Biden’s democracy summit 2.0: Ukraine war spurs globalized format

At the Biden administration’s second democracy summit taking place this week, the United States is no longer the sole head honcho but is sharing the lead with four co-hosts: South Korea, Costa Rica, Zambia, and the Netherlands.

One might say President Joe Biden has democratized his democracy summit.

After facing international criticism when organizing the first democracy summit in 2021 that the initiative was too top-down and U.S.-driven – especially given America’s own serious challenges on the democracy front – the White House shifted gears and adopted the co-hosting format.

The intent, analysts say, is to send the message that while democracy faces challenges across the globe, it is also democracies in every region of the world that are setting examples of prosperity, stability, and meeting citizens’ needs.

Add to that, message No. 2: That the U.S., far from projecting “This is how it’s done,” wants to demonstrate humility and is out to learn as much from the process as any of the 120 participating countries.

The co-hosting format “is in response to a criticism that the United States faced the first time around, that this was very unilaterally driven,” says Marti Flacks, Khosravi chair in principled internationalism and director of the human rights initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. Moreover, she adds, “the country- and regional-specific contexts are really where the rubber meets the road in terms of democracy and human rights.”

Also making Mr. Biden’s second gathering of democracies different is the international context: Russia’s war in Ukraine places in stark relief the authoritarian threat against democracies, White House officials and analysts say.

Some add that the Ukrainian people’s determination to preserve their independence and freedoms is inspiring a renewal of democratic aspirations globally.

“This summit takes place against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Ukrainians’ ongoing demonstration of democracy’s resilience,” says Carisa Nietsche, an associate fellow in transatlantic security and threats to democracy at the Center for a New American Security in Washington.

Their battle “is an inspiration to democratic forces around the world,” she says. Ukraine’s staying power and the solidarity it has awakened among other democracies, she adds, “provide a strong counternarrative to what we heard coming out of the pandemic – that autocracies were better at addressing big challenges.”

Ukraine’s battle with authoritarian Russia is just one of the signs Freedom House cited to conclude in its annual report early this month that the global struggle for democracy may have reached a “turning point” with democracies’ prospects brightening in every region of the world. Others cite mass pro-democracy movements in countries as diverse as Iran and Israel as indicators of democracy’s enduring appeal.

Challenges and lessons

President Biden addressed the summit’s virtual plenary session Wednesday with an overview of global challenges to democracy. He was joined by Republic of Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol on democracy delivering shared prosperity; Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte on democracy delivering justice for all; Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema on democracy delivering strong institutions; and Costa Rica President Rodrigo Chaves Robles on democracy delivering inclusion and equality.

On Thursday the five co-hosts are set to chair discussions among leaders on key challenges democracies are facing, including corruption; free, fair, and transparent elections; press freedom; youth participation in democracy; and dealing with the good and bad of technology’s impact on democracy.

Mr. Biden as presidential candidate made bolstering democracy a pillar of his foreign policy platform, and came into office declaring the confrontation between democracy and autocracy the century’s defining battle. But his first two years in the White House have not ushered in a global democratic renaissance.

A recent report from the research institute Varieties of Democracy estimates that 72% of the world’s population now lives in autocracies, up from 46% in 2012. This month, Freedom House declared 2022 the 17th consecutive year of global democratic decline – although the freedom watchdog’s annual report did find that the “pace” of democracy’s decline has slowed.

“Pageantry over policy”

Given that context, some experts call the summits a distraction from playing hardball against autocrats.

In an article this week in Foreign Policy, Jon Temin, who served on the State Department policy planning staff under President Barack Obama, sums up the democracy summits as “pageantry over policy.” Mr. Biden, he says, should focus less on celebrating those at the head of the democracy class and more on directly challenging backsliders and rising authoritarians.

“Washington cannot advance the cause of democracy simply by bolstering those who champion it, [but] must also confront the authoritarians responsible for democratic decline,” writes Mr. Temin, now vice president of policy and programs at the Truman Center for National Policy in Washington.

The U.S., he says, should focus more on making “the hard choices between values and interests” instead of skirting them.

Once again this year, the summit’s invitation list raised eyebrows and elicited charges of hypocrisy. Perceived democracy backsliders Hungary and Turkey, both NATO allies, were shunned, while India and the Philippines – both facing criticism for worsening human rights records and rising authoritarian tendencies – were included.

Others say, however, that the co-hosting format goes some ways toward addressing accusations of hypocrisy and Western democracies’ arrogance.

Sharing the hosting spotlight “is sending the strong message that this is not just about the United States, but that strengthening democracy is a team sport and requires participation around the globe,” says Ms. Nietsche at the Center for a New American Security.

Inclusion of “the Global South” among the hosts is especially important, she says, as it underscores democracy’s relevance to developed and developing countries alike. It will also allow for including topics of particular importance to the Global South, she adds, noting that Costa Rica will chair discussions on involvement of youth in democratic governance.

“That’s a key concern for countries across Latin America and Africa,” she says, “where youth populations are large and growing.”

Focus on prosperity

Other proponents of the democracy summits say that perhaps their greatest strength is the inclusion of civil society and the private-sector business community as crucial partners in the battle to stave off rising authoritarianism.

Some call the economic dimension of the democracy struggle key, noting that it is the freedoms and guarantees of the democratic system – such as the rule of law – that have allowed free societies to prosper.

“The idea of a robust marketplace of ideas, with freedom of speech and freedom of association, that is really crucial for real innovation,” says Suzanne Spaulding, director of the Defending Democratic Institutions project at CSIS. “China struggles to match our level of innovation.”

Ms. Nietsche highlights the focus the U.S. is placing on initiatives that aim to make technology a partner in strengthening democracy. She notes that the summit process will launch diverse initiatives, among them connecting civil society with messaging technologies, limiting exports of surveillance technologies to autocracies, and developing rare-earth synthetics to address dependencies on autocracies like China.

“A big emphasis we’re going to see coming out of this summit will be countering the misuse of technology,” she says.

Yes, “pageantry” will no doubt be part of Mr. Biden’s democracy summit, Ms. Nietsche says.

But noting that the process will result in hundreds of projects “aiming for measurable outcomes” and led by leaders, business, and civil society, she adds, “If we have to take a little bit of pageantry along with the initiatives aimed at advancing democracy going forward, I think it’s well worth it.”