Held annually around the United NationsInternational Day of Democracy, the Athens Democracy Forum was founded in 2012. The mission of the Forum is to bring together diverse voices and perspectives that help democracies evolve and become more resilient in the face of rising inequalities, the rapidly developing climate crisis, adverse democratic shifts, runaway tech innovation and failing multilateral governance.
Key events include the Aristotle Address,[1] the City of Athens Democracy Award,[2] the Kofi Annan NextGen Democracy Prize and the Democratic Innovators of the 21st Century Politicians' Hall of Fame.
The Democracy & Culture Foundation
The Democracy & Culture Foundation was founded in 2019. The Foundation's mission is to help democracy evolve by empowering society through citizen engagement and better governance.[3] It aims to become the leading global platform for dialogue and solution-oriented activities concerning the evolution of democracy and culture.[4] Two of its major events, the Athens Democracy Forum in association with The New York Times and Art for Tomorrow[5], are held annually and designed to convene, connect and foster collaboration between prominent and emerging voices for both democracy and culture. The Foundation and its partners also run worldwide initiatives[6] including Teens for Democracy[7], Reimagining the Building Blocks of Democracy[8], the Climate Change Hub[9], the Kofi Annan NextGen Democracy Prize[10], as well as exploring the use of A.I. in deliberative democracy tools.
History
From 2013 to 2018, the Athens Democracy Forum was convened by The New York Times.[11] Since 2019, the event has been organized by the nonprofit Democracy & Culture Foundation.[12] The first Athens Democracy Forum was held around the United Nations International Day of Democracy with the U.N. secretary-general's endorsement, and the Forum continues to partner with the United Nations.[13]
Conferences
2025 Conference
The 13th edition took place from September 30 – October 3 at the Athens Conservatoire and gathered more than 460 participants. It was themed ‘’New Visions for Hard Realities’’ and explored how global upheaval, technological change and citizens’ hunger for renewal are reshaping democracy worldwide.
Two new modules were introduced; the N.G.O. Showcase on Civic Education, Information Ecosystems and Deliberative Democratic Processes[14] - giving the stage to nine nonprofit organizations, and the A.I., Ethics & Democracy Sessions - exploring the impact and challenges artificial intelligence has had on democracy.
2024 Conference
The 12th edition took place in Athens from October 1–3, 2024, under the theme “Α Moment of Truth”[15] and gathered over 400 attendees from all continents. Against the backdrop of misinformation, declining trust and global elections, the Forum explored how truth and trust can be restored in democratic societies. It featured sessions on regional case studies, rethinking key issues and innovative democratic tools, and included the presentation of the Kofi Annan NextGen Democracy Prize and the Democratic Innovators of the 21st Century Politicians’ Hall of Fame.
2023 Conference
The 11th edition took place from September 26–29, under the theme “Do We Dare to Hope?”[16] and was opened by H.E. the President of Greece, Katerina Sakellaropoulou. Amid rising authoritarianism, widening inequality and global conflict, the Forum examined the future of democratic rule and fundamental freedoms, highlighting both the challenges to liberal democracy and its enduring resilience and gathered over 450 attendees from all continents. Prominent speakers included European Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen, Portugal's Former Secretary of State for European Affairs Bruno Maçães, Meta's President Global Affairs Nick Clegg, Filmmaker Amos Gitai, and UNESCO's former Director General Irina Bokova. The New York Times produced a special report,[17] 'Daring to Hope That Democracy Will Prevail'[18] highlighting the main outputs and discussions.
Following the 2021 Athens Democracy Forum, the Democracy & Culture Foundation initiated a four-year project called “Re-imagining the Building Blocks for Democracy”. The project was launched in response to the calls during the 2021 Forum to establish more specific characteristics that make democracy resilient to 21st century issues. The Democracy & Culture Foundation initially cooperated with five partner organizations, each of which was responsible for a particular “building block”: Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin, Germany (“The power of Parties, Money and Influence”[22]); Taejae Academy in association with Ban Ki-moon Foundation in Seoul, South Korea (“The power of the Executive”); newDemocracy Foundation in Sydney, Australia (“The power of People’[23]); The Bertelsmann Foundation in Washington DC, United States (“The power of Information”[24]); IDEA in association with Sapienship in Tel Aviv, Israel (“The Power of Voting”). It was agreed that the initial five partners will draft policy proposals in local experts’ panels in 2022 (stage 1), subject those proposals to the scrutiny of citizen’s panels in 2023 (stage 2) and campaign for the implementation of those proposals in 2024 (stage 3). In 2023, the Democracy & Culture Foundation partnered with McKinsey and a variety of academics and EU institutions to create two additional building blocks: “The power of Business” and “The power of AI and Ethics,” as well as Foundation for Innovation and Development in Colombia, which took over “The power of Information” building block.
City of Athens Democracy Award
Established in 2016 by the Mayor of Athens, the City of Athens Democracy Award is presented annually at the Athens Democracy Forum to individuals with international recognition, whose work and ethics defend democratic principles.
Recipients
2016 – Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch[25]
The Democracy & Culture Foundation, in partnership with the Kofi Annan Foundation, awards the Kofi Annan NextGen Democracy Prize at the Athens Democracy Forum. The prize is awarded to a youth activist between 18-30 years old, who exemplifies exceptional leadership to inspire more young people to commit to the advancement of democracy. The award was established in 2023. The Athens Democracy Forum first partnered with the Kofi Annan Foundation in 2017, after Mr. Kofi Annan attended the forum.[30]
Recipients
2023 – Namatai Kwekweza, Founder and Director, WELEAD Trust
2024 – Omar van Reenen, Co-founder and Campaign Manager, Equal Namibia
2025 – Julián Rodriguez Sastoque, Economist and Councilor, Bogotá City Council
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
