Offering additional foreign aid, trade preferences, international development finance, security guarantees, debt relief, technical support, diplomatic engagement and access to international agreements Creating a ‘Democracy Premium’ of incentives for governments committed to democracy and human rights.
Acting with ‘Democratic Sensitivity’ by understanding the impact of UK decisions on a country’s democracy, seeking to do no harm and instead supporting openness.The UK should commit to ‘Doing Development Democratically’.Protecting the UK’s soft power strength and avoiding undermining UK institutions so that the UK can act as a ‘Library of Democracy’, a democratic resource for the world.Rethinking and revising the Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Bill and the Elections Bill over restrictions to the right to protest and vote and.Delivering a beneficial ownership register for property reforming and better resourcing Companies House, the National Crime Agency, Serious Fraud Office and HMRC and transforming or abolishing Scottish limited partnerships.A programme of domestic reform should include: The UK must get its own house in order.Working with like-minded donors, partners in the global south, and civil society the UK needs to seize democratic opportunities as they arise and protect progress in the regional leaders that can influence others. The UK needs to be more outspoken in defence of open societies – bilaterally and multilaterally – both in public and private, using all the tools available to it, even as UK aid has been cut back. UK engagement should build on a core of tackling corruption, promoting the rule of law and protecting media freedom, mutually reinforcing areas that can underpin a wider change to political cultures and quality of governance.
It must tackle corruption in the UK and its territories, protect the independent institutions crucial for its soft power and avoid restrictive new legislation that will harm human rights at home and undermine them internationally. As part the UK’s new approach to the world it should seek to be ‘Doing Development Democratically’ (DDD), a long-term integrated approach that understands the UK’s impact on countries and incentivises change through a ‘Democracy Premium’.
This 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’. First, Britain must be consistent in its principles both at home and abroad. Open societies around the world and the international system that supports them are under growing threat.
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