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World Justice Project
On the Brookings Institution's Order from Chaos blog, WJP Chief Engagement Officer Ted Piccone discusses how President Biden can work toward democracy after the Trump Administrations effects on the rule of law in the United States.
Read an excerpt below and find the full blog post here: "Ahead of a democracy summit, start at home and listen to our friends abroad"
As a candidate, President Joe Biden promised to convene a Summit for Democracy “to renew the spirit and shared purpose of the nations of the Free World.” Now, after a failed coup attempt aimed at overthrowing the results of free and fair elections certified by all 50 states, his administration must come to grips with the stark reality that democracy in America is in its worst crisis since the Civil War. Meanwhile, China and its allies are systematically exploiting the weaknesses of democracies around the globe.
Rather than a big summit gathering this year, this administration should do two things first: demonstrate our capacity for self-correction through a series of domestic reforms, and begin a process of consultation with its closest democratic friends on the goals and modalities of a global democratic renewal agenda. These two steps would help shore up our own fractured and increasingly dangerous politics and inspire greater confidence and cooperation among other democracies around the world.
Ted Piccone is the Chief Engagement Officer at the World Justice Project, where he leads WJP’s efforts to advance the rule of law through strategic partnerships and convenings, coordinated advocacy, and locally-led initiatives around the world. Mr. Piccone has more than 30 years' experience in international relations, policy, and law, most recently as a Senior Fellow specializing in international order and strategy and Latin America at the Brookings Institution. Previously, he served as the acting vice president and deputy director for Brookings’ Foreign Policy program and remains affiliated as a nonresident scholar. Mr. Piccone was a senior foreign policy advisor at the State Department, National Security Council and the Pentagon, and Executive Director of the Democracy Coalition Project. He was also the Washington office director for the Club de Madrid and continues as an advisor.
Mr. Piccone is a recognized expert on global democracy and human rights policies, emerging powers, multilateral affairs, and U.S.-Latin American relations. In 2017-18, he was the inaugural Brookings-Robert Bosch Stiftung Transatlantic Initiative Fellow in Berlin. He is the author or editor of multiple publications on international affairs, including books on Five Rising Democracies and the Fate of the International Liberal Order, and Catalysts for Change: How the UN’s Independent Experts Promote Human Rights. His legal career includes a clerkship in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey and as Counsel to the UN Truth Commission for El Salvador. He holds honor degrees from Columbia University’s Law School and the University of Pennsylvania and teaches international human rights law at American University’s Washington College of Law.
