The Alliance of Democracies Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of democracy and free markets across the globe.
Our three initiatives
The Copenhagen
Democracy Summit
An annual conference bringing together political and business leaders, including current and former heads of government, from the world’s democracies. The purpose of the conference is to build the intellectual and interpersonal foundations for a robust alliance of the world’s democracies.
The Expeditionary
Economics Program
The purpose of the program is to solidify at-risk democracies through locally driven economic growth. The program supports economic reforms and entrepreneurship in emerging democracies and post-conflict areas. The initiative includes the Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellowship that seeks to make technology work for democracy.
The Campaign
for Democracy
A program building a robust eco-system of supporters through a powerful online presence, continuous media engagement, and moral support for dissidents and reformers. The program includes a Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity that works to prevent election interference.
Upcoming event
Foreign & Domestic Meddling in the German Election 2021 - Lessons learned and the way ahead for Europe -
Political parties and their candidates are at the forefront of defending the integrity of elections and democracy. But they were not the only ones in the crosshairs of malicious interference attempts in the recent Bundestag election. The credibility of the election itself was also called into question by the huge amount of disinformation campaigns and cyber attacks.
Against this backdrop, the Alliance of Democracies Foundation and its Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity (TCEI) have now released a condensed summary of the most important foreign and domestic interference activities in the context of the recent Bundestag's election: the “Election Risk Monitor – Germany 2021”.
On this occasion, the Alliance of Democracies in cooperation with Microsoft would like to invite you to the virtual presentation and discussion of the Election Risk Monitor – Germany 2021 on Thursday, 16th December 2021 at 10:00-11:30 am CET
Based on the key findings from the German election, we want to look ahead and discuss how the EU and its member states can further shape our digital societies in the coming years while at the same time protecting them against attacks from the outside as well from the inside. With a heavy European digital agenda in place for the upcoming year, ranging from the DSA, the recent draft on transparency for political advertising, and the strengthened EU Code of Practice on Disinformation, we want to put our findings in the larger context of how the EU and its Member States can improve the protection of election integrity in the digital age.
Welcoming Remarks: Līga Rozentāle, Senior Director, European Governmental Affairs, Microsoft
For further questions please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
Register here.
Report Launch
An Alliance of Democracies: From concept to reality in an era of strategic competition
By Ash Jain, Matthew Kroenig, and Jonas Parello-Plesner
This is the third in a five-part series of Atlantic Council publications calling for the United States and its allies to revitalize the rules-based international system and establish new institutions to strengthen cooperation among democracies to succeed in an era of strategic competition.
The first, Present at the Re-Creation: A Global Strategy for Revitalizing, Adapting, and Defending a Rules-Based International System, sets forth an overarching global strategy for the United States and its allies that focuses on the need to strengthen cooperation among democracies, while simultaneously seeking to engage other global powers in areas of common interest.
The second, From the G7 to a D-10: Strengthening Democratic Cooperation for Today’s Challenges, proposes the creation of a new D-10 as a core group of leading democracies to develop joint strategies for addressing today’s most pressing global challenges.
This report makes the case for an Alliance of Democracies and draws on relevant sections from these two publications.
Read the full report here.
Upcoming event
On December 9–10, President Joe Biden will host a Summit for Democracy, a virtual event to which the leaders of more than one hundred democracies worldwide have been invited. The Summit convenes as the world enters what Biden has framed as a broad global struggle between democracy and autocracy.
Autocratic powers, particularly China and Russia, have become more assertive in challenging rules-based international order. Democracies are on the defensive as they seek to contend with these threats, with many facing their own internal challenges. To succeed in this new era, the United States and its democratic allies and partners must find new ways to strengthen cooperation.
Is it time for a new Alliance of Democracies? What would be the purpose and mission of such an alliance? Which nations should be included? In light of the upcoming summit, is there a feasible way to bring this alliance to life?
On December 7, the Atlantic Council, in partnership with the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, will release a report, An Alliance of Democracies: From Concept to Reality in an Era of Strategic Competition, by Ash Jain, Matthew Kroenig, and Jonas Parello-Plesner.
Please join us for an engaging discussion on the upcoming Summit for Democracy and the potential to establish an Alliance of Democracies. This virtual public event will take place from 9 a.m. – 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, December 7. Make your voice heard on Twitter using the hashtag #AllianceofDemocracies.
Featuring:
- Hon. Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Founder, Alliance of Democracies Foundation; Former Prime Minister of Denmark; Former NATO Secretary General - Hon. Johannes Vogel
Deputy Chair, Free Democratic Party, German Bundestag, Germany - Mr. Ash Jain
Director for Democratic Order, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council - Mr. Jonas Parello-Plesner
Executive Director, Alliance of Democracies Foundation - Dr. Emma Ashford
Senior Fellow, New American Engagement Initiative, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council
Register here.
Report Launch
Election Risk Monitor – Germany 2021
The Alliance of Democracies Foundation and its Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity (TCEI) have now released a condensed summary of the most important foreign and domestic interference activities in the context of the recent Bundestag's election: the “Election Risk Monitor – Germany 2021”.
Based on the key findings from the German election, we want to look ahead and discuss how the EU and its member states can further shape our digital societies in the coming years while at the same time protecting them against attacks from the outside as well from the inside. With a heavy European digital agenda in place for the upcoming year, ranging from the DSA, the recent draft on transparency for political advertising, and the strengthened EU Code of Practice on Disinformation, we want to put our findings in the larger context of how the EU and its Member States can improve the protection of election integrity in the digital age.
Read the full report here.
Join our team!
Are you interested in international relations and the global state of democracy? Do you have strong communication and social media skills?
The Alliance of Democracies Foundation is now looking for a Communications and Social Media Project Manager to start in January 2022! The final deadline for application is Friday, December 31. The first round of interviews will be held at our office in Copenhagen in January.
Learn more about the position here!
Upcoming event
Democracy is facing multiple challenges, from social media-driven fake news to foreign interference in elections. Ever since the events of 9/11, democracy and human rights have been in retreat across the world according to Freedom House.
At the same time, Western democracies see their power and confidence declining relative to China and other emerging countries. Deep rifts have emerged in the relations between the West and both Russia and China, sometimes reminiscent of the Cold War. Meanwhile, humanity faces the short-term crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic and long-term challenge of climate change.
Against this backdrop several world leaders – including President Biden, Prime Minister Johnson and NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg – have recently voiced support for greater collaboration between the world’s democracies. For some, the emphasis is on repairing democracy internally. For others, it is to tighten the bonds among democracies in order to tackle global challenges and engage China and Russia from a position of strength.
This webinar will explore the idea of building on President Biden’s Summit for Democracy to create a permanent forum among the world’s democracies to tackle global challenges.
Our panel consists of advocates of several versions of this idea: a D10, a concert of democracies, alliance of democracies or community of democracies. They will discuss the following questions: What would be the purposes of such a community of democracies? What would be its value-added compared to existing intergovernmental organizations? Which countries would qualify as democracies? Wouldn’t such a community worsen the tensions between democracies and China and Russia?
This event is sponsored by the Coalition for a World Security Community, a global organization advocating for a community of the world’s democracies to promote peace and security and tackle other global challenges.
Speakers
- John Ikenberry, Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University
- Ash Jain, Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council
- Mariam Chikhladze, Fellow, Alliance of Democracies Foundation
- Tiziana Stella, Executive Director, Streit Council
- Didier Jacobs, Vice-President, Coalition for a World Security Community
- Moderator - Richard Ponzio, Director, Global Governance, Justice & Security Program and Senior Fellow, The Stimson Center
#Call for Applications
The Alliance of Democracies Foundation is excited to announce that the call for applications for the 2022 Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellowship is now open, and the deadline to apply is December 15, 2021.
Making technology work for democracy is a defining challenge of our time. Election interference on social media, disinformation, deep fakes, pandemic surveillance, and illicit facial recognition are all dangers to democracy from the wrong uses of technology. Our fellowship is established against this backdrop, with an aim to support tech entrepreneurs with innovative solutions to democracies' problems. We recognize the need to build from the bottom up, while bringing out what the free world does best: innovation, entrepreneurship and new ideas.
The fellowship is a six-month virtual and in-person program that seeks to equip Democracy tech entrepreneurs, from emerging democracies, with the know-how of starting and scaling successful, and democratically driven ventures. We invite you to apply if you're a tech entrepreneur from Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and Armenia with an innovative solution, or (and) to share our Call for Applications among your network of tech entrepreneurs.
Join our team!
Are you interested in international relations and the global state of democracy? Do you have strong communication skills? Then this is your chance to apply for the most exciting internship in Copenhagen for the spring semester 2022!
The Alliance of Democracies Foundation is now looking for a new Junior Analyst starting in January 2022! The deadline for application is Friday October 1st
Learn more about the position here.
Happy International Democracy Day!
The Alliance of Democracies Foundation and our founder, Anders Fogh Rasmussen wishes you all a happy International Democracy Day!
Check out a message from our founder - “Democracy means freedom, peace and prosperity. In short, the best system of governance in the world”.
That’s why our Copenhagen Charter proposes three specific areas for supporting and defending democracy:
- Collectively pushing back on authoritarianism
- Making tech work for democracy
- Standing up for democracy’s champions
We were happy to have NDI's Derek Mitchell & IRI's Daniel Twining co-sign it with us.
This is our contribution to Democracy Day, what is yours?
If the charter resonates with you as well, sign up here.
Podcast Series
For our German speaking audience, we launched our mini-podcast series, the „W.I.P.-Talks“ covering the integrity of the German 2021 federal election.
Episode #1:"Neuland: die Pandemie, Wahlintegrität, und Deutschland vor der Bundestagswahl".
Episode #2: Das Desinformationsnetz: Trends, Akteure und Bedrohungen vor der #BTW2021
Follow us on Spotify here.
#DefendDemocracy Virtual Series
How to Unite the World’s Democratic Forces
President Biden has promised to convene a Summit for Democracy and to renew the spirit and shared purpose of the nations of the free world. The hope is that this Summit will not be merely a one-off event, but set an agenda for democratic renewal.
UK Prime Minister Johnson has during his chairmanship of the Group of Seven (G7) included democratic allies such as Australia, India, South Africa and South Korea. This could lead to the formation of a Democracies 10/11, which would strengthen cooperation among the world’s major democracies.
The Alliance of Democracies Foundation was founded to unite the world’s democratic forces to counter rising authoritarianism and at the 2021 Copenhagen Democracy Summit, launched the Copenhagen Charterwhich proposes three specific areas for returning democratic multilateralism to its ascendancy.
And the Coalition for a World Security Community of Democracies (CWSC)
proposes a permanent forum open to leaders of all countries committed to democracy, human rights and international law. The OECD could be its implementing arm on economic issues, and NATO, which should become a global military alliance, on security issues. It could evolve into a global community on the European model and become an island of freedom, peace and prosperity in a turbulent world, attracting an ever growing membership.
Join the Alliance of Democracies Foundation in partnership with the Coalition for a World Security Community (CWSC) for an exciting discussion about making these approaches to an alliance of democracies work in practice from the G7 Summit to the Summit for Democracy. Join us on Wednesday, June 9th from 2:00 - 3:00 pm CET/1:00-2:00pm BST/ 8:00 – 9:00am ET.
- Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Chairman, Alliance of Democracies Foundation and former NATO Secretary General and Prime Minister of Denmark
- Lord Mark Sedwill, G7 Envoy for Economic Resilience and former Cabinet Secretary and National Security Advisor to Boris Johnson
- Ash Jain, Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council
- Didier Jacobs, Vice-President of the Coalition for a World Security Community of democratic nations
- Vivian Salama, National Security Reporter, Wall Street Journal
Welcome to Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2021
Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2021
The fourth Copenhagen Democracy Summit (CDS) will convene May 10th/11th in hybrid format with contributions from political, business and media leaders around the world.
The summit, an initiative of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, comes as President Biden – who himself opened the first Copenhagen Democracy Summit in 2018 – prepares a global Summit for Democracy later this year.
Convened by the 12th NATO Secretary General (2009-2014) and 24th Danish Prime Minister (2001-2009) Anders Fogh Rasmussen, CDS2021 will be moderated by Politico's Ryan Heath and former ABC and CNN correspondent Jeanne Meserve.
The first day of the Summit, will cover authoritarianism, rule of law, tech and democracy, freedom of expression and US leadership. Guests will hear from prominent individuals on the frontlines of defending democracy. We dedicate Tuesday, May 11th to discussing election integrity, disinformation and social media regulation in partnership with the International Grand Committee on Disinformation and Data Privacy (IGCD) and featuring a range of policymakers, experts, and members from our Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity.
Find the latest agenda and speaker information here.
Press Release
Election meddling: US Sanctions welcomed by transatlantic body co-founded by Biden
Press Release: April 15, 2021
The Co-Chairs of the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity (TCEI) welcome US sanctions against Russia for its meddling in the 2020 U.S. election.
Michael Chertoff and Anders Fogh Rasmussen believe the Biden administration is making good on its promise and delivering a clear message that meddling and hacking comes with costs.
The Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity (TCEI) was co-founded by Biden, Chertoff and Rasmussen in 2018 to unite transatlantic efforts in the fight against foreign election meddling.
Before announcing his candidacy for President, Joe Biden worked with the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity to develop a pledge for all candidates to sign, committing not to aid and abet foreign malign powers. Candidate Biden launched the pledge in 2019 and signed it himself after announcing his presidential run.
Update
Next stop, Germany: TCEI to engage with policymakers and civil society ahead of September’s election
Germans take to the polls in September 2021, and given that the nation will elect a new head of government some 16 years after Chancellor Angela Merkel first entered office, the election poses an opportunity for foreign and domestic election meddling.
In early March 2021, media reports revealed that hackers, operating mostly from abroad, orchestrated a series of attacks during her party’s leadership convention. Meanwhile, the European External Action Service recently published a comprehensive report detailing over 700 recorded cases of disinformation targeting Germany since 2015, providing solid evidence of systematic Russian disinformation campaigns against Germany at the hands of pro-Kremlin media outlets, as well as formal and political actors. Russian-backed media outlets are pouring money into their German-language offerings, and new studies indicate that the average German voter has difficulties differentiating between journalism, commentary, political advertisements and misinformation online.
German society is resilient, and the country’s authorities are well prepared for such challenges, but there is still much that can be done to increase awareness among political parties, their candidates and the general public about these multifaceted threats to election integrity. That's why the Alliance of Democracies Foundation and its Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity will be launching a slate of localized initiatives and tools in the coming weeks and months to engage with Germany’s citizens and its policy community. We aim to draw attention to these issues, amplify trustworthy research and analysis, increase media literacy, and provide concrete support and recommendations for preserving election integrity and defending democracy.
Follow us on social media, or sign up for our newsletter, to stay up to date on our activities in Germany ahead of September's election, which will include localized German versions of our flagship "Pledge for Election Integrity” and our online political game "The Disinformation Diaries." You can also learn more from our founder Anders Fogh Rasmussen's interview in this week's edition of German news magazine Der Spiegel.
Launch
Online Course: Disinformation and Deepfakes
It is becoming increasingly difficult to tell facts from fiction and technological advances are making it harder to trust even what we see with our own eyes. Election interference is by no means a new phenomenon, and the use of disinformation to change opinions of voters or sway the outcome of elections is a strategy as old as democracy itself. But recent years have seen an exponential increase of attention directed towards foreign disinformation campaigns, primarily spurred on by the Russian intervention in the 2016 US presidential election. A form of artificial intelligence and synthetic media – so-called “Deepfakes” – might take this global threat to election integrity to a dangerous new level.
We are pleased to announce that we have partnered with CanopyLAB to create a FREE online course about disinformation and deepfakes.
What will you learn?
☑️ Why politicians are increasingly concerned about the impact of dis- and misinformation
☑️ What deepfakes are and how they can be identified
☑️ How and why deepfakes are so dangerous
☑️ What is being done to curb its negative effects
How do I take the course?
- Head over to CanopyLAB and create your FREE account
- Once you have your account all set up, go to the search bar and type 'Alliance of Democracies' and follow us - so you can stay up to date with all the news!
- Then, find our course titled "The global threat of disinformation to democracy and how AI might make it even worse." Then go ahead, explore it, learn from it, and let us know what you think
Press Release
Rasmussen: "China sanctions will not stop our work for freedom and democracy"
Press Release: Monday, March 22, 2021
Responding to the news that the People’s Republic of China has placed sanctions on the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, the AoD’s founder Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said:
“We will never give in to bullying by authoritarian states.
Press Release
Former NATO Chief: Integrated Review shows Britain returning to global leadership role
16th March 2021 -- Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the UK’s long-awaited Integrated Review puts the UK back in a global leadership role.
Rasmussen, who now chairs the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, promoting democracy around the world, said:
“Britain and America are returning to global leadership roles. This fills me with optimism for the future of the free world and global democracy.
“The Integrated Review puts the UK at the heart of the big geopolitical challenges facing our planet, from Russia’s aggression to China’s defiance of our global rules-based order and economic coercion. The real test of Global Britain is in shaping an international order that will take the wind out of the autocrats’ sails.
“The free world has missed the UK’s active engagement, with Brexit taking up a lot of bandwidth. But in recent months we’ve seen Global Britain taking shape with its G7 Presidency, increased defence spending, and its support for democracy in Hong Kong. This Integrated Review is good for Britain, transatlantic relations, NATO, and the free world.”
Invitation
Denver Democracy Summit, February 25-26
Recent events in the U.S. and around the world have demonstrated the promise and fragility of democracy in stark terms. On February 25-26, 2021 the Josef Korbel School of International Studies and the Alliance of Democracies Foundation will bring together diverse individuals from across the political spectrum who are dedicated to protecting and promoting democratic ideals. We invite you to join us virtually for timely conversations at the inaugural Denver Democracy Summit.
The Denver Democracy Summit is a complement to the annual Copenhagen Democracy Summit organized by the Alliance of Democracies Foundation and to be held May 10-11, 2021 in Copenhagen, Denmark. For more information, please visit the Alliance of Democracies website.
Previous Events
To find the Alliance of Democracies Foundation's previous activities, reports and media engagements go to our archive here.
For further information, please contact [email protected].