IDD 2025
A WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN: DEMOCRACY AND INCLUSIN ON AN AGE OF INSECURITY
IDD 2025
A WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN: DEMOCRACY AND INCLUSIN ON AN AGE OF INSECURITY
THIS WAS IDD BRUSSELS 2025
INSIGHTS FROM OUR FEATURED SPEAKERS
OVERVIEW
The 2025 edition of the International Democracy Day Brussels Conference, (IDD Brussels) gathered prominent organizations and thought leaders to explore the intersection between democratic values, security, inclusion, and global influence – a pressing challenge for Europe and its international partnerships across the globe.
As the conference marked its eleventh edition, it served as a key platform for high-level discussions on Europe’s democracy agenda, focusing on how inclusive democracy is essential to ensuring the European Union’s security, stability, prosperity, global partnerships, and international influence.
Organized by the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), European Network of Political Foundations (ENoP), and Carnegie Europe this landmark event took place on Thursday, 18 September (afternoon), and Friday, 19 September (morning).
CENTRAL THEME
This conference took place at a critical time for world democracy. The power shifts and the emergence of a new world order, based on use of force rather than the rule of law is intensifying the geopolitical competition between democracies and authoritarian regimes. The connection between democracy and long-term security has never been clearer.
Democracy needs to be embedded in all EU policies as it is a condition and an enabler for the EU agenda: security, migration, economic development, climate change. To safeguard the European Union’s future, we must protect our own democracy and uphold universal values, one of the priorities of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s mandate for 2024-2029. Protecting our democracies in Europe and advancing the democracy agenda globally is a strategic necessity for the EU long-term stability, prosperity and influence.
At a time when public trust in democracy is eroding, global challenges mount and foreign aid budgets have been slashed, efforts to support democracy and open governance are the only way to back against autocratisation. Citizens worldwide need to have a voice and a stake in their shared futures. We must show them solidarity as we work to maintain their trust in international partnership and democratic values.
The European Union has been a staunch advocate of democratic inclusion both within its borders and in its external relations. Initiatives like WYDE (Women and Youth Democratic Engagement) exemplify the EU’s commitment to fostering inclusivity. WYDE aims to amplify the voices of young people and women in democratic processes, addressing the myriad legal, cultural, and economic barriers that hinder their participation. The conference explored how inclusion strengthens democracy and contributes to peace and security.
PROGRAMME
18 September
14:25 – 15:10
Opening Session: Democracy for All: Inclusive Democracy as a Pathway to Security and Development
DETAILS
This session will examine how partnerships and alliances can revitalize global and regional cooperation in support of democracy in the face of geopolitical shifts, challenges to democratic norms and values, and erosion of multilateral systems. Drawing on diverse experiences from around the globe, it will highlight how inclusion strengthens democracy and contributes to peace and security. What are examples of inclusive democracy practices that have strengthened security? How can we resist fragmentation of our international alliances, and the deliberate polarisation of our societies? Marking International IDEA’s 30th anniversary, the session will explore how democratic values can be embedded in international partnerships to promote mutual benefit and cooperation between the Global North and South.
15:55 – 16:40
Session 2: WYDE Political Parties: Inclusion at the Heart of Political Life
DETAILS
In a world where democracy is increasingly questioned, and legitimacy often challenged, political parties remain both the most distrusted and yet most essential institutions in democratic life. How they adapt — or fail to adapt — to shifting societal expectations will shape the future of governance.
This session explores what happens when inclusion becomes a political strategy — not just a checkbox or quota, but a transformative force. Through the lens of the WYDE Political Parties Project, this conversation brings to Brussels the stories of African women political leaders and changemakers who are reshaping politics from within. Their testimonies offer more than inspiration — they offer real-time lessons in innovation and power-building that speak directly to the wider global conversation on democracy and security.
16:50 – 17:20
Spotlight Session: The EU-CELAC Summit 2025 as an Opportunity for Strengthening Democracy
DETAILS
Session co-facilitated with the EU-LAC Foundation.
This session will zoom in on how the upcoming EU-CELAC Summit can help reinvigorate democracy in both regions. What are the challenges that the Summit needs to take into account with regard to democracy, rule of law and human rights? What would member states from the bi-regional EU-CELAC association need to discuss and what can they expect from the EU-CELAC Summit? What recommendations can be produced to bring democracy on the agenda of the Summit?
19 September
09:25 – 10:25
Session 3: What Future for Democracy Support? Innovative Approaches to Put Democracy at the Centre of External Policies
11:10 – 11:50
Session 4: Investing in Values: How the Next EU Budget Can Strengthen Democracy
12:05 – 12:50
Session 5: Democracy Matters: Values as Strategy, Security as Outcome
DETAILS
Support for democracy stands as a cornerstone value of the European Union, essential to Europe’s founding principles and to its long-term stability, prosperity and global influence.
As Europe confronts escalating threats to democratic governance within its borders and internationally and is seeking to rearm, it is vital that it also deploys its soft power to build genuine grassroots support for democratic principles. Supporting independent media that provide citizens with reliable information and funding civil society organisations that advocate for transparency and accountability is cost effective and sustainable.
At this critical time, the EU must continue to champion democratic rights worldwide and integrate them in all its policies. This session will explore how democracy support helps reduce long-term security risks to Europe.
IDD SPEAKERS
Meet the European representatives who participated in the event.
Shada Islam
Managing Director, New Horizons Project Geopolitical Strategy Advice and Analysis
Emma Theofelus
Minister of Information and Tech, Namibia
Dr. Tasnim Jara
Member, Political Council & Senior Joint Member Secretary, National Citizen Party, Co-Founder, Shohay Health
Sarah Wheaton
Chief Policy Correspondent, POLITICO Europe and Host of EU Confidential
Marta Kos
Commissioner for Enlargement, European Commission
Chiara Adamo
Deputy to the Director for Human Development, Migration, Governance and Peace directorate in DG INTPA, European Commission
Kajsa Ollongren
EU Special Representative for Human Rights, European External Action Service
Thomas Carothers
Director, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program; Harvey V. Fineberg Chair for Democracy Studies; Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Dorjraa Munkhtur
Ambassador at Large for Democracy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Mongolia
Oliver Röpke
President of the European Economic and Social Committee
Andrius Kubilius
European Commissioner for Defence and Space
Dubravka Šuica
European Commission Vice-President for Democracy and Demography
Lourdes Argueta
Secretary-General, Juventud LAC (Latin America)
Raša Nedeljkov
Program Director, Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA)
Laura Chinchilla
Former President of Costa Rica
Sophie Pornschlegel
Policy Fellow, Das Progressive Zentrum
Blair Glencorse
Co-CEO Accountability Lab Global
Brit Anlar
PhD Candidate, Political Science @ Rutgers Women & Politics
Jerzy Pomianowsk
Executive Director, European Endowment for Democracy
Jorge Jraissati
Executive Director, Economic Inclusion Group
Kirstie Lynn Dobbs
Assistant Professor of Practice, Director of Early College and Faculty Community Engagement Strategy at Merrimack College, United States of America
Marcin Walecki
Former Senior Resident Country Director, NDI Ukraine
Sara Ajlyakin
Deputy Executive Director of Al-Jumhuriya Collective
Ms Harlette Badou N’Guessan Kouamé
National President of the Union of Women of the RHDP (UF-RHDP) and Mayor of the Municipality of Arrah, Côte d’Ivoire
Federica D’Alessandra
British Academy Global Innovation Fellow, Global Order and Institutions Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Kathleen Addy
Chairperson National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Ghana
Sialo Tasur
Co-Chairperson, United Green Movement Party, Kenya
Hon. Mihaela Neto Webba
Member of Parliament & Constitutional Law Professor | Vice‑President, UNITA Parliamentary Group, Angola
Liudmyla Yankina
Co-Founder and Chairperson of Civis Fortis
Alberto Brunori
Executive Director of the EU-LAC Foundation
Inma D. Alonso
Head of EU-Latin America and Caribbean Relations and Development Financing at the Coordinating Committee of Development Organisations
Sam van der Staak
Director for Europe, International IDEA
Carl Hartzell
Deputy Director-General and Head of Department for Multilateral Governance and Humanitarian Policy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden
Erica Gerretsen
Director for Human Development, Migration, Governance and Peace, DG INTPA, European Commission
Ken Godfrey
Executive Director European Partnership for Democracy
Gary Klaukka
Executive Director European Network of Political Foundations (ENoP)
Seema Shah
Head of Democracy Assessment, International IDEA
Kevin Casas Zamora
Secretary-General, International Idea
Richard Youngs
Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
