A session of the Thematic Meetings Cycle: Understanding the World, Creating Meaning, held at the Braga Public Library, was dedicated to the theme “Democracy and Justice: The Dream That Still Guides Us”.

The session took the form of a dialogue between João Cardoso Rosas and António Baião, both researchers at CEPS, who discussed the contemporary challenges facing democracy and civic participation in a time marked by growing distrust in institutions, the polarisation of public debate, and the weakening of civic engagement. Starting from the role of education in fostering critical thinking, individual responsibility, and respect for others, the discussion explored how democracy is learned, practised, and protected in everyday life: at school, in the workplace, in the media, and within communities. Rather than offering a merely theoretical approach, this conversation sought to recover the idea of democracy as a living ideal, perhaps imperfect, but still a guiding one, that continues to challenge us to imagine fairer forms of coexistence and participation in our shared world.