently denoted by its Spanish term “buen vivir,” it represents a multifaceted approach defined by an emphasis on community, ecological harmony, and cultural awareness, as articulated by Eduardo Gudynas. Gudynas contends that any departure from conventional development should offer avenues to transcend modern Western culture, and Buen Vivir presents that prospect.

We hold that much of our thinking is still trapped in the “iron cage” frameworks of mass consumption and individual material accumulation. An increasing number of philosophers and scientists have criticized this paradigm and offer various theoretical tools to move forward though a bifurcation that re-situates the economy as a means for ‘collective wealth’ and social progress, rather than as an end in itself. A new paradigm is proposed that places the planet, living beings and ecosystems, humans, and societies at the centre of decision-making priorities, both for business and policymaking.

Neither the ideas of degrowth and the de-globalisation movement, nor transhumanism and the colonisation of other planets can be relied upon to safeguard life on Earth.

This call aligns with existing, but marginalized, thinking based on or inspired by scholars and philosophers such as Eduardo Gudynas, Arne Naes, Bruno Latour, Boaventura de

Sousa Santos, Bernard Stigler, Felix Guattari, Caroline Merchant, Enriqué Dussel, and many other thinkers who have challenged our way of living and called for rising to the challenge of maintaining lives, ecosystems, and life on our planet.

Re-thinking, Re-learning, and Re-applying Governance for Planetary Well-being together.

We invite scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to join and submit their thinking on issues like:

Redefining the value concept in economics and management to better capture wellbeing
Preserving the oceans from human damage, through new models of governance and justice
Regenerating natural resources through transforming corporate and business strategies
National and organizational balance-sheet reporting on nature and the planet.
Eradicating poverty, inequities, and inequalities among and within nations through better articulation of local-national-global governance
Promoting healthcare and education facilities and programs through new financing and investment schemes

These are a few among many issues humanity is facing – the window for new thinking is open – and this workshop is an invitation to engage with challenging ideas, theories, and models.

Preliminary program

20 JUNE 2024	21 JUNE 2024
—————————	9h-11h Paper session 2 11h-13h Roundtable: *Deconstructing ESG ratings: for a systemic approach to governance* Guests: Lara Martin, Environmental and Social Consultant, IFC – World Bank Group
—————————	Regular Lunch
14:30h-17h Opening roundtable: DEEP RISING, by Jason Momoa documentary based debate Guest: Leila Chennoufi, Partner at Sustainability Frameworks, LLP 17h-19h Paper session 1	15h-17h Paper session 3 17h-18:30h Closing Roundtable Bifurcating in pedagogy design: Collective thinking on a new Corporate governance syllabi
Gala Dinner

Scientific Committee

Xavier Castañer	HEC Lausanne, Switzerland
Thomas Clarke	University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Coral Ingley	AUT University, New Zealand
Morten Huse	BI Norwegian Business School, Norway
Silke Machold	University of Wolverhampton Business School, UK
Sabina Nielsen	Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Sibel Yamak	University of Wolverhampton Business School, UK
Anderson Seny Kan	Grenoble Ecole de Management, France