Spring University: SciencesPo Lille on Thursday, 9 April 2026 - Lilliad Lille on Friday, 10 April 2026

For its official launch, the 3D&C Chair[1] is organising a Spring University entitled ‘Business and Democracy’. Over two days, researchers and civil society actors will debate the future of our production system, based on the observation that we are entering a new era. The neoliberal phase is coming to a chaotic end, and two paths are opening up for our societies: illiberal nationalist-authoritarian closure or democratic recovery based on shared social and ecological values. This recovery also concerns the way we determine the object and process of production.

The dynamic of this University finds its source in the extraordinary hope offered – at a time when democracy seems to be under attack from all sides – by the report of the International High-Level Committee of Experts on Democracy at Work. This report was commissioned by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour of the Spanish Government, Ms Yolanda Díaz, and produced with the support of the 3D&C Chair (ULille, Clersé) under the direction of Professor Isabelle Ferreras (FNRS, UCLouvain, Harvard).

This report – which is as relevant in France and Europe as it is in Spain – opens up a new avenue of inquiry. It allows us to broaden our collective questioning to 360 degrees: is there a link between the collapse of democracy and our working lives? What kind of governance do we need to tackle the necessary transformation of our economies in a post-growth perspective? Are productive organisations not fully involved in democracy, both internally and externally? Does the vitality of our democracies, their ability to deliberate, to unite around a common project, to put our efficiency at the service of a common cause, not require us to ask questions about democracy at work and the role of business in democracy?

We are therefore taking the initiative to organise a Spring University, convinced that a surge of reflection is needed and that the discussion must fully integrate work, businesses and their relationship with democratic practice. The aim is not only to develop a shared diagnosis – particularly on the links between the current polycrisis and the crisis of participation in work – but also to debate and co-construct proposals.

Economic thinking in Europe – revived by the Draghi and Letta reports on the continent's competitiveness – is indeed incomplete. It remains disconnected from this democratic issue, distant from that of planetary limits, and mistaken on the issue of regulation. A new ambition is needed at a time when the world of work is in crisis, workers' precariousness is increasing, Europe's ecological transition is faltering, and artificial intelligence systems are accelerating both the concentration of power and the pace of change. The report of the International High-Level Committee of Experts on Democracy at Work contains pragmatic policy recommendations that are relevant to our European states, and a summary of the political and academic debates on these issues that will inform the work during our two days.

The re-embedding of the economy in society and the biosphere is a matter of survival for the European democratic project and ecological resilience, and we are convinced that one of the key aspects of this re-embedding is playing out in and around the enterprise, a democratic space and actor.

This is therefore a new project, following on from the breakthrough achieved by the Spanish government, and we invite all interested researchers and actors to join us in a process of political, ethical and intellectual reflection. Organised to mark the launch of the Chair, this Spring University will be an opportunity to critically examine the report, which concerns all our European states. The programme will include round tables and thematic workshops that will continue the reflection proposed in this report and discuss its diagnosis and proposals in the French and European context.

The Spring University is organised as part of the launch of the 3D&C Chair – in association with l’Institut Veblen, les ateliers Travail et Démocratie,  l’agora DODES and with the support of Alternatives économiques. It is in line with the Democratizing Work. manifesto. It will bring together the academic community as well as elected officials, trade union and employer representatives, foundations and think tanks who, together, are (re)thinking the world of work and business and their link with democracy.

With the participation of...

Yolanda Díaz (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour of the Spanish Government), Isabelle Ferreras, Domnique Meda, Julie Battilana, Cyril Dion, Pascal Demurger* (Maif, Impact France), Marine Tondelier*, Loïc Blondiaux, Michel Capron, Jean-Pierre Chanteau, Marc Chevalier, Laurène Collard (CJD), Thomas Coutrot, Thibault Crismer, Alexis Cukier, Isabelle Daugareilh, Ghislain De Muynck, Mathilde Dupré, Timothée Duverger*, Olivier Favereau, Corentin Gombert, Fabien Guimbretière (CFDT), Florence Jany-Catrice, Agathe Le Berder (CGT), Kevin Levillain, Riyad Manseri, Perrine Mohr (CFDT), Bruno Palier, Julien Pharo, Dominique Potier (PS), Alexandre Rambaud, Antoine Rebérioux, Chloé Ridel (PS), Alain Schnapper (Communauté des Entreprises à Mission), Camille Ternier, Bertrand Valiorgue, Corinne Vercher...

and the 3D&C ULille-Clersé team (Pierre Robert, Magali Savès, Adèle Pichot, Richard Sobel, Nicolas Postel, Gaetan Vanloqueren).

*to be confirmed

[1] This chair, entitled ‘Democratise, De-commodify, Depollute: from neoliberal enterprise to the Commons movement’, is an international chair at the University of Lille, accredited under the WILL programme. Linking ULille and UCLouvain, it is co-led by Isabelle Ferreras (UCLouvain) and Pierre Robert (ULille, CLERSE).