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Prince Karim Aga Khan has called for a 'wide civil society partnership' between the developed world and the developing world, saying that it was 'especially critical where governments are weak or non-performing, as in situations of failed democracies or post-conflict reconciliation and reconstruction.'He was addressing the convocation of the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, after being conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree in recognition of his outstanding contributions to community service, higher education and philanthropy.

Prince Karim Aga Khan has called for a 'wide civil society partnership' between the developed world and the developing world, saying that it was 'especially critical where governments are weak or non-performing, as in situations of failed democracies or post-conflict reconciliation and reconstruction.'He was addressing the convocation of the University of Toronto?s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, after being conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree in recognition of his outstanding contributions to community service, higher education and philanthropy.

“Partnerships
between the developed and developing
world can and do work. Moreover, they
demonstrate how essential universities
and their lifeblood – you their graduates
– are to civil society.” Civil society,
meritocracy and pluralism are the bases
for true democracy said the Aga Khan to
the graduating class of University of
Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education [OISE].
The Aga Khan, who gave the keynote
speech at the Governor General's
Leadership Conference last month in
Ottawa, received a degree of Doctor of

The biggest global threat is not failed states but failed democracies, the Aga Khan told a graduating class at the University of Toronto on Friday afternoon.
The 49th hereditary spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims appealed to the class of teaching grads at Convocation Hall to instil in students the virtues of pluralism, meritocracy and civil society _ three pillars on which successful democracies are built.

His Highness the Aga Khan, the 40th hereditary spiritual leader (Imam) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, and founder of the Aga Khan Development Network, today called for a 'wide civil society partnership' between the developed world and the developing world.He said that it was 'especially critical where governments are weak or non-performing, as in situations of failed democracies or post-conflict reconciliation and reconstruction,' says a press release.