An orchestrated public engagement campaign to rebuild bipartisan support for democratic values is being launched by the Atlantic Council (above). The initiative will also focus on developing concrete strategies and recommendations for policymakers in leading democracies to adapt and secure the fundamental tenets of a rules-based order.
“There has been much hand-wringing about the state of democracy and the world in general,” said Daniel Fried, a distinguished fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Future Europe Initiative and Eurasia Center. “The point now is to take action.”
The campaign coincides with a Renew Democracy Initiative conference, which will examine and wrestle with the underlying threats to liberal democracy and propose strategies to reinvigorate it.
Skeptics may well discount the Declaration as a “high-minded” exercise divorced from the ugly realities of world politics, says Council on Foreign Relations analyst Stewart M. Patrick. They would be wrong. The success of the liberal world order has always rested on a combination of power and idealism.
The signatories endorse seven statements of principle, including:
21st Forum 2000 Conference
Democracy and Self-Determination: We affirm the right of all people to make decisions about their own affairs through elected governments that reflect their consent, free from foreign interference. Governments, as well as private entities and individuals where they are able, have a responsibility to:
- respect and protect the right of all people to choose their own leaders through a free, fair, and competitive democratic process
- refrain from threats, coercion, intimidation, violence, election meddling, or other undue interference in the internal or external affairs of free nations
- respect the right of peaceful self-determination and seek the settlement of disputes over political status without threats, violence, or oppression
The signatories include distinguished former officials, strategists, and experts, including:
Goli Ameri, former assistant secretary of state, US Department of State
Antony Blinken, former deputy secretary of state, US Department of State
Esther Brimmer, former assistant secretary of state, US Department of State
Ivo Daalder, former US ambassador to NATO
Eileen Donahoe, former US ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council
Daniel Fried, former assistant secretary of state, US Department of State
Jamie Fly, German Marshall Fund
Carl Gershman (right), National Endowment for Democracy
David Gordon, former State Department policy planning director
Nikolas Gvosev, Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs
William Inboden, former senior director, National Security Council
Ash Jain, Atlantic Council
Robert Kagan, Brookings
Derek Mitchell, National Democratic Institute
Joseph Nye, Harvard
Laura Rosenberger, German Marshall Fund of the US
Nicole Bibbins Sedaca, Georgetown
Anne-Marie Slaughter, former director of policy planning, US Department of State
Jake Sullivan, former director of policy planning, US Department of State
Daniel Twining, International Republican Institute
Andrew Wilson, Center for International Private Enterprise
Damon Wilson, former senior director, National Security Council
Kenneth Wollack, former president, National Democratic Institute
