Corporate Civic Responsibility in Safeguarding Democracy (#DEMCOR)
The project aims to map global business initiatives for democracy, identify what motivates firms to defend democratic institutions, and build AI-powered simulations to prepare firms against democratic erosion.
Projektbeschreibung
Significant gaps remain in understanding the mechanisms and motivations behind corporate democratic activism, hindering efforts to identify effective strategies to mobilize business allies for democracy protection. Meaningful collaboration between private enterprises and democracy advocates has been limited, with stakeholders often operating in isolation rather than engaging diverse actors.
IDOS has launched a program to strengthen corporate involvement in democracy protection, recognizing businesses as valuable non-traditional allies who can leverage market power and bridge sectoral divides. The approach reframes democratic stability as essential business infrastructure and risk management, emphasizing how democratic deterioration increases operational costs and market volatility. The initiative includes developing a comprehensive database of business-led democracy initiatives and conducting workforce experiments to assess intervention effectiveness, alongside creating educational resources featuring AI-powered crisis simulations to guide corporate responses to democratic threats. This coordinated strategy aims to harness collective economic leverage against authoritarian trends through shared knowledge and collaborative networks.
Events
- Panel: Rethinking Information Resilience: Alternative Toolkit, New Alliances. DW Global Media Forum, Bonn (July 2025)
- Panel: Corporate Civic Responsibility for Safeguarding Democracy, Berlin (November 2024)
Publikationen
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Autocrats and their business allies: the informal politics of defection and co-optation
Sinanoglu, Semuhi (2025)
in: Government and Opposition, first published 26.08.2025 -
Can capitalism save democracy?
Sinanoglu, Semuhi / Lucan A. Way / Steven Levitsky (2025)
in: Journal of Democracy 36 (3), 5-15 -
Countering information pollution to protect democracy
Sinanoglu, Semuhi / Anita Breuer (2024)
Policy Brief 29/2024