Institutions of Democracy – 1998 – The ACE Project
The ACE Electoral Knowledge Network, originally the ACE Project, is the world’s largest online community and repository of election knowledge, providing practical resources on electoral administration and democratic processes. Founded in 1998 by a coalition of International IDEA, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, and the United Nations, it brings together international partners to share expertise, research, and guidance for credible and transparent elections.
In this recording, Dr. Therese Pearce Laanela discusses both her role in the founding of the ACE Project, including her involvement with drafting the initial resources shared worldwide, to the later impacts of ACE on election management around the world and how the project has grown and changed over the years.
Dr. Therese Pearce Laanela is the Head of Electoral Processes at International IDEA. She has 34 years of practical and policy-level experience in elections – from fieldwork to headquarters. She served as a founding staff member at International IDEA and as Assistant Director for the Democracy Program at The Carter Center (TCC). Through work with IFES, UNDP and IDEA, she has been deeply involved in the development of a variety of seminal publications, networks, databases and training curricula on electoral administration, including as a founding project manager of the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network, the BRIDGE course package and the Global Network for Securing Electoral Integrity. She has served as an election administrator, election observer, subject-matter expert, evaluator, and election assistance provider throughout the years, spanning all continents. Her PhD at the Australian National University applied regulatory theory to electoral administration, while her master’s degree from the University of Stockholm in the East Asian Studies Program focused on political financing and electoral systems. Her forthcoming book with Routledge is titled: ‘Trustworthy Elections: The Role of Electoral Management Bodies’.
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