The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) is organising Democracy Forum 2001 on the theme of "Democracy and the Information Revolution: Values, Opportunities and Threats" from 27-29 June 2001 in Stockholm. What are the implications of the information technology (IT) revolution for democracy and its core values? Will it, as some fear, heighten existing divisions of power and access within and between countries or will it serve as a powerful tool for reducing those inequalities? And what are the opportunities, values and threats of rapid information flow and access for democratic governance? These and other issues raised by the IT revolution are to be examined at the forum.

The event is being organised in co-operation with the governments of Finland and Switzerland, the Open Society Institute, the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the United Nations University/World Institute for Development Economics Research, and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

In advance of the conference, International IDEA has launched a Democracy Forum website, which includes a virtual library and discussion forums, at http://www.idea.int. For more information, contact: Jimm Lerch, Forum Co-ordinator, International IDEA, Str%26#246;msborg, 103 34 Stockholm, Sweden; Tel: +46 8 698 37 41/00; Fax: +46 8 20 24 22; E-mail: j.lerch@idea.int.