Program Areas

Program Areas

International Team

Andreas Bummel

Germany/South Africa
Executive Director

Andreas Bummel is founder and executive director of Democracy Without Borders. He is known worldwide as an expert and advocate for a world parliament. The campaign he has been leading for a Parliamentary Assembly at the UN has been supported by more than 1,500 parliamentarians from over 100 countries. Since 2021, he has been one of the co-convenors of the “We The Peoples” campaign, which advocates for more democracy at the UN. By now, over 300 groups from around the world have joined, including leading environmental and civic rights NGOs. From 1998 to 2018, he served on the Council of the World Federalist Movement, which played a central role in supporting the creation of the International Criminal Court. Since 2023 he is among those promoting a UN Special Rapporteur on Democracy. He has spoken at events in over two dozens of countries, including at Yale University, the London School of Economics, the Athens Democracy Forum, and the Pan-African Parliament, among other venues. In recognition of his work, the Society for Threatened Peoples made him a honorary member. He was born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1976.

Andreas authored the book A World Parliament: Governance and Democracy in the 21st Century (with Jo Leinen) which provides an account of the history, relevance and implementation of a global parliament. In 2024, a second expanded and updated edition was published.

The Security Council has failed Syria: time to question its authority
In his final address to the Human Rights Council, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid decried the “pernicious use of the veto” by the permanent members of the
Andreas Bummel | 09.03.2018
Joe Schwartzberg: Advocate of a workable world
The creation of the United Nations following the Second World War was one of the greatest steps so far towards achieving a peaceful and just world order. The UN, however,
Andreas Bummel | 05.02.2018
We need to proclaim humanity’s right to self-determination
From November 3-5, Milo Rau and the Institute for Political Murder (IIPM) convened a General Assembly at the theatre Schaubühne in Berlin as “a concept of an actual world parliament” in
Andreas Bummel | 06.11.2017
It is time to unite for defending and revitalizing democracy
A worldwide Coalition for Democratic Renewal In May, over sixty global intellectuals and democracy activists have issued The Prague Appeal for Democratic Renewal. The group, including Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich,
Andreas Bummel | 04.10.2017