Copenhagen Democracy Summit

The Copenhagen Democracy Summit is an international conference taking place every summer in Copenhagen, Denmark, organised by the Alliance of Democracies. The summit brings together political and business leaders, including current and former heads of government, from the world's democracies. In parallel, a similar conference takes place every winter in Denver, Colorado, United States.[1]

In light of a decline of liberal democracies across the world, the aim of the summit is to be a top international forum for analysis on the security and economic challenges facing the democratic world as well as a forum for analysis on the interplay between technology and democratic norms.[2]


  • In 2018, the inaugural Copenhagen Democracy Summit took place in Copenhagen on July 22. Among those who attended were the former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, the US former vice-president Joe Biden, the former British prime minister Tony Blair, the former Estonian president Toomas Ilves and the then incumbent Danish prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen.[3]

A total of 350 participants attended from over 40 countries. One of the publications released at the conference concluded that people's trust in government is lower in democracies than in non-democratic states.[4]


A total of 500 participants attended from over 75 different countries. The Summit offered a variety of viewpoints, the discussions highlighted both the challenges for the upcoming elections facing world democracies, but also the opportunities brought forward by technology.


Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2020 took place virtually. It however succeeded to gather guests from around the world to discuss the state of democracy. General topics focused on US global leadership and 2020 elections, democracy and tech, responsible business, and defending democracy during pandemic times.


  • In 2021, the inaugural Copenhagen Democracy Summit took place in Copenhagen on May 10-11. Among those who attended were: Founder and Chairman of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, Anders Fogh Rasmussen; President of Slovakia, Zuzana Čaputová; President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), Tsai Ing-wen; Minister of Foreign Affairs in Denmark, Jeppe Kofod; Interim President of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó; Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová; Senior Official for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights and Acting Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of State, Lisa Peterson; Member of Congress and Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee of the U.S., Adam Schiff; Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Intergration of Ukraine, Olah Stefanishyna; Executive Director at Twaweza Easst Africa, Aidan Eyakuze; Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Zendesk and Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellowship Mentor, Alexander Aghassipour; Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellow at VoteMe App, Artur Gurau; Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellow at Anttscamp, Artur Mija; Author and founder of the AHA Foundation and Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Ayaan Hirsi Ali; Co-founder of Now!, Colombe Cahen-Salvador; Member of the House of Commons, the U.K. and Co-chair of the International Grand Committee on Disinformation, Damian Collins; President of the International Republican Institute of the U.S., Daniel Twining; President of the National Democratic Institute of the U.S., Derek Mitchell; Chairman of the Special Competitive Studies Project, Co-Founder of Schmidt Futures and former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt; Former President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón; Danish Journalist, Author and Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, Flemming Rose; Dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, Fritz Mayer; IPAC co-chair and Former Defense Minister of Japan, Gen Nakatani; Retd. U.S. Army Lieutenant General & U.S. National Security Advisor, Fouad & Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Standford University, H.R McMaster; Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Dominican Republic, Jatzel Roman; Moderator and Co-host, SpyTalk Podcast, TCEI member and former anchor and correspondent for CNN and ABC News, Jeanne Meserve; Vice President, Cato Institute and Board Member, Facebook Oversight Board, John Samples; Executive Director of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, Jonas Parello-Plesner; Founder of Trifork, Jørn Larsen; Director & Producer of “People you may know”, Metrotone Media, Katharina Gellein; Head of Cabinet, Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, European Commission, Kim Jørgensen; Senator for Victoria, Australia, Kimberley Kitching; Producer of "The Social Dilemma", Head of Creative Development at Exposure Labs, Larissa Rhodes; Former President of the Republic of Costa Rica, Member of the Kofi Annan Commission on Elections and Democracy on the Digital Age, Laura Chinchilla; Chair of Executive Committee, European Endowment for Democracy, Lisbeth Pilegaard; Filipino-American journalist and author, Co-founder and CEO Rappler, Philippines, Maria Ressa; Minister Delegate of Citizenship, France, Marlène Schiappa; Former Secretary of Homeland Security (2005-2009), United States, Michael Chertoff; Executive Director The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, Natalie Jaresko; Hong Kong Democracy Activist, Nathan Law; CEO of Latana, Nico Jaspers; Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellow at OpenEthics, Nikita Lukianets; Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellow, Quack Hunter, Nino Macharashvili; Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellow, Pravoman, Regina Bondarenko; Member of the House of Commons, Former Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (2018-2019), U.K. and Editorial Director at Global Growth, Ryan Heath.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2021 took place virtually. It however succeeded to draw participants from around the world to discuss the future of global democracy, US leadership and post-COVID recovery, technology and democratic trust.


  • In 2022, the inaugural Copenhagen Democracy Summit took place in Copenhagen on June 9-10. Among those who attended were: Founder and Chairman of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, Anders Fogh Rasmussen; 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama; Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania, Ingrida Šimonytė; President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola; Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová; Leader of Belarusian Democratic Forces, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya; Chairman of the Special Competitive Studies Project, Co-Founder of Schmidt Futures and former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt; Activist and National Coordinator for Voluntad Popular, Leopoldo Lopez; President and Vice Chair of Microsoft, Brad Smith; Executive Director at the Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft, Anna Herrhausen; CEO of CentralNic, Ben Crawford; Senior Director, Freedom and Prosperity Center, Atlantic Council, Dan Negrea; President of International Republican Institute, U.S., Daniel Twining; Ukrainian Artist and Author of “Theory of protection”, Darya Koltsova; Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellow, Fact-ing Database (Venezuela), David Aragort; President of National Democratic Institute, U.S., Derek Mitchell; 2020 Obama Foundation Leader (Italy), Federica Vinci; Member of Parliament, Taiwan, Freddy Tshiong-Tso Lim; President and CEO of Atlantic Council, Frederick Kempe; Chief Executive Officer, Denis & Lenora Foretia Foundation, Fri Asanga; Sr. Director, Democracy Forward, Microsoft, Ginny Badanes; Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellow, Now Repost (Georgia), Giorgi Kakhiani; Member of the German Parliament, Gyde Jensen; Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellow, Z-Axis (Georgia), Irakli Kavtaradze; President of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, host of World Review, Ivo H. Daalder; Moderator and Co-host, SpyTalk Podcast, TCEI member and former anchor and correspondent for CNN and ABC News, Jeanne Meserve; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denmark, Jeppe Kofod; Executive Director, Alliance of Democracies Foundation, Jonas Parello-Plesner; President, Global Affairs, Google, Kent Walker; Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellow, Supernova (Georgia), Ketevan Bosikashvili; Taiwan-based, Australian Singer, Kimberley Chen; Chief Executive Officer at Centre for Civil Society, Lakshmi Sampath Goyal; Chief of Staff for Alexey Navalny, Political Director, Anti-Corruption Foundation, Leonid Volkov; Chair of Executive Committee, European Endowment for Democracy, Lisbeth Pilegaard; Member of the Ugandan Parliament, Lucy Akello; Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellow, Candydato (Venezuela), Luis Fornez; Digital Expert, Politician and Author, Marina Weisband; Member of the United States Senate, Mark Warner; Vice President Public Policy Europe, Middle East and Africa, Meta, Markus Reinisch; Deputy Director, Scowcroft Center, Atlantic Council, Matthew Kroenig; Co-Chair of the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity (TCEI), Former US Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff; NATO Deputy Secretary General, Mircea Geoană; Global Editor in Chief, Newsweek, Nancy Cooper; Investigative reporter, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Ukrainian Service), Natalie Sedletska; CEO of Latana, Nico Jaspers; Director of Journalism Trust Initiative, Reporters Without Borders, Olaf Steenfadt; Moderator and Opinions editor, Berlingske, Pierre Collignon; SVP, Chief External Affairs, Governance & Trust Officer at Telia Company, Rachel Samrén; Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Democracy and Human Rights, White House National Security Counsil, Robert Berschinski; 2022 Obama Foundation Leader (Denmark), Co-founder and CEO at CanopyLab, Sahra-Josephine Hjorth; 2022 Obama Foundation Leader (North Macedonia), Selvije Mustafi; President, Mexican Council of Foreign Affairs (COMEXI); former Under Secretary for North America, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mexico, Sergio Alcocer; Panellist and Co-founder & COO, Radiobotics, Stine Mølgaard Sørensen; Member of the Indian Parliament, Sujeet Kumar; Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellow, Qela App (Ukraine), Tamara Tachynska; Chairman of the Danish China Critical Society, Thomas Rohden; Panellist and Former Minister for Higher Education and Science, Former Member of the Danish Parliament, Climate Tech Investor, Tommy Ahlers; Panellist and Executive Director, Quad Fellowships, Schmidt Futures, Tony Woods; 2022 Obama Foundation Leader (Romania), Tudor Iulian Bradatan; Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, U.S. Department of State, Uzra Zeya; Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellow, Market Research Tool (Ukraine), Volodymyr Tarnay; Member of the Executive Board, The Federation of German Industries (BDI), Wolfgang Niedermark; Democracy Tech Entrepreneur Fellow, Politscanner (Ukraine), Yevhen Popov; and President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), Tsai Ing-wen.

A total of 731 participants attended from over 56 different countries. General topics focused on how to defend Ukraine, counter authoritarian powers, and build an alliance of democracies.

References
  1. Beck-Nilsson, Carsten Terp (1 March 2018). "Anders Fogh Rasmussen kalder til global kamp for demokrati og frihed". Altinget (in Danish). Denmark. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  2. "Democracies facing crisis of faith: survey". Reuters. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  3. Holst, Emma Qvirin (23 June 2018). "Joe Biden og Tony Blair på besøg i København: Toppolitikere debatterer demokratiets fremtid". Altinget (in Danish). Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  4. Tomarchio, Jack Thomas (5 July 2018). "Making Democracy Great Again". Foreign Policy Research Institute. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
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