The Renew Democracy Initiative (RDI) is an American

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

promoting and defending

liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into diff ...

and the broader idealistic cause of

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

in the U.S. and abroad. Although based off of a centrist political perspective, it has issued materials covering a variety of viewpoints involving individuals of many ideological backgrounds. The group is led by the former

world chess champion The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 match ...

and

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by ...

. In the 2020s, the organization became known for its campaigning against

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

's administration of the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

in terms of actions such as the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

Overview

RDI was founded in 2017 in the months following the

2016 United States presidential election The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket ...

to strengthen liberal democracy by bringing together the center-left and center-right. The chairman of RDI is Garry Kasparov and the president is historian

Max Boot Max Alexandrovich Boot (born September 12, 1969) is an American author, consultant, editorialist, lecturer, and military historian. He worked as a writer and editor for ''Christian Science Monitor'' and then for ''The Wall Street Journal'' in the ...

. Members of the board include journalist

Anne Applebaum Anne Elizabeth Applebaum (born July 25, 1964) is an American journalist and historian. She has written extensively about the history of Communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. She has worked at ''The Econo ...

, and novelist

Richard North Patterson Richard North Patterson (born February 22, 1947, in Berkeley, California) is an American fiction writer, attorney and political commentator. Education and law career Patterson graduated in 1968 from Ohio Wesleyan University and has been awarde ...

. Over 120 prominent thinkers and leaders have signed RDI's manifesto promoting and defending the liberal-democratic order, including

Dambisa Moyo Dambisa Felicia Moyo, Baroness Moyo (born 2 February 1969)Moyo showed a copy of an official document with her date and place of birth as part of a lecture she gave at TEDGlobal 2013, Edinburgh, Scotland. is a Zambian-born economist and author, ...

Scott Turow Scott Frederick Turow (born April 12, 1949) is an American author and lawyer. Turow has written 13 fiction and three nonfiction books, which have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies. Turow’s novel ...

Larry David Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom ''Seinfeld'', on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seve ...

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

José María Aznar José María Alfredo Aznar López (; born 25 February 1953) is a Spanish politician who was the prime minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He led the People's Party (PP), the dominant centre-right political party in Spain. A member of the Fre ...

Norman Foster Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

Natan Sharansky Natan Sharansky ( he, נתן שרנסקי; russian: Ната́н Щара́нский; uk, Натан Щаранський, born Anatoly Borisovich Shcharansky on 20 January 1948); uk, Анатолій Борисович Щаранський, ...

Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (born 28 March 1936), more commonly known as Mario Vargas Llosa (, ), is a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and former politician, who also holds Spanish citizenship. Vargas Ll ...

Bret Stephens Bret Louis Stephens (born November 21, 1973) is an American conservative journalist, editor, and columnist. He began working as an opinion columnist for ''The New York Times'' in April 2017 and as a senior contributor to NBC News in June 2017. ...

, and

Bill Kristol William Kristol (; born December 23, 1952) is an American neoconservative writer. A frequent commentator on several networks including CNN, he was the founder and editor-at-large of the political magazine ''The Weekly Standard''. Kristol is now ...

. According to RDI's Values Statement "The core principles of liberal democracy that once defined a centrist political majority across the free world are being pulled apart as once fringe views from the left and right gain public acceptance... There is still a center in Western politics, and it needs to be revitalized — intellectually, culturally, and politically."

Projects

In October 2018, RDI released its inaugural publication, ''Fight for Liberty''. Taking inspiration from ''

The Federalist Papers ''The Federalist Papers'' is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. The co ...

'', the book features a collection of essays by contributors allied with RDI. ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' wrote, "The strongest point of this useful collection is the depth and breadth of its opposition to our current illiberal atmosphere...A valuable addition to the literature of democratic resistance." On March 14, 2019, RDI hosted a conference entitled "Reawakening the Spirit of Democracy" at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. Featured speakers included Democratic Senators

Ben Cardin Benjamin Louis Cardin (born October 5, 1943) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maryland, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was the U.S. representati ...

and

Heidi Heitkamp Mary Kathryn "Heidi" Heitkamp ( ; born October 30, 1955) is an American politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from North Dakota from 2013 to 2019. A member of the North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party, ...

, former Republican House Majority Leader

Eric Cantor Eric Ivan Cantor (born June 6, 1963) is an American lawyer and former politician who represented Virginia's 7th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2014. A Republican, Cantor served as House Minority ...

, political strategist

Donna Brazile Donna Lease Brazile (; born December 15, 1959) is an American political strategist, campaign manager and political analyst who served twice as acting Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). She is currently an ABC News contributor, ...

, and journalist Bret Stephens. In October 2019, RDI hosted a second event at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

titled "Democracy in America: Is Everyone In?". The conference addressed the current state of

political polarization Political polarization (spelled ''polarisation'' in British English) is the divergence of political attitudes away from the center, towards ideological extremes. Most discussions of polarization in political science consider polarization in the c ...

and

extremism Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied share ...

in the US, and featured RDI Chairman Garry Kasparov and CEO of Generation Citizen, Scott Warren. In the 2020s, the group became known for releasing informational reports against

's administration of the

in terms of actions such as the

. For example, an

online video Internet video (online video / cloud-based video) is the general field that deals with the transmission of digital video over the internet. Internet video exists in several formats, the most notable being MPEG-4i AVC, AVCHD, FLV, and MP3. There ...

centered on former U.S. Lieutenant General

Ben Hodges Frederick Benjamin "Ben" Hodges III (born 16 April 1958) is a retired United States Army officer who served as commanding general, United States Army Europe. He is currently the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Poli ...

released on 2 December 2022 celebrated the liberation of

Kherson Kherson (, ) is a port city of Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers appr ...

by the Ukrainian resistance, decried recent war crimes undertaken against the nation's civilians, and additionally criticized past

Germany–Russia relations Germany–Russia relations display cyclical patterns, moving back and forth from cooperation and alliance to strain and to total warfare. Historian John Wheeler-Bennett says that since the 1740s: :Relations between Russia and Germany...have been ...

for benefiting Putin, whom Hodges personally condemned.

Leadership

Renew Democracy Initiative's Board of Directors include Garry Kasparov, Max Boot, Anne Applebaum, Senator

Bob Kerrey Joseph Robert Kerrey (born August 27, 1943) is an American politician who served as the 35th Governor of Nebraska from 1983 to 1987 and as a United States Senator from Nebraska from 1989 to 2001. Before entering politics, he served in the Vietna ...

, Senator Heidi Heitkamp,

Ian Kahn Ian R. Kahn (born April 21, 1972) is an American stage, television actor and podcast host, perhaps best known for his roles on '' Turn: Washington's Spies'', ''Dawson's Creek'', ''Bull'', ''The Unusuals'' and ''As the World Turns''. He portrayed ...

, Igor Kirman, and Mark Lasswell. RDI's Advisory Board include

Asha Rangappa Asha Rangappa (born 1974) is an American lawyer, former FBI agent, senior lecturer at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, and a commentator on MSNBC and CNN. She was previously an associate dean at Yale Law School.' She is se ...

, Bernard Henri-Levy, Bill Kristol, Bret Stephens, Dan Benton, Daniel Hurwitz,

John Avlon John Phillips Avlon (born January 19, 1973) is an American journalist and political commentator. He is a Senior Political Analyst and anchor at CNN and was the editor-in-chief and managing director of ''The Daily Beast'' from 2013 to 2018. Avlon ...

Karl-Theodor Zu Guttenberg Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Buhl-Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg (born 5 December 1971), known professionally as Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, is a German businessman and politician of the Christian Soc ...

, Larry Tribe, Lisa Berg, and Whitney Haring-Smith.

References

{{reflist

External links

Renew Democracy - Twitter.com
Centrist political advocacy groups in the United States Criticism of Donald Trump Political organizations established in 2017 Russian activists against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Overview

Projects

Leadership

See also

References

External links