Responding to the World Movement for Democracy’s 2015 Call for Democratic Renewal, the formation of a dynamic coalition of democratic leaders was announced in a statement entitled the “Prague Appeal for Democratic Renewal.” The statement comes ahead of the annual Forum 2000 Conference scheduled for October 8-10, 2017, which members of the coalition and other prominent intellectuals will attend. The coalition was formed in response to the alarming democratic recession observed in established democracies. As a result, “widespread anxiety, hostility to political elites, and cynicism about democracy” have been on the rise, paving the way for undemocratic political movements and parties to proliferate. To reverse the anti-democratic wave, the statement calls upon the global coalition to support the renewal of traditional democratic principles and fundamental freedoms.

Established in 1996, the Forum 2000 Foundation regularly convenes world leaders to discuss democracy, and is a joint initiative of the late Czech President Václav Havel, late Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel, and others.