Monday March 3, 2025 | COLWOOD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Things are happening in the world — some of them very quickly and many of them quite broad in scope.
Royal Roads University is presenting a panel on the leading edge of discourse about the significant socioeconomic and sociological changes that are happening in Canada and western economies.
These changes are coming to light through the changes in direction by the United States in terms of economy, democracy and interaction with the broader world.
Social media plays a role:
Social media platforms were designed to bring us closer together. Instead, society is more polarized than ever.
Are the platforms that were designed to foster connection creating an existential threat to democracy?
Billionaire bro-ligarchy:
As a wave of populist, anti-democratic heads of state are elected around the world, we can’t help but wonder how Silicon Valley social media billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are shaping the conversation. In the case of our neighbours to the south, the newly re-instated Trump administration is outwardly revealing its ties to the “bro-ligarchy.”
As Canada heads into our own federal election in 2025, will we be able to resist the “bro-ligarchy”?
Tech, politics and populism:
Royal Roads University is presenting a panel event that brings together experts from a variety of fields to discuss technology, online status, political influence, polarization, and the factors that drive the global populist turn.
Experts will also offer suggestions for how to resist these forces and protect both democracy and the most vulnerable people in our communities.
Date and time:
The Resisting the Bro-ligarchy: Politics, Polarization and Populism panel event will be held on Tuesday March 11 from 4 to 5 pm.
It will be held at the Dogwood Auditorium on the Royal Roads University Colwood campus.
The panelists:
- Daniel Drache, professor emeritus of Political Science at York University and senior research fellow at the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies.
- Jaigris Hodson, associate professor in the College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Royal Roads University and Canada Research Chair for Digital Communication for the Public Interest.
- Thomas Homer-Dixon, founder and executive director of the Cascade Institute at Royal Roads University.
- Victoria O’meara, lecturer of Digital Media in the School of Arts, Media and Communication at the University of Leicester.
- Shauneen Pete, faculty in the College of Interdisciplinary Studies and chair of the Emerging Indigenous Scholars Circle at Royal Roads University.
- Moderated by Philip Steenkamp, president and vice-chancellor of Royal Roads University.
Registration to attend:
The one-hour panel event is free to attend in person or online. Registration is required.
In-person event page to register | Online link registration
===== RELATED:
- New Royal Roads undergrad programs: parent webinar Feb 11, student open house Mar 1 (February 10, 2025)
- Royal Roads University launches phased undergrad programs at Langford & Colwood campuses (February 4, 2025)
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