I think that @JoeBiden's commitment to a summit of democracies is a great idea, drawing on Madeleine Albright's community of democracies, but the conditions & aims need to be clear. For 15 years democracies have lost against authoritarians. This summit could turn the tide.
1. The aim should be to establish a certain set of minimal rules for a democracy. Multiple excellent political scientists can do that: @McFaul @LarryDiamond @FukuyamaFrancis @vjb23 @timothymfrye
This should lead to the creating of an international organization of democracy.
This should lead to the creating of an international organization of democracy.
2. Similarly, there is no international organization for the development of the rule of law. The summit should intend to set up such an organization as well, but it should be separate from the organization of democracy, because it requires lawyers, not political scientists.
3. A third leg of the future development should be the cleansing of money laundering. The EU & the US have adopted such laws. Many others have followed, but often only halfway. FATF is not enough & it includes China, Russia & Saudi Arabia, major money launderers. Clean up!
4. In order to be credible, the US needs to lead in practice: Join the International Criminal Court!
Strengthen FinCEN to reveal & punish money laundering!
Make universal voting rights a federal law!
Outlaw gerrymandering!
Strengthen FinCEN to reveal & punish money laundering!
Make universal voting rights a federal law!
Outlaw gerrymandering!
5. The aim of the summit of the democracies should not be to maximize the quantity but the quality. Countries would have to pre-commit to decent democratic, legal & money-laundering standards. Otherwise, they would not be welcome.
6. Democracy needs to recover the international initiative. Today, only the US & @JoeBiden appear to be able to do so. The EU should also stand up, but its ability to lead is unfortunately difficult to discern as yet.
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