A week after Americans demonstrated the empowering potential of democracy by electing their first African American President a new guide has been published to help people around the world conduct a health check on their own governments and institutions. It has been developed by International IDEA and was launched at a seminar in New York on 13 November 2008.
The methodology has already been used by countries as diverse as Australia, New Zealand and Bosnia Herzegovina to scrutinise the way their governments operate and draw up ways of making them more democratic. Assessing the Quality of Democracy: A Practical Guide draws from experience around the world to provide a framework that can be adapted to apply to institutions in a variety of local contexts. It is supported by a website offering links to previous examples, further information and expert advice.
One country that has used this tool is Mongolia, whose previous history of government suggested it was ‘least likely’ to move towards internationally accepted models of democracy. As stated in the Mongolia assessment report: “The national research team decided to use IDEA’s State of Democracy Assessment framework as it was deemed to be the most appropriate method for developing democratic governance indicators for Mongolia.”
H.E. Ms. Ochir Enkhtsetseg, Permanent Representative of Mongolia to the United Nations, shared lessons learned from assessing the State of Democracy in Mongolia at the New York launch.
From the left: Nic Cottrell, Keboitse Machangana, Ambassador Ochir Enkhtsetseg of Mongolia, Massimo Tommasoli
Photo © International IDEA
“Of special significance,” she remarked, “is the fact that our government has incorporated the outcome of the audit exercise into the country’s Millennium Development Goals mix, by uniquely creating a new goal, MDG 9, focused on Democracy, Human Rights and Anti-Corruption. In January of this year, the indicators for MDG 9 were adopted by Parliament, and our National Statistical Office has since incorporated them into their ongoing surveys. We expect to see the first results of MDG 9 assessment early in 2009.”
The Guide appeals to grass roots activists and others in and outside government as a user-friendly resource to help them build democratic institutions that work effectively, in tune with local temperaments and conditions. International IDEA also highlights the fact that the tool has already been successfully applied to countries as big as India, as small as El Salvador, as developed as the Netherlands and as under-developed as Malawi, supporting their point that “democracy has many stories”.
“History shows us that building democracy is a long and complex process,” says Keboitse Machangana of International IDEA. “We want these assessments to be a stage along the way. The conclusions should be shared with as many participants as possible, who can then contribute to the next step of finding and applying improvements.”
Professor Stuart Weir, UK Audit, speaks at the launch. Photo © International IDEA
“While most governance assessment frameworks are used as tools for either aid allocation purposes or the design of initiatives in one of the various domains of the democratic governance landscape,” remarks IDEA’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Massimo Tommasoli, “the main point of departure for IDEA’s methodology is the local ownership of the analysis and its relevance for country-level debates for democratic reforms.”
International IDEA has besides the nationally applied State of Democracy Framework developed an assessment framework that can be used at the local level: State of Local Democracy Framework. The local democracy assessment framework was piloted in 4 municipalities in Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya in 2004. This year, 2008, the framework is also applied in several municipalities in Yemen, Morocco, Egypt and Jordan.
The Guide is a detailed version and a companion to Assessing the Quality of Democracy: An Overview. Since 2000, International IDEA’s State of Democracy methodology has informed assessments in 20 countries, including some well-established democracies.
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