|
Global
Democracy Explored in a Preview of the Seoul Conference of
the Council for a Community of Democracies
The Council
for a Community of Democracies and the Woodrow Wilson International
Center for Scholars co-sponsored a conference on October 18th,
2002, to preview the important meeting of the Community of
Democracies taking place in Seoul, Korea in November. The
Community of Democracies movement was launched in June 2000
in Warsaw, Poland as the first attempt to unite democracies
from around the world in order to consolidate and expand on
democratic gains made since the end of the Cold War.
The
conference featured three panels made up of senior U.S. and
international officials, scholars, journalists, NGO experts
who discussed the Seoul conference and the state of democracy
in the world today. Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs,
Paula Dobriansky opened the meeting with an assessment of
the international democracy movement. Deputy Foreign Minister
Chang Beom Cho of Korea, host of the Seoul Korea offered a
preview of the gathering, and Ambassador Carlos Portales of
the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile spoke of his hopes
for the third Community of Democracies meeting scheduled for
Santiago in 2004.
The conference
was attended by over 100 participants, who examined international
threats and challenges to democracy via presentations by representatives
of Freedom House and the Open Society Institute, among others.
In a session chaired by former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci,
a panel assessed recent thinking on the impact of terrorism
on democracy and the relationship between democracy and economic
development. The conference also featured an afternoon session
that reviewed the state of democracy in Africa, the Indian
sub-continent, the Middle East and the Americas.
Former
U.S. Ambassador to Hungary Mark Palmer, chairman of one of
the sessions said the Wilson Center Conference succeeded in
generating excitement in the U.S. and abroad about the Community
of Democracies, a movement that he called the “best
kept secret in the realm of world affairs”. Walter Raymond
Jr., President of the co-sponsoring organization, noted that
for the first time in human history a majority of the countries
of the world and a majority of U.N. members are democracies.
He added that acting together through the community of democracies
can “significantly transform the world we live in and
by so doing advance international peace and security in the
world.”
Transcripts
from the conference are available here.
Programs
Woodrow
Wilson International Center for Scholars
6th Floor Auditorium
Friday, October 18, 2002
08:30-09:00
Registration & Coffee
09:00-10:30
An Overview of the Community of Democracies
Welcome:
Michael van Dusen, Deputy Director, Woodrow
Wilson International Center for Scholars
Chair: Ambassador Mark Palmer, President,
Capital Development Company
Paula Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State
for Global Affairs “The International Democracy Movement”
Chang-Beom Cho, Deputy Foreign Minister, Republic
of Korea “The Seoul Community of Democracies Conference”
Amb. Carlos Portales, Director General for
Foreign Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Chile,
“Towards the Santiago Community of Democracies Conference”
Walt Raymond, President, Council for a Community
of Democracies and
Robert Herman, Co-Director, Democracy Coalition
Project, “The Non-Governmental Forum: Crafting an Action
Plan”
10:45-12:30
Challenges and Threats to Democracy
Chair, Hon. Frank Carlucci, Chairman,
The Carlyle Group
Ambassador Robert Hunter, Chairman of the
Board of Directors, Council for a Community of Democracies,
“Democracy and Terrorism”
Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director, Freedom
House, “The Global State of Democracy”
Morton Halperin, Director, Open Society Institute,
Washington Office,
“The Independent Task Force on Threats to Democracy”
Omar Noman, Deputy Director Human Development
Report Office, United Nations Development Program, “Democracy
and Development”
12:30-1:30
Lunch
1:30-3:30
The Future of Democracy -- Regional Views
Chair: Herman Cohen, former State
Department Assistant Secretary for African Affairs
South Asia: Gautam Adhikari, Senior Consultant,
National Endowment for Democracy
Africa: Chris Fumunyoh, Senior Advisor, Africa,
National Democratic Institute
The Americas: Ambassador Carlos Portales
Middle East: Adel Abdellatif, United Nations
Development Program
|
