We are currently facing new challenges accompanied by the third wave of democracy of the 21st century. Most countries of the world have joined this wave, but achievements and difficulties are both still present. Therefore, democracy is not part of any single country or region, it is a universal value. The spread of democracy throughout the world shows that the concept of democracy should consider healthy democratic systems in the new millennium. The International Conference on Democracy in the 21st Century: Challenges and Ways Forward, sponsored by the World Society Foundation (WSF), was organized by the Independent Research Institute of Mongolia (IRIM) on the 9th and 10th of July in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, with additional financial contribution from the SDC Mongolia and University of Neuchatel, Switzerland.

The objective of holding this conference was to enable an academic environment for scholars around the world to engage with the idea of democracy itself. It aimed at bringing in perspectives that challenge the current debates in democracy and to gauge the ongoing changes in the democratic processes, specifically in Asia but also globally.

A total of 31 presentations were presented during the conference days. Additionally, three eminent speakers – Dr. Steven Fish of University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Ganbat Damba from the Academy of Political Education and Dr. Tapan Sarker of International Business and Asian Studies in Griffith University – graced us with keynote speeches to introduce main topics of the conference.  In total, there were 94 participants at the conference. Including 16 international scholars from 14 different countries, 15 Mongolian scholars. The conference was representative of different institutions including universities NGO, donor organizations, public organization, media and independent researchers.

The project team has started working on the Conference Volume in two language (English and Mongolian) which will be published in 2019.