Global Britain for an open world? – Executive Summary
Open societies around the world and the international system that supports them are under growing threat. This publication provides detailed analysis and practical ideas for how the UK can meet…
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Global Britain for an open world?
Edited by Adam Hug and Devin O'ShaughnessyOpen societies around the world and the international system that supports them are under growing threat. This Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) and Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) publication provides detailed analysis and practical ideas for how the UK can meet this challenge with a ‘renewed commitment to (being) a force for good in the world-defending openness, democracy and human rights’ necessary for ‘shaping the open international order of the future’.
This publication has been edited by Adam Hug (FPC) and Devin O’Shaughnessy (WFD). It includes contributions from: Rt Hon Alistair Burt (Lancaster University); Stephen Twigg (Commonwealth Parliamentary Association); Graham Teskey and Tom Wingfield (Abt Associates); Joe Powell (Open Government Partnership); James Rogers (Council on Geostrategy); Phil Mason (Independent anti-corruption specialist); Murray Hunt (Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law); Iva Dobichina (Open Society Foundations), Poonam Joshi (The Funders Initiative for Civil Society [FICS]), Sarah Green (FICS) and James Savage (The Fund for Global Human Rights); Kim Eric Bettcher (Center for International Private Enterprise); Rt Hon Maria Miller MP (APPG for Women in Parliament); James Deane (BBC Media Action and International Fund for Public Interest Media); Catherine Stihler (Creative Commons); Dame Audrey Glover (FPC); and Rafael Jiménez Aybar (WFD).
To see the full list of recommendations please download the publication.
This report was launched with a webinar on Tuesday 19th October, with the following speakers: Rt Hon Alistair Burt (Pro-Chancellor at Lancaster University and former Minister of State for the Middle East); Catherine Stihler (Chief Executive Officer of Creative Commons); Joe Powell (Deputy Chief Executive Office of the Open Government Partnership); and Yasmine Ahmed (UK Director of Human Rights Watch). The event was chaired by Adam Hug (Director of the FPC). You can catch up with the audio from the event here and the video here.
Articles in this publication
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Examining the importance of open societies to the UK’s ‘force for good’ ambitions
This publication comes at a moment of transition for UK foreign policy as Britain seeks to put into practice the Government’s Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy…
The importance of open societies to the UK’s ‘force for good’ ambition – A politician’s perspective
If all politics is local, then it is also personal. I did not become a politician because of some abstract theory. I became a politician because I was free to…
Soft Power and the UK’s ‘force for good’ ambitions
‘Soft power’ is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as ‘the use of a country's cultural and economic influence to persuade other countries to do something, rather than the use…
Bringing politics back in: The implications of the FCDO’s focus on open societies for diplomacy and development
What differentiates an ‘open society’ What are open societies? The famed camel comes to mind: open societies may be hard to define but they are easy to recognise. Given the…
The centrality of women’s political leadership to democratic governance, open societies, and human rights
Why does it matter It matters who we elect to lead our communities and our country. Their values and priorities shape our future. If all of those leaders have the…
Leading by example: Renewing UK democracy at home
The rationale for elevating open societies and human rights as a major British foreign and development policy priority is clear. There have been 15 consecutive years of declining civic space…
Countering authoritarianism
Since the Financial Crisis in 2007-8, democratisation has stalled and even gone into reverse. Authoritarianism is proliferating worldwide, including even at the heart of Europe. According to Freedom House, a…
Anti-corruption and open societies
It is not by accident that the most common metaphor in anti-corruption is the contention that ‘sunlight is the best of disinfectants’. It was popularised by soon-to-be US Supreme Court…
Supercharging UK support to the rule of law abroad
The rule of law and the Integrated Review The rule of law’s place in the Integrated Review is something of a walk on part.[1] Alongside a commitment to universal…
As a ‘force for good’, what could and should Global Britain do to help defend civic space around the world?
The UK Government’s stated commitment to open societies is unequivocal. In the wide-ranging Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy published in March this year, open societies are…
The link between open economies and open societies
The challenge of defending and advancing democracy around the world is intertwined with economic challenges facing the UK and other societies: “Open and democratic societies like the UK must…
Learning from autocrats: The future centrality of media support
The autocrats playbook “The playbook of “wannabe” dictators seems to have been shared widely among leaders in (former) democracies. First, seek to restrict and control the media while curbing academia…
Digital democracy
For digital democracy to succeed across the world, we need an open reformation in our democratic systems, practices and mindset. Far from radical, this is essential if we are to…
Enhancing electoral integrity in modern day society: A role for the UK?
Promoting and upholding electoral integrity around the world is an important way to support open societies internationally. It is an area where the UK can play a significant role in…
How open societies can save the planet: The environmental democracy approach
London, United Kingdom, late 2020: six select committees of the House of Commons call a citizens’ assembly to understand public preferences on how the UK should reduce greenhouse gas emissions…
Global Britain for an open world? – Conclusions and Recommendations
This publication has set out in detail the scale of the global threat to open societies and put forward practical ideas for how the UK can play an active role…