The ‘Democracy Talks’ is part of the Drive for Democracy campaign. Along with its international partners, Sweden co-organizes ‘Democracy Talks’, a series of interactive democracy-related talks to encourage exchange of thoughts, ideas and plans towards promoting and protecting democracy around the world.
The Drive For Democracy Initiative
According to the Democracy Index, Swedish democracy is among the highest rated democracies in the world all together with Norway, Iceland, New Zealand and Denmark.
That being said, it is no surprise that Sweden stands up for democracies across the globe. The Kingdom has been an extremely supporter of democracy and still does undertake extensive efforts to stand up for the fundamental principles of democracy worldwide.
The Drive For Democracy is a leading global initiative launched by the Swedish Government that stands up for the advancement of democracy. The Drive For Democracy initiative’s main objective is to promote and support sustainable democracy and to protect and strengthen its processes internationally, while also responding to the growing threats and challenges facing democracy nowadays.
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The initiative will help achieving its objectives through encouraging and supporting citizen participation, human rights, representative government, separation of powers, a functioning rule of law system, free media and independent institutions, Swedish Foreign Ministry emphasizes.
The ‘Democracy Talks’ Series
The ‘Democracy Talks’ is part of the Drive for Democracy initiative. Along with its international partners, Sweden co-organizes ‘Democracy Talks’, a series of interactive democracy-related talks that are taking place in several countries.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, the purpose of these interactive talks is to shed the light on the state of democracy globally and locally and to create engagement in conversations about democracy. The ideas will feed into a Democracy Talk in Stockholm in 2021.
‘Democracy Talks’ in Tunisia
The first ‘Democracy Talk’ in Tunisia took place on Sept. 15th, 2020 on the occasion of the International Day of Democracy. The Democracy Talk was organized by the Embassy of Sweden in Tunisia and its partner International IDEA, and it was hosted at the Swedish Ambassador’s residence in Tunis.
The Talk organized to share thoughts on the challenges to democracy in Tunisia. The discussion touched upon crucial points that play an important role in consolidating Tunisia’s young democracy. More specifically, the very little progress that so far was made on the implementation of the country’s Constitution at the legislative level. Entire sections of the Constitution are still awaiting application which is definitely a real challenge to Tunisia’s young democracy.
Taking as an example, the Constitutional Court, which is a centerpiece of the Tunisian institutional architecture, has still not been put in place. Similarly, a whole range of other independent constitutional bodies, including the human rights and anti-corruption bodies, have yet to be created. These delays leave much of the Tunisian constitutional design unaccomplished.
First ‘Democracy Talks’ session in Tunisia at the Swedish Ambassador’s residence. Photo credit: Fatma BEN HADJ ALI, Swedish Embassy. 
First ‘Democracy Talks’ session in Tunisia at the Swedish Ambassador’s residence. Photo credit: Fatma BEN HADJ ALI, Swedish Embassy.
An outstanding gathering of experts, journalists, representatives of agencies and public sector bodies have attended and contributed to the interactive talk.
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