Are US and EU finally converging on democracy support?

Several years after democracy advocates began pushing for the EU and US to coordinate if not collaborate on democracy support, not least to the broader Middle East, is it finally happening?

 You can find out next Friday, November 20, at the House of Sweden, a rather swanky venue on the Potomac in Georgetown, Washington, DC.

Activists and analysts alike have tried to address the US-EU divide over democracy promotion, and some have assessed the potential of democracy assistance from a transatlantic perspective. Thomas Carothers, who will moderate the event, has written in the Journal of Democracy of what he characterizes as the EU’s developmental and US political approaches to promoting democracy.

The event is co-sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment, the Embassy of Sweden, and International IDEA whose blurb for the event is as follows:

With the arrival to power of the Obama administration there appears to be a lessening of the divide that opened up in recent years between Europe and the United States over democracy promotion policies and programs.  As both the new U.S. administration and a changing European diplomatic environment move forward, is a new convergence of U.S. and European approaches on democracy emerging? If so, what greater cooperation might it portend in this domain and what points of divergence will persist?

Jonas Hafström, Swedish ambassador to the United States, will make some opening remarks. Maria Leissner, Swedish ambassador for democracy, Vidar Helgesen, secretary general of International IDEA, Ingrid Wetterqvist, director at International IDEA, Pia Bungarten, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung representative to the U.S. and Canada, and Larry Garber, expert-consultant, USAID will discuss different facets of European democracy support and its relationship to U.S. efforts. Thomas Carothers, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment, will comment on their presentations and moderate the discussion.

The event is from 12:00 to 2:30 p.m., at the House of Sweden, 2900 K Street, NW, Washington, DC.