Also: Amsterdam AI, Budapest Lessons, Santa Marta's Climate Finance Declaration;
Welcome to the monthly newsletter of Democracy Local, a planetary publication of stories, ideas, data, scholarship, and events about everyday people governing themselves.
More about us here. Donations to Democracy International and its democracy community, which hosts our publication, can be made here. Please feel free to sign up here or subscribe to our Substack. Learn more about International Democracy Community events here.
Democracy Local is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to our Substack.
WILL TANGIER CHANGE THE WORLD?
As nation-states grapple with geopolitical gridlock, polarization, and institutional inertia, a different kind of diplomatic machinery is gearing up in Tangier.
From June 22-25, the historic port city of Tangier will host the 8th World Congress of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).
With thousands of mayors, governors, councillors, and civic leaders are expected to descend upon the Palace of Arts and Culture, the event is being framed not just as a networking meetup, but as the launch of a new era in which local governments explicitly govern the world..
The overarching theme for the 2026 Congress—"Times of disruption, transformation and resilience"—acknowledges a stark reality: the traditional UN-centric multilateral system is facing existential strain. While prime ministers and presidents bicker over wars, borders and economics, local governments are on the frontlines dealing with the immediate, visceral consequences of global crises.
Whether it is the literal heat of climate change, the rapid integration of migrants, or the deployment of emerging AI technologies in civic infrastructure, local officials do not have the luxury of filibustering. So they want more power, more agency, and more finance to govern. Local leaders are no longer content being the implementers of national policies; they are demanding a formal, permanent seat at the global decision-making table—a concept that UCLG leaders have called "networked multilateralism."
The Tangier Congress is not starting from scratch. It is the culmination of years of urban advocacy, arriving with heavy-hitting frameworks ready for ratification.
One framework is the Local Social Convenant. Building on the Pact for the Future of Humanity, a document produced at the last World Congress four years ago in Daejeon, Sotuh Korea, this initiative is an ambitious attempt to redefine the social contract between citizens and local authorities. The contract includes commitments to:
• A New Generation of Universal Local Public Services: Reimagining public utilities, healthcare, and social infrastructure as fundamental human rights, rather than commodities.
The framework moves away from the privatization or purely administrative view of utilities. It explicitly frames housing, health, food systems, culture, and digital access as "the new essentials" and public commons. Rather than top-down mandates, the plan promotes Public-Community Partnerships (PCPs), enabling local governments to co-manage public services directly with civil society networks and local residents.
• Care Pushing for care-centered urban planning that accounts for the informal economy, safety, and equitable spaces.
• More “Human Rights Cities.” The Congress marks the deadline for the fourth wave of this global campaign. Spearheaded by cities like Barcelona, Vienna, and Mexico City, the initiative pushes local governments to formally enshrine human rights frameworks directly into municipal laws and constitutions. Tangier will see a massive push to expand this network to over a thousand territories by 2030, bypassing reluctant national legislatures.
The movement expands standard legal protections to include the Right to the City. This covers emerging rights such as the right to care, public space, climate justice, and proximity (the "15-minute city" concept). Building on a network that has surpassed 100 localized member governments, UCLG has scheduled the ratification of an updated Global Charter-Agenda for Human Rights in the City during the World Congress.
• Mainstreaming the Lampedusa Charter. In a world increasingly hostile to displaced populations, UCLG is doubling down on the Lampedusa Charter for Dignified Human Mobility. The initiative aims to decouple the issue of migration from national security and border walls, treating refugees and migrants instead as active, valuable neighbors who require immediate civic inclusion and dignity.
• Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030 With the 2030 deadline for the UN Sustainable Development Goals looming, the Congress will feature an "SDG Corner." This is essentially a marketplace of proven, hyper-local solutions—from green transit overhauls to participatory budgeting—designed to prove that while nations are falling behind on the SDGs, cities are actually keeping them alive.
Could it change the world? Potentially, yes—but it depends on bridging the gap between rhetoric and systemic institutional reform.
If Tangier successfully pressures the UN and major nation-states to formalize the role of local and regional governments within the international system, it will go down in history as the moment global governance became truly bottom-up.
IF THE WORLD CUP WERE DECIDED BY DEMOCRACY
Bruno Kaufmann and Joe Mathews take the 48 nations in the World Cup football field, and tell you which 32 should advance out of group play and into the knockout stage. But they judge on participation, deliberation, accessible direct democracy, and local decentralization and agency. Welcome to the World Cup of Democracy.
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS BRUNO KAUFMANN?
The intrepid democracy journalist reported from Karakol, where water has become the word for democracy, and Vaduz, where a prince and democracy counter each other.
COLUMNS
In his syndicated column, Joe Mathews argued for the creation and selling of “democracy bonds” to fund democratic infrastructure. He also suggested the mayor from the film Jaws would be pefect for L.A.
ASIA DEMOCRACY CHRONICLES
Among the terrific pieces in the past month was this dispatch from northeast India about how displaced pastoralists are now custodians of the rangelands. Also, ADC went deep on youth demands for reform across Asia.
LOCAL DEMOCRACY SNAPSHOTS
Featuring Renca, Chile, Mayor Claudio Castro
DEMOCRACY TYPE OF THE MONTH: Energy Democracy
“Bhutan has adopted the framework of energy democracy for sustainable energy transition,” write Padam Kumar Rasaily and Ganeshman Gurung for the book series Energy, Climate Change & Sustainability in the Global South. The concept involves community participation, decentralization, and local ownership of energy resources, which are mostly hydropower. The paper explores the case of Aja Ney’s decentralized solar farm.
RUNNER UP: Franc Democracy.
A look at how Switzerland used an online process to allow its people to decide what their money will look like in the future, from Finance & Development newsletter.
READINGS
Ambassador Nina Hachigian, formerly the first U.S. Special Representative for City and State Diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State and first Deputy Mayor for International Affairs for the City of Los Angeles, writes for Just Security about the lessons for mayors from how the city of Budapest handled Hungary’s authoritarian regime.
Tens of millions people vote outside their country of birth or citizenship. Democracy Local reviewed an International IDEA report on the resulting challenges for local communities around the world.
An instructive comparison of municipal youth policies in Argentina and Paraguary.
Democracy Local’s review of Helene Landermore’s brilliant new book, Politics Without Politicians: The Case for Citizen Rule
Noema Magazine on Teacher Li, the new type of dissident, and the arrival of virtual civil society in China.
URBAN MERGER MANIA CONTINUES IN ASIA.
South Korea has just initiated its most significant shift in local governance in three decades. Faced with dwindling regional populations, the central government has abandoned its preference for small, autonomous units in favor of massive consolidations.
On July 1, a new "Combined Special City" merges Gwangju and South Jeolla Province. Seoul offered more than $13 billion to the merging localities. By pooling resources, the new entity adds capacity and strengthens its position with foreign investors, effectively acting as a mid-sized nation-state on the global stage.
The Korean consolidation comes on top of a similar wave of mega-regionalization in China, led by the Bay Area of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. Under the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan, covering 2026 to 2030 and approved earlier this year, local governments are now being graded on “scientific self-reliance.” City mayors are being tasked with creating "Green Channels" to move tech breakthroughs from local labs directly into both civilian and military applications.
THE LOCAL AI REGIME EXPANDS
As the EU AI Act moves toward its August 2026 "full enforcement" milestone, European municipalities aren’t waiting for Brussels. They are stepping up AI regulations—and making more of their internal AI work public.
In late April, Amsterdam updated its Algorithm Register with various publications and new tools. This included the city logging its use of the Github Copilo for municipal programmers and GGD Avatars (AI-generated videos for reaching low-literacy populations). Amsterdam’s AI leadership was also reinforced, with its ‘Amsterdam for All” AI Playbook being adopted by Eurocities network.
Crucially, the registry now lists algorithms that have been retired (like the "lead pipe prediction" model), providing a public record of failed or concluded AI experiments—a first for municipal transparency.
Meanwhile, Barcelona, following its CDFAM Symposium, has integrated "Understandable Operational Reports" into its municipal services. There’s also a clear mandate: Every digital service in the city must now include a one-page "Logic Map" explaining how its algorithms make decisions.
A LOCAL FINANCE DECLARATION FROM SANTA MARTA
The People’s Summit in Santa Marta (Colombia) produced a declaration this spring that is quickly becoming a democratic blueprint for local climate finance in the Global South.
Currently, less than 1% of global climate finance reaches indigenous communities directly. In response, municipalities in the Amazon are restructuring their data on indigenous land rights and, using the IBGE 2026 Digital Municipal Mesh, creating “high-precision territotries” visible to satellite monitors while also protecting them in local law.
The goal is for these municipalities to secure financing directly from global donors, bypassing national governments that may be hostile to indigenous land claims.
BUILDING PEACE BRIDGES
It’s been a busy spring for local governance in Azerbaijan. Baku hosted the housing-focused World Urban Forum. https://wuf.unhabitat.org/wuf13
And Gabala hosted the ltest round of the Peace Bridge Initiative, with community leaders, academics, and municipal officials from both Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The talks focused on demining border areas and reopening the Nakhichevan railroad segment. By coordinating on water-sharing and transit safety at the municipal level, these leaders are creating a "social root" for peace. The concept amounts to “Local Peace Pacts,” and is being watched around the world.
EVENTS
June 22-25. United Cities and Local Governments World Congress. Tangier, Morocco
September 15-17. CONSULCON, Munich, Germany
September 21-23, International Observatory of Participatory Democracy. Krakow, Poland
October 6-10, The 2026 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy. Gaborone, Botswana
October 12-13. UN Forum of Mayors. Geneva Switzerland.
Oct. 13-14, California Economic Summit, Long Beach, California.
Oct. 17-21. International City Manager Association, Long Beach, California.
DEMOCRACY QUOTES
“When states fail, cities become shelters. Democracy is lived daily, in our neighbourhoods, our schools, and our spaces of expression and culture.” — Jean-Luc Romero, Deputy Mayor of Paris
“Democracy belongs to the people. And as long as cities stand together and refuse to look away, authoritarianism will not prevail.” — Mathias De Clercq, Mayor of Ghent
SUGGESTED LINKS TO DEMOCRACY LOCAL RESOURCES AND PARTNERS
International Democracy Community
University College London Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.
Democracy Next
Federation for Innovation in Democracy-Europe and FIDE North America
United Cities and Local Governments
International Observatory of Participatory Democracy
ASU Participatory Governance Initiative
Taiwan Foundation for Democracy
National Civic League’s Center for Democracy Innovation
Journal of Deliberative Democracy
Local Government Information Unit
The Future of Where
Global Citizens’ Assembly Network (GloCAN),
newDemocracy Foundation (Australia)
National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation
University of Canberra (Australia)
Global Democracy Coalition newsletter
German Marshall Fund (Local Democracy)
