During a crisis such as a public emergency, the effectiveness of parliaments should be assessed by considering their ability to activate in a timely manner the necessary disaster management legislative framework, and to provide oversight to ensure that such legislation is applied by the executive in a necessary, non-discriminatory and proportional way.
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Russia’s war of choice has wrought enormous infrastructural and human damage across Ukraine. The international community broadly accepts the necessity of providing significant financial and technical assistance for reconstruction in Ukraine, but equally vital is the provision of concomitant support for Ukraine’s work to preserve and reconstruct its democracy and democratic institutions on its own terms.
The 2019 elections in Mozambique were preceded by two cyclones that directly and significantly affected the electoral process in the central and northern regions. In addition to the cyclones, terrorist attacks which began in 2017 had a negative impact on voter registration and voting processes.
This case study provides several findings and lessons learned.
Increasing authoritarianism in some countries, such as Russia, coupled with gradual democratic erosion around the world, poses an exceptional threat to a rules-based global order, and consequently to peace and prosperity. The invasion of Ukraine is the most blatant and tragic realization of this threat.
For more than a decade, a majority of Europe’s established democracies have seen the quality of their democracies stagnate—or even decline—rather than improve. Some show the clear erosion of democratic processes and fundamental rights; several have deteriorated to the point where they can hardly be qualified as democracies any longer. The arrival of the Covid-19 global health crisis has added to the strain.
African countries are still far from achieving women’s equal and effective participation in political decision-making.
This report assesses the ways in which the semi-presidential form of government can be best structured to promote stable, democratic and inclusive governance in Ukraine.
Gender inequality in the political process remains an important problem in all countries.
Women often have less access than men to the resources needed to successfully seek a party nomination or stand in an election, and political parties tend to nominate men to winnable positions.
Electoral reform is an integral part of democratic development.
Electoral management bodies (EMBs) need to become more professional if they are to retain the trust of voters.
This Handbook was developed for electoral administrators and those involved in reforming EMBs. It provides comparative experience of and best practices on EMB structures and funding models, as well as means for evaluating performance.
Politicians tied to a set of policies provide people with actual choices.
They attract like-minded activists, campaign in more focused ways, and build an attractive party label. Last but not least, they are more likely to succeed in public office.
Political parties in many countries are struggling to shift from personality-based or clientelistic-focused approaches—to more programme-based strategies as they reach out to voters.
The State of Local Democracy (SoLD) assessment framework is designed to facilitate a citizen-led and -owned approach to assessing the quality of democracy at the local level.
It is a practical resource for citizens to conduct self-assessments of democratic life in their locality, identify democratic strengths and weaknesses, and translate these into reform agendas for further broadening and deepening of their local democracies.
An effective electoral justice system is a key element in the unfolding of a free, fair and genuine democratic process.
Without a system to mitigate and manage inequality or perceptions of inequality, even the best management of an electoral process may lead to mistrust in the legitimacy of the elected government.
This 2005 edition of Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers covers women’s access to the legislature in three steps.