Although free and transparent elections in 2001 saw the return of democracy to Peru, a number of governance issues still need to be addressed. Many of these challenges can be traced to the 19th century, yet 10 years of centralized control and authoritarian rule in the 1990s only served to exacerbate the problem.
Following the release of the “State of Democracy” Assessment in 2001, IDEA formed the “Citizens for Good Governance” group, including respected politicians and members of civil society from across the political spectrum. In 2002, these citizens invested time and energy to develop a report entitled “The 'knots' that tie up Governance: Proposals for Good Government ”. This report drew attention to the following areas:
- Modernization and state reform.
- Decentralization.
- Political parties.
- Sustainable economic growth.
- Social policies.
- Civil society.
- The media.
Since the publication of this document, it has served as a point of reference for a series of roundtables with policymakers and other experts, backed by IDEA and the Inter-American Development Bank.
