Advancing a Network for Democratic Solidarity

The impressive display of solidarity between liberal democracies in support of Ukraine has been largely restricted to countries of the Global North. To resign ourselves to this limitation of the solidarity democracies could muster more widely would be to relinquish the ability to prevail in the growing global contest over international norms.

There is a path to building much broader solidarity around the norms that democracies hold in common whether or not they are from the North or the South. Mutual learning about shared challenges, on the basis of sovereign equality serves to deepen the commitment democracies share with one another, as the experiences of Germany and Canada have demonstrated.

By engaging civil society alongside state actors and by engaging to countries of the South and the North, democracies can generate new energy to advance the norms of human rights, the rule of law and multilateral cooperation amid today’s challenges. A Network for Democratic Solidarity could help ensure our shared interests will prevail in the growing competition between systems of governance across the globe.

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This commentary was originally published by the Canadian International Council in November 2022.