This by @JimGoldgeier and @BWJ777 on why the democracy summit is not a good idea is an important well argued piece which I half agree with. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2020-12-14/democracy-summit-not-what-doctor-ordered 1/9

Bruce and Jim document the myriad of problems with a summit. Who is in and out? How it will bump up against important interests in the bilateral relationships? What the deliverables will be. My own view having been involved with some version of this idea for 15 years is...2/9

...that these problems are insurmountable. Political gravity means it'll be inclusive and that will pull it toward the lowest common denominator & ineffectiveness. Some core allies, like France, also have concerns about a summit packaged as being about a crisis of democracy.

I also agree with Jim and Bruce that the Biden admin should just get to work and start working with other democracies. Where I disagree though is that this is mainly through existing structures and continuous with what went before-- this is not enough imo. 4/9

Biden could launch a blizzard of mission/ outcome oriented initiatives with democracies modeled on the Proliferation Security Initiative. Get the key technology players together to develop alternatives to Huawei. Develop new rules on tax and industrial policy with Europe. 5/9

Build a coalition to respond collectively to acts of coercion by authoritarian powers. Do the same on election interference. Deepen cooperation on global public health. Get serious about democratic backsliding in allied countries. 6/9

Move on lots of fronts simultaneously and have it amount to a strategy of working more closely with democracies. That would be different to what went before but it would also avoid the pitfalls of a major summit. It would be nimble and focused on results. 7/9

I also don't agree that the world is waiting for the US to earn its way back. The allied officials I talk to are generally glad to see the back of Trump and some are concerned about where the US is headed but the last thing they want is a period of navel gazing 8/9

The core allies want activity designed to produced mutually beneficial outcomes. They may differ on what those outcomes are but the common thread is action, not meetings or too much self reflection. 9/9