NGO · Global
The Assemblies Campaigning for UN Parliamentary Assembly. Global direct democracy.
A joint report from Democracy International and Democracy Without Borders argues that the UN General Assembly should use Article 22 of the UN Charter to create a permanent framework for Global Citizens' Assemblies — giving randomly selected citizens a formal role in shaping international policy.
A large-scale experiment finds that brief online videos explaining democratic principles — rights, checks and balances, accountability — measurably strengthen support for democracy and reduce acceptance of authoritarian alternatives, even among the politically disengaged.
V-Dem's annual assessment finds 74% of humanity now lives under autocracy, with 44 countries actively autocratizing. The US loses liberal democracy status as freedom of expression and legislative constraints deteriorate worldwide.
As great powers fragment the UN human rights system, a coalition of 90 countries — half from the global south — is testing whether one-country-one-vote can still anchor planetary governance in shared rules rather than fortress politics.
Democracy Without Borders has published a new brochure examining pathways to reimagine global cooperation. The resource synthesizes emerging proposals for multilateral reform and democratic participation beyond borders.
The Human Rights Foundation's Tyranny Tracker distinguishes democracies from hybrid and authoritarian regimes using qualitative thresholds — not aggregated scores — to capture the moment when democratic systems break down.
Transparency International reports global corruption perceptions have fallen to their lowest level in over a decade, with shrinking civic space a common factor in declining scores. The trend reveals how governance legitimacy depends on openness.
Youth-led uprisings across 11+ countries share grievances about inequality and corruption, but don't point toward a clear democratic renewal. The question isn't whether young people can mobilize — it's whether existing governance systems can absorb their demands.
New assessments from Oxfam, a G20 expert committee, and the World Inequality Lab find billionaire wealth has grown 81% since 2020 while democratic institutions weaken — evidence that governance systems cannot be separated from economic architecture.
The Global Challenges Foundation and World Economic Forum release assessments showing seven of nine planetary boundaries breached, rising geoeconomic confrontation, and institutional erosion — all pointing to what GCF calls the need for governance that recognizes 'planetary commons cannot be negotiated with.'
New polling across 31 countries shows falling support for international institutions — not because people reject cooperation, but because they don't see it working. The gap reveals something fundamental about governance at any scale.