FOSTERING A FOURTH DEMOCRATIC WAVE: A PLAYBOOK FOR COUNTERING THE AUTHORITARIAN THREAT - A powerful autocratic wave is sweeping the globe. According to Freedom House, the world is facing its seventeenth consecutive year of democratic decline. Can these trends be reversed? What will it take to foster a new democratic wave? As grassroots pro-democracy movements contend in places like Iran, Venezuela, and Belarus, how can democratic countries more effectively support them?

On Tuesday, March 28, The Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security launched of a new publication, produced with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, titled Fostering a Fourth Democratic Wave: A Playbook for Countering the Authoritarian Threat.

Fostering a Fourth Democratic Wave builds on a growing body of research showing that nonviolent civil resistance movements—using tactics such as strikes, boycotts, mass demonstrations, and acts of noncooperation—are one of the most powerful drivers of democracy and human rights around the world.

Accordingly, the playbook outlines three pillars of strategy for democratic governments to better support and enable these movements internationally by:

- Proposing new approaches and tools to support civil resistance movements

- Advancing a new international norm — the “Right to Assist” pro-democracy movements

- Developing strategic and tactical options to constrain authoritarian regimes and drive up the cost of their repression

This publication came ahead of the Biden administration’s Summit for Democracy, as activists, experts, and policymakers from around the world seek innovative tools and tactics to defend democracy and defeat authoritarianism.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 03/28/23