Caecilia van Peski

Peace and security specialist Caecilia van Peski examines democracy as more than elections: a functioning democratic society depends on citizens who can encounter difference, revise their assumptions and participate in strong institutions capable of checking political power. Drawing on her background in educational and cultural psychology, she connects openness of mind with education, access to information, civil society and the ability to understand perspectives other than one’s own. She also reflects on the role of organisations such as IARF in strengthening a culture of pluralism and democratic participation.

Van Peski brings these questions into focus through her work in international monitoring missions, including in Georgia and eastern Ukraine. Restrictions on freedom of movement, she argues, can quickly become restrictions on healthcare, justice, administration, inheritance and voting. The COVID-19 pandemic raises related dilemmas around digital inequality, isolation, privacy, contact-tracing technologies and state surveillance. The discussion ranges over democratic institutions and checks and balances, proportional representation, human rights, inequality, civil society, UN institutions, the Sustainable Development Goals and the tension between democratic deliberation and urgent global challenges such as climate change.