Institute for Sustainable Democracy

Institute for Sustainable Democracy was found in 2016 during the rapid rise of extremism and far-right populism in the region. The Institute aims to support sustainable democracy which, for us, means a system that opens up opportunities to engage with all citizens. It is a system of participatory mechanisms that supports democracy and educates about democracy. The modern world is a labyrinth of old and new, formal and informal, open and closed mechanisms. We believe that a more sustainable and viable democracy requires the rationalisation of these mechanisms, i.e. purposeful and thoughtful support and formalisation of new structures, while opening up old ones. The Institute is an initiative of people who believe in truly participatory democracy and want to maintain it via rational decision-making. We have members with diverse backgrounds - we are not united by age or region, but by a vision of stable, open and modern democratic mechanisms. We support research, activism and youth participation. The founders are two girls – only high-school students that could not only watch the rising support of young people to the extremist political party in Slovakia, but decided to speak up. Since 2016, the organisation expanded to 26 active members. All of the members attended the organisation's activities and decided to contribute to the organisation's idea – promote and ensure sustainable democratic processes in Europe. Therefore, the Institute consists of young people only – young professionals, university students and high-school students that are all volunteers.