History of IDEA

The world seemed to be turning upside down toward the end of the 20^th century. By the early 1990s, the Cold War was over, the Soviet Union had collapsed, the Berlin Wall had been demolished, the one-party state was falling out of favour, and military juntas were stepping down. Hundreds of countries were organizing elections for the first time, without any benchmarks against which to measure their efforts.

In January 1991, the Swedish Parliament proposed that its government look into the need for an institute on electoral observation. Meanwhile, in many countries, there was a growing concern by government officials and academics that the long-term processes and needs of democratization were being pushed aside by events and the immediate demands of elections.

Enter the International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance – IDEA. Launched 27 February 1995 in Stockholm as an intergovernmental organization with funding from 14 countries [1], the Institute was mandated with the responsibility of sustaining and promoting democracy worldwide. Although there were other groups in the early 1990s that concentrated on electoral observation [2], IDEA was unique in that it was to be the bridge between academic researchers and democracy practitioners in the field. Rather than do electoral observations, it was instructed to work with both new and long-established democracies, helping to develop and strengthen the institutions and culture of democracy. IDEA continues to operate at international, regional, and national levels, acting in partnership with a range of institutions.

Although many cities had vied for the opportunity to host the new Institute, the City of Stockholm submitted the winning bid by offering a historic mansion, located on an islet in Stockholm. The new Institute began with 10 Swedish employees, headed by Ambassador Bengt Säve-Söderbergh. Within a year, its first international employee (from New Zealand) had joined. Shortly thereafter, IDEA launched its first field office, in Costa Rica. Since then, IDEA has grown to 50 employees from 30 countries, and has added offices in Peru, Mexico, South Africa, Ghana, Indonesia and Armenia.

IDEA’s achievements in its first decade

• Produced more than 100 publications in 10 languages for democracy practitioners
• Facilitated in-depth democracy assessment, dialogue and capacity-building programmes in Nepal, Romania, Bosnia, Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Slovakia, Nigeria, Indonesia, Peru and Georgia, as well as regionally in the Arab world and in southeastern Europe
• Published more than 100 case studies on the use of quotas in Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe, and the Arab world to increase the representation and participation of women in politics
• Issued several handbooks to provide practical tools and guidelines on electoral systems, conflict management, quotas, and other issues related to democracy
• Developed extensive databases on voter turnout, elections administration and costs, political parties, and other topics for use by democracy practitioners, researchers and the media
• Conducted professional training courses throughout the world for election administrators and officials from developing democracies 
• Provided technical assistance that contributed to Peru’s first law on the regulation of political parties to make them more democratic and transparent
• Created a comprehensive questionnaire for local citizens worldwide to assess how well democracy functions in their own countries
• Sponsored activities in more than 28 countries for local, national, and regional audiences interested in democracy and electoral issues

The next decade

Although it is impossible to exactly predict the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for democracy in the next decade, IDEA will continue to be on the cutting edge of providing research and resources for democracy practitioners. In 2005-2006, IDEA will:

• Produce and disseminate user-friendly materials and advisory services, based on comparative experience on democracy building
• Bolster the building of expertise and networks of experts in specific areas of democracy building
• Provide consultation to democracy practitioners at the national level on such issues as referenda, constitutional reform, reconciliation processes and other democracy-related topics
• Work together with the international community to improve the effectiveness of democracy assistance and the democracy dimensions of development cooperation