At this pivotal moment, current political dynamics present a critical window for strengthening international democracy cooperation. In the face of geopolitical, security and economic challenges, the focus of many traditional donors and democracy supporters in their own national interests has created a leadership vacuum. Recently, the Presidents of Brazil, South Africa and Spain have reaffirmed that multilateralism can and must work 1. A partnership led by the Global South could offer a new model for international democracy cooperation.
Bilateral, multilateral, plurilateral and local
There are many types of international cooperation. Bilateral efforts excel at targeted collaboration and reciprocal learning partnerships on key themes within democratic governance. Multilateral coordination facilitates collective ambition, such as the UN Convention against Corruption, which the United Kingdom championed with the Open Government Partnership (OGP) 2. Many OGP countries then signed the statement and committed to it through the OGP mechanism. Plurilateral coordination allows for a subset of countries to work on specific action without need for universal consensus – using connection to make measurable progress on policy implementation. Domestic cooperation is also key – translating international ideals and commitments into concrete change at national and local levels. Overall, plurilateralism is best deployed strategically alongside domestic reform (as well as targeted bilateral support) for maximum impact, contextualising democratic solutions.
International work on democracy is fragmented. It is currently not creating outputs greater than the sum of its parts but, with better coordination, it could. The UN was not explicitly created to promote democracy, but rather to prevent wars. However, as its membership is made up of every recognised country, it is an important conduit to preserve elements of democracy. At regional level, coordination across peer organisations on thematic areas, such as between election management bodies or judiciaries, can help bolster democratic governance and insulate from domestic anti-democratic pressures. In this way, democracy could be injected into the work of existing multilateral organisations if they can be encouraged to support this agenda, and/or into new structures, to drive change in their area of expertise.
Financing democracy support
With levels of Official Development Assistance (ODA) falling sharply, many donors are reassessing their priorities for continued foreign assistance. Advocates for democracy support need to hone the case for funding that works, showing how it supports key policy priorities and contributes to ambitions for global governance reform. If they can do that, then there is a strong case for ensuring long-term funding, which could take a number of forms, including developing a Global Democracy Fund or other multilateral instruments.