https://ift.tt/2kmUBVA. President Joe Biden acknowledged his own country’s vulnerabilities as he hosted a virtual Summit for Democracy that brings together world leaders, civil society and the private sector to “set forth an affirmative agenda for democratic renewal and to tackle the greatest threats faced by democracies today through collective action.”
“In the face of sustained and alarming challenges to democracy, universal human rights and all around the world, democracy needs champions,” Biden said during his opening remarks at the start of the two-day event on Thursday. “And I wanted to host this summit because here in the United States, we know as well as anyone that renewing our democracy and strengthening our democratic institutions requires constant effort.”
For the first time, the U.S. was labeled a “backsliding democracy” in a 2021 report released in November by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, mainly due to a challenge to the 2020 elections results, which culminated in the storming of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6 by supporters of former president Donald Trump.
Biden did not mention the former president nor the insurrection attempt but said that American democracy is an ongoing struggle “to live up to our highest ideals and to heal our divisions and recommit ourselves to the founding idea of our nation captured in our Declaration of Independence.”
The Biden team is approaching the summit with a “lot of humility”, recognizing that the U.S. has its own problems they need to work on, said Steven Feldstein, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “I think that’s a really important tone they are setting.”
Initiative for Democratic Renewal
Biden announced the establishment of the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal, a series of foreign assistance initiatives of up to $424.4 million in the coming year, subject to Congressional approval.
The initiatives include funds to support independent media, anti-corruption efforts, empowering reformers, labor unions and marginalized groups, advancing technology that supports democracy, and defending free and fair elections.