Democracy promotion: latest US efforts spark Swiss enthusiasm

“Sister Republics”: Switzerland and the US have a long history of sharing liberal goals. Keystone/Allessandro della Valle

Since 2022, Washington has been funding nations it judges to be democratic “bright spots”. Switzerland, with its new focus on democracy support in foreign policy, is now also getting involved.

Democracy, the United Nations writesExternal link, is a “core value” of the organisation. Whether this statement would be endorsed so quickly by its member states is less certain. Of the 193 countries gathered in New York last week for the UN General Assembly, only around half – depending on the criteria you use – could be classified as democratic, and the trend is not favourable.

As such, a US-organised event during the General Assembly week took place not quite in the thick of things but, as diplomats say, “on the sidelines”. Chaired by Samantha Power, the head of the US Aid Administration (USAID), the panel took stock of the Democracy Delivers initiative: a public-private venture launched in 2022 to support nations at a stage of “promising democratic opening”.

Over the past two years, the scheme has pumped millions of dollars into cyber security in Armenia, electoral procedures in the Dominican Republic, and anti-corruption efforts in Zambia, among other projectsExternal link. It now supports 11 states; Guatemala and Fiji are the newest additions. In New York, delegates from these countries swapped stories and applauded the news of $517 million (CHF438 million) in fresh funding.

Switzerland at the table

Also invited were however 13 other nations, not recipients but supporters of the project. Switzerland, which has made democracy promotion a key element of its 2024-2027 foreign policy strategy, was one such “like-minded partner” at the table. Or, as Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said, one such “sister republic” – a reference to the “long history [between Switzerland and the US] when it comes to democratic rights and freedoms”.

In a short speechExternal link, Cassis spoke of how democracy historically “delivered” by helping to unite Switzerland’s diverse languages, religions, and cultures. Drawing on this long experience, boosting democracy globally has become a priority of foreign policy, Cassis said. And to do this, the country is “ready to provide swift and creative support wherever and whenever it is welcomed”.

Finally, he added, Switzerland supports the joint statementExternal link issued by the event, and looks forward to more dialogue – hopefully in an expanded family of “many more sisters”.

How can Bern help?

However, as a US initiative, the all-important money comes mainly from bodies like USAID and the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Private donors are also involved, such as the Ford Foundation, which hosted the meeting in New York. Direct funding from partner countries is (so far) rare, USAID writes.External link

For Switzerland, cooperation is thus – among other things – based on an interest in the initiative’s “new approach”, the foreign ministry tells SWI swissinfo.ch by email. By this, it means the goal of being alert to when emerging democracies enter a window of opportunity, in order to help keep a transition going.

At a time of global democratic ‘recession’, it’s important to highlight that the world “is not only experiencing negative developments when it comes to democracy”, the ministry writes. And when a positive development pops up – such as the removal of an authoritarian government via elections or protests – “emerging democracies often need rapid external support”. In the Swiss case, the ministry says, such help will be focussed on “diplomatic tools”.

Community-building for democracies

This all comes as both the US and Switzerland have undergone shifts in their approaches to democracy promotion in recent years.

Faced with the rise of authoritarianism worldwide, the US has been trying to build something of a community of democracies that can better align among themselves. Since President Biden launched this pushExternal link in 2021, the efforts have included annual “summits for democracy”, as well as strategic measures to curb the influence of China and Russia.

As for Switzerland, promoting democracy has been anchored in the federal constitution since the turn of the century. Yet until recently it has remained a less visible feature of foreign policy, often subsumed under development projects to strengthen governance.

With the updated focus in the 2024-2027 foreign policy strategy, authorities now however want to “raise [the country’s] profile” when it comes to democracy promotion, they write. To do this, the plan is not only to continue concrete development projects, but also to “engage in political dialogue and at the multilateral level” – i.e. in initiatives such as Democracy Delivers.

Meanwhile, as Cassis also said last week, Switzerland is working on a new set of “democracy guidelines”. These will further sharpen the Swiss profile by giving strategic direction to Swiss democracy promotion efforts, the foreign ministry says. They will also be used as a framework for cooperation with partners, and will be presented in the coming months.

US praise for Bern

For now, the global impact of all this remains unclear. The summits for democracy have met with mixed results, as we previously reported. Democracy Delivers is meanwhile still too new to judge, the Carnegie EndowmentExternal link wrote earlier this year. Success will be based on whether enough funding can be found for target nations, and whether it can become more than just a short-term project, the think-tank said.

But at least when it comes to its pro-democracy “sister”, the US seems happy. After Cassis’ remarks last week, USAID boss Power was glowing: of all its partners, she said, Switzerland has been the “most enthusiastic” about the goals and approach of Democracy Delivers since the start.

Edited by Benjamin von Wyl/gw