Framing ethical perspectives
Democracy is a form of government in which political control is given to the people, whether directly or through the election of governing officials. Currently, large numbers of people have lost faith in this form of government and some elected officials have been working to dismantle democratic institutions. Our programs, events, and experts strive to better understand this development.
Featured Democracy Resources
State of global democracy, U.S. global engagement, and more
JUN 9, 2021 • Podcast
Illiberal Democracy on the Rise: Examining Brazil, Hungary, & India
APR 19, 2022 • Podcast
Why Democracy vs. Autocracy Misses the Point, with Jean-Marie Guéhenno
Senior Fellow Anja Kapsersen is joined by Professor Jean-Marie Guéhenno for a conversation about virtual communities and the advent of the age of data.
FEB 23, 2024 • Article
What Do We Mean When We Talk About "AI Democratization"?
With numerous parties calling for "AI democratization," Elizabeth Seger, director of the CASM digital policy research hub at Demos, discusses four meanings of the term.
Related Initiatives
Ethics & International Affairs Journal
Ethics & International Affairs is the quarterly journal of Carnegie Council. It aims to close the gap between the theory and practice of ethics.
Explore Our Democracy Resources
MAY 10, 2001 • Article
Building Peace and Civil Society in Afghanistan: Challenges and Opportunities
Participants examine the social costs of the conflict in Afghanistan -- exacerbated by the policies of the ruling Taliban regime -- and the local, ...
NOV 17, 2000 • Transcript
History of the Present: Essays, Sketches and Dispatches from Europe in the 1990s
"The leaders of Western Europe share a direct responsibility for much of what went wrong in the Eastern half of the continent through the 1990s," ...
FEB 9, 2000 • Article
Democracy Beyond the State: The European Dilemma and the Emerging Global Order
States and citizens within the European Union are now far along in a vast experiment involving an attempt to use the dynamism of market-capitalism to ...
JUN 5, 1997 • Article
Human Rights Dialogue (1994–2005): Series 1, Number 9 (Summer 1997): Innovative Human Rights Strategies in East Asia: Articles: Promoting Local Autonomy in Korea
Kim Dong-Ik retraces the problems local autonomy has had in Korea as well has it's recent revival and development. The Citizen’s Coalition for ...
JUN 5, 1997 • Article
Human Rights Dialogue (1994–2005): Series 1, Number 9 (Summer 1997): Innovative Human Rights Strategies in East Asia: Articles: Popular Demands for Village Elections in Rural China
Amidst popular demands for election in rural China, Lianjiang Li reports on the struggles and reality of democratic promotion in rural villages along with the ...
MAR 5, 1997 • Article
Human Rights Dialogue (1994–2005): Series 1, Number 8 (Spring 1997): Transitional Justice in East Asia and its Impact on Human Rights: Articles: Ethnic Reconciliation and Political Reform Before Justice in Burma
Maran La Raw questions whether the governmental framework proposed by the future transitional government is capable of resolving the ethnic and political problems that have ...
SEP 4, 1995 • Article
Human Rights Dialogue (1994–2005): Series 1, Number 2 (Fall 1995): About the Human Rights Initiative: Articles: Refocusing the Human Rights Debate in East Asia: A Review of Recent Writings
The Bangkok Declaration on Human Rights marked a standoff between human rights advocates and East Asian governments, underscoring the need to improve human rights discourse ...
MAY 26, 1995 • Article
Morgenthau Lectures (1981–2006): The New Dimensions of Human Rights
"The interface between ethics and science will hence be the new frontier of politics—the third new dimension of human rights," warns Zbigniew Brzezinski in ...
MAY 26, 1986 • Article
Morgenthau Lectures (1981–2006): Is Democratic Theory for Export?
Barzun argues that democracy is a historical development and mode of life peculiar to the political context in which it developed. Attempts to export it (...
JUN 1, 1976 • Article
An Interview With Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
"Today this nuclear threat still hangs over both sides, but the West has chosen the wrong path of making concessions. Nuclear war is not even ...