Democracy should be anchored in any global development framework that will follow the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda, a commission convened by the Club de Madrid says in a report released this week. The Club’s Global Commission on Democracy and Multilateralism examines how international cooperation can help protect and strengthen democracy.
The report singles out five thematic priorities for a democratic agenda: digital technologies and artificial intelligence; respect for constitutions, checks and balances, and the rule of law; electoral integrity; corruption and political capture; and equality and civil rights.
While the focus is on the national level, the report emphasizes how democracy and multilateralism are mutually dependent. “Democracy needs effective multilateral cooperation” and “multilateralism, in turn, needs strong democracies”, it argues. According to the Commission, “democracy cannot be imposed from outside” but this does not place it “beyond the legitimate scope of international cooperation.”
Democracy should be anchored in a Post-2030 Agenda
UN member states are urged to ensure that “any framework succeeding the 2030 Agenda reflects and advances the contribution of democracy to sustainable development”. The report emphasizes the economic and social conditions needed to exercise democratic rights. Support for democracy should deliver “tangible improvements to people’s lives and the essential guarantees of freedom, dignity and justice”, it says.
The Commission’s recommendations add to recent calls to give democracy and human rights a core role in the UN’s future development agenda.
The report expresses hope that the next UN Secretary-General will “encourage more consistent diplomatic and political leadership in the face of democratic erosion”.
Addressing multilateral imbalances
Commission chair George Papandreou, a former Greek prime minister, explains in the foreword of the report that the question of how stronger democracies could help make multilateralism itself more efficient and democratic is addressed “in more preliminary terms, as an agenda for the road ahead.”
Papandreou describes the global challenge: “We feel it directly: the vote we cast does not reach the algorithm that curates our reality, the capital that moves faster than any parliament, or the carbon that alters our seasons, our lives.”
The report points out that the “multilateral system cannot effectively support democracy without addressing its own imbalances of representation and power.” It calls for stronger African representation in the Security Council and other institutions, alongside greater participation by citizens, parliaments and civil society.
UN and regional organizations should pilot citizens’ assemblies
The report specifically recommends citizens’ assembly pilots at the UN and regional organizations on questions such as climate action and artificial intelligence. Randomly selected participants would then consider evidence and develop recommendations, with the aim to “connect deliberation meaningfully with decision-making”.
Multilateral processes should operate on an “open by default” basis whenever possible, the Commission says. It proposes a technical administrative body to handle most UN civil society accreditation applications and a senior official responsible for integrating civil society into UN processes.
Recommendations from working groups
Three expert working groups produced accompanying papers. A paper on Revitalizing Support for Democracy Within the UN System, developed by International IDEA, investigates the role of the UN and institutional UN reforms. Among other things, it considers the creation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly, a UN Special Rapporteur on Democracy, a Civil Society Envoy and recommends the UN should “establish and use” the format of Global Citizens’ Assemblies.
Support for more democracy at the UN
The parliamentary assembly could initially draw representatives primarily from national parliaments, with consultative and oversight functions. The paper notes the related campaign‘s goal that elected representatives would “add a democratic layer to global governance, strengthen accountability, and reconnect citizens to the UN.”
The proposed democracy rapporteur would help strengthen the UN’s normative framework and address gaps in the existing Special Procedures system of the Human Rights Council concerning elections, parliaments, political participation and institutional design.
The working group recommends coordination among democratic states through a “Democracy Caucus” or friends groups within the UN, referencing the Community of Democracies.
Regional action and coalitions
The paper Regional Organisations and Democracy Support, prepared by the European Democracy Hub, finds that weak regional integration, government resistance and noninterference constrain regional action. “A central need is deeper regional integration across the board, and democracy commitments would flow from this”, it finds. It recommends dedicated regional democracy funds, stronger election observation and follow-up, independent civil society scrutiny, smaller coalitions where broader action is blocked, and structured cooperation among regional organizations within the UN.
Call for deeper regional integration and coalitions of like-minded states
The paper Innovating Democratic Cooperation through Plurilateralism, coordinated by the Open Government Partnership, argues that coalitions of like-minded states can advance democratic standards and coordinated action where broader agreement is blocked. Such initiatives should complement global and regional institutions. Their effectiveness depends on independent accountability, durable funding and mechanisms to respond to democratic backsliding among members, the working group found. Civil society participation should extend into governance, it says, emphasizing that “many of the initiatives that have demonstrated the strongest results in this report give non-state actors a formal governance role.”
About the Commission
The 19-member Commission in addition to Papandreou includes former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, former Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla, former Senegalese prime minister Aminata Touré, former Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven and International IDEA’s Secretary-General Kevin Casas-Zamora.
Founded in 2001, Club de Madrid is a nonpartisan international nonprofit bringing together more than 130 former presidents and prime ministers from over 70 countries to support democratic governance.
Democracy Without Borders welcomed the Commission’s report and the working group papers as “important contributions to advancing democracy at the national, regional and global levels at a critical time.” The group emphasized the relevance of a UN Parliamentary Assembly and a UN Special Rapporteur on Democracy, proposals the organization has been advancing in collaboration with others.
Democracy Without Borders’ Executive Director, Andreas Bummel, participated in the working group on the UN system.
