It’s 8:30 AM and Fatiha* is walking into the Moroccan Parliament. In a few minutes, she’s scheduled to sit down with her member of parliament (MP) for their weekly one-on-one meeting. Fatiha plans to propose a new strategy to increase the MP’s social media visibility. By 9 AM, Fatiha is at her desk putting the final touches on a Facebook update to publicize the MP’s visit to a local market, which falls in line with her proposed new social media strategy. “I have enormously appreciated the exchanges with [my MP].

Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) and NDI President Kenneth Wollack spoke about the relationship between democracy and global stability during the second annual Capitol Hill National Security Forum, highlighting the fact that non-democratic societies are more likely to harbor terrorists, experience citizen displacement that results in refugee flows, and engage in violent conflict than their democratic counterparts. 

The Open Internet for Democracy Initiative (OIDI) announced the selection of the first cohort of open internet advocates for the Open Internet for Democracy Leaders Program. The six outstanding leaders (see their profiles below) were chosen from nearly two hundred applicants, and represent a diverse group of global advocates from local civic, media, and private sector organizations that are passionate about protecting and promoting an open internet.

“Advancing democracy reflects our values and is an important means of advancing America’s interests and protecting our national security in a turbulent and often violent world,” said NDI president Kenneth Wollack in testimony this week before the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. This was a full committee hearing entitled Democracy Promotion in a Challenging World and the discussion was a broad overview of both the hurdles and successes in fragile states.