It should come as no surprise to anyone following world events that the practice of basic democratic values appears to be facing a critical test. The years following the collapse of the Soviet Union saw an explosion of nations choosing to honor the values of free speech, majority rule, and representative government. But now, anti-democratic and authoritarian movements are gaining traction throughout the world (and even here in the United States). This disturbing trend is why President Biden fulfilled a campaign promise last week to host a “Summit for Democracy” just last week. So what all went down at this summit and what does it mean for you?

But First, Why Was This Necessary?

Democratic values are the cornerstone of American foreign and domestic policy. These values include ideas such as respect for the rule of law, freedom of speech, and representative government and they are all critical to the success of the United States as a functioning nation. These universal values have proven so popular and successful that they have become the dominant mode of government throughout the world. Though democracy (and especially American democracy) can be messy and frustrating at times, it is still the system of government which best balances the collective action needs of a community with the need to ensure basic human rights for the individual. Over the past few decades, the dominance of democracy around the world has started to fade as more and more major nations are sliding back into exclusionary ideas like ethnic nationalism or populism. These authoritarian modes of government seek to pit one class of individuals against another in order to obtain absolute power over the losing group. Nations like Hungary and Poland have seen dramatic increases in authoritarian policies while China and Russia continue to chip away at democratic advances throughout the world. To help combat this, the Summit for Democracy was intended to form an action plan for all democratic nations to fight back.

The Summit convened on December 9th & 10th and was held virtually due to the continuing pandemic. Over one hundred nations participated, with the United States taking the lead in these discussions. Nations from every major continent attended including almost every nation from North & South America, Australia, and Europe. Notably, many emerging democracies from Africa and Southeast Asia attended as well in an effort to help support those nations as they transition to full democracy. Unsurprisingly, two of the largest culprits in global democratic backsliding, China and Russia, were not in attendance and were often the subject of much of the summit’s criticism. However, the attendee list was not without some controversy. Brazil, the Philippines, and India were all in attendance despite very troubling signs of authoritarian leadership and democratic decline. In all, the two day event had a series of three main themes which helped focus the discussions. Let’s look at each of these in a bit more detail.

Promoting Democracy & Countering Authoritarianism

The first major focus of the summit was to acknowledge the fundamentals of the problem itself: that authoritarian forces are rising all over the world. This has been evident for years as far-right movements have gained in popularity and have worked together to help elect other far-right leaders throughout the United States and Europe. The United States has worked to promote democracy as a central tenant of foreign policy for decades. This experiment has not always worked out as intended, especially in the Middle East where traditions of democratic governance are not as strong. But these efforts have been much more successful in defending existing democracies throughout places like Europe. Organizations like NATO, INTERPOL, various nonprofit organizations, and a broad range of free press agencies all help to prevent democratic backsliding. This summit pledged additional resources to many of these groups which are seeking to inject new life into the democratic process.

Anti-Corruption

Another major focus of the summit revolved around efforts to combat political corruption. Economic and political corruption can be one of the most devastating forces to assault a democracy. Corruption can steal billions of dollars from public benefit programs and the presence of corrupt political officials can lead to apathy and dissolution in elections (which further benefits those already in power). To help fight this, the Biden administration helped lead the way in pushing for new tools to fight money laundering. In addition, many of the largest summit nations have adopted a global minimum corporate tax which is designed to help eliminate tax evasion for some of the world’s largest corporate entities. These measures can have a major impact on keeping dark money (and its corrupting influence) out of politics.

Promoting Human Rights

Finally, the summit devoted significant attention to the importance of basic human rights in ensuring the continued survival of democracy. A population that enjoys the fundamental rights to life, free expression, and a basic standard of living is a population that tends to be far more safe and prosperous than one without these standards. A democratic system is also the best system to ensure these rights are enjoyed by all. Of particular concern in the summit was the role of technology in allowing authoritarian governments to spread their influence and suppress human rights. Every day, we generate a substantial amount of personal data that could easily be used against us. In places like China, this massive trove of data is used to instantly silence any dissent on social media. To make matters worse, they have implemented a “social credit score” system which rewards compliance with the national government and punishes dissent. This punishment can make it impossible to find a job, apply for credit, or even obtain housing. In addition, there is the ongoing genocide of China’s Uyghur population who have been imprisoned in “re-education camps” for years. Two decades of military involvement throughout the world have shown the limits of America’s abilities to ensure human rights in every corner of the world, but this summit has helped focus the world’s efforts to combating the most egregious forms of human rights abuses.

Why Should You Care?

So what will come of all of this? There have already been billions of dollars pledged to support various projects from this summit from nations all over the world. These range from targeted projects for specific countries to international programs designed to tackle the democracy’s largest problems. The preservation of democracy and human rights around the world is essential to American prosperity and national security. Though it isn’t a certainty, there is strong evidence in international relations studies that shows that democratic nations almost never engage in direct military conflict with one another. Democracies are also much more likely to engage in favorable trade relationships and cultural exchange programs with each other than with authoritarian nations. But most of all, the threat of authoritarianism is not just contained to far-away nations like Russia or China. As we saw on January 6th of this year, there are significant forces in the United States itself which would seek to overthrow the government and place their own groups at the top of an autocratic system. This may seem appealing to those who believe themselves to be at the top of such a government, but such movements are never satisfied with victory. Fascism requires an internal threat in order to maintain its hold on power. Once that system takes over, it will inevitably narrow the focus of who is considered “worthy” of power as more and more groups of people become persecuted by the state. This makes it a deeply unstable form of government that invites challenge and civil unrest. If one group succumbs to the momentary temptation towards authoritarianism in the United States, other groups will surely follow in their abandonment of our most sacred ideals. Without those ideals, we cease to become the America our founders envisioned over two centuries ago. The work is hard and it never truly ends, but hopefully this summit is the first of many steps on a path to ensuring liberty and justice for all people around the world.