Democracy’s Uncertain State

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  "authors": [
    "Thomas Carothers"
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  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
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  "collections": [
    "Democracy and Governance"
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  "regions": [
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Other

Democracy’s Uncertain State

While the global state of democracy appears worse off than in recent years, there have emerged numerous positive cases of democratic consolidation that are underappreciated.

By Thomas Carothers

Published on May 5, 2016

Source: Margaret Vogt Memorial Lecture Series, United Nations Democracy Fund

On May 5 in New York, Thomas Carothers gave the inaugural lecture in a new lecture series on democracy at the United Nations in honor of Margaret Vogt, the late Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the Central African Republic. He spoke about "Democracy’s Uncertain State.”

He highlighted UNDEF's role in addressing these challenges: "The United Nations role in international democracy support is much wider, much broader and much more important than many observers of this community realize... We have the United Nations Democracy Fund, which when it was started a little more than 10 years ago, many people had questions about, but has proven itself to be effective, respected and legitimate in parts of the world where it's very difficult for others to operate."

The lecture was originally broadcast on UN Web TV.

About the Author

Thomas Carothers

Harvey V. Fineberg Chair for Democracy Studies; Director, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program

Thomas Carothers, director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, is a leading expert on comparative democratization and international support for democracy.

Recent Work

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Political Reform Democracy Foreign Policy North America United States Southern, Eastern, and Western Africa Eastern Europe

Carnegie India does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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