GCRD and UNITAR mark International Day of Democracy with policy dialogue on public discourse and democratic renewal
A new policy dialogue report sets out ten proposed actions for making democracy a lived experience of dignity, meaningful participation and credible hope.
To mark the International Day of Democracy on 15 September 2026, the Global Centre for Rehumanising Democracy (GCRD), in collaboration with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), convened a virtual expert policy dialogue on public discourse, democratic health and civic renewal. Contributors came from academia, multilateral organisations, civil society and government, and participants joined from 16 countries across four continents. The report of that dialogue is now published on GCRD Insights, together with a downloadable PDF and the full recording of the session.
Dr Margee Ensign, Chair of the GCRD Board, opened the dialogue by placing universities at the centre of democratic renewal. The keynote framing was delivered on behalf of UNITAR by Dr Jon-Hans Coetzer, who argued that democratic stress is less a constitutional event than a learning problem, one that calls for a learning response. Professor Stef Pukallus of the University of Sheffield then described democracy as a communicative practice, sustained by skills of discursive civility that can be taught and learned.
At the heart of the discussion were studies from Bulgaria, Pakistan and the United Kingdom using the Democracy Discourse Index (DDI), GCRD's international instrument for measuring empathy, civility, trust and democratic agency in public conversation. The studies were presented by Dr Lyubomir Stefanov, Professor Wajiha Raza Rizvi and Dr Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob. They pointed to a finding with implications well beyond the three countries: a calmer and more civil public conversation does not by itself mean that citizens believe their participation can change outcomes.
In the moderated discussion that followed, Peter de Clercq, Alexandra Severino of UNITAR and Professor Pukallus considered who is able to speak at all, and how institutions should act on evidence of this kind. Mr de Clercq proposed a fifth contextual condition, voice availability, which would qualify how confidently visible discourse can be read as a reflection of a society's wider public sphere.
Drawing on these contributions, GCRD has formulated ten proposed actions, offered for consideration rather than as agreed commitments. They range from testing voice availability and establishing institutional review cycles for discourse evidence to expanding university participation as a form of civic engagement. They also include preparing the first international report on public discourse across participating observatories, planned for the end of 2026.
Read the full report, download the PDF and watch the recording of the dialogue here: https://gcrd.org.uk/insights/gcrd-unitar-policy-dialogue-report
