An Interview with Nicole Bibbins Sedaca
Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Comments on the Community of Democracies

Background
Over 100 governments came together in Warsaw, Poland in June 2000 to participate in meeting of to create the Community of Democracies (CD). The meeting's final declaration launched the CD, through which member states collaborate on strengthening democratic values and institutions at home and abroad. The Warsaw Declaration also commits states to cooperating on democracy-related issues in existing international and regional institutions. The CD has since met in Seoul, Korea in 2002, and will meet in Santiago, Chile in April 28-30, 2005 at which foreign ministers from over 100 countries will gather to identify how they can work together to promote democracy regionally and globally.

Basic Facts
. Informal Association of States: The CD is not an international organization, but an informal association of states whose foreign ministers meet every two years.
. Led by Convening Group: The CD is led by a convening group of governments, who function like a steering committee. The group meets regularly, coordinates communications, organizes conferences, determines invitations, and issues policy statements and press releases.
. Convening group members include the Czech Republic, Chile, India, the Republic of Korea, Mali, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, South Africa and the United States.
. Only democratic countries can be members of the Community of Democracies. Convening group members compare the records of member and aspirant countries before each ministerial to ensure compliance with the standards laid out in the Warsaw Declaration.

1. What was the catalyst for the formation of the Community of Democracies?
Many in the democracy community recognize the importance of democratic countries working together to jointly promote democracy where it doesn't exist and strengthen it where it is taking hold. Countries often align themselves for many different reasons, i.e. economic similarities or regional or ethnic similarities. No where on a global level have countries come together based primarily on their common commitment to democracy, based on this courageous choice they made somewhere in their country's history.
The Community of Democracies is an effort to give countries a forum in which to come together to coordinate their efforts and join forces to support the drive for freedom which they enjoy at home.

2. Why is the Community of Democracies so vital for the promotion and protection of democracy throughout the world?
In every corner of the world, democracy is growing and people are clamoring for the freedom which democracy provides. There are no governments better positioned to support this desire than those that are democracies. There is no one path to democracy, and it doesn't look the same in every country. That said, democratic governments are best positioned to advocate for democracy because they recognize the essential virtues of the system. Likewise they are best positioned to share with new and emerging democracies, as well as democracy activists, their best practices and lessons learned on democratic governance. Democracies have a huge opportunity to help those striving for democracy. They also have a huge responsibility to help those that do not yet live under democratic rule.

We've heard from many countries that became democracies over the last two decades that the support they received from democratic nations was essential to their throwing off a repressive regime. Now they are following in the footsteps of their democratic allies and helping others that still do not enjoy freedom.

3. What is the current status of the Community of Democracies?
Barely five years old, the Community of Democracies continues to grow stronger each year. Missions of democracy practitioners have traveled to East Timor and Georgia to share best practices with colleagues in these newly emerging democracies. The Romanian government convened a roundtable discussion among Central and Eastern European countries to talk about how they can strengthen democracy in their region. Government and non-governmental representatives of fourteen African, Latin American, and Caribbean democracies convened to discuss how democracies in their region can better coordinate to address threats to democracy. These are just a handful of the activities going on under the umbrella of the Community.

4. What steps are the next steps for the Community of Democracies?
Like any new initiative, CD has and will continue to grow and adapt to the needs of the international community. The Community is flexible and relies on participating countries to identify areas in which they can share their knowledge/ resources to promote democracy, or for emerging democracies to call on CD to offer its knowledge and expertise. So the next step is for countries to identify how to tap into the Community's vast human resources and political energy to help emerging democracies on their path to democratization.

5. How can the American public and civil society contribute to these efforts?
The Community of Democracies partnership with NGOs is essential. There is an active group of American NGOs that partner with NGOs from every region in the world to push governments to actively engage with the Community. The American public can support the efforts of these groups, raise awareness at home and abroad about the importance of CD, encourage active engagement by all democratic countries, and write local media about the importance of this new group.

Citizens for Global Solutions helped craft and pass legislation calling for a UN democracy caucus. Heather Hamilton attended the 2002 Seoul Ministerial meeting and Charles Brown will be attending the Santiago Ministerial planning meeting in March 2005.
 

Updated on February 24, 2005