Summit for Democracy

The Summit for Democracy is a virtual summit hosted by the United States "to renew democracy at home and confront autocracies abroad". The first summit was held on December 9–10, 2021.[1][2] The three themes are defending against authoritarianism, addressing and fighting corruption, and advancing respect for human rights.[3] Contradictory to its themes, multiple un-democratic and authoritarian nations have attended, which has attracted criticism.

Summit for Democracy
Guillermo Lasso, the President of Ecuador, participating in the summit
Host country United States
DatesDecember 9–10, 2021
Venue(s)Virtual
Participants111
Websitewww.state.gov/summit-for-democracy/
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken

The second Summit was held in March 2023 and was co-hosted by United States, Costa Rica, Zambia, Netherlands and South Korea.[4][5]

Event chronology

1st summit in 2021

The schedule was as follows:[6]

Day 1

With opening remarks from United States President Joe Biden, the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made remarks about bolstering democratic resilience in the age of COVID-19 followed by panel discussions. Next topic was about preventing corruption since the conference coincided with the two-day International Anti-Corruption Day and Human Rights Day.[7]

Day 2

Discussions about protecting human rights considered the issue of empowering human rights defenders and independent media. During the intersession remarks, Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law made a speech.[lower-alpha 1] Discussions about strengthening democratic institutions and preventive measures to stop authoritarianism from happening were held. Threats to democracy in the digital age were also discussed regarding digital surveillance. The day ended with closing remarks from Biden.

List of invited participants

1st summit in 2021
  Summit for Democracy invited participants
  Dependent and autonomous territories of invited participants

The United States invited itself and the following countries and territories to virtually attend the summit.[8][9][10] Leaders could give a short virtual opening remarks to the particpants, for example British Prime Minister gave a three minute speech.[11]

Participant Region Attending?[12] Democracy Index
 Angola Africa Yes[13] 3.66
 Botswana Africa Yes[14] 7.62
 Cape Verde Africa Yes[15] 7.65
 DR Congo Africa Yes[16] 1.13
 Ghana Africa Yes[17] 6.50
 Kenya Africa Yes[18] 5.05
 Liberia Africa Yes[19] 5.32
 Malawi Africa Yes[20] 5.74
 Mauritius Africa Yes[21] 8.14
 Namibia Africa Yes[22] 6.52
 Niger Africa Yes[23] 3.29
 Nigeria Africa Yes[24] 4.10
 São Tomé and Príncipe Africa Yes[25]
 Senegal Africa Yes[26] 5.67
 Seychelles Africa Yes[27]
 South Africa Africa No[28] 7.05
 Zambia Africa Yes[29] 4.86
 Antigua and Barbuda Americas Yes[30]
 Argentina Americas Yes[31] 6.95
 Bahamas Americas Yes[32]
 Barbados Americas Yes[33]
 Belize Americas Yes[34]
 Brazil Americas Yes[35] 6.92
 Canada Americas Yes[36] 9.24
 Chile Americas Yes[37] 8.28
 Colombia Americas Yes[38] 7.04
 Costa Rica Americas Yes[39] 8.16
 Dominica Americas Yes[40]
 Dominican Republic Americas Yes[41] 6.32
 Ecuador Americas Yes[42] 6.13
 Grenada Americas Yes[43]
 Guyana Americas Yes[44] 6.01
 Jamaica Americas Yes[45] 7.13
 Mexico Americas Yes[46] 6.07
 Panama Americas Yes[47] 7.18
 Paraguay Americas Yes[48] 6.18
 Peru Americas Yes[49] 6.53
 Saint Kitts and Nevis Americas Yes[50]
 Saint Lucia Americas Yes[51]
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Americas Yes[52]
 Suriname Americas Yes[53] 6.82
 Trinidad and Tobago Americas Yes[54] 7.16
 United States Americas Yes 7.92
 Uruguay Americas Yes[55] 8.61
 East Timor Asia 7.06
 India Asia Yes[56] 6.61
 Indonesia Asia Yes[57] 6.30
 Iraq Asia Yes[58] 3.62
 Israel Asia Yes[59] 7.84
 Japan Asia Yes[60] 8.13
 South Korea Asia Yes[61] 8.01
 Malaysia Asia 7.19
 Maldives Asia Yes[62]
 Mongolia Asia 6.48
   Nepal Asia Yes[63] 5.22
 Pakistan Asia No[64] 4.31
 Philippines Asia Yes[65] 6.56
 Taiwan Asia Yes[66] 8.94
 Albania Europe Yes[67] 6.08
 Armenia Europe Yes[68] 5.35
 Austria Europe Yes[69] 8.16
 Belgium Europe Yes[70] 7.51
 Bulgaria Europe Yes[71] 6.71
 Croatia Europe Yes[72] 6.50
 Czech Republic Europe Yes[73] 7.67
 Cyprus Europe Yes[74] 7.56
 Denmark Europe Yes[75] 9.15
 Estonia Europe Yes[76] 7.84
 European Union Europe Yes[77][78][79][80]
 Finland Europe Yes[81] 9.20
 France Europe Yes[82] 7.99
 Georgia Europe Yes[83] 5.31
 Germany Europe Yes[84] 8.67
 Greece Europe Yes[85] 7.39
 Iceland Europe Yes[86] 9.37
 Ireland Europe Yes[87] 9.05
 Italy Europe Yes[88] 7.74
 Kosovo Europe Yes[89]
 Latvia Europe Yes[90] 7.24
 Lithuania Europe Yes[91] 7.13
 Luxembourg Europe Yes[92] 8.68
 Malta Europe Yes[93] 7.68
 Moldova Europe Yes[94] 5.78
 Montenegro Europe Yes[95] 5.77
 Netherlands Europe Yes[96] 8.96
 North Macedonia Europe Yes[97] 5.89
 Norway Europe Yes[98] 9.81
 Poland Europe Yes[99] 6.85
 Portugal Europe Yes[100] 7.90
 Romania Europe Yes[101] 6.40
 Serbia Europe Yes[102] 6.22
 Slovakia Europe Yes[103] 6.97
 Slovenia Europe Yes[104] 7.54
 Spain Europe Yes[105] 8.12
 Sweden Europe Yes[106] 9.26
 Switzerland Europe Yes[107] 8.83
 Ukraine Europe Yes[108] 5.81
 United Kingdom Europe Yes[109] 8.54
 Australia Oceania Yes[110] 8.96
 Fiji Oceania Yes[111] 5.72
 Kiribati Oceania Yes[12]
 Marshall Islands Oceania Yes[112]
 Micronesia Oceania Yes[113]
 Nauru Oceania Yes[114]
 New Zealand Oceania Yes[115] 9.25
 Palau Oceania Yes[116]
 Papua New Guinea Oceania 6.10
 Samoa Oceania Yes[117]
 Solomon Islands Oceania
 Tonga Oceania
 Tuvalu Oceania
 Vanuatu Oceania

Criticism

The summit's guestlist was criticized for inviting participants based on the political interests of the United States, not on its democracy ratings. University of Sydney politics professor John Keane said the guestlist was a "cynically drawn up, bureaucratically crafted, agency-structured invitation list that includes states that by any measure are falling way down the democracy rankings or aren't democracies at all".[118]

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, accused of crimes against humanity, accepted President Biden's invitation to join the Summit for Democracy. According to ICHRP Chairperson Peter Murphy, "Duterte’s reign of terror and mass murder, which have provoked an ICC investigation of crimes against humanity, would seem to disqualify him from providing advice on anything except fascist populism, repression and human rights violations."[119]

Despite several democracy watchdogs calling Brazil a backsliding democracy, Indonesia and Nigeria as other types of democracy, and Pakistan as a banana republic,[120] former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari participated in the Summit for Democracy,[121][122] while former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, though invited, did not.[123] Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also participated in the summit.

Some invited countries, such as Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Iraq, were deemed "not free" in the democracy watchdog Freedom House's latest "Freedom in the World" report.[122] Other invited countries, such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, India and Senegal, were deemed "partly free" in the report while Brazil, the United States, Japan, Canada, Australia and Costa Rica were deemed "free." The report also showed the United States, Japan, Canada and Australia to be developed democracies and Brazil to be developing democracy.

See also

Notes
  1. Hong Kong's democracy index in 2020 was 5.47.

References
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  110. Summit Participant Statement of Australia for 2021 'Summit for Democracy', retrieved 2021-12-11
  111. Summit Participant Statement of Fiji for 2021 'Summit for Democracy', retrieved 2021-12-11
  112. Summit Participant Statement of Marshall Islands for 2021 'Summit for Democracy', retrieved 2021-12-10
  113. Summit Participant Statement of Micronesia for 2021 'Summit for Democracy', retrieved 2021-12-11
  114. Summit Participant Statement of Nauru for 2021 'Summit for Democracy', retrieved 2021-12-10
  115. Summit Participant Statement of New Zealand for 2021 'Summit for Democracy', retrieved 2021-12-10
  116. Summit Participant Statement of Palau for 2021 'Summit for Democracy', retrieved 2021-12-10
  117. Summit Participant Statement of Samoa for 2021 'Summit for Democracy', retrieved 2021-12-11
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  119. "Biden's Summit For Democracy: A Showcase For Populist Autocrats And Human Rights Violators". Scoop. December 9, 2021.
  120. "Pakistan Descending Into A "Banana Republic", Says Imran Khan". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
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