International Democracy Union

International Democracy Union
Abbreviation	IDU
Formation	24 June 1983;41 years ago
Purpose	World federation of right-of-centre/moderate-to-conservative political parties
Headquarters	Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Region served	Worldwide
Membership	84 political parties and 8 organisations
Official language	English
Chairman	Stephen Harper (Conservative Party of Canada)
Deputy Chairman	Brian Loughnane (Liberal Party of Australia)
Website	idu.org
Formerly called	International Democrat Union (until 2023)

Last updated February 17, 2025

The International Democracy Union (IDU; known as the International Democrat Union until September 2023)^[3] is an international alliance of centre-right to right-wing political parties.^[4]^[5] Headquartered in Munich, Germany,^[6] the IDU consists of 84 full and associate members from 65 countries.^[7] It is chaired by Stephen Harper, former prime minister of Canada. It has two affiliated international organizations (International Young Democrat Union and International Women's Democracy Union) and six affiliated regional organizations (Union of Latin American Parties, Asia Pacific Democrat Union, Caribbean Democrat Union, Democrat Union of Africa, European People's Party and European Conservatives and Reformists Party).

The IDU allows "centre-right" conservative political parties around the world to establish contacts and discuss different views on public policy and related matters. Their stated goal is the promotion of "democracy and [of] centre-right policies around the globe".^[8] The IDU has some overlap of member parties with the Centrist Democrat International (CDI), but the CDI is more centrist, Christian democrat and communitarian than the IDU.^[9]

The group was founded in 1983 as the umbrella organisation for the European Democrat Union (EDU), Caribbean Democrat Union (CDU), and the Asia Pacific Democrat Union (APDU). Created at the instigation of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and U.S. Vice President George H. W. Bush, the organisation was founded at a joint meeting of the EDU and APDU in London, United Kingdom.^[10]

Founding

The IDU was founded in London on 24 June 1983.^[11] According to Richard V. Allen, to be admitted as a member, a party must qualify as a "mainstream conservative" party influenced by classical liberalism.^[12]

The founding declaration was signed by 19 persons:^[13]

Person	Party	Country
Alois Mock	Austrian People's Party	Austria
Margaret Thatcher	Conservative Party	United Kingdom
Helmut Kohl	Christian Democratic Union of Germany	West Germany
Franz Josef Strauss	Christian Social Union in Bavaria	West Germany
Jacques Chirac	Rally for the Republic	France
Andrew Peacock	Liberal Party of Australia	Australia
Evangelos Averoff-Tossizza	New Democracy	Greece
Manuel Fraga	People's Alliance	Spain
Oscar Alzaga	People's Democratic Party	Spain
Susanne Wood	New Zealand National Party	New Zealand
Glafcos Clerides	Democratic Rally	Cyprus
Ilkka Suominen	National Coalition Party	Finland
Lucas Pires	CDS – People's Party	Portugal
Tatsuo Tanaka	Liberal Democratic Party	Japan
Ulf Adelsohn	Moderate Party	Sweden
Erik Nielsen	Progressive Conservative Party of Canada	Canada
Poul Schlüter	Conservative People's Party	Denmark
Jo Benkow	Conservative Party	Norway
Frank Fahrenkopf	Republican Party	United States

Member parties

Full members


Country	Party	Abbreviation	Government	Lower Chamber	Upper Chamber
Albania	Democratic Party of Albania	PD	Opposition	59 / 140 (42%)
Albania	Republican Party of Albania	PR	Opposition	2 / 140 (1%)
Argentina	Republican Proposal	PRO	Government	37 / 257 (14%)	6 / 72 (8%)
Australia	Liberal Party of Australia	LIB	Opposition	40 / 151 (26%)	25 / 76 (33%)
Austria	Austrian People's Party	ÖVP	Government	71 / 183 (39%)	25 / 61 (41%)
Azerbaijan	Azerbaijan National Independence Party	AMIP	Support	1 / 125 (0.8%)
Belgium	New Flemish Alliance	N-VA	Opposition	24 / 150 (16%)	9 / 60 (15%)
Bolivia	Social Democratic Movement	MDS	Extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 130 (0%)	0 / 36 (0%)
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Party of Democratic Progress	PDP	Opposition	2 / 42 (5%)	1 / 15 (7%)
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina	HDZ	Government	4 / 42 (10%)	3 / 15 (20%)
Brazil	Brazil Union	UNIÃO	Independent	59 / 513 (12%)	7 / 81 (9%)
Bulgaria	GERB	GERB	Independent	66 / 240 (28%)
Canada	Conservative Party of Canada	CPC / PCC	Opposition	120 / 338 (36%)	12 / 105 (11%)
Chile	Independent Democratic Union	UDI	Opposition	23 / 155 (15%)	9 / 50 (18%)
Chile	National Renewal	RN	Opposition	22 / 155 (14%)	11 / 50 (22%)
Colombia	Colombian Conservative Party	PCC	Independent	28 / 187 (15%)	15 / 108 (14%)
Costa Rica	Social Christian Unity Party	PUSC	Opposition	9 / 57 (16%)
Croatia	Croatian Democratic Union	HDZ	Government	55 / 151 (36%)
Cyprus	Democratic Rally	DISY	Opposition	17 / 56 (30%)
Czech Republic	Civic Democratic Party	ODS	Government	34 / 200 (17%)	21 / 81 (26%)
Czech Republic	TOP 09	TOP 09	Government	14 / 200 (7%)	4 / 81 (5%)
Denmark	Conservative People's Party	DKF	Opposition	10 / 179 (6%)
Dominican Republic	National Progressive Force	FNP	Extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 190 (0%)	0 / 32 (0%)
Ecuador	Creating Opportunities	CREO	Extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 137 (0%)
El Salvador	Nationalist Republican Alliance	ARENA	Opposition	2 / 60 (3%)
Estonia	Isamaa		Opposition	10 / 101 (10%)
Finland	National Coalition Party	Kok	Government	48 / 200 (24%)
Georgia	United National Movement	UNM	Opposition	15 / 150 (10%)
Germany	Christian Democratic Union of Germany	CDU	Opposition	152 / 735 (21%)	22 / 69 (32%)
Germany	Christian Social Union in Bavaria	CSU	Opposition	45 / 735 (6%)	4 / 69 (6%)
Ghana	New Patriotic Party	NPP	Opposition	137 / 275 (50%)
Greece	New Democracy	ND	Government	158 / 300 (53%)
Grenada	New National Party	NNP	Opposition	5 / 15 (33%)	3 / 13 (23%)
Guatemala	Unionist Party	PU	Opposition	2 / 160 (1%)
Iceland	Independence Party		Opposition	14 / 63 (22%)
Israel	Likud	Likud	Government	32 / 120 (27%)
Italy	Forza Italia	FI	Government	46 / 400 (12%)	20 / 200 (10%)
Italy	Brothers of Italy	FdI	Government	117 / 400 (29%)	66 / 200 (33%)
Ivory Coast	Democratic Party of Ivory Coast – African Democratic Rally	PDCI-RDA	Opposition	73 / 255 (29%)	6 / 99 (6%)
Kenya	Democratic Party of Kenya	DP	Government	1 / 349 (0.3%)	0 / 67 (0%)
Latvia	National Alliance	NA	Opposition	13 / 100 (13%)
Lebanon	Kataeb Party		Opposition	4 / 128 (3%)
Maldives	Maldivian Democratic Party	MDP	Opposition	12 / 80 (15%)
Malta	Nationalist Party	PN	Opposition	35 / 79 (44%)
Moldova	Party of Action and Solidarity	PAS	Government	62 / 101 (61%)
Mongolia	Democratic Party	DP	Government	42 / 126 (33%)
Morocco	Istiqlal Party		Government	81 / 395 (21%)	17 / 120 (14%)
Nepal	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	RPP	Opposition	14 / 275 (5%)	0 / 59 (0%)
New Zealand	National Party	NAT	Government	49 / 123 (40%)
Nigeria	Peoples Democratic Party	PDP	Opposition	118 / 360 (33%)	36 / 109 (33%)
North Macedonia	VMRO-DPMNE		Government	58 / 120 (48%)
Norway	Conservative Party	H	Opposition	36 / 169 (21%)
Panama	Democratic Change	CD	Government	18 / 71 (25%)
Paraguay	Partido Colorado	ANR-PC	Government	48 / 80 (60%)	23 / 45 (51%)
Peru	Christian People's Party	PPC	Extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 130 (0%)
Portugal	CDS – People's Party	CDS–PP	Government	2 / 230 (0.9%)
Romania	National Liberal Party	PNL	Government	79 / 330 (24%)	36 / 136 (26%)
Saint Lucia	United Workers Party	UWP	Opposition	2 / 17 (12%)	3 / 11 (27%)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	New Democratic Party	NDP	Opposition	6 / 15 (40%)
Serbia	Serbian Progressive Party	SNS	Government	104 / 250 (42%)
Slovenia	Slovenian Democratic Party	SDS	Opposition	27 / 90 (30%)
South Korea	People Power Party	PPP	Government	108 / 300 (36%)
Spain	People's Party	PP	Opposition	137 / 350 (39%)	143 / 264 (54%)
Sri Lanka	United National Party	UNP	Extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 225 (0%)
South Africa	Inkatha Freedom Party	IFP	Government	17 / 400 (4%)
Sweden	Moderate Party	M	Government	68 / 349 (19%)
Taiwan	Kuomintang	KMT	Opposition	52 / 113 (46%)
Tanzania	Party for Democracy and Progress	CHADEMA	Opposition	20 / 393 (5%)
Turks and Caicos Islands	People's Democratic Movement	PDM	Opposition	1 / 15 (7%)
Uganda	Forum for Democratic Change	FDC	Opposition	32 / 529 (6%)
Ukraine	European Solidarity	YeS	Opposition	27 / 450 (6%)
United Kingdom	Conservative and Unionist Party	CON	Opposition	121 / 650 (19%)	274 / 783 (35%)
United States	Republican Party	R / GOP	Government	219 / 435 (50%)	53 / 100 (53%)
Venezuela	Project Venezuela	PV	Extraparliamentary opposition	0 / 277 (0%)

Former members

Argentina – Justicialist Party
Bosnia and Herzegovina – Party of Democratic Action
Bosnia and Herzegovina – Croatian Democratic Union 1990
Brazil – Democrats
Bulgaria – Union of Democratic Forces
Canada – Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
Dominican Republic – Social Christian Reformist Party
France – Rally for the Republic
France – Union for a Popular Movement
Guatemala – National Advancement Party
Honduras – National Party of Honduras
Hungary – Fidesz
India – Bharatiya Janata Party moved to Asia Pacific Democracy Union
Japan – Liberal Democratic Party moved to Asia Pacific Democracy Union
Lebanon – Lebanese Forces
Lithuania – Homeland Union
Moldova – Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova
Montenegro – Movement for Changes
Nicaragua – Conservative Party
Portugal – Social Democratic Party
Russia – Union of Right Forces
Serbia – Democratic Party of Serbia
Serbia – United Regions of Serbia
South Korea – Liberty Korea Party
Spain – People's Alliance
Spain – People's Democratic Party

Chairmen

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth)	Term of office			Political party
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth)	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Political party
1		William Hague (born 1961)	19 June 1997	10 June 2002	4 years, 356 days	Conservative Party of UK
2		John Howard (born 1939)	10 June 2002	21 November 2014	12 years, 164 days	Liberal Party of Australia
3		Sir John Key (born 1961)	21 November 2014	21 February 2018	3 years, 92 days	New Zealand National Party
4		Stephen Harper (born 1959)	21 February 2018	Incumbent	6 years, 361 days	Conservative Party of Canada

References

↑ "Declaration of Principles, London 1983". idu.org. February 2018.
↑ Hunter, Marjorie; Weaver, Warren Jr. (24 July 1985). "Briefing; A Parties' Party". The New York Times .
↑ @internationaldemocracyunion (4 September 2023). "As part of celebrating 40 years of championing #democracy and #freedom, the IDU Executive approved the re-launch of our organization as the 'International Democracy Union'. While our values remain constant, this small adjustment clarifies our cause as we work to expand our network in support of democracy worldwide. Welcome to the International Democracy Union! #idu40" . Retrieved 16 October 2023– via Instagram.
↑ Weisman, Steven R. (23 September 1989). "Conservative Figures See 'Bright' Future". The New York Times . New York City. ISSN 1553-8095. Archived from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
↑ Sanger, David E. (11 June 2002). "Bush in Terrorist Warning". The New York Times . New York City. ISSN 1553-8095. Archived from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2022. President Bush warned an international group of conservative and moderate politicians at the White House tonight that terrorists could attain 'catastrophic power' with weapons of mass destruction and would readily use that power to attack the United States or other nations. The president made his remarks to about 100 members of the International Democrat Union, a group of international centre and centre-right political parties that met today and Sunday for a conference in Washington.
↑ Burnell, Peter J. (2006). Globalizing Democracy: Party Politics in Emerging Democracies. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-415-40184-5.
↑ International Democrat Union. "IDU Members". idu.org. Archived from the original on 1 July 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
↑ IDU — History. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
↑ Mohr, Alexander (2010). The German Political Foundations as Actors in Democracy Assistance. Boca Raton: Universal-Publishers. p. 151. ISBN 978-1-59942-331-9.
↑ Goldman, Ralph Morris (2002). The Future Catches Up: Transnational Parties and Democracy. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 418. ISBN 978-0-595-22888-1.
↑ "The Founding Meeting Of The Union" (PDF). International Democrat Union. 24 June 1983. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 December 2022.
↑ "By Any Other Name, Conservative". The New York Times. 27 July 1985. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022.
↑ "International Democrat Union, minutes of founding meeting, 1993" (PDF).^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}

External links

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.

[1] "Declaration of Principles, London 1983". idu.org. February 2018.

[2] Hunter, Marjorie; Weaver, Warren Jr. (24 July 1985). "Briefing; A Parties' Party". The New York Times .

[renaming_Instagram_video-3] @internationaldemocracyunion (4 September 2023). "As part of celebrating 40 years of championing #democracy and #freedom, the IDU Executive approved the re-launch of our organization as the 'International Democracy Union'. While our values remain constant, this small adjustment clarifies our cause as we work to expand our network in support of democracy worldwide. Welcome to the International Democracy Union! #idu40" . Retrieved 16 October 2023– via Instagram.

[4] Weisman, Steven R. (23 September 1989). "Conservative Figures See 'Bright' Future". The New York Times . New York City. ISSN 1553-8095. Archived from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2022.

[5] Sanger, David E. (11 June 2002). "Bush in Terrorist Warning". The New York Times . New York City. ISSN 1553-8095. Archived from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2022. President Bush warned an international group of conservative and moderate politicians at the White House tonight that terrorists could attain 'catastrophic power' with weapons of mass destruction and would readily use that power to attack the United States or other nations. The president made his remarks to about 100 members of the International Democrat Union, a group of international centre and centre-right political parties that met today and Sunday for a conference in Washington.

[6] Burnell, Peter J. (2006). Globalizing Democracy: Party Politics in Emerging Democracies. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-415-40184-5.

[7] International Democrat Union. "IDU Members". idu.org. Archived from the original on 1 July 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2016.

[8] IDU — History. Retrieved 9 February 2022.

[9] Mohr, Alexander (2010). The German Political Foundations as Actors in Democracy Assistance. Boca Raton: Universal-Publishers. p. 151. ISBN 978-1-59942-331-9.

[10] Goldman, Ralph Morris (2002). The Future Catches Up: Transnational Parties and Democracy. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 418. ISBN 978-0-595-22888-1.

[IDUFoundingMeetingMinutes_1983-11] "The Founding Meeting Of The Union" (PDF). International Democrat Union. 24 June 1983. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 December 2022.

[12] "By Any Other Name, Conservative". The New York Times. 27 July 1985. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022.

[IDUFoundingMeetingMinutes_1993-13] "International Democrat Union, minutes of founding meeting, 1993" (PDF).^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	Germany United States