Happy 10th Anniversary, IDEA!
Happy Anniversary! On 27 Feb., International IDEA turns 10 years old. At its founding, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, then secretary-general of the United Nations, said of IDEA: “[The Institute] will serve as a rallying point for all who wish to assist democracy. It will record the examples of effective ways to support democracy. It will offer a long-term view of what must be done to sustain democracy.” In its first decade, the Institute has grown from seven Swedish employees to 50 nationals from 30 countries; from one office in Stockholm to offices in four continents; and has issued some 100 publications in 10 languages for democracy practitioners. The men and women of IDEA look forward to continuing to support democracy worldwide during the next decade.
Arab women seek more political participation
On 5-6 Dec. 2004 in Cairo, Egypt, IDEA co-hosted a workshop on “Enhancing Women’s Political Participation through Special Measures in the Arab Region”. Together with its partners – the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the National Council for Women – the IDEA workshop provided a forum for more than 100 people to discuss the participation of women in political life in the Arab World and their role in democratization, and exchange ideas and experiences on increasing their participation. Read more
Peruvians debate democracy
Hundreds of Peruvians took part in meetings recently to discuss the National Accord’s future and electoral code reforms and to help launch a new book about good governance. The events were sponsored by IDEA and the United Nations Development Programme, the National Assembly of University Presidents, AcuerdoNacional and Asociacion Civil Transparencia. "Although the topics were diverse, the three events that we carried out in November and December had something in common: each represented the culmination of extensive processes of consultation and debate; thus, proving in themselves that constructive dialogue is possible, even in a politically charged context”, said IDEA Peru Director Kristen Sample. Read more
African political party dialogues move ahead
Political parties are key to democracy, but almost everywhere they face distrust from citizens. What are the problems and what can be done? IDEA is organizing systematic investigations in various regions around the world about the challenges to political parties. In late 2004, IDEA and its partners, Center for Democratic Governance and EISA, held workshops in Burkina Faso and South Africa to review the studies undertaken to establish facts about parties in selected countries in West Africa and in Southern Africa and make a joint assessment by party representatives and researchers (earlier in 2004, IDEA participated in similar studies for hosted talks in Central America with the Inter-American Development Bank and the Organization of American States). More workshops are scheduled in Africa, South Asia, Central Europe and the Andean Region in early 2005. The activities are part of IDEA’s global investigation into the external regulation and internal functioning of political parties. Read more
Relaunching reconciliation in Latin America
In Lima, Peru, as part of their joint project on Reconciliation and Democracy in Latin America, IDEA and the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights organized three discussions 28-30 Nov. 2004 on how to strengthen reconciliation processes in a way that will positively contribute to democracy-building and respect for human rights. More than 100 people from eight Latin American countries participated. Read more
IDEA helps promote African Economic Outlook Report
In Pretoria, South Africa, IDEA and the African Development Bank Group (ADB) launched the African Economic Outlook Report on 30 Nov. 2004. The event drew some 30 people representing government, the private sector, civil society organizations, research institutions, diplomatic missions and international organizations. The report is a joint publication of the ADB and the Development Centre of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The report describes current economic, political and social conditions of the continent. It also highlights Africa’s development prospects and attempts to address the major development challenges Africa faces. Read more
Update on South Caucasus programme
In the last few months of 2004, IDEA staff working in Georgia and Armenia wrapped up the BRIDGE (Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections) and the Voices of Georgia activities in that region, reports Armineh Arakelian, senior programme officer for the South Caucasus office. The projects lay the foundation for work IDEA plans to accomplish in the area in 2005. Read more
Does HIV/AIDS affect the electoral process?
The Administration and Cost of Elections Project – known as ACE – recently published a new Focus On theme dealing with HIV/AIDS and elections, based on a report by Kondwani Chirambo at IDASA (The Institute for Democracy in South Africa) and compiled by IDEA consultant Johan Lindroth. Since HIV/AIDS was first discovered in 1981, more than 20 million people have died from AIDS, and today one person is infected with HIV every five seconds. Africa, which has lost millions of youth and future leaders to the epidemic, is the continent worst stricken by the disease. The IDASA research project investigates the impact of HIV/AIDS on electoral processes as a key facet of the democratization process in Africa. The disease is undermining the legitimacy and effectiveness of South Africa’s democracy and its electoral processes, the report concludes. The ACE project is sponsored by IDEA, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, IFES-Democracy at Large, Elections Canada, EISA, the United Nations Development Programme, and Instituto Federal Electoral.
IDEA Board approves Programme of Activities for 2005–07
At its 28th meeting in Stockholm on 28-29 Nov. 2004, IDEA's Board of Directors approved the Institute’s 2005-07 Programme of Activities. The programme’s aim is to contribute to better design and effectiveness of key democratic institutions and stronger democratic processes, especially in newer democracies. IDEA will build comparative knowledge and expertise on: designing and reforming political and electoral systems and democratic institutions; assisting in the reform and development of political parties so they become more effective in making democracy work; developing electoral processes which enhance public confidence; using dialogue and inclusive decision-making to help build consensus; and supporting reconciliation and conflict management processes that build a social context in which democracy can become sustainable.
DID YOU KNOW?
- A new IDEA publication, The Implementation of Quotas: African Experiences, examines women’s political representation on the African continent, and shows how quotas have contributed to increasing women’s access to political power. Experience from Africa is encouraging: more than 20 countries either have legislated quotas or political parties that have adopted them voluntarily. The report includes 17 regional and country case studies, including Egypt, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Rwanda – the world leader with almost equal gender representation in parliament.
- Abdalla Hamdok, IDEA’s regional director for Africa, spoke at “Political Transition and Challenges for Democratic Consolidation in Africa” in Johannesburg, South Africa, 22-23 Nov. 2004. The sub-Saharan workshop, sponsored by IDEA, EISA and PARTICIPA, was part of a series of worldwide meetings to bring civil society organizations and other political actors together to discuss the challenges facing democracy and governance in advance of the Community of Democracies ministerial meeting scheduled for May 2005 in Santiago, Chile. IDEA’s previous work in this area includes similar meetings in Asia and Latin America.
- The Organization of American States and IDEA launched De Las Normas A Las BuenasPracticas: El desafío del financiamiento político en América Latina (From Regulations to Good Practices: The challenge of political funding in Latin America) in November 2004. Edited by Steven Griner and Daniel Zovatto, director of IDEA’s Latin American programme, the 407-page tome presents regulations and practices on political party funding in Latin America based on five thematic approaches: funding system, media access, accountability and disclosure, control organizations and enforcement regimes, and gender perspectives. Also presented are comparative analyses of three sub-regions: the Southern Cone; the Andean Region; and Central America, Panama, Dominican Republic and Mexico.
- To commemorate the world’s victims of terrorism and discuss how to fight terrorism within a democratic framework, Democracy for a Safer World, a project sponsored by the Club of Madrid, is hosting an International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security in Spain 8-11 March 2005. As part of its information materials, the Club included IDEA on its list of 47 research institutions, think tanks, international organizations and nongovernmental organizations. IDEA also was featured in a November 2004 National Geographic magazine article on how elections and democracy have spread across the world since the 1800s.
- Half of the words on Merriam-Webster’s Top 10 Word List of 2004 were related to democracy. Coming in at No. 9 was sovereignty (definition 2a: supreme power especially over a body politic); No. 8 had partisan (definition 1: a firm adherent to a party, faction, cause, or person); No. 4 featured insurgent (definition 2: one who acts contrary to the policies and decisions of one's own political party); No. 3 listed electoral (definition 1: of or relating to an elector); and No. 2 recorded incumbent (definition 1: the holder of an office or ecclesiastical benefice). And the No. 1 word for 2004? Blog (a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer).
*********
Grateful that its staff in Indonesia and Sri Lanka was spared, International IDEA shares in the world’s sorrow over the loss of life in the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The Institute extends its sincere condolences to those whose family and friends perished.
