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Bali Democracy Forum: Encouraging leadership and solidarity for global public goods
Authoritarian regimes are gaining ground, and the percentage of people living in a democracy has decreased to below 50 percent.
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Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi (center) is flanked by local and foreign dignitaries as well as by the avatars of global participants of the 14th Bali Democracy Forum held in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Dec. 9, 2021. (Courtesy of Foreign Ministry/-)
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ndonesia has been actively promoting dialogues on democracy in the region through the Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) for the last 15 years. The forum has since its inception retained its unique characteristics as an inclusive platform to discuss democracy and to promote home-grown democracy.
The BDF provides the region with the best practices on how to strike a balance between political and economic development and prosperity, peace and stability, human rights promotion and protection and fundamental freedom.
Nevertheless, from time to time, challenges to democracy persist. For instance, democracy at the national level does not always go in a linear fashion and the risk of democratic backsliding remains afoot.
The last two years have been indeed a challenging time for the world, as well as democracy.
The world’s view on the necessity of democracy is reflected in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s research in the 2021 Democracy Index that shows authoritarian regimes are gaining ground, and the percentage of people living in a democracy has decreased to below 50 percent.
In global governance, there are signs of a deficit in democratic spirit.
On Jan. 21, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged the world to “go into emergency mode” to tackle “a five-alarm global fire” of the COVID-19 pandemic, a morally bankrupt global financial system, the climate crisis, the absence of law in cyberspace and the decrease of peace and security.
