The Carnegie Rising Democracies Network is a research network of leading experts on democracy and foreign policy, dedicated to examining the growing role of non-Western democracies in international democracy support and conflict issues. The Rising Democracies Network is carried out in partnership with the Robert Bosch Stiftung, and with additional support from the Ford Foundation and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
The Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program is a leading source of independent policy research, writing, and outreach on global democracy, conflict, and governance. It analyzes and seeks to improve international efforts to reduce democratic backsliding, mitigate conflict and violence, overcome political polarization, promote gender equality, and advance pro-democratic uses of new technologies.
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.
Richard Youngs
Senior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program
Youngs is a senior fellow in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, based at Carnegie Europe. He works on EU foreign policy and on issues of international democracy.
Regional governance has so far failed to help Latin America overcome its numerous challenges. Yet cooperation persists in some formats, and it will be a necessary instrument going forward.
In Latin America, the coronavirus pandemic has raised the already high temperature of divisive politics. In Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, managing polarization will be key to preserving democracy.
Has democratic backsliding in Poland and Turkey brought to an end these countries’ efforts to support democracy beyond their borders? If not, why not?
The startling spread of illiberal populism in democracies around the world raises the question of how damaged democracies can heal themselves.
There has been a global transformation of political and civic activism, with innovative new forms and often dramatic impact, even in the face of widespread efforts by governments to limit civic and political space.
Western and non-Western external democracy support is more similar than many think. Coordination is becoming more vital as the global order evolves and as democracy faces headwinds worldwide.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted a Rising Democracies Network workshop on polarization.
Africa’s regional institutions must be founded on shared values and identities, but this requires that member states leave their historical notions of sovereignty behind.
In Latin American countries like Nicaragua, it is a slow erosion of democracy rather than an overt rupture that threatens long-term progress and stability.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted a two-day meeting of its Rising Democracies Network in Johannesburg, South Africa.