The convening group of the Building Global Democracy programme held its first meeting at the University of Warwick on 23-26 April 2008. In attendance were Diana Brydon, Heba Ezzat, Alla Glinchikova, Sitiveni Halapua, Moema de Miranda, Alfred Nhema and Jan Aart Scholte.
The inaugural discussions considered at length and with care: the concerns and objectives of the BGD programme; the general methodology; the design and execution of projects; outputs, including the book series; priority features of the website; the database; and finance and budget.
Important points of deliberation included: power relations (in contemporary globalisation and in the BGD programme itself); diversity (in global politics and in the BGD programme); practitioner-researcher collaborations; language and translation issues; widespread and effective communication of programme findings and suggestions; and ongoing evaluation of the BGD progra
mme as it unfolds.
The meeting was immensely productive, highly convivial, and infused with the excitement of embarking on an innovative and important endeavour. It was agreed to meet again in Belém, Brazil in January 2009 and to maintain close electronic communications in the meantime. In addition, Jessica Byron, Anand Kumar and Peng Zongchao contributed through bilateral meetings with Jan Aart Scholte in March, May and June, respectively.