This is a seminar to launch the book: "Challenges of Democracy in the European Union and its Neighbors" by Aylin Ünver Noi and Sasha Toperich (SAIS 2015). Democracy, which protects freedom and citizens’ rights more than any other form of governance, is in crisis. In recent years, it has been sorely tested in both the centre of Europe and in its periphery. Citizens’ trust in the European Union’s democratic institutions is waning. The EU’s ‘normative power’ – its ability to spread its norms and values to other states, and its ‘soft power’ – its ability to attract others to its point of view – are now seen as less likely to spread democracy within EU countries or to create a ring of well-governed states among its neighbours. Democracy and its institutions need to adapt to these new challenges.
Respected authors and experts will offer a fresh, transatlantic perspective on the challenges of democracy in the European Union and its neighbouring countries.