In November 2019, International IDEA launched the second edition of its flagship report titled The Global State of Democracy 2019: Addressing the Ills, Reviving the Promise. The report provides a health check of the state of democracy; analyzing global trends, and opportunities and challenges across regions and within regions. The analysis is based on International IDEA’s Global State of Democracy Indices that measure democratic governance in 158 countries.
The indices are closely related to human rights and are highly relevant to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as they contribute to tracking progress on several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 16 (Peace, justice and accountable institutions) and SDG 5 (Gender equality). Among other things, the 2019 report analyzes patterns and conditions of democratic backsliding, the empowerment of civil society in a shrinking civic space and threats to the rights of freedom of assembly and association; and the impact of information and communications technologies on democracy.
During this session the authors discussed the main findings for Europe, outlining positive developments and challenges to democracy, opportunities and challenges regarding civil society’s shrinking space, highlighted priority areas for reform, and provided concrete examples of how to adopt and adapt good practices that have proved to be resilient in the face of challenges.