This year's Forum 2000 was truly remarkable, exposing and discussing a number of issues crucial to the future of democracy. We have analyzed the roots of today's problems, the internal weakening of democracy and its institutions, as well as external authoritarian threats to it from China, Russia, and elsewhere. However, we have also been hugely inspired by courageous activists and student leaders from Slovakia, Zimbabwe, Armenia, and Switzerland, whose stories of successfully confronting power and populist demagoguery assure us that there is no reason to give up hope. An active and responsible citizenry will always prevail in the end!