IDEA celebrates 10 years of supporting democracy worldwide

International IDEA celebrated its 10 first years of supportingdemocracy worldwide with a conference, “Building Democracy Across Borders,” on 10 June in Stockholm, Sweden. Some 250 governmentofficials and democracy practitioners from around the world examinedthe challenges of regional integration and asked whether democracy candeliver beyond the level of the nation state.

Four prominent officials gave a regional perspective from their regions:  

Margot Wallström, European Commission vice president, stressed theimportance of learning from the experience of regional integration. Shealso underlined the value of IDEA’s work to promote democracy:

“Europe is certainly not the only region of the world with experience –and difficulties – in trans-national democracy. Africa and LatinAmerica, for example, are also experimenting with new forms oftransnational integration, via the African Union and the AndeanCommunity,” Wallström said. “The learning process must not stop oncethis conference is over. We need concrete action plans to advancedemocracy-building on the national, regional and global level. One veryuseful tool is, of course, the Internet. Our host organization, IDEA,is doing some excellent pioneering work on innovative Internetresources. I am thinking, for example, of its ACE project to improvethe management of elections.”

Bience Gawanas, African Union commissioner of social affairs,emphasised the close connection between efforts for African unity anddemocracy as well as citizens’ participation in policy processes. Shesaid that despite all its challenges, Africa has good reason tocelebrate its successes, including the advance in democracy in the lastdecade.

Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa, Indian ambassador to Sweden and Latvia, comparedthe creation of a multinational regional organization with thedifficulty that India as multicultural nation had in formulating itsconstitution and political system. She suggested that regional bodiescould learn lessons from the Indian experience in building a vivid andstable democracy in a multicultural context.

Allan Wagner, Andean Community of Nations secretary general, examinedthe ongoing integration process in the Andean Community and its closecooperation with the European Union. He stressed the importance ofregional projects to strengthen democracy, like the IDEA-initiated AGORA project on political parties in Andean countries.


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


Former IDEA Board member Lord David Steel of Aikwood, who was the firstpresiding officer (speaker) of the Scottish Parliament, chaired themeeting.

For more information, contact Bernd Halling, external relations officer or visit the June 10 Conference page 

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