Topic: 2025 – Authoritarianism and Democracy
Country: Ireland
Delegate Name: Adam Bonde
Considering that 71% of countries are ruled under autocratic leadership, the Irish delegation is politically dissatisfied with the state of global politics. With our political regime being a Liberal Democracy, we believe in fair multi-party elections, robust protection of individual civil liberties, and an independent judiciary. The delegation of Ireland strives to strengthen democratic institutions worldwide. Though this is a fleeting goal, as a shocking 71% of all countries are autocracies, this number is growing. According to the V-Dem Democracy report, 30.8% of the 91 electoral and liberal democracies are experiencing autocratization from the inside out. This forced conversion to autocratic power is a result of economic inequality and stagnation, social fragmentation, and disinformation. This is why the remaining 63 democracies have the support of Ireland to guard against erosion of trust, political polarization, and executive outreach.
The delegation of Ireland aspires to preserve a rules-based international system. This would include stability and openness in the EU, the protection of human rights and liberty to free expression, political, economic, and social support for small democracies threatened by autocratic powers, and strengthening democratic norms to safeguard Ireland’s own political and economic environment. The delegation of Ireland advocates to other delegations that we collectively focus on Multilateralism through the UN and EU, support for democratic institutions abroad, particularly in developing states, human rights monitoring and electoral integrity programs, and digital regulation to prevent online manipulation and spread of disinformation.
The delegation of Ireland believes that it is integral to create a structure outline with methods to protect democracy in new and developing democracies, and old established democracies. The first way Ireland proposes to do this is to support electoral integrity by creating UN-backed monitoring missions, assistance in building independent electoral commissions, technology, and training for secure voting systems. The second method would be capacity building for checks and balances. This would be done through judicial training, exchange programs for legislative strengthening, and advising on constitutional protections for oversight bodies. The third method would be strengthening civil society, which would be done through funding for NGO’s, youth organizations, media, watchdog groups, and legal protections for the freedom of association. The fourth method would be addressing the root causes of autocratization. This would be done through supporting inclusive development programs, supporting digital literacy, media training, and transparent platforms, and emphasizing humanitarian standards and integration policies.
Bibliography
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Global State of Democracy Report 2024. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2024.
Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem). Democracy Report 2024. V-Dem Institute, 2024.
Freedom House. Freedom in the World 2024. Freedom House, 2024.
