New perspectives for Europe – Network for Social Ethics in Central Europe
Following the collapse of totalitarian systems and the fall of the Iron Curtain across Europe, it is now possible to reshape the whole of Europe in freedom and justice. This is a historic, political, cultural, intellectual, and spiritual kairos moment.
At the same time, we are contemporaries of epochal socio-cultural upheavals:
- A scientific, technological, social, and mental revolution is currently taking place globally, comparable to the “Industrial Revolution” of the 19th century.
- Modern goals, programs, and paradigms are losing their plausibility, and the search for further post-modern goals and programs is arduous.
At the same time, the people in the reform states face additional difficult challenges and burdens:
- External and internal transformations from political totalitarianism and a centrally planned economy to a pluralistic, liberal democracy with a high degree of personal responsibility and new tasks for institutions at all levels and for civil society.
- Rapid integration into the “construction site that is Europe,” into a large area with unfamiliar and confusing conditions, values, and systems of rules.
Challenge and test for social ethics
This concentration of upheavals is shaking up familiar economic, social, and mental structures and calling into question existing values and structures. This exciting and demanding situation calls for well-founded hope and orientation. To this end, we want to make contributions to social ethics from a Catholic perspective and an ecumenical attitude. In particular, we promote:
- Exchange in the field of social ethics between the countries of Central Europe
- Exchange between academic social ethics, social education, and social work
- Specifically, we organize conferences on social ethical issues of our time, promote relevant publications, and support social education activities.
History
Our Central European Social Ethics Association was founded more than twenty-five years ago by Rudolf Weiler. In its early days, it did pioneering work in establishing social ethics contacts across the Iron Curtain.
The dissolution of the communist-totalitarian regimes and the end of the division of Europe in 1989/90 then brought new opportunities and challenges for the people, the states, but also for science and education in this region in the heart of Europe and thus also for the Association for Social Ethics. In 2001, guidelines for a corresponding reorientation were adopted at the General Assembly in Pecs, Hungary, and Helmut Renöckl was elected as the new chairman.
The symposium in Vienna/St. Gabriel/Mödling in April 2011 on “Solidarity in the Crisis?” brought about a change in the chairmanship. Helmut Renöckl had decided in advance to step down from the leadership after a long and labor-intensive phase, and Ingeborg Gabriel agreed to take over the chairmanship and was unanimously elected as the new chair by the General Assembly on April 29, 2011.
Following the 2011 Central European Social Ethics Symposium, the first meeting of eleven young social ethicists from Central Europe took place from April 30 to May 2, 2011, in Mödling near Vienna. The following year, a multi-day program for young scientists was organized in the form of a summer school. It took place from August 31 to September 10, 2012, in Zagreb, Opatija, and Lovran in Croatia.
The conference “Justice in a Finite World: Ecology – Economy – Ethics,” held on January 10–11, 2013, continued the series of ecumenical conferences on social issues organized by the Institute for Social Ethics in 2005, 2007, and 2009. Most of the 25 members of the association who participated in the conference “Justice in a Finite World: Ecology – Economy – Ethics” continued the discussions on ecology in a separate workshop on January 12, 2013.
The general assembly of the association’s board members was held as part of the symposium “Economy – Common Good – Happiness. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Business Ethics,” which took place in Vienna on April 11, 2015. During this meeting, the board members gave presentations on the socio-political situation in their countries.
More recently, the association has organized regular morning briefings and discussion rounds, providing insight into current socio-ethical issues in the member countries. During the General Assembly 2025 in Vienna, which was held in conjunction with the symposium “Social Peace in the Countries of Eastern and Central Europe,” it was decided to continue the Association for Social Ethics in Central Europe as a network and to operate bilingually in English and German in the future.