While the US seem increasingly uninterested in promoting democracy abroad, the Von der Leyen Commission endeavours to strengthen democracy in the European neighbourhood and beyond. Join our discussion with Thomas Carothers (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) and Richard Youngs (Carnegie Europe) on the future of EU-US democracy promotion efforts.
The state of democracy in the world is fragile right now. While the ongoing “autocratization” takes up speed around the globe, with Russia and China meddling in other countries’ affairs more strongly than a decade ago, democracy’s two major supporters appear to part ways. Across the Atlantic, the US seem, for a while now, increasingly uninterested in or unwilling to promote democracy abroad. On the European mainland, in contrast, the Von der Leyen Commission started with the intention to be a “geopolitical” one, striving for a stronger Europe in the world, including efforts to strengthen democracy in its neighbourhood and beyond. President Biden declared the era of US nation-building to be over. Von der Leyen wants the EU to “promote its values and interests around the world”. Are we witnessing the beginning of the disintegration of joint democracy promotion and an opening for autocracies to position themselves?
Join us in the third debate of ERCAS’ Democracy Promotion after Afghanistan series on the future of EU-US democracy promotion efforts, with Thomas Carothers, Interim President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Richard Youngs, Professor of international relations at the University of Warwick and Senior Fellow in Carnegie Europe’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program. Moderated by Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Professor of Democracy Studies at the Hertie School.
Panelists
Thomas Carothers is Interim President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is a leading authority on international support for democracy, human rights, governance, the rule of law, and civil society. He has worked on democracy assistance projects for many organizations and carried out extensive field research on aid efforts around the world. Carothers is the author or editor of ten critically acclaimed books and many articles in prominent journals and newspapers, including most recently, Democracies Divided: The Global Challenge of Political Polarization. Prior to joining the Endowment, Carothers practiced international and financial law at Arnold & Porter and served as an attorney adviser in the office of the legal adviser of the U.S. Department of State
Richard Youngs is Professor of International Relations at the University of Warwick and a Senior Fellow in Carnegie Europe’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program. He works on EU foreign policy and on issues of international democracy. Prior to joining Carnegie in July 2013, he was the director of the European think tank FRIDE. He has held positions in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and as an EU Marie Curie fellow. He was a senior fellow at the Transatlantic Academy in Washington, DC, from 2012 to 2013. Youngs recently published European Democracy: Resistance and Renewal in an Illiberal Age, The European Union and Global Politics, and Civic Activism Unleashed: New Hope or False Dawn for Democracy?
Event summary
This talk is part of the ERCAS’ Democracy Promotion after Afghanistan series.
