Scientific Council

Its foundation

A body instituted by the Statutes

The Scientific Council is an advisory body instituted by the association's Statutes. It is composed of figures external to the association — philosophers, researchers, sociologists, historians and peace specialists — appointed by the administrative body for a renewable term.

That externality is not an organisational detail. A doctrine that claims the scientific standard cannot review itself: the Council exists so that contradiction comes from outside.

Its mission

To safeguard rigour, and confrontation

The Statutes give it the mission of safeguarding the intellectual rigour of the We-ism doctrine and its continuous confrontation with established knowledge.

Contradiction cannot be entrusted to those it targets. The College of Founders exercises mediation; it cannot at the same time be the guardian of the objections addressed to it. This function falls to the Scientific Council, vested with a written mandate:

• to collect the objections made to the doctrine, wherever they come from;
• to publish, without prior authorisation, those the founder has not resolved;
• to evaluate periodically the conditions of refutation set out in the Manifesto.

This mandate has value only if it can be exercised against us. A scientific council that has never contradicted the founder has not yet begun its work. Any Companion may address an objection to the doctrine to the Council: it is the first of the rights guaranteed by the Charter (article 11).

Profiles sought

The fields represented

The Council is progressively bringing together figures qualified in the following fields:

• Central Africa and the Great Lakes region
• Governance and institutions
• Peace, mediation and transitional justice
• Diplomacy and international relations
• Law
• Economics
• Social sciences
• Political philosophy

Status

Being constituted

The Scientific Council is currently being constituted. The list of its members will be published on this page as soon as it is officially in place. The Institute has chosen to announce nothing before the appointments are effective.

The Statutes also institute an Ethics Committee, a distinct advisory body tasked with ensuring that the teaching, practice and dissemination of the doctrine remain faithful to its founding principles and to the Charter of the Companions. It too is being constituted. See our governance →

Joining the Council

Researchers and practitioners interested in contributing to the Scientific Council are welcome to contact the Institute.