RODA_Final_Report_-_abbreviated (3)pdf
RODA_Final_Report_-_abbreviated (3)pdf
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  1. DEMOCRATIC SOLIDARITY:REDISCOVERING COMMON PURPOSE FOR THE WORLD’S INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACIESFINAL REPORT FOR THE PROJECT “RENEWING OUR DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE” Ben Rowswell, ConvenorNetwork for Democratic Solidarity December 2023
  2. 46T788910 1417Renewing Our Democratic Alliance 19Summaries of Shared Challenges and Solutions for22How Inclusive Democracies Can Mitigate Climate Change23How Inclusive Democracies Can Learn From The Covid-19 Pandemic26How Inclusive Democracies Can Enhance Democracy Protection And Human Rights31How Inclusive Democracies Can Protect Democracy From Technological Threats38How Inclusive Democracies Can Build Resilience In Trade And The Global Economy43How Inclusive Democracies Can Accommodate Refugees, Migration, Borders, And Identity48How Inclusive Democracies Can Promote International Peace and Security52How Inclusive Democracies Can Learn From German-Canadian Cooperation 61An Agenda For Democratic Solidarity 67Advancing a Network for Democratic Solidarity68Initiatives for Democratic Solidarity: Anti-Corruption75Towards Genuine Responsibility-Sharing In The International Refugee RegimeCovid Scaring Amid A Polycrisis: The Acid Test Of Democratic Solidarity?103Mutual Learning on Disinformation 131132151152Comparing Trends in Anti-migrant Political Discourse in Canada and GermanyMutual Learning onR econciliation100 Years of Indigenous International Relations283
  3. 154 130 131 150 1511523Appendices: Scene-Setter Articles to Inform RODA Deliberations180155Looking to Glasgow: What's at Stake in COP26, by Dr. Jennifer Allan Canada and Germany: Multilateral Partners to End the Pandemic and Catalyze an Equitable and Resilient Recovery to the SDGs, by Dr. Peter Singer In Search of Democratic Revival, by Jeremy Kinsman and Dr. Kurt BassuenerSecuring Cyberspace in an Age of Disruption: A Glimpse at the Rising Threatscape, by Aaron Shull and Kailee Hilt Digital Democracy and Public Discourse: Dissonant, Disrupted and Unedited, by Dr. Ulrike KlingerBraveNewWorld:TrendsinGlobalTradeGovernance, by Lawrence Herman "If Something Cannot Go on Forever, It Will Stop" by William WhiteA Call to Action: An Agenda for Canadian-German Cooperation to Strengthen the International Refugee & Migration System by Fen Hampson and Paul HeinbeckerThe shifting border: legal cartographies of migration and mobility by Dr. Ayelet Shachar181190198210223230239250257
  4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Network for Democratic Solidarity owes its existence to the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung of Canada. The opening of a KAS office in Ottawa could not have come at a more important moment, delivering new ideas, resources and relationships to Canadians exploring options to meet the new challenges liberal democracy faces in the rise of populist authoritarianism and isolationism. The leadership of Dr. Norbert Eschborn ensured the project got off the ground and stayed on track through all that followed. The Network was born out of the Canadian International Council. This organization of citizens engaging in Canada’s foreign policy was uniquely positioned for a study of the relevance of democracy to international affairs. Its network of 18 branches across this country provide the CIC with a grassroots sense of the priorities of Canadians, grounding our discussions in their views in useful balance to the perspectives of foreign policy professionals whose focus faces outward. We are grateful to the CIC for supporting an exercise of deeply-focussed policy development at a time when its branches were recovering from the diminished citizen engagement of the COVID and post-COVID era. We owe a particular debt of gratitude to Jeremy Kinsman, whose decades of diplomatic work uniting democracies across the G7/G8 informed the approach and whose tireless energy brought dozens of senior actors together for this project. Samantha Tristen provided invaluable organizational support throughout the three years of the project. The series of initial policy debates were expertly chaired by some of the most senior figures in public policy.Thanks goes to: ‣Dr. Melvyn Cappe (University of Toronto)‣Dr. Alan Bernstein (Canadian Institute For Advanced Research)‣Dr. Jennifer Welsh (McGill University)‣Sue Gardner (Canadian Anti-Hate Network)‣Dr. Ailish Campbell (Canadian Ambassador to the European Union)‣Senator Ratna Omidvar‣Kevin Lynch (Bank of Montreal)The sixteen policy papers developed for the project were drafted by experts of equal renown.We extend our gratitude to: ‣Camielle Adams (University of Calgary)‣Dr. Jennifer Allan (University of Cardiff)‣Jon Allen (Transparency International Canada)4
  5. ‣Dr. Kurt Bassuener (University of St. Andrews)‣Dr. Thorsten Benner (Global Public Policy Institute)‣Dr. Jean-Christophe Boucher (University of Calgary)‣Susan Côté-Freeman (Transparency International Canada)‣Robert Greenhill (Global Canada Initiative)‣Dr. Fen Hampson (World Refugee & Migration Council)‣Paul Heinbecker (World Refugee & Migration Council)‣Lawrence Herman (Herman and Associates)‣Jeremy Kinsman (Canadian International Council)‣Jenny Kim (University of Calgary)Jean-François Tardif‣Dr. Jack Mintz (C. D. Howe Institute)‣Dr. Peter A. Singer, M.D. (World Health Organization)‣Dr. Craig Damian Smith (Pairity)‣William White (C. D. Howe Institute)5
  6. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Over the past three years, the Canadian International Council and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Canada have been engaged in the search for a practical means by which liberal, inclusive democracies can renew the basis of their cooperation.As democracy retreats around the globe, the former paradigm of democracy promotion must be replaced with a mutual approach to supporting one another in advancing the interests of our respective citizens.We call this approach democratic solidarity. Prompted by the potential loss of the United States from among the world’s democracies, Canadian and German officials, scholars and activists explored an approach that inclusive democracies could use to build that solidarity.At the outset of the project in the depths of the COVID pandemic, we surveyed eight shared challenges our democracies face and debated potential solutions.The insights generated demonstrated the value of engaging in a continuous process of examining shared challenges and exchanging best practices. This approach of mutual learning should take place on two tracks that inform and support one another.The first track is between civil society and scholars of participating countries, who can provide the holistic view of how challenges impact the ultimate stakeholders of democracy – citizens themselves.Civil society can also maintain longer focus and a focus on the longer-term that elected officials. The second track is between ministers and officials, who can prioritize the challenges based on urgency and the feasibility of effective action, and implement the solutions identified. The project culminated in the launch of the first track, convening civil society actors and scholars in a process of mutual learning around the poisonous impact of disinformation in undermining our ability as societies to take decisions in the public interest.A new non-profit organization was incorporated for the purpose.The Network for Democratic Solidarity was launched in July 2023, and hosted its first conference in Calgary, bringing experts on disinformation from Germany and Canada together in October of the same year. The Network for Democratic Solidarity provides a basis for systematic mutual learning between inclusive democracies on other issues that undermine the interests of our citizens and that require solutions beyond what our respective domestic political processes can muster. By engaging in mutual learning, we will deepen the collective commitment democracies have to one another and for the future of our system of government throughout the world. 6
  7. REPORT - BEN ROWSWELL AND JEREMY KINSMAN In June 2018, liberal democratic countries had a premonition of how their long history of international leadership could end, with the defection of the United States. Since the genesis of the current world order in the depths of the Second World War, liberal democratic principles have been the glue that has held together the most powerful collection of states in a unity of purpose that has delivered unparalleled security, prosperity and human dignity to our respective citizens. First articulated in the Atlantic Charter negotiated by the U.S. and the UK in 1942, these principles formed the basis of the military alliance that won the war. Great sacrifices require an even greater cause to unify disparate nations.Allies found that cause in the mutual support they pledged for one another’s democracies, forging a deeper bond than the superficial ties that had formed the basis of the earlier experiment in international order under the League of Nations. This common cause, of mutual support between liberal democracies, emerged as the DNA of the international system born from the ashes of that war.It informed the design of the UN Charter that set the norms for the new international order, and the design of the North Atlantic Treaty which provided the muscle to uphold the order.When the Cold War ended in 1989, the principal ideological alternative to liberal democracy until that point also faded away.The original basis for the postwar international order founded on mutual support between democracies expanded well beyond the original North American and Western confines of liberal democracy. Many assumed its global spread was inevitable. U.S. power had been central to the institutions by which liberal democracies organized their collaboration, however.So much of the original design of these institutions was American in inspiration that the survival of liberal democracy in world affairs seemed predicated on leadership from Washington DC. That all came into question in 2016 when the U.S. elected a president who spoke openly of his contempt for democracy, for allies and for commitments to their defence. At first leaders of fellow democracies cajoled and flattered President Trump, confident that the roots of American democracy were strong enough to outlast a demagogue. Confidence in 75 years of alliance takes time to shake, but it was certainly shaken by the time Canada hosted the G7 Summit in Charlevoix in 2018.Months of the intensive negotiation and careful choreography that goes into the final communique, the central result of any summit of these seven most significant democracies, were 7
  8. wasted when President Trump abruptly left the summit, insulted the host publicly on the plane ride home.Three weeks later he embraced the Russian President who had openly manipulated the U.S. election in Trump’s favour, making his preferences clear. The genesis for our project lies in the scramble that followed.Foreign Ministers of Canada and Germany confided their anxieties to one another later that summer, and soon foreign policy experts in both countries were discussing the need to dramatically expand the scope of strategic thinking.How could major liberal democracies like Canada and Germany advance their interests if the U.S. defects from the principles of the international order our countries had built together? The stakes are too high for our democracies to leave to governments alone.So while governments have engaged in strategic thinking, citizens and civil society have a role to play as well. RENEWING OUR DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE German traditions for engaging civil society in the work of democracy run deep and the institutions are more developed than in Canada. It was natural, therefore, that the initiative would come from Germany. In 2019, the German political party foundation KAS established an office in Ottawa. Motivated, no doubt, by the increased interest in a likeminded liberal democracy in Canada now that the United States was less likeminded than ever, German foreign policy experts reached out to Canadian foreign policy experts to propose a partnership. The Canadian International Council answered the call. Founded in 1928 to engage Canadians in foreign policy, the CIC hosts discussions about Canada’s international relations with thousands of citizens in 18 cities across the country.Together, KAS Canada and the CIC launched a project in 2021 called Renewing Our Democratic Alliance (RODA). The partnership enabled foreign policy experts of the two countries to consider how liberal democracies could renew their cooperation in international affairs, in light of the challenges we share in the 2020s.We mobilized more than 150 experts from government, academia, the private sector and civil society from Canada and Germany.To anticipate a future in which the U.S. might not be part of the group of liberal democracies that have shaped the international order, we did not include the U.S. in our discussions. 8
  9. METHOD EMPLOYEDThe CIC engaged veteran Canadian diplomats Jeremy Kinsman and Ben Rowswell to design and deliver the project.Kinsman had served as ambassador to Russia, the European Union, Italy and the United Kingdom.Rowswell had led Canada’s mission in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and served as ambassador to Venezuela. Dr. Norbert Eschborn provided intellectual leadership for KAS Canada. Together, the organizers drew on an extensive network of officials, scholars and activists to commission papers and convene strategic discussions on the most pressing shared challenges facing our democracies in 2021. The list was developed in consultation with the Canadian Ambassador to Germany, the German Ambassador to Canada, and an advisory group. The emphasis, where possible, was on practitioners over scholars to ensure a focus on practical options that governments could convert into action within a short timeframe.Discussions were held in closed format, to encourage maximum candour, with public summaries of the discussions released afterward. The sessions were chaired by leaders with experience driving government agendas, from former Clerks of the Privy Council to a principal drafter of Canada’s last official foreign policy strategy, and the chairs drove discussion toward practical recommendations at all times. SHAPING A NEW GLOBAL AGENDA FOR INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACIES Based on the survey of challenges facing inclusive democracies over the course of 2021, the RODA project proposed to mobilize now the inputs in specific and substantive ways, drawing from the dual RODA partners to engage directly the respective foreign ministries.From among the more than 150 participants in RODA panels, working groups will be formed to address key topics which could represent the priorities of the two 9Jeremy KinsmanBen RowswellDr. Norbert Eschborn
  10. governments. The topics would likely be the prioritized policy outcomes from RODA consultations thus far. ‣The groups would draw from civil society consultation and interact withgovernment policy centres. ‣Inputs would be sought from a broad range of policy proponents on theinternational scene, perhaps by Track II-type informal consultations.‣The intention is to form a network of geographically diverse countries, internationalnon-governmental bodies, and mandated intergovernmental agencies, which could promote a sense of coordinated purpose in supporting solidarity on the pressing issues facing democracies in an increasingly challenging global environment. The network should focus on issues consistent with the pursuit of inclusive democracy: human rights, the treatment of minorities, open media, and countering disinformation. The network would also be a clearing-house for mutually reinforcing policy positions on emerging challenges to fellow democracies such as backsliding and the disintegration of public institutions. There will be opportunity to plan shared audits, joint country case studies as appropriate, and division of labour on international democracy development support issues, including mutual learning.The Canadian International Council proposes to: ‣Set up a joint secretariat with a German organizing partner - the KAS - to overseethe process of organizing four initial policy themes via detailed policy proposalsand seminars that can serve to provide the agenda for outreach to build incooperation with the respective foreign ministries the network. ‣Establish communications platforms engaging international civil society, centres ofexcellence, and advocates, as well as national public policy networks. ‣A conference of the parties - civil society and governmental - could convene theorganizational meeting of the network. RECURRING THEMES AND RECOMMENDATIONSThe Global Landscape Facing Inclusive DemocraciesRising competitive nationalism, populism, nativism, and the passing of peak globalization: Populations are demanding more national regulation of trade, greater self-sufficiency, and protection of social stability. 10
  11. The assertion of national sovereignty is driving policy impulses toward protectionism and tighter border controls. Conflict has intensified between political urges to control national impacts and the strength of spontaneous transnational events surging out of control that insist on international cohesion and cooperation. Events and the political landscape have been widely affected by the advent of the Internet and by the often-pernicious impact of unmoderated, unregulated, and untransparent social media unaligned with the need for information to be evidence-based. Additionally, cyber-crime and national security cyber-threats require international cohesion; the positions of major cyber-powers on regulation and oversight – China, Russia, and to a lesser extent, the US – are ambivalent.Multilateral Linkages and VulnerabilitiesPrincipal transnational challenges are linked in cause and disruptive effect: global warming and the damage to biodiversity; the pandemic and global health; migration; food security; debt; economic development; conflict; human security; openness; and rights. Each can unravel others. They all generate migratory waves.The current overarching crises of climate and the pandemic affect all people but unequally. The world is failing to rise to these crises as stress tests of the multilateral system. There is little policy coherence in policy approaches. Inclusivity and Inequity in the Multilateral System"Whose multilateralism?" is a relevant question. Multilateralism must deliver visible benefits – for citizens of all states. The multilateral system is unfair, especially to low-income countries, with fragile infrastructure for public goods and health. They are the hardest hit by effects of climate change, the pandemic, migration, debt, etc. The most evident common feature is inequity: on climate impact, vaccine availability, economic wealth and opportunity, and the burdens of migratory adjacency to conflict zones. Different panels urged a system-wide effort to multiply the strengths of the multilateral system in an effort to build more trust and confidence in it, irrespective of domestic governance systems. Vaccine reticence is a function of international distrust. 11
  12. In almost every panel, reference was made to the self-absorption of the "West" and a habitual reference to a "liberal" rules-based order many non-western countries see as designed to serve "western" legacy interests. Western countries resist their responsibility to accept refugees, even in small numbers compared to the 23 million trans-border refugees, 86% of whom are harboured in conflict or crisis-adjacent countries ill-equipped to handle them. Developed countries are urged to jettison "donor-recipient" mentalities. Responsibilities on structural issues like financing of adaptation to climate change and damage and loss should be seen as systemic strengthening in a common perspective of shared benefit, not as humanitarian relief. Diplomatic Outreach and Variable Geometry The consensus rule that applies to many universal UN negotiating bodies argues for the formation of coalitions and affinity groups of higher-ambition countries to prompt progress, such as a notional "climate customs club," the Ottawa group on WTO reform, or a "democracy support network." Developed democracies must connect beyond the "like-minded." To promote effective resilient global outcomes, they have to reach the "silent majority" of about 150 states which are non-primary influencers, but which together can be decisive. Connection is also urged with "non-like-minded," including "cross-walks" to China and to other major players – India, global warming mitigation opponents, and on some issues, to the US. Democracy Support and Protection, and the Central Role of Civil Society The trends toward democratic regression and backsliding are stark. Projection of negative US trends encouraged polarization elsewhere while reinforcing negative reflexes and arguments of authoritarians, making it incumbent on internationalist democracies like Germany and Canada to protect and advance the democratic agenda, even with a welcome return of the US to the pro-democracy fold. 12
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