Rasmus Sinding Søndergaard’s Post

📣 Today, democracy faces an array of grave challenges, globally as well as within the EU’s own borders. More than 250 political, civil leaders, Nobel laureates and pro-democracy organisations from different countries and walks of life, thus sign an open letter ahead of the #EUElections and call upon the next EU leadership to consider ten priorities to place democracy, at home and abroad, at the top of the policy agenda in the Union for the duration of their mandates and beyond. The letter was initiated and supported by International IDEA, European Endowment for Democracy (EED), European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), Open Government Partnership and ENoP - European Network of Political Foundations. Join the cause and sign the statement ➡ https://lnkd.in/eBSnt4cK #EUDefendDemocracy

📣 Today, democracy faces an array of grave challenges, globally as well as within the EU’s own borders. ✒️ More than 250 political and civil leaders, Nobel laureates and pro-democracy organisations from different countries and walks of life thus call upon the next EU leadership to consider 10 priorities to place democracy at the top of the policy agenda, at home and abroad. #EUDefendDemocracy - Join the cause and sign the statement ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eBSnt4cK International IDEA ENoP - European Network of Political Foundations European Endowment for Democracy (EED) Open Government Partnership

In my new essay just published by IWM - Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen I'm exploring the idea that democratic innovation and citizen deliberation are matters of national security. Especially in Central and Eastern Europe, where Russia, with its imperial ambitions and foreign interference, exploits the flaws of the current democratic system and people’s feelings of disillusionment. I argue that: ➡ Citizens' Assemblies provide genuine opportunities for citizens to exercise their agency and build up people’s democratic resilience which strengthens this essential line of defense against externally induced social discontent. ➡ Initiating Assemblies on pressing and divisive issues reduce the possibility of a thorny issue being weaponised by populist elites to entrench social divides for their political benefit, a classic move in the populist playbook. ➡ Informed citizen deliberation could to some extent mitigate mis/disinformation, which is routinely employed to cause polarisation or as a tool of foreign interference. With an acknowledgement that like other parts of the democratic system, Citizens' Assemblies are not immune to influence or misuse governments to legitimise its decisions, and in contexts where civil society and the rule of law are compromised, we should implement them with caution. As I continue researching these questions, I'd be much grateful for thoughts, new references, and conversations! Full essay: https://lnkd.in/eBGce6NF DemocracyNext

The South in American Political Development - PDF: https://lnkd.in/g5nseEUV Recent years have seen a renewed interest in southern distinctiveness within the United States and its ramifications for the nation. This review provides an analysis of recent works and the interpretive issues they raise. I argue that collectively they have broken with the long-established image of the South in political science, the study of which was long organized around the region’s anticipated convergence to the patterns of the post–New Deal North. Recent texts have instead emphasized an enduring commitment to white supremacy and a determining influence for the region in shaping national politics and institutions. I identify two broad pathways of southern influence and discuss the debates over its sources. I then discuss recent works on southern regimes and the debates these have provoked. I conclude by suggesting that overcoming the limits of recent works will ultimately undermine some of our more sweeping interpretive claims and foundational premises.

On 6-9 June 2024, European voters representing nearly 450 million European citizens will participate in the European Parliament elections. Today, democracy faces an array of grave challenges, globally as well as within the EU’s own borders. EU institutions, custodians of the most successful multi-national project ever attempted to uphold the values of democracy, peace, sustainable development, and multilateralism, bear a historic responsibility at this critical juncture. We call upon the next EU leadership to consider these ten priorities to place democracy, at home and abroad, at the top of the policy agenda in the Union for the duration of their mandates and beyond. The statement has been signed by more than 350 pro-democracy organizations, Nobel laureates and political and civil leaders, including former heads of state and government  and EU leaders. Join the cause and sign it too ! 🖋 ⬇ #democracy #EU #europeanelections #EUdefenddemocracy

Today, democracy faces an array of grave challenges, globally as well as within the EU’s own borders. EU institutions, custodians of the most successful multi-national project ever attempted to uphold the values of democracy, peace, sustainable development, and multilateralism, bear a historic responsibility at this critical juncture. Leaders and pro-democracy organizations from different countries and walks of life call upon the next EU leadership to consider these ten priorities to place democracy, at home and abroad, at the top of the policy agenda in the Union for the duration of their mandates and beyond. Law and Public Policy Center has joined this cause and signed the statement. 🔽

Consensus democracy and nation-building in Switzerland, Iraq and the Middle East This is the title of a seminar I will be teaching at the SOWI Department of the University of Bern starting in the fall semester 2024. In it, I will discuss how dozens of new states emerged in the Middle East after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which have made little progress in the area of nation-building. The product of this policy is a region that has been in turmoil for several decades. One of these states is Iraq. It is interesting to note that two major powers in Iraq at the beginning of the 20th and 21st centuries have initiated an attempt at a possible nation-building and democratization process, which, according to Arend Lijphart, represent two prototypes of democracy: British majoritarian democracy on the one hand and American consensus democracy on the other. Washington in particular attempted to create a consensus nation in Iraq that identified with the newly created nation state and remained primarily loyal to it. The Swiss consensus model - which Karl Deutsch regarded as a "pragmatic case of political integration" as early as 1976, because in 1848 it was possible to build a nation of the will, although there was hardly any Swiss society as a whole - played an exemplary role. Can the Swiss model also be implemented in Iraq and other states in the Middle East? This will be one of the questions discussed in the seminar.

Read this fascinating paper by Janis Emmanuilidis and Corina Stratulat on how the EU can develop participatory democracy and use it in its policy making process. If the EU reforms needed for Ukraine accession are to work the EU needs more legitimacy and participatory democracy is one way to provide it.

📰 NEW PUBLICATION | #ParticipatoryDemocracy at the EU level: How to break the invisible ceiling? In their latest #EPCDiscussionPaper, Corina Stratulat and Janis Emmanouilidis argue it is necessary for the EU27 to confront the ongoing agglomeration of chronic and acute crises and highlight three mutually reinforcing structural impediments that need to be acknowledged and dealt with This paper is part of the EU Democracy Reform Observatory, a joint initiative by Bertelsmann Stiftung, the European Policy Centre, the King Baudouin Foundation, and Stiftung Mercator GmbH. Read the full paper 👇 https://lnkd.in/eNxwsZTp

"Ultimately, if implemented well, citizens’ assemblies are about hope. They are about people coming together across party lines and divisions, and experiencing a new kind of democracy that bridges and empowers. In the process, it is possible to build democratic resilience at the individual, country, and regional levels." My colleague Ieva Cesnulaityte has written a piece in the IWM - Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen Post about how citizen deliberation can help to counter the deeper roots of authoritarianism by strengthening people's agency, overcoming the feeling of powerlessness that autocrats feed upon. A resilient democracy needs to have the solid foundation of a resilient citizenry. #democracy #deliberation #sortition DemocracyNext