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Adil Najam<\/a>, Dean Emeritus and Professor of International Relations and Earth and Environment at Boston University\u2019s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, offered expert comments for a documentary<\/a> on the idea of “collaborative governance<\/a>” as a response to growing discontent with the rise of authoritarianism<\/a> in many democracies<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The documentary, released by the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa – a province in the Basque region of Spain – is titled “LAIAN.” The film highlights the experience of “Etorkizuna Eraikiz<\/a>,” a major and all-encompassing initiative by the government of Gipuzkoa to incorporate deep citizen participation and grassroots democracy in policymaking, budget development, and institutional development. This is a critical mission because, as Najam notes in the film, “the biggest challenge to democracy everywhere in the world is trust. Citizens around the world have learned not to trust politics…it’s our own fault. We have trained them. We come and we say ‘don’t trust everyone else except me.’ If every politician is saying that, very soon we as citizens learn we should trust no one.”<\/p>\n Najam was part of a series of expert consultations with leading global scholars working on democracy and governance that was convened in San Sebastian, Spain, the capital of Gipuzkoa province, to explore and interrogate the “Etorkizuna Eraikiz” and contextualize it within the learning from other parts of the world. This documentary is of the results of these expert conversations and a book is also expected to be published soon.<\/p>\n The full documentary can be viewed below.<\/p>\n