World Forum for Democracy 2013, Strasbourg, 27-29 November

Online Registration for the World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg, 27-29 November 2013

The participant's online registration for the World Forum for Democracy 2013 at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, is now open: http://www.coe.int/en/web/world-forum-democracy/registration. The World Forum for Democracy with the title "Rewiring democracy - connecting institutions and citizens in the digital age" will be held on 27-29 November 2013.

The Forum will critically examine the promise of Internet-enabled political participation to remedy the worrying trends of disengagement and lack of trust in modern democracies. It will look into the opportunities and risks of a number of participatory initiatives and test their solidity and longevity in an open debate with elected politicians. The conclusions of the Forum should help to better identify the challenges faced by democratic institutions, political parties and leaders, and to recommend actions that might need to be taken at various levels to enhance the benefits of digital participation platforms and limit the risks their use may entail.

Discussions will take place in labs which will focus on achievement, issues and concerns around specific e-democracy phenomena as a starting point, leading to exchanges on broader issues. The labs will feature prominent politicians as well as other discussants with backgrounds in academia, activism, and media. The most promising initiatives, voted by participants, will be given further visibility by the Council of Europe and its partners after the Forum.

Various events and debates will also be organised by the Alsace region and the city of Strasbourg in the run-up to the Forum from 23-27 November 2013. For more information about the World Forum for Democracy 2013, please visit our website (http://www.coe.int/en/web/world-forum-democracy/home). The deadline for registration is 15 October 2013.