Boston Global Forum partnered with Club de Madrid in organizing the Policy Dialog “Rethinking Democracy”
CdM again partnered with the Boston Global Forum, its renowned scholars and the Global Alliance for Digital Governance, which serve to coordinate distinguished leaders, strategists, thinkers, and innovators, the creation of a Global Law and Accord on AI and Digital, and contribute concepts for mechanisms with strong enforcement potentials.
In the Opening Remarks at the Policy Dialog 2021, President of CdM Danilo Turk stressed:
“In a field where so much is yet to come, we are convinced that international cooperation for Artificial Intelligence and digital technologies is an opportunity to write the rules together. The Framework for AI International Accord, a part of the Book “Remaking the World – Toward an Age of Global Enlightenment”, presented at CdM-BGF Policy Lab September 2021 is a significant start for this goal.”
In the Policy Dialog, Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom highlighted nationalism as a key ideology distorting democratic governance. “People need to work together to solve problems. If we fail to do so, democracy suffers. One ill of democracy we can’t ignore is that we are facing political nationalism, which is a dominant ideology today”, Brown added.
Laura Chinchilla, former president of Costa Ricca, said that education is the number one factor shaping a generation of democratic citizens. “Educating people on democratic values can really make a difference. We should emphasise civic education in our solutions”, Chinchilla stated. Likewise, Gordon Brown highlighted a growing individualism in citizens’ perception of democratic rights: “There is a missed connection that your rights depend on other people having rights as well”, said the former Prime Minister.
“Democracy is also about prosperity. People need to eat. Supporting elections is not enough to defend democracy nowadays” said Emma Jeblaoui, the President of the International Institute in Human Development. Regarding the experience in Tunisia, Jeblaoui expressed that “democracy support is not only about giving money. It’s also about following up on the reforms and not only sending a cheque and visiting once a year for a group photo.”
Concluding of the 3-days of rich and wide discussions of the Policy Dialog 2021: To succeed in the global fight against authoritarianism, democracies are required to ensure that information ecosystems support safe, healthy, and fully functioning societies. Citizens and public interest should be at the core of all decision‐making.