New York Democracy Forum
A forum for the world’s most important struggle in the world’s most important city.
The Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has written that the most important development of the last one hundred years was “the emergence of democracy as the preeminently acceptable form of government.”
Since the devastating attacks of 9/11, commentators have labeled the times in which we live as “The Age of Terrorism.” But a compelling case can be made for a more hopeful label: “The Age of Democracy.”
Thirty-five years ago, there were 40 democracies. By the end of the 20th Century, that number had tripled. Nevertheless, democracy has not triumphed everywhere, and emerging democracies face many obstacles.
Because the successful spread of democracy around the world holds the key to addressing many of the world’s most serious problems, including terrorism and nuclear proliferation, it has been placed at the top of the foreign policy agenda in Washington, D.C. The state of democracy in the world has serious implications for the increasingly global marketplace as well. Democracies do not fight one another, they foster healthier trade relationships, and they create an international climate that facilitates open markets and the efficient transfer of capital and technology.
Democracy is the fundamental struggle of our time, and therefore it is critical that the world’s leading commercial center engage with those who are part of that struggle.
The idea behind the New York Democracy Forum, a joint venture of the Foreign Policy Association and the National Endowment for Democracy, is to bring to New York audiences key figures in the democracy movement who are leading the way in the advance of democratic values and institutions around the world. These individuals, whether they are activists, scholars, or decision makers, are influential democratic figures because of the impact of their work and the power of their ideas.
There are no two organizations better placed to link New York and Washington in this important undertaking. Since its founding in 1918, the New York-based Foreign Policy Association has been at the forefront of efforts to educate the public about the critical issues that shape America’s involvement in world affairs. Through its World Affairs Councils, Great Decisions series, and publications, it serves as the leading public foreign policy forum for national and international leaders.
The National Endowment for Democracy is a bipartisan institution located in Washington, D.C. that supports grassroots democratic initiatives in over 80 countries around the world. The Endowment, which through its grants program has assisted every major democratic movement in the world since its founding two decades ago, has become an international center for the dissemination of democratic ideas through its Journal of Democracy, the Reagan-Fascell Fellows Program, and the World Movement for Democracy, an international democracy network that it founded in 1999.
In addition to garnering support for the worldwide democracy movement from New York’s civic, educational, and financial leaders, the New York Democracy Forum will create opportunities for networking with some of the world’s current and future leaders. The Forum will additionally help to raise the public’s awareness of the two sponsoring organizations and enable them to increase their support for ongoing programs.
Past Events
May 9, 2012
Carl Gershman, “The Arab Revolts: A Fourth Wave or an Ebbing Tide?”
2011
March 1, 2011
Carl Gershman, “Democracy’s New Moment: A Forward Strategy for Advancing Freedom in the World”
2010
June 16, 2010
Robert B. Zoellick, “Prospects for Economic Growth in the Evolving Multipolar World.”
2008
October 7, 2008
Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, “For Tibet and China, The Clock Is Ticking”
October 2, 2008
May 14, 2008
José Miguel Insulza, “Advancing Democracy in Latin America: The Role of the OAS”
2007
September 24, 2007
April 18, 2007
Alejandro Toledo, “Democracy or Populism: Responding to the Crisis in Latin America”
March 14, 2007
February 12, 2007
Garry Kasparov, “The Prospects for Russian Democracy”
2006
November 27, 2006
Esther Dyson, “A Virtualist Tours the World: The Internet and the Emergence of Democracy”
October 30, 2006
Dr. Jorge Castañeda
May 22, 2006
H. E. Kemal Dervis
March 8, 2006
Richard Holbrooke
2005
December 1, 2005
Anwar Ibrahim
November 3, 2005
Larry Diamond
October 6, 2005
Mark Malloch Brown
May 24, 2005
Francis Fukuyama
April 20, 2004
Azar Nafisi
March 22, 2004
Richard Gephardt
March 9, 2004
New York Democracy Forum Launch
