World Movement for Democracy
Encyclopedia
World Movement for Democracyhttp://www.wmd.org is an international network of individuals and organizations who share the common goal of promoting democracy
. The World Movement was launched in February 1999 when the National Endowment for Democracy
(NED) and two nongovernmental organizations in India brought together a cross-section of democracy activists, practitioners, and scholars from over 80 countries in New Delhi http://www.wmd.org/assemblies for discussions of ways to advance democracy. The participants adopted a Founding Statement http://www.wmd.org/about/founding-statement launching the World Movement "to strengthen democracy where it is weak, to reform and invigorate democracy even where it is longstanding, and to bolster pro-democracy groups in countries that have not yet entered into a process of democratic transition." It is intended to unite the global community of democracy advocates and practitioners; to facilitate exchanges of information, knowledge, and experiences; and to build cross-border solidarity. The World Movement is led by an international Steering Committee and NED currently serves as its Secretariat.
A “network of networks http://www.wmd.org/networking,” the World Movement has led to the establishment of regional networks, including the African Democracy Forum (ADF), the Latin America and Caribbean Network for Democracy (LAC Network), and the World Forum for Democratization in Asia (WFDA), as well as functional global networks, including the Global Network on Local Governance (GNLG), the International Women’s Democracy Network (IWDN), the Network of Democracy Research Institutes (NDRI), and the World Youth Movement for Democracy (WYMD).
The World Movement has held five global assemblies http://www.wmd.org/assemblies since its founding in New Delhi in 1999: São Paulo, Brazil (2000); Durban, South Africa (2004); Istanbul, Turkey (2006); Kyiv, Ukraine (2008); and Jakarta, Indonesia (2010). It has also initiated two major projects http://www.wmd.org/projects as a result of assembly discussions: The Defending Civil Society project was launched in 2006 in collaboration with the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) to respond to efforts among an increasing number of governments to close down civil society space, particularly for democracy and human rights groups, through new “NGO laws” and restrictions on international funding.
Bios
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
. The World Movement was launched in February 1999 when the National Endowment for Democracy
National Endowment for Democracy
The National Endowment for Democracy, or NED, is a U.S. non-profit organization that was founded in 1983 to promote US-friendly democracy by providing cash grants funded primarily through an annual allocation from the U.S. Congress...
(NED) and two nongovernmental organizations in India brought together a cross-section of democracy activists, practitioners, and scholars from over 80 countries in New Delhi http://www.wmd.org/assemblies for discussions of ways to advance democracy. The participants adopted a Founding Statement http://www.wmd.org/about/founding-statement launching the World Movement "to strengthen democracy where it is weak, to reform and invigorate democracy even where it is longstanding, and to bolster pro-democracy groups in countries that have not yet entered into a process of democratic transition." It is intended to unite the global community of democracy advocates and practitioners; to facilitate exchanges of information, knowledge, and experiences; and to build cross-border solidarity. The World Movement is led by an international Steering Committee and NED currently serves as its Secretariat.
A “network of networks http://www.wmd.org/networking,” the World Movement has led to the establishment of regional networks, including the African Democracy Forum (ADF), the Latin America and Caribbean Network for Democracy (LAC Network), and the World Forum for Democratization in Asia (WFDA), as well as functional global networks, including the Global Network on Local Governance (GNLG), the International Women’s Democracy Network (IWDN), the Network of Democracy Research Institutes (NDRI), and the World Youth Movement for Democracy (WYMD).
The World Movement has held five global assemblies http://www.wmd.org/assemblies since its founding in New Delhi in 1999: São Paulo, Brazil (2000); Durban, South Africa (2004); Istanbul, Turkey (2006); Kyiv, Ukraine (2008); and Jakarta, Indonesia (2010). It has also initiated two major projects http://www.wmd.org/projects as a result of assembly discussions: The Defending Civil Society project was launched in 2006 in collaboration with the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) to respond to efforts among an increasing number of governments to close down civil society space, particularly for democracy and human rights groups, through new “NGO laws” and restrictions on international funding.
Steering Committee
- Mariclaire Acosta, Mexico
- Antoine Bernard, France
- Igor Blaževic, Bosnia
- Francesca Bomboko, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
- Ladan Boroumand, Iran
- Kim Campbell (Chair), Canada
- Kavi Chongkittavorn, Thailand
- Michael Danby, Australia
- Melinda Quintos de Jesus, Philippines
- Alicja Derkowska, Poland
- Hannah Forster, Gambia
- Han Dongfang (Vice-Chair), China
- Esther Dyson, United States
- David French, United Kingdom
- Carl Gershman (ex officio), United States
- Ana Gomes, Portugal
- Paul Graham, South Africa
- Bambang Harymurti, Indonesia
- Hisham Kassem, Egypt
- Asma Khader, Jordan
- Maina Kiai, Kenya
- Reginald Matchaba-Hove, Zimbabwe
- George Mathew, India
- Inna Pidluska, Ukraine
- Jacqueline Pitanguy, Brazil
- Carlos Ponce, Venezuela
- Vladimir Ryzhkov, Russia
- Hans Tippenhauer, Haiti
- Roel von Meijenfeldt, Netherlands
- Yevgeniy Zhovtis, Kazakhstan
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