Governance Village News

By Brandon Currie
GV Content Editor

There seems to be an awareness-raising 'international' day for just about every cause these days, and on September 15, we can add a new one to the list: democracy. While Canadians might find this a bit redundant - we've been inundated by an 18-month American election campaign and now have one of our own too - the whole point isn't to celebrate our democratic progress but to challenge it.

Around the world, where democracy can have different connotations (read: not the accepted model of good governance and development), the day can take on a very different meaning. To that end, the Inter-Parliamentary Union has an extensive list of worldwide events surrounding the International Day of Democracy (IDD).

International IDEA (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance), a Stockholm-based advocacy and research organization, has a special IDD section on their website and has organized events in Europe, America, Africa and the Middle East to promote democratic dialogue.

One such event, labelled the Democracy 'Talk Show', features contributions that detail challenges to democratic development across geographic and gender lines. Over the course of the week, these will also be featured here on the GV News Blog.