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On 3 March 2022, Freedom House published a letter signed by a number of former US Ambassadors, academics, experts and other stakeholders urging President Biden to act on the worsening situation for democracy in Tunisia. After President Kaïs Saïed’s power grab on 25 July 2021, Tunisia has seen one-man rule effectively imposed, with a recent … Continued
Laura Thornton and Annika Silva-Leander consider in GMFUS’ Alliance for Securing Democracy the little visible action on commitments after the Summit. Against the backdrop of rising global authoritarianism, the Summit must not be an empty initiative of words with no action or follow-up. The authors believe that the Summit “matters if the momentum created by … Continued
On 9 and 10 February, the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC) held its Third Global Conference for Media Freedom in Tallinn, Estonia, releasing a joint statement in support of media freedom. Media freedom is essential for a well-functioning democracy: it ensures factual and accurate public debate and discussion, and facilitates accountability by helping to support the … Continued
In February 2022, representatives from governments and civil society across the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC)’s fifty member countries gathered as an informal alliance of governments working cooperatively to support media freedom globally. Miriam Küller in Deutsche Welle (DW) considers ways to make its work more effective. Media freedom has drawn increasing attention in recent years, … Continued
Joseph Sany considers the recent coup attempt in Guinea-Bisseau, the fifth in nine months around the greater Sahel, and its implications for US assistance in Africa. Poor and authoritarian governance only continues to worsen instability and extremism in the region. Pro-democracy and peacebuilding specialists are crucial, and recommendations are made by experts in relation to … Continued
Saskia Brechenmacher and Katherine Mann make recommendations for improving female political participation in Just Security based off of 160 interviews with aid officials, advocates, and women politicians as well as a detailed analysis of women’s political empowerment programs in Kenya, Nepal, Morocco, and Myanmar. They identify four key areas for sustainable gender parity in political … Continued
International IDEA expert Annika Silva-Leander shared her views on the challenges, potentials and limitations of the Summit for Democracy for the Robert Bosch Stiftung. Democracy is facing unprecedented challenges: we see a decline in the number of democracies, the quality of these democracies is declining, and more and more countries continue to move further into … Continued
Richard E. Feinberg considers for Global Americans how the initiatives spearheaded by the Summit may impact governance and democracy in Latin America in view of the Biden administration’s wider foreign policy approach to the region. He notes that a main challenge to development and assistance is the fragmented state of politics both domestically in the … Continued
Lauren Mooney writes in Just Security about how Biden’s Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal can better account for conflict and fragility in certain states. Major complex challenges for democracy assistance in fragile states include violence, an underlying lack of public trust in governance institutions, and deep societal divides. The US’ approach to democracy assistance in … Continued
Annika Silva-Leander (with the support of Elisenda Balleste-Buxo) of International IDEA made an initial analysis of the (verbal) country commitments made at the Summit. It was conducted by coding the written transcripts of the official statements made by countries and is aimed as a resource for civil society and other actors to aid in their … Continued
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