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International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building provides a retrospective account of constitutional transitions around the world, the issues that drive them, and their implications for national and international politics.

Money is a necessary component of any democracy: it enables political participation, campaigning and representation. However, if it is not effectively regulated, it can undermine the integrity of political processes and institutions, and jeopardize the quality of democracy. Therefore, regulations related to the funding of political parties and election campaigns, commonly known as political finance, are a critical way to promote integrity, transparency and accountability in any democracy.

Sweden, represented by Mr Robert Rydberg, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Ambassador Niklas Kebbon, Head of Department for International Law, Human Rights and Treaty Law, handed over the Chairship of International IDEA to the Australian Ambassador to Sweden, Mr Bernard Philip, at the Council of Member States meeting held on 1 December 2020.

This GSoD In Focus provides a brief overview of the global state of democracy at the end of 2019, prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, and assesses some of the preliminary impacts that the pandemic has had on democracy globally in 2020. 

Key findings include: 

El 1 de diciembre de 2020, la sesión del Consejo de Estados Miembros nombró a siete nuevos miembros para la Junta de Asesores por un período de tres años, desde 2021 hasta 2023.

IDEA Internacional se complace en dar la bienvenida a los nuevos miembros de la junta y espera trabajar estrechamente con ellos en los próximos años. A partir del 1 de enero de 2021, la Junta de Asesores de IDEA Internacional incluirá:

On 1 December 2020, the Council of Member States session appointed seven new Members to the Board of Advisers for three-year terms from 2021 to 2023.

As the world watches the United States’ elections unfold, the intensity of our polarization is on display. This election was not marked by apathy. On the contrary—citizens turned out in record numbers, some standing in lines all day, to exercise their franchise with powerful determination and the conviction of their choice.

The Center on International Cooperation (CIC) at New York University has recently published a Briefing by Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora, the Secretary-General of the International IDEA and Sarah Cliffe, CIC, and Nendirmwa Noel.

In celebration of the International Day of Democracy, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), the European Partnership for Democracy, the European Endowment for Democracy, the European Network of Political Foundations and Carnegie Europe co-hosted together with the European Parliament a four-day conference that consisted of a series of online events marked as "International Democracy Week – Overcoming Adversity, Innovating Democracy".

"Election observation" is a term often thrown around too liberally these days.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this commentary are those of the author. This commentary is independent of specific national or political interests. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the institutional position of International IDEA, its Board of Advisers or its Council of Member States.

The right to vote in an election is one essential part of the democratic process. International standards on elections and democratic theorists attest that everyone should be equal before the ballot box. Democracy should be the greater levele

Similar to elections and other democratic processes, the global COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impact on international election observation. In this podcast we discuss the changing nature of international election observation during and beyond the pandemic. Will election observation ever go back to the old normal? How was election observation changing even before the pandemic struck?

Below is the abstract of the article published in The ELECTION LAW JOURNAL (Volume 19, Number 3, 2020) authored by Sead Alihodzic, Senior Programme Manager in the Electoral Processes Programme, International IDEA and Toby S. James, Professor of politics and public policy in the School of Politics, Philosophy, Language, and Communication Studies at the University of East Anglia, UK.

In several countries, political parties are stepping up their digital presence in the online world. This creates opportunities for political parties to reach a wider potential audience or membership base. Digitalization has been an ongoing process in political parties across the globe, and the current pandemic is likely to accelerate this process.

As the COVID-19 pandemic is unfolding, with a second wave of infections already being experienced by various countries, a wide range of approaches are being taken by authorities

Determined to strengthen its support to democracy practitioners who face ever-increasing risks in the organization of elections, International IDEA provides open access to its Electoral Risk Management Tool (ERM Tool) source codes.  With this initiative, the Institute encourages users to further customize the instrument to their needs and share any improvements with their peers.

Interim governance arrangements are an institutional framework established to create a ‘bridge’ from a situation of governance that has been interrupted by political or violent crisis often situated in an authoritarian past, towards a more peaceful, inclusive and democratic government. 

This Report provides an understanding of how temporary governance during major political transitions is structured and how it works in practice.

The inclusion and participation of combatants in constitution-building processes raises a number of distinctive issues.

Constitutional INSIGHTS No. 5 examines the rationales for including combatants in constitution-building, the challenges this presents and some of the mechanisms that might be used to support their participation in constitution-building processes.

Direct public participation is a feature of almost every exercise in constitution-building in the 21st century.

This issue of Constitutional INSIGHTS examines three different forms of direct public participation in constitution-building—consultation, deliberation and decision-making—and identifies ways to promote inclusive and meaningful direct public participation.