“Elections have consequences” the saying goes, often to justify a break with a previous administration. Along Europe’s Eastern flank, where illiberalism is on the rise and support for Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression is wavering, the resul [...]
Introduction Democratic backsliding in old, new, rich, and poor democracies has accelerated, as International IDEA, Freedom House, the Economist Intelligence Unit, and Varieties of Democracy (V-DEM) have all studied. Yet they have been slow to res [...]
A few weeks ago, at an event focused on democratic decline in the United States, I raised the persistent threat of foreign autocratic actors. The audience reacted ambivalently. “That’s so 2016,” one attendee remarked. The conversation moved on to mo [...]
In early April, the US State Department took an unprecedented decision against Georgia, sanctioning four Georgian judges. Civil.ge asked experts to assess the consequences of this move and whether they expect it to have a continuation. It is a ne [...]
On the sidelines of the Summit for Democracy 2023, It All Intersects spoke to Laura Thornton of the German Marshall Fund and Katie La Roque of Freedom House. There are serious human security concerns and humanitarian issues faced by people in democ [...]
We begin with the Biden administration’s second Summit for Democracy that began today in Washington D.C. with over 120 world leaders joining in by video minus NATO members Hungary and Turkey who were excluded although India’s Modi, who just jaile [...]
KELEMEN: This is the second Summit for Democracy, and this year, there will be events in Zambia, Costa Rica, the Netherlands and South Korea. Laura Thornton, who's with the German Marshall Fund of the United States, likes that idea. She says last y [...]
Ask any person working on democracy issues — off the record — about President Biden’s Summit for Democracy, and you get eye rolls followed by a litany of unflattering reviews, including from U.S. government officials. I too have criticized aspects o [...]
Moscow issues ominous threats as Georgians fight for their imperiled democracy. Last week, the Georgian parliament, led by the Georgian Dream (GD) party, advanced new legislation that would label civil society and media organizations that receive [...]
Senior Vice President of Democracy Laura Thornton joined DW News to discuss Georgia's "foreign agents" law and the protests that led parliament to drop it. [...]
Following the Georgian parliament’s passage [of the "foreign agents" law], I was once again inspired by the Georgian people who took to the street to peacefully protest. As you know well, security agents have violently attacked them. This is sadly n [...]
At the start of the new year, we asked our experts to each put forth one recommendation that would strengthen democracy during a period of declining trust, emboldened autocrats, and war. Their answers touch on a variety of issues—from the war in Ukr [...]
A favorite tune in the foreign information operations playlist is that democracies are in disarray, are inefficient, and do not deliver for citizens. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, China attacked the ability of democracies to ha [...]
Tomorrow’s midterm elections will be a benchmark for the state of American democracy. As early voting surges, people around the country (and the world) are watching to see what happens in what is perhaps the most important midterm election in recent [...]
Maricopa County, Arizona, has become a focal point for our crisis of trust in democratic elections. According to the Arizonans I met, the state is in a dangerous place, and Maricopa is in the eye of the storm—representing one of the largest voting [...]
In 2016, 2018, and 2020, America’s foreign adversaries, such as Russia and Iran, attempted to influence the U.S. elections. Just last month, FBI officials warned of potential interference from Russia and China in the upcoming midterms, providing a t [...]
Background Briefing with Ian Masters · October 13, 2022 - Norman Ornstein | Adele Stan | Laura Thornton An Analysis of Today's Final House January 6 Committee Hearing | Who Did Liz Cheney Have in Mind When She Said "We Have Enough Information For [...]
In its 2022 Nations in Transit report, Freedom House observed an ongoing 18-year decline of democracies in Central Europe and Eurasia. With the electoral victories of the Brothers of Italy and the Sweden Democrats, both far-right parties with neo-fa [...]
When Tesla chief executive Elon Musk tweeted his support for Russia’s dismemberment of Ukraine, he used some highly revealing language. Crimea should be Russian, he tweeted, because of “Krushchev’s mistake”—a reference to Soviet leader Nikita Krushc [...]
On this International Day of Democracy, the Ukrainian people’s resistance to Russia’s ongoing war against their country is a powerful reminder of the immense courage that is required to defend democracy and safeguard the survival of an entire nation [...]
ASD Director Laura Thornton joins TV Pirveli to discuss democratic elections and reforms in Georgia. [...]
Panelists Jamie Fly, President, RFE/RL Shota Gvernia, Non-Resident Fellow, EPRC Laura Thornton, Director and Senior Fellow, Alliance for Securing Democracy Brian Whitmore, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council Stefan Meister, Head of Program, [...]
A group in Colorado conducted a so-called “audit” of voters for the purpose of proving fraud in the election process there. Volunteers signed up to ask voters a series of questions to verify their existence and compare with official public records. [...]
In a recent Jan. 6 hearing, Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling revealed the most important insight into our current democratic challenges. He was describing how he painstakingly went through each false election claim put forward by one of hi [...]
It takes more than superb election officials and secure processes to build trust in elections – it is truly a whole of society effort. Democracies need engaged leadership from government, the private sector, the media, and civil society to push back [...]
China is implementing a multifaceted pressure campaign against Taiwan aimed at undermining the confidence of the people of Taiwan in their democratically elected government and weakening their will to resist integration with China. Beijing’s toolkit [...]
Russia’s war in Ukraine is a horrific enactment of the struggle between autocracy and democracy. As President Volodymyr Zelenskyy poignantly stated, “Russia fears our democracy more than we are proud of it.” Putin understands well that democracy spr [...]
More than a year and a half after the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol will hold its first public hearing this Thursday. The televised series of hearings will f [...]
Last year, people around the world were souring on the idea of democracy. But new polling shows surging support for this institution of government. Laura Thornton from the Alliance for Securing Democracy discusses the reasons behind the change in [...]
One of the most rewarding aspects of my 25-year career overseas working for democracy organizations was organizing candidate debates. Particularly in countries where it had never been done. In 2013, we pulled off Cambodia’s first televised debate th [...]
Background Briefing with Ian Masters · The DHS Reports On Trump's 2020 Russia Coverup as Republicans Try to Shut Down the DHS Disinfo Board Then finally we investigate the disconnect between the DHS Inspector General’s report revealing how Trump’s A [...]
A lot of people are disconnected from politics these days because they don't feel their voices are being heard. But is there a better way to bring more people into the decision-making process? The Alliance for Securing Democracy's Laura Thorn [...]
As any American expat abroad will tell you, living far from the United States gives you a clearer view. My 25 years overseas startled me with realizations about my country, from weird little things (why do we have so many types of breakfast cereal?) [...]
Opening Remarks Heather A. Conley President, The German Marshall Fund of the United States Speakers: Rafał Trzaskowski Mayor, City of Warsaw, Poland Moderator: Laura Thornton Director, The Alliance for Securing Democracy, The German Marshall Fund of [...]
The Kremlin’s well-oiled disinformation machinery has been activated to create narratives both externally and internally about Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine: “It isn’t a war at all;” “Russia is liberating Ukraine from drug-addled Nazis;” “NATO is th [...]
In 1997, I was living in Cambodia, working for the U.S. government to help solidify the country’s fragile democracy. The air was hopeful: Civic groups were preparing to monitor upcoming elections, political parties were selecting candidates and draf [...]
The Government of the United States hosted the first of two Summits for Democracy on 8–10 December 2021. In the face of increasing challenges to democracy globally, they aimed to bring together leaders from government, civil society and the private [...]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s passionate speech in Congress underscored the broader consequences of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine, tying it to the struggle for global democracy. He thanked President Biden for “ [...]
Nearly a month since Russia invaded Ukraine, the Kremlin has continued to spread outlandish, illogical narratives to justify the war. While disinformation during wartime is not a new phenomenon, it has reached new heights and audiences in the social [...]
Statement before the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs Hearing on Transatlantic Cooperation Following Russian Aggression on Ukraine Ukraine and Global Democracy March 14, 2022 Thank you, Chair David McAllister and Rapporteur Tonino P [...]