At the Athens Democracy Forum, experts discussed solutions to declining trust in democracy, amidst global concerns over violence and political instability.
ADVERTISEMENT
The explosion of violence in the Middle East and the ongoing war in Ukraine are a source of great concern for citizens who have lost confidence in democratic institutions, political parties, journalists, and, to some extent, democracy itself.
This year's Athens Democracy Forum, entitled The Moment of Truth, attempted to offer solutions to worldwide challenges to democracy.
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance is an organisation that supports democracy worldwide. Dr Sima Shah heads its Democracy Assessment Unit, which produces a global report on the state of democracy.
“Earlier in September, we released our annual, global State of Democracy Report. And what we found is that around the world, some of the main declines, if you look at five-year patterns, have been in things like credible elections, effective parliaments, economic equality and freedom of expression," Dr Shah told Euronews.
"And so many people see these things as building blocks of modern democracy. And so, if we are facing problems there, then I think there are many reasons to worry", she explained.
Professor Calypso Nikolaidis represented the Democratic Odyssey, an assembly which gathered in Athens a few days before the forum and presented its results.
Some 200 citizens from different countries gathered in the Greek capital to take part in a pilot program, holding discussions in different languages from different countries on critical issues concerning the future of Europe.
"The Democratic Odyssey is a campaign that has been going on for quite some time now," Nikolaidis said, "to promote a permanent body in the EU which would consist of ... mainly its European citizens who would constitute a people's assembly, a citizens' assembly together with the European Parliament and the rest of the European institutions connected to the national and local level."
"This permanent body would help set the agenda in Europe and give policy recommendations like some of the panels we already see in Brussels do, but more systematically," Nikolaidis told Euronews.
Increased mistrust and anger
The decline of citizens' trust in institutions, public bodies and politicians, along with misinformation, have increased mistrust and anger.
Growthfund, Greece’s National Investment Fund, manages a significant portfolio of state-owned subsidiaries and holdings.
Growthfund’s CEO Gregory D. Dimitriadis explains how they are trying to win back trust. "Every year, we conduct a survey on the confidence index ... to understand whether the public really feels they are getting the services they deserve from the public companies that belong to Growthfund and whether there is trust in what we do," Dimitriadis told Euronews.
"And we have seen that there generally exists a lack of trust in institutions, but year after year, we see that there is an improvement."
That improvement is precisely when we stay consistent in delivering and improving services and are not only delivering the services but also being very open and very transparent about our findings."
Political parties are the lifeblood of democracy, but there are serious concerns about intra-party democracy nowadays. Analysts say they need to adapt to the digital age and even make regular updates.
Marcel Sepp is a consultant for international party dialogue at the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. He favours a hybrid model.
"The paradox about political parties and digitization is that, like any entity, company, or organization and the parties must adapt their work to digital tools to find time for more personal interaction," Sepp told Euronews.
"Because at the end of the day, all of us can only consume a certain amount of social media. And that usually makes the difference, and we've learned that from many campaigns and by many politicians it is to meet people face to face. Have a personal involvement", added Sepp.
Bringing citizens and politics back together is the biggest challenge for democracy, according to most political scientists.
After all, that's the only way to make modern democracies more representative and to return politics and power to the people.