Summit for Democracy 2023

Ahead of the Biden administration’s second Summit for Democracy, stakeholders from the Freedom Online Coalition gave a sneak peek at what to expect on the global effort to protect online rights and freedoms.

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman outlined the priorities for the world’s democratic tech alliance, from protecting fundamental freedoms online to building resilience against digital authoritarianism.

This report seeks to catalyze support for nonviolent pro-democracy movements fighting against authoritarian rule by proposing new approaches and tools to support civil resistance movements, advancing a new international norm — the “Right to Assist” pro-democracy movements — and developing strategic and tactical options to constrain authoritarian regimes.

The Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) is comprised of thirty-four member countries committed to advancing Internet freedom and human rights online.

Camille Stewart Gloster, the inaugural deputy national cyber director for technology and ecosystem security, spoke at the DFRLab’s 360/StratCom about her newly created office’s ambitious agenda to address a wide scope of cyber challenges.

Canada’s David Morrison discusses the end of Canada’s chairmanship of the alliance for democratic tech, while the United States’ Anne Neuberger outlines the top priorities ahead.

The Freedom Online Coalition has operated with varied success. As the US prepares to take over as chair of the body, civil society leaders who helped launch and shape the Coalition discuss how it can best be leveraged to advance a proactively democratic digital world.

The DFRLab assembled policymakers and civil-society leaders together to drive forward a democratic tech agenda that is rights-respecting and inclusive.  

Two of the Council’s democracy experts say the upcoming Summit for Democracy needs to take aim at autocrats’ tools by focusing on anti-corruption and tech standards, and elevating civil society.

A Democratic Technology Alliance would facilitate the development of common rules and norms in the technology space, consistent with democratic values, and ensure that the free world prevails in the race for advanced technologies.

With the rules-based democratic order under threat, the United States and its allies need new entities that facilitate cooperation not just across the transatlantic, but among larger groups of democracies worldwide.

The Biden administration’s impressive new corruption strategy should inspire the UK and EU to join in.

The Biden administration’s belated decision to invite both Western Balkan rivals, even though they are on different democratic trajectories, shows the inherent tension: Is this summit all about geopolitics or is it all about democratic values?