IDEA hosts conference on "Building Democracy Across Borders" marking its 10th year of operations

Some 250 government officials and democracy practitioners from around the world  joined the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) on 10 June for a conference to mark the Institute’s 10th anniversary. The event, “Building Democracy Across Borders”, featured speakers Margot Wallström, European Commission vice president; Bience Gawanas, African Union commissioner; Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa, Indian Ambassador to Sweden and Latvia and Allan Wagner, Andean Community of Nations secretary general.

The conference examined the challenges of regional integration between governments and asked whether democracy can deliver beyond the level of the nation state.

At the conference, IDEA launched its anniversary book, “Ten Years of Supporting Democracy Worldwide”, and a CD-ROM featuring the anniversary book, a video and interviews by democracy practitioners.

This conference is the second in a series: IDEA held an anniversary seminar on “Democracy-building: past lessons and future trends” at its Stockholm headquarters on 28 February 2005.

Quick links:

• History of IDEA
• Speeches from the June 10 Conference
• Selected interviews from the Anniversary events
• Anniversary book
• Bios of the speakers