NIGD aims at promoting worldwide democratization at all levels. NIGD’s predecessor, the Finnish follow-up process (1995-1997) to the UN Secretary-General’s reports (issued annually since 1995) organized seminars and issued publications supporting regional democratization mainly in Eastern Europe and Russia. In 1998, NIGD extended its agenda to incorporate both research and more practically oriented projects concerning the transnational impacts of democratization in areas also outside Europe. NIGD focuses on the impacts of globalization on democratization and, normatively, on democratisizing globalization. NIGD works both through the United Nations as well as the global sphere to democratize globalization.