Chronological archive

 Discussion at this roundtable touched upon a series of strategic hot spots for China’s future and for its role in a global world. Many of the issues considered are the focus of the upcoming issue of Aspenia (n. 41, in Italian, due out June 10).

The debate highlighted the economic and social importance of sports as well as the complexity of challenges facing public policy-makers in the field. In Italy, sport continues to represent a phenomenon with profound social roots. Fields, gyms and arenas cover the national territory better than any other social structure and play a key role in community aggregation. The organizational model of Italian sport is one of the country’s success stories. Italy’s national teams compete at the top level in all major international meets, starting with the Olympics.

“Food” involves a vast and complicated network of professions, actions, movements and skills (from agriculture, to trade and distribution, to cooking and eating). All these areas can be considered elements of a single great macro-process, which is much more complicated than most consumers realize. Debate at this roundtable focused on the role gastronomy plays in spreading knowledge and understanding to all those many players that take part in the process.

Italy’s south or “Mezzogiorno” is a region that fails to meet todays challenges. It deserves better, but the lack of infrastructure and of qualified labor, as well as excessive bureaucracy, high levels of organized crime, widespread disrespect for the law, weak institutions and a lack of social capital. These obstacles make it difficult for the region to take advantage of its many opportunities for development.

Debate at this roundtable touched on the complex relationship that persists between the media and the business community. Participants noted that information should not be considered a necessary evil, but rather a meter by which to judge a democracy – a country’s freedom is evident in its journalism. A lack of information, of course, is detrimental to the workings of a democracy. Silence or tardiness in getting out the news represents a clear case of market abuse. As happened in the US, with the subprime catastrophe, financial markets also depend on the news.

Western businesses are increasingly focused on social responsibility, making a point of thinking not just of profits but of the environment and workplace safety, for example. It is not just a matter of “doing good”: today, the market demands such attention. The consumer is aware, and a company’s social responsibility is a meter by which it is judged – turning good works into a clear marketing tool. Social responsibility represents value added, and is considered part and parcel of a given organization.

Discussion focussed on the strategic role played by bank foundations, especially following the Constitutional Court’s 2003 ruling that they are specifically involved in guaranteeing social liberties. Foundations have a mission to guarantee horizontal subsidiarity and, therefore, support the country’s intermediaries (from the private sector to the state), today charged with maintaining development strategies and social cohesion. The 88 bank foundations currently existing in Italy have a patrimony of 47 billion euro; between 1993 and 2006 that sum grew at an annual average of 5.7%.

The roundtable represented a unique opportunity to reflect upon relations between the West and Islam. Since September 11, 2001, it has been clear that this relationship represents one of the world’s key problems. Nor can the relationship be dealt with in the manner of “normal” international relations: they involve broad, complicated meanings and many different dimensions. In other words, even if the word “clash” is too strong, there is undoubtedly an ongoing comparison, discussion and study between the two cultural approaches.