A closed-door retreat bringing together emerging political leaders, academics, and civil society practitioners from democracies around the world — to think seriously and candidly about the future of democratic governance.
Across democracies, there is no shortage of conferences on democracy. What is missing is a space where the people who are actually practising democratic politics — young elected officials, civil society leaders, scholars — can sit together, off the record, and speak candidly about what they are experiencing.
The Global Emerging Leaders Forum on Democracy is that space. It is a small, curated, four-day retreat — designed not for speeches or panels, but for the kind of honest exchange that shapes how a generation thinks about democratic leadership.
The forum convenes participants from across democratic systems — with a special focus on the Global South — bringing in perspectives from Germany via our partnership with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung India. The inaugural edition is hosted in India, with future editions planned across regions.
"The conversations between elected representatives, scholars, and practitioners are too often fragmented across professional communities and national borders — and rarely happen in conditions that enable candour."
— Forum Rationale
Democracy is not just under pressure in one country. The next generation of democratic leaders deserves a space to think about that — together, across borders.
— Centre for Youth Policy, Global Emerging Leaders Forum
The average age of a head of government globally is over 60. In most national legislatures, politicians under 40 are a minority — and those under 30 are vanishingly rare. The median age of a parliamentarian is typically more than twice the median age of the population they represent.
This is not simply a symbolic problem. It shapes which issues get prioritised, which time horizons policymakers plan for, and whose lived experience is treated as politically legible. When climate policy, housing affordability, and the governance of technologies that older leaders do not use are decided by bodies from which young people are structurally absent, the representational deficit has real policy consequences.
At the same time, young people are neither passive nor disengaged. The uprisings in Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Chile, and across sub-Saharan Africa have demonstrated that generational frustration is politically volatile. The question is not whether young people will shape political outcomes — they will. The question is whether democratic institutions will adapt to channel that energy into durable representation, or whether it will cycle endlessly between protest and disillusionment.
The Global Emerging Leaders Forum on Democracy exists because the answer to that question depends, in significant part, on whether the next generation of democratic leaders know each other — across borders, across party lines, and across the divide between those inside formal institutions and those pushing from outside them.
The forum grows out of CYP's existing convening work — including the annual Youth & Democracy Conference, which has brought together young leaders, scholars, and practitioners from across the democratic world.
The forum brings together 30–35 emerging democratic practitioners from India and select peer democracies — selected for their leadership potential, commitment to democratic values, and diversity of country, background, and profession. No two people should come from the same silo.
Each session is built around a question that matters to young democratic practitioners right now — not abstract theory, but the live challenges of practising democracy in 2026, across different systems and contexts.
Four days. No lecterns. No speeches. Thirty people from across the democratic world in a room — and the conditions to speak honestly.
The inaugural edition of the Global Emerging Leaders Forum on Democracy takes place in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir. Future editions will move to other democratic contexts around the world.
The forum is designed to produce things that outlast the four days — outputs that extend its impact across democratic systems and borders.
The forum is by invitation — but if you believe you or someone you know belongs in this room, regardless of where they are from, we want to hear from you.
We are open to conversations with organisations, universities, and government partners who share our commitment to democratic leadership development — in India and beyond.
The Global Emerging Leaders Forum is organised in partnership with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung India — one of Germany's leading political foundations, working on democratic education, political dialogue, and youth engagement across more than 120 countries.
Shaping. Democracy. Together.
The Centre for Youth Policy is an independent, non-partisan research institution dedicated to the study and advancement of youth political engagement — headquartered in Washington, D.C., with a global reach.