Strengthening Democratic Resilience, Action, and Narrative-Building in Our WorldLessons Learned Part 2: Global Democracy Conference, Held at the Kellogg Institute, University of Notre Dame

Over 100 political scientists, sociologists, activists, policy analysts and more gathered May 19-20 at the annual Global Democracy Conference hosted by the Kellogg Institute and School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. The two main research and reflection questions – “Why is there public support for anti-democratic leaders?” (covered in the post on Lessons Learned Part 1) and now I’ll cover the key lessons learned with the second inquiry-- “How do we strengthen democratic resilience, action and narrative-building in our world?” 

The exciting part of this blog – is that I’ll be sharing actual social movement examples from around the world, showcased by activists or researchers of these movements that were present at the conference.

These scholars and activists provided strategic analysis, reflection, and most importantly – “hope in action”—examples for everyone who defends democracy to learn from and build upon in their work.

1.)   Pro-Democracy Movements Must Have a Wide Coalition to Push Out the Authoritarian:

Several scholars and activists made the very strong point that to combat Authoritarianism, communities need to build a deep and wide coalition of supporters for democracy. A non-partisan, multi-ethnic, multi-generation movement reaches the most people and signals that the support for democracy and the rule of law, is far greater than anti-democratic rule. The speakers at the conference from Hungary, Brazil, and Poland emphasized this point. For more information on their broad coalitions, I urge others to research the leadership journeys of the following leaders: Flavia Pellegrino, from Pacto pela Democracia in Brazil; Daniel Hegedus representing the German Marshall Fund; and a University of Notre Dame researcher on Poland to look up is Gerald Beyer, author of “Recovering Solidarity: Lessons from Poland’s Unfinished Revolution.”

2.)   Document the Truth and Keep Reporting on the Corruption of the Anti-Democratic Leader:

Two top researchers on the feminist movement against domestic violence in Mexico and a researcher on the political shifts in presidential leadership, stressed how important it was to document the harms actually being done to civilians under the Authoritarian rule. These researchers included Angie Torres-Beltran of the University of Arizona and Alejandra Lopez Villegas of Lake Forest College. They were encouraged by the truth commissions set out by midwestern political leaders on the impact of ICE surges in Minneapolis and Chicago.  Furthermore, a strategy to “win citizens back” to democracy, involves reminding the citizens of the corruption of the anti-democratic leader. This was a huge lesson, as reported by Daniel Hegedus of the GMF as he spoke on the example of Hungary voting out Viktor Orban recently. Panelists stressed that regardless of party, corruption by a leader pushes citizens for greater voting and action against the lawless criminality of the leader practicing corruption.  

3.) Pro-Democracy Movements Can Build Legitimacy from the Public, Build Trust and Build Base for New Leadership:

“Regimes fall if they experience a legitimacy crisis – economic crisis, corruption that the citizens are impacted by in their daily lives.” –Daniel Hegedus, GMF. The opposition to Authoritarian illegimate actions, breaking the law and harming its own citizens, requires a set of new leaders and new trust for democratic rule. Breza Race, of the Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS) from Serbia, emphasized this point. Activist Jhanisse Vaca Daza from Bolivia and the Human Rights Foundation also stressed - “Provide actual support, mutual aid, to your neighbors and keep organizing before democratic transition, during and after.” The point overall is that Authoritianism does not work for the public in a free society, but what we offer for greater democracy-building must be a clear alternative of greater support for people’s everyday lives of social, moral and economic growth.

4.) Protect Democracy Where It Exists:  Civil Society Matters

Leaders on most of the panels at the conference really emphasized that there’s the larger democratic systems that need to be defended – elections, rule of law and separation of powers, use of law enforcement, but democracy is also defended throughout civil society as groups gather to support one another and provide for their communities in collective ways. Therefore, supporting churches, nonprofit organizations, schools, all civic groups.  These groups build connections with one another to share values and commitment to democracy and they must continue as the movement to end Authoritarianism continues. Noah Bullock, from El Salvador and the group Cristosal Human Rights, emphasized this point given the context he is living in El Salvador.