The International Democrat Union (IDU) is a centre-right international alliance of conservative, Christian democratic and liberal-conservative political parties. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, the IDU comprises 54 full members. It is chaired by John Howard, former Prime Minister of Australia.
The IDU provides a forum in which political parties holding similar beliefs can come together and exchange views on matters of policy and organisational interest. From this, they act cooperatively, establish contacts, and present a unified voice toward the promotion of centre-right policies across the globe. The IDU has some overlap of member parties with the Centrist Democrat International (CDI), but the CDI is more centrist and communitarian than the IDU.
The group was founded in 1983 as the umbrella organisation for the European Democrat Union (EDU), Caribbean Democrat Union (CDU), and the Pacific Democrat Union (PDU). Created at the instigation of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and US Vice President George H. W. Bush, the organisation was founded at a joint meeting of the EDU and PDU in London, the United Kingdom.
The IDU has several regional affiliates: the Democrat Union of Africa, the Union of Latin American Parties, the Asia Pacific Democrat Union, the Caribbean Democrat Union, and the European People's Party, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists and the (dormant since 2002) European Democrat Union in Europe. It also has an affiliated youth wing in the International Young Democrat Union and an affiliated women's wing in the International Women's Democrat Union.
Famous quotes containing the words democrat and/or union:
“The American doctrinaire is the converse of the American demagogue, and, in this way, is scarcely less injurious to the public. The first deals in poetry, the last in cant. He is as much a visionary on one side, as the extreme theoretical democrat is a visionary on the other.”
—James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)
“My Christian friends, in bonds of love, whose hearts in sweetest union join,
Your friendship’s like a drawing band, yet we must take the parting hand.
Your company’s sweet, your union dear; Your words delightful to my ear,
Yet when I see that we must part, You draw like cords around my heart.”
—John Blain (18th century)