Europe is at a critical juncture, with the new security context bringing forth a crucial question: How can an expanding EU maintain and strengthen rule of law at its core? With the support of the Belgium Ministry for Foreign Affairs, International IDEA delved into the interplay between the external and internal dimensions of the rule of law to assess how the EU can be ready for enlargement while standing firm on its values.
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Electoral management in the United Kingdom is decentralised and largely delivered by local authorities with local government is a strong feature of governance and democracy. The national Electoral Commission was established in 2000 to provide advice and guidance on election administration and to regulate the financing of political parties.
level, the EU institutions have traditionally refrained from regulating political finance and electoral campaigns. Instead, this has largely remained the preserve of member states, which have very different political traditions and diverging regulatory regimes for campaign and party finances, including the digital and online aspects.
In an era where digital platforms have become arenas for political discourse, fuelling the use of unethical campaigning and the spread of disinformation, trust in the legitimacy of election campaigns grows in importance.
On 6 February 2023, with a nine-hour interval, two earthquakes measuring 7.8 and 7.5 on the Richter scale struck southern Türkiye. The earthquakes struck approximately four months before the country’s 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
This Discussion Paper reviews the performance of 16 lobbying registers according to 3 interlinked dimensions: (a) transparency; (b) regulatory capacity; and (c) interoperability. Under ‘transparency’, the paper examines the scope of lobbying information collected by the register in question, as well as how that information is administered and subsequently disclosed.
This Brief presents some findings on the Summit for Democracy process from the perspective of participating countries based on a selected number of interviews with representatives from the governments of six countries (Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Zambia) and the European Union (European External Action Service).
Despite widespread claims that parliamentary systems with an indirectly elected president produce better outcomes for democratic governance, constitutional reform to move away from a directly elected president to an indirectly elected president is extremely rare.
The global state of democracy in 2023 is complex, fluid and unequal. Across every region of the world, democracy has continued to contract, with declines in at least one indicator of democratic performance in half of the countries covered in the Report.
As political campaigning in the lead-up to elections has moved online, parties and candidates have found new and innovative methods for connecting with voters. However, new challenges have multiplied, with the regulation and oversight authorities struggling to keep up. Campaign communications are increasingly opaque online, thus enabling harmful mis- and disinformation to influence electoral narratives.
This report seeks to contribute to the success of the Summit for Democracy process by drawing lessons from the Year of Action and Second Summit and presenting opportunities for shaping an inclusive and effective Third Summit for Democracy.
In recent years, the global democracy landscape drastically changed. This Policy Brief argues that the European Union's narrative on democracy should be adjusted to respond to this new geopolitical reality. The EU should take a leading role in defending democratic and accountable governance and explaining its benefits for citizens.
While the regulatory frameworks of most countries include some provisions on the transparency of political finance, the mere declaration of this principle is often not sufficient to guarantee a fair political competition or comprehensive accountability and integrity on the part of political actors.
When technology meets political participation.
More and more political professionals in Europe are trying to find ways to enhance the representativeness and effectiveness of democracy, so forms of participatory and deliberative democracy are on the rise. New tools have emerged to facilitate engagement, digitizing previously analogue processes and widening accessibility and scale.
This paper provides an overview of the purpose, work and outputs of the 16 Democracy Cohorts established or announced by February 2023 in the context of the Summit for Democracy organized by the US Government.
The main contribution of the Democracy Cohorts to the Summit for Democracy process is as key drivers of change by following up on and scaling up existing commitments, and establishing a vision for democratic renewal beyond the Second Summit.
The Summit for Democracy is an initiative headed by the United States Government to discuss how to advance the Summit’s three broad themes: strengthening democracy and defending against authoritarianism; addressing and fighting corruption; and advancing respect for human rights.
The European Union has traditionally been one of the world’s staunchest advocates of democracy but major changes have affected the global democracy landscape in recent years. With the support of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, International IDEA led an analysis of the EU’s external democracy policy during 2022 to inform the EU discussion on democracy during Sweden’s 2023 Presidency of the Council of the EU.
This Policy Brief provides a snapshot of the full Recommendations Report: The EU’s External Democracy Policy in a New Geopolitical Reality. Its purpose is to inspire future EU democracy policy to ensure it can defend democracy globally and at home in line with the EU’s declared intention to become a stronger geopolitical player.
Transparency in politics—in particular with regard to political finance—lies at the core of every democracy. The availability of accessible, detailed information about the funding of political parties and candidates enables scrutiny by civil society organizations and the wider public, and ensures that all political actors can be held accountable.