• The largest forum of former Presidents and Prime Ministers presents a final report called ‘Lessons from COVID-19 for Democratic Resilience’ putting forward 20 recommendations to enhance the ability of democracy to function, to deliver and to be trusted in the face of emergencies such as COVID-19. • The report is the result of the Club de Madrid’s Global Commission on Democracy and Emergencies, a high-level group of political leaders and policy experts that held roundtables and discussions throughout 2021 to build on the collective democratic experience and formulate its recommendations.
COVID-19 hit at a time of unease for democracy – a crisis of trust, a crisis of representation, populism, polarization, and mounting questions on democracy’s ability to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The pandemic galvanized those trends and brought the weaknesses of democratic institutions, administrations and leadership into the spotlight. With democracy indicators at historical lows, it is imperative for democracies to draw lessons from their COVID19 experience to face future emergencies with a more effective and more democratic approach.
“Leaders have to trust citizens’ capacity to understand complex situations, and be transparent about the objectives and reasons of policy measures”, said Yves Leterme, former Prime Minister of Belgium and Club de Madrid Member in one of the Commission’s meetings.
The Global Commission’s report presents a series of 20 recommendations, directed at government leaders, public institutions and civil society in all democratic countries. It puts forward concrete, feasible suggestions to strengthen democracies’ ability to keep their democratic institutions working in emergencies; to protect fundamental rights and the rule of law during emergency response; to deliver services, including emergency support services, inclusively to all citizens; and to respond to crises with the kind of leadership that preserves trust and gathers all of society around a shared commitment to democratic values and principles.
The report is the result of Club de Madrid‘s Global Commission on Democracy and Emergencies, Chaired by former Prime Minister of Belgium Yves Leterme, with former Prime Minister of Senegal Aminata Touré and Secretary-General of International IDEA Kevin Casas-Zamora as vicechairs, the effort brought together 16 commissioners for nine months of work sessions, consultations and deliberations. Three knowledge partners – International IDEA, Oxfam International, and Edelman – provided data, analysis and basic frameworks for their reflections.
Every democracy is different, and every emergency is different. But strengthening democratic resilience to safeguard our shared values through this and future emergencies is a matter of shared responsibility.
