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Democracy is under threat and its promise needs revival.

BRUSSELS—How ill is democracy and is it really dying? What are some of the remedies to the current problems? These are some of the questions that the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance’s (International IDEA) newly released flagship report The Global State of Democracy 2019 Report: Addressing the Ills, Reviving the Promise explores.

The increased prevalence of political transitions following internal conflict has seen heightened attention given to both transitional justice and constitution-building as fields of study and intervention.

A federation consists of at least two levels of government, each of which has a degree of autonomy that is protected by a constitution.

Countries with a federal system of government share powers between these levels in different ways, which affects their decision-making processes. The primary focus of this Constitution Brief is the division of legislative power, which typically raises the most difficult questions.

Open primary elections are elections within a political party in which it is not only the formal membership that has the right to vote, but non-members also form part of the ‘selectorate’.

The structure of open primaries varies from party to party. This Primer explains the key decisions and questions that political parties are most likely to face when considering or conducting open primaries.

With the aim to support evidence-based political finance reforms around the world, “The Political Finance Design Tool” is now available online.

International IDEA organized the Inter-Regional Roundtable on the Intersections between Gender and Political Finance in Brussels on 16-17 October 2019. The Roundtable provided a forum for female and male politicians and practitioners from about 20 countries to discuss the interlinked dimensions of gender and political financing and how they influence gender equality in politics at all levels.

IDEA Internacional organizó una Mesa Redonda Interregional sobre las Intersecciones de Género y Financiamiento Político en Bruselas los días 16 y 17 de Octubre de 2019. La Mesa Redonda proporcionó un foro para mujeres y hombres políticos a nivel sub-nacional, parlamentario y de partidos políticos, al igual que asesores políticos de alrededor 20 países.

The award by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize to His Excellency, Dr Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a welcome recognition of the major difference which determined and motivated leadership can bring to our world in times of turbulence and trials.

El premio Nobel de la Paz 2019 otorgado a Su Excelencia, Dr. Abiy Ahmed, Primer Ministro de la República Democrática Federal de Etiopía, es un reconocimiento de la gran diferencia que el liderazgo con determinación y motivación puede ofrecer a nuestro mundo en tiempos de turbulencia y pruebas. En su esfuerzo por hacer que el pueblo de Etiopía esté más en paz, y los valientes pasos para promover la paz con todos los vecinos de su país, el Dr.

There is no neat, one-size-fits-all global solution to the challenges posed by social media to electoral processes. Disinformation and polarising political views, undermining public trust, a lack of accountability and public scrutiny, personal data privacy, money in politics, foreign interference—these are just some of the issues that demand immediate international attention.

International IDEA’s Regional Europe Programme celebrated the International Day of Democracy (15 September) by co-organizing a high-level conference on ‘No Democracy without Accountability’, at the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels on 17 September 2019.

This Primer discusses independent regulatory and oversight institutions. These are public bodies, politically neutral and independent from the three main branches of government, whose purpose is to ensure the integrity—and improve the quality and resilience—of democratic governance.

This primer discusses the constitutional rules for choosing presidents in countries where the president exercises significant governance powers. This includes both: (a) countries where presidents perform the functions of both head of state and chief executive; and (b) countries where presidents, although required to share power with a prime minister who is responsible to the legislature, nevertheless have an active role in governance and more than merely formal or ceremonial powers.

International IDEA, the Community of Democracies, the Organization of American States and the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) will hold the 8th High Level Meeting of the Inter-Regional Dialogue on Democracy (IRDD), and the International Conference on “Achieving Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions: The Role of Global and Regional Intergovernmental Organizations and Civil Society Actors”.

Transforming Our World is the title of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Four years into its implementation, how transformative has it really been?

Transformando nuestro mundo es el título de la Agenda 2030 para el Desarrollo Sostenible. Cuatro años después de su implementación, ¿qué tan transformadora ha sido realmente?

The key findings on tracking the progress on SDG 16 using the Global State of Democracy Indices data are as follows:

Over the past decade, technology, such as Biometric Voter Registration (BVR), has risen to meet complex electoral challenges. BVR measures and analyses a voter’s unique physical characteristics to verify their identify and their eligibility to vote.

Free, fair and trusted elections provide legitimacy to governments and ensure the genuine expression of the will of the people. Electoral justice guarantees electoral processes are conducted with integrity and that mechanisms exist to restore electoral integrity when it has been violated.