ALLIANCES

Partnerships and cooperation are essential in every area of life. They are equally important in professional life and, of course, in the Third Sector. Their usefulness is particularly significant when it comes to sharing both positive and negative experiences, so that the former can be replicated and the latter avoided. They also help expand the network of each of their members, thereby amplifying their reach, and encourage cooperation rather than competition—or, more precisely, competition in a “sportsmanlike” manner. They provide a meeting point and an accelerated learning environment where relationships are built on shared principles, common adversaries, or a combination of both.

This is precisely what the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) seeks to achieve. Last week, 1,500 people from more than 70 countries gathered in London for its launch event. Participants included some of the most influential figures in the world, from politics, business, academia, and other fields. Under the leadership of Baroness Philippa Stroud, with Jordan Peterson serving as its ambassador and most visible public figure, the stage featured many of the leading “public intellectuals” of the Anglosphere, including Niall Ferguson, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, John Anderson, Dave Rubin, and Bjorn Lomborg.

Rather than invoking the usual moral panics surrounding racism and gender inequality that dominate many conferences dealing with the challenges facing modern society, ARC took a refreshingly serious approach to the real difficulties confronting young citizens in Western democracies. Among many other issues, the conference addressed woke ideology, the future of capitalism, housing affordability, and the legacy of broken homes and absent fathers.

The dominant themes at ARC’s inaugural event included restoring confidence in Western civilization, the virtues of nuclear energy, the importance of faith and transcendence for a flourishing society, the central role of healthy businesses in lifting countries out of poverty, the ideal of civil society taking responsibility for social problems, and the excessive emphasis on self-centered individualism that has contributed to social atomization and a mental health crisis.

ARC’s strength lies in its willingness to say boldly what other elite conferences are reluctant to say: that the progressive and woke spirit of our times is poisonous to our civilization. Time will tell whether ARC and its networks will mark the beginning of an effective civilizational redirection.

ARC’s immediate challenge, like that of any alliance, is threefold. First, to ensure continuity and strengthen the network. Second, to provide genuine value to its members. And third, to translate these compelling ideas into practical tools that can be adapted to the particular circumstances and cultural realities of each country or context. These are formidable challenges, worthy of such a promising beginning.

Fortius, of course, will be there to help at every stage of this process.