The Global Movement to Protect Democracy Through Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Illustration by Helena Pallarés

In February 2021, a group of Brazilian political scientists were concerned that the recent US Capitol riots of January 6 would provide a blueprint for the anti-democratic movement in Brazil. Seeking solutions, they dissected a Time magazine article, “The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Elections,” that discussed the diverse strategies and actors that played a crucial role in defending democracy in the United States. Most notably, they were influenced by a project from the voter database organization Catalist and research by one of its founders, Laura Quinn, that concluded that the best strategy for combating disinformation was tracking online disinformation and pressing social platforms to remove it. That insight inspired this group of Brazilian researchers to create a research and training project called Democracia em Xeque or ‘Democracy at Stake’. Starting in 2021, Democracia em Xeque’s research and capacity-building training on disinformation has played a key role supporting Brazilian media, the Electoral Superior Court and the Supreme Federal Court’s Disinformation Countering Program, and civil society in protecting electoral integrity, rule of law, and the legitimacy of electoral outcomes. As a result of its success, this effort is now expanding to support local electoral courts across the country.

This story is an illustration of how actors working in quite different contexts can learn valuable lessons and strategies from each other. Historically, cross-contextual learning has been a vital tool for innovation, from inspiring movements to architecting constitutions and governing institutions. People and countries alike are impacted not only by what happens within their borders but beyond them as well.

This is why the pro-democracy field needs to examine the current crisis of democracy through a multidimensional lens encompassing local, national, and global considerations. Today, one underleveraged strategy for bolstering local and national pro-democracy efforts is through vibrant transnational ecosystems that bridge geographic silos.

In the social innovation field, the connections between the local and the global have long been understood and championed. From inception, pioneering ecosystem orchestrators such as Ashoka, Echoing Green, and the Skoll Foundation designed platforms that provide cross-border channels for flow of capital, ideas, and relationships. And a range of actors from academia to businesses have invested in centers of excellence and incubation engines to support social entrepreneurship. While there have been some notable shortcomings of the initial construction of the social entrepreneurship ecosystem model, such as the emphasis on scale of reach rather than on systemic change, the model has played a key role in revolutionizing the social sector.

All social ills—whether in education, health, or economic—are embedded in their systems of governance. Addressing any social inequity therefore requires ensuring a strong governance system. Unfortunately, democracy, the best system of governance for human flourishing, has been on the decline for 18 consecutive years. Most alarmingly, satisfaction in democracy has precipitously declined in recent years in highly consolidated democracies such as Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Why is this happening? Our organization, Keseb, published a 2023 report that articulates five drivers of democracy’s deterioration: (1) economic change and persistent or deepening inequality; (2) rapid demographic changes due to generational shifts and/or immigration; (3) dysfunctional and unregulated information ecosystems that have calcified ideological enclaves; (4) cooperation between opportunistic populist leaders and political elites; and (5) cross-border learning and solidarity by authoritarian movements and leaders. Countering these drivers and reversing democracy’s alarming trend necessitates the mobilization of all segments of society including the media, private sector, citizens, public officials, and, most notably here, pro-democracy civil society organizations.

Pro-democracy civil society organizations are the foundation of a functioning and liberal democracy. Recognizing their immense role, we at Keseb are building an ecosystem for cross-border learning, collaboration, and innovation by civil society to (1) counter authoritarianism and (2) advance inclusive and resilient democracies.

Keseb, meaning “of the people” in Geëz, an ancient South Semitic language, employs a multi-pronged model bridging effective practices from venture philanthropy, network-building, and think tanks to fuel the pro-democracy movement by: (1) accelerating the pace of innovation by civil society organizations; (2) facilitating the transfer of knowledge and effective tactics between countries; (3) advancing narrative-building and case-making for inclusive democracy; and (4) strengthening solidarity among democracy champions across the globe.

Defending and strengthening democracy requires many types of democracy champions. And we believe there is a specific group of innovators that are especially primed for and in need of cross-border collaboration. Similar to social entrepreneurs, democracy entrepreneurs are innovators who are building 21st-century civil society organizations and efforts by employing a range of approaches, including community organizing, narrative change, policy advocacy, strategic litigation, civic education, and developing new civic technologies.

From our analysis, we have found four key characteristics that democracy entrepreneurs and their organizations exhibit. They:

• Envision and execute impactful strategies through novel approaches to existing tactics;
• Effectively balance short and long-term goals;
• Are adaptable, nimble, and resilient in highly evolving political contexts and threats; and
• Maintain accountability with constituents.

These characteristics effectively position these leaders and organizations to engage in strategic exchanges with peers in other contexts as well as to integrate new insights, due to their orientation to learning and innovation.

It is also important to note that a robust and connected transnational ecosystem is especially salient for democracy entrepreneurs who come from and who are working to uplift historically marginalized communities. These leaders are often on the front lines of defending and expanding democracy but are often underfunded and isolated in their national contexts, let alone globally. Yet, they are also the most targeted by anti-democratic actors and face the brunt of regressive policy agendas. For example, of the 177 defenders of land and environmental rights whose murders were documented in 2022 globally, over a third were from Indigenous groups.

In building a global transnational ecosystem, we believe there is immense opportunity in weaving deep connections across three diverse consolidated democracies combating modern-day authoritarianism: Brazil, South Africa, and the United States.

These three countries, with legacies of colonialism and slavery, yet with a vision for inclusive societies, are all engaged in the ongoing work of realizing their ideals. In creating and deepening relationships between democracy entrepreneurs across these geopolitically significant countries, we believe that the cross-pollination of insights and innovations can help leapfrog pro-democracy strategies in each of the contexts, as well as globally, while providing psychological fuel and solidarity among leaders.

To facilitate this type of deep and strategic exchange, Keseb has developed a fellowship program, which has supported an inaugural cohort of 12 democracy entrepreneurs and their organizations from Brazil, South Africa, and the United States. Aligned with Keseb’s mission of advancing inclusive and resilient democracies, fellowship partners are selected for their commitment to and their strategies for building diverse and cohesive societies with:

1. Free, fair, and trusted elections;
2. Diverse, representative, pro-democracy public leadership;
3. Healthy information ecosystems; and
4. Engaged and empowered constituents.

While the fellows’ organizations employ diverse strategies in varied contexts, their focus on one or more of these four democracy outcomes has provided the foundation for relationship building and exchanging of insights to inform both strategies for impact as well as organizational capacity building.

This essay series presents cross-border insights from the collaborative journey of inaugural Keseb Democracy Fellows over a one-year period. Our aspiration is to contribute to the pro-democracy knowledge base to inspire new innovation and increased transnational collaboration.

Free, Fair, and Trusted Elections

Ensuring not only free and fair but also trusted elections is imperative for addressing voters’ needs and expectations, holding power to account, and guaranteeing peaceful and legitimate transfers of power. While voting should not be people’s only experience of democracy, it is a cornerstone that must be defended and extended to ensure maximal participation. A system with free, fair, and trusted elections will have: unhindered and accessible participation by all eligible voters; an informed electorate; and an electoral process that facilitates equitable voter participation and a fair representation of diverse political beliefs and aspirations.

The specter of elected authoritarianism and divisive populism has put additional strain on both democratic institutions and on voters’ trust in electoral processes. Farbod Faraji of Protect Democracy in the United States and Flávia Pellegrino of Pacto pela Democracia in Brazil reflect on strategies to contain, counter, and sustainably prevent the re-election of authoritarian leaders. They focus on the need for broad-based coalitions to lead activities such as ensuring voter safety and countering cynical efforts to discredit election results and officials.

The authors also address longer-term requirements for structural change, especially reform of electoral systems that encourage division and hyper-polarization. Keseb believes that addressing this full gamut from short-term organizing in defense of elections through to long-term measures ranging from structural reform to voter education is vital.

Diverse and Representative Pro-Democracy Public Leadership

Building an inclusive democracy requires diverse leadership, and pathways for historically marginalized and underrepresented groups to enter traditional spheres of political power. Countering authoritarianism also requires public leaders who are well-equipped and fundamentally committed to democracy and its institutions.

In their essay, Lindiwe Mazibuko of Futurelect, Tainah Pereira of Mulheres Negras Decidem, and Erin Vilardi of Vote Run Lead shift from a superficial diversity frame to building truly reflective public leadership that is committed to and equipped to advancing an inclusive democracy. in which the government is composed of people who are representative of their societies. They argue that this necessitates nuanced leadership development approaches, building a critical mass of new leaders, and ensuring the existence of governing conditions that enable diverse leaders to succeed.

The authors share strategies from Brazil, South Africa, and the United States to achieve game-changing public leadership such as training for women to “Run as You Are,” challenging traditional leadership models and their acceptance of corruption and elitism, and shifting public narratives about the value of under-represented groups such as Black women. Keseb recognizes that supporting diverse candidates to enter public service is only one step. We must also change the rules of the game and public perceptions so that these leaders can excel in their public roles. With growing threats of political harassment and violence, we also believe it is critical to develop strategies to protect public leaders while working towards shifting broader culture of violence.

Healthy Information Ecosystems

A theme that causes significant anxiety amongst democracy champions worldwide is that of mis- and disinformation, and its relationship with decaying civic trust, hyperpolarization, and cooperation among authoritarian powers. Dysfunctional and unregulated information ecosystems have allowed mis- and disinformation to flourish, suppressed free speech and independent media, and brought extreme and harmful narratives into the mainstream. Changing patterns of media ownership, technology, and business models have contributed to a collapse in local media around the world, leading to effective “news deserts.”

While much attention has rightly been paid to the role of global information conduits like Facebook, WhatsApp, and YouTube and the need for tech platform accountability, there is a growing sense that solutions also need to be rooted in communities, both local and identity-based.

Gabriel Marmentini of Politize! and Jeanine Abrams McLean of Fair Count explore in their essay the potential for grassroots strategies to combat election-related misinformation and disinformation. They argue that direct connections with communities and targeted outreach to empower individuals can complement and enhance the impact and efficacy of policy-based tactics at the national and international level.

Keseb recognizes that misinformation and disinformation are pathologies related to broader challenges in information ecosystems. Tackling authoritarianism requires a range of interventions—both offensive and defensive—including investigative and truth-telling work. But building inclusive and resilient democracies cannot be achieved simply by truth-telling. We also need to respond to information deserts, and support individuals and communities to make sense of their own worlds through media and civic literacy. Vitally, we need to invest in positive narratives that support liberation and empowerment of vulnerable and marginalized communities.

Empowered and Engaged Constituents

Building an expansive understanding of the role of citizenship and pathways for civic action beyond voting is vital to a functioning and healthy democracy that inspires trust. A resilient and inclusive democracy requires empowered and engaged constituents (both citizens and non-citizen residents) who are able to hold power to account between election cycles and inform their governments and representatives of their needs and demands.

Áurea Carolina of NOSSAS, Tessa Dooms of Rivonia Circle, and Julian Walker of PushBlack urge us to go beyond our impulse to simply defend democracy, as though what exists or has existed is a satisfactory model for our societies. We must do the creative work of reimagining democratic practice and participation to invigorate and expand civic power, with a particular focus on democracies that are more inclusive, more people-centered, and more responsive to the needs and aspirations of all. With case studies from Brazil, South Africa, and the United States, the authors propose three strategies for unlocking people’s civic agency to engage in individual and collective action aimed at building better democracies: (1) setting the political agenda through people’s power, (2) rebuilding democracy through local institutions, and (3) democratizing the power to act.

In order to cultivate empowered and engaged constituents who are contributing to a diverse and cohesive society, Keseb believes that we need to invest in a broad range of techniques from civic education to efforts that hold powerful actors to account. And we should also push the limits of our thinking to imagine possible futures. We also need to reimagine the way that people participate through innovative, contextually appropriate, and responsive systems and approaches.

Our Invitation

Keseb’s experience in collaborating with our 12 inaugural Democracy Fellows, conducting field research, including interviews with 125+ experts, and convening over 1,300 democracy champions from 60+ countries in the last two years, affirms the strong demand for cross-country learning and collaboration by civil society actors.

The social entrepreneurship ecosystem, however imperfect, has paved the way for how we can build global infrastructures that can advance social innovation. Drawing upon these lessons, we can now build and strengthen adjacent ecosystems for democracy champions, not only to defend today’s institutions but also to give rise to a reimagined 21st-century democracy.

We invite you to join us in this transnational endeavor through reading this essay series and sharing your reflections.

Read more stories by Yordanos Eyoel & Andrew Clarke.