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-Democracy Research News-
January 2010Welcome to Democracy Research News, the newsletter of the Network of Democracy Research Institutes (NDRI). The Network is a membership association of institutions that conduct and publish research on democracy and democratic development. It is also one of several functional networks associated with the World Movement for Democracy (www.wmd.org). This newsletter is one means of informing democracy scholars and others worldwide about the activities of and publications produced by NDRI member institutes. The newsletter will continue to evolve as the Network grows, and we invite readers' comments and suggestions of useful features they would like to see in future issues. Additional information about the Network and profiles of all member institutes are available at www.wmd.org/ndri/ndri.html. To submit comments or to inquire about joining the Network, please write to Melissa Aten ().
Subscribing to Democracy Research News
Democracy Research News is distributed exclusively by e-mail. Subscriptions are available free of charge by writing to ndri@ned.org. We encourage readers to forward this newsletter to colleagues who may wish to subscribe. If you do not wish to receive Democracy Research News, send the message "unsubscribe" to ndri@ned.org and we will remove your name promptly.
Contents
1. News and Announcements
2. New Publications and Recent Events by NDRI Members
2.1 Africa
2.2 Asia and the Pacific
2.3 Europe
2.4 Latin America
2.5 Middle East
2.6 Russia and the Former Soviet Union
2.7 United States and Canada
1. NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Journal of Democracy Celebrates 20th Anniversary:The January 2009 issue of the Journal of Democracy marks twenty years since the Journal printed its first edition. The issue features two clusters of articles. “Democracy’s Past and Future” contains articles by some of democracy’s most prestigious scholars, including “Still Bowling Alone? The Post-9/11 Split” by Thomas H. Sander and Robert D. Putnam; “Twenty-Give Years, Fifteen Findings” by Philippe C. Schmitter; “Schmitter’s Retrospective: A Few Dissenting Notes” by Guillermo O’Donnell; “Transitions to the Rule of Law” by Francis Fukuyama; “The Crash of ‘08” by Laurence Whitehead; “Why Democracy Needs a Level Playing Field” by Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way; and “Authoritarianism’s Last Line of Defense” by Andreas Schedler. The Journal’s coeditors, Marc F. Plattner and Larry Diamond, contributed “Populism, Pluralism, and Liberal Democracy” and “Why Are There No Arab Democracies?” respectively. An overview essay that traces the Journal’s 20-year history is also available.
A second cluster, “Twenty Years of Postcommunism,” features articles on “In Search of a New Model” by Jacques Rupnik; “Deepening Dissatisfaction” by Ivan Krastev; “The Other Transition” by Alina Mungiu-Pippidi; “Citizenship Restored” by Vladimir Tismaneanu; “Freedom and the State” by Ghia Nodia; “Georgia’s Soviet Legacy" by Charles H. Fairbanks, Jr.; and “What’s the Matter with Russia?” by Lilia Shevtsova.
Carnegie Moscow Center Celebrates 15th Anniversary:
The Carnegie Moscow Center (Russia) celebrated its 15-year anniversary at the end of 2009. The Center released a commemorative brochure entitled “15 Years: Crossroads and Horizons” to mark the occasion. The brochure includes a detailed history of the Center and plans for its future. Explanations of each of the Center’s functions and its publications such as the newsletter and the Pro et Contra journal are included. Significant events in the Center’s history are highlighted, such as its role in the elections of 1996 and 2000 and a regional monitoring program that began in 2005. Readers will also find many pictures of the Center’s staff and Moscow.
Rights & Democracy (Canada) Mourns Death of President Rémy M. Beauregard:
Rights & Democracy is mourning the sudden death of its president, Rémy M. Beauregard, who passed away on January 8, 2010. Mr. Beauregard led a distinguished career in the promotion and protection of human rights in Canada and internationally. In addition to serving as Rights & Democracy’s President since July 2008, Mr. Beauregard had also served as the executive director of Ontario Human Rights Commissions and “work[ed] with United Nations agencies and civil society organizations for the establishment of national human rights institutions in numerous developing countries.” More information about Mr. Beauregard can be found here. On behalf of the Network of Democracy Research Institutes, the editors of this newsletter would like to offer our deepest condolences to Mr. Beauregard’s family and the staff of Rights & Democracy.
NDRI Welcomes A New Member:
We are pleased to welcome the following new member of the research network (whose activities are reported in the appropriate geographic section of this newsletter):
• the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISS), an independent, non-partisan research center that seeks to generate positive alternative scenarios for the political, economic, and social transformation of the country.
2. New Publications and Recent Events by NDRI Members
Africa
Since the last issue of Democracy Research News, Afrobarometer added three Working Papers to its website. The December 2009 paper on “Do Voters Have Different Attitudes toward Corruption? The Sources and Implications of Popular Perceptions and Tolerance of Political Corruption,” by Eric Chang and Nicholas Kerr, “makes an important conceptual distinction between perceptions and tolerance of corruption, and argues that voters form their attitudes toward corruption based upon their insider or outsider status.” The October 2009 paper on “Vote-Buying and Political Behavior: Estimating and Explaining Vote-Buying's Effect on Turnout in Kenya,” by Eric Kramon, examines “the strategic logic of vote-buying in Kenya,” how widespread the problem is, and whether it actually influences the vote since voting is secret. Finally, “Support You Can Count On? Ethnicity, Partisanship, and Retrospective Voting in Africa,” written by Daniel Young in October 2009, explores how strongly ethnic ties influence voting patterns and argues that citizens tend to vote most reliably along party, rather than ethnic, lines—which points to a more sophisticated voting class than previously thought. The full list of Afrobarometer’s Working Papers can be found here.Afrobarometer also recently published several Briefing Papers, including a November 2009 paper based on a survey on “Proportional Representation and Popular Assessments of MP Performance in South Africa: A Desire for Electoral Reform?” that finds that South Africans are neither overwhelmingly satisfied nor dissatisfied with the selection system for parliamentarians and that electoral reform does not rank among citizens’ top priorities. Maxton Grant Tsoka’s “Spot the Difference: A Comparison of Presidents and Governments’ Performance Since 1999 in Malawi,” published in November 2009, finds that of the two presidents that have served Malawi since the country’s multi-party system began in 1994, Malawians decisively favor the current president but have become more polarized in their outlook on the government. Also released in November 2009, “A Country Turning Blue?: Political Party Support and the End of Regionalism in Malawi,” by Maxton Grant Tsoka, states that the regionalism in Malawi is not as deeply entrenched as many have previously believed and that the country has developed a healthy multi-party system with voting based on various factors. Finally, “Popular Opinions of Democracy in Liberia, 2008,” written by Lexi Schetel and Daniel Armah-Attoh and published in October 2009, finds that the overwhelming majority of Liberians see democracy as the only legitimate form of government.
On November 24, 2009, the Liberia Democracy Watch announced a new Expedited Vote Tabulation Project. The project is being launched amidst a thickening atmosphere of election fraud and irregularities in order to diminish the chances of violence or contestations that could stem from administrative crises or slow election results. As Liberia edges toward the critical election of 2011, LDW anticipates the further development of the Expedited Vote Tabulation Project in order to ease tensions surrounding the election period.
The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD, Nigeria) published a December 2009 paper on “Vision 20-2020 and Nigeria’s Poverty Eradication Strategy: Re-Energising the Policy Agenda.” The article details the Nigerian government’s plan to develop the economy into one of the top 20 in the world by 2020. However, in the year since the government unveiled its plan, little tangible evidence can be found that this plan is being implemented. Civil society feels that it must play a role in reducing poverty, increasing economic vitality, and helping the country reach the UN’s Millennium Development Goals in order to make the plan a reality.
On November 26, 2009, the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (along with the UNDEF and JOY FM) held a Public Lecture on Constitutional Reforms featuring H. Kwasi Prempeh, who spoke about “Framing a Constitution of Ghana for the Twenty-First Century: Averting the Peril of a Constitution without Constitutionalism.” Mr. Prempeh discussed the successes that Ghana’s democracy has achieved since its consolidation in 1993 but argues that successful elections are not the only decisive factor in ensuring the continuation of democracy. He calls for a review of the existing constitution to ensure adherence, decentralization, and a limitation of executive powers. He warns that this process must not be taken advantage of by political parties looking out for their best interests.
The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS, South Africa) released an October 2009 Research Report on “Democratising Regional Integration in Southern Africa: SADC National Committees as Platforms for Participatory Policy-Making,” by Ogochukwu Nzewi and Lungi Zakwe, which “examines public participation and democratisation in the [South African Development Community] (SADC) by investigating SADC National Committees (SNCs) as institutions that support regional participatory policy development.” The authors hope the findings of the research will cultivate more productive SNCs in order to encourage more participation in the policy-making process among the citizenry and civil society.
CPS also published an August 2009 Policy Brief by Khehla Shubane on “Winners and Losers: Thoughts on South Africa’s 4th Democratic Elections and Future Prospects.” The paper explains the frustration that many South Africans have begun to feel with the development of their young democracy. Initially, most thought that the end of apartheid would bring unwavering peace and stability to the country, but crime and inadequate social services are leading to a general dissatisfaction with the quality of government. The author examines the unusually strong political hold that the African National Congress has over the politics of the country despite the increased cynicism among South Africans concerning the party’s ability to govern.
On October 7, 2009, the Democracy in Africa Research Unit (DARU, South Africa) launched a new website for its African Legislatures Project. The project’s mission is to compile information about how African legislatures function. In order to do so, the project will work with organizations that strive for the reform of democratic systems and legislative bodies to develop guidelines that explain African legislatures and their functions, what conditions are necessary to bring about change, and the best practices for ensuring that legislatures guarantee democracy in their respective states.
The Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) published a December 2009 booklet entitled Civil Society and the Zuma Administration: Opportunities for Engagement, by Steven Friedman, Raenette Taljaard, Kehla Shubane, and Yvette Geyer. The booklet compiles presentations made at an August 2009 roundtable discussion on “the challenges and opportunities South Africa's civil society faces under the new administration” of President Jacob Zuma.
Idasa also published a December 2009 guide on Key Concepts in Budget Analysis and Resource Tracking, by Godknows Giya and Vailet Mukotsanjera-Kowayi, to simplify “the tools for basic budget analysis including calculations for budget analysis and resource tracking of HIV and AIDS resources.” Published as part of Idasa’s AIDS Budget Unit, the goal of the handbook is to “enhance non-state actors’ capacity to hold government accountable by improving their knowledge on the basic definition of terms often used in budget analysis and resource tracking.”
In October 2009, Idasa published Parliament, the Budget and Poverty in South Africa: A Shift in Power, edited by Len Verwey, Kate Lefko-Everett, Ahmed Mohammed, and Musa Zamisa. The volume explores the 2009 Money Bills Amendment Act by explaining its contents and its possible effects on transparency and good governance. The authors find that the bill enables Parliament to make sweeping changes to the budget prepared by the executive branch, and they examine how this will affect South Africa’s future.
The November/December 2009 Democracy in Action focuses on HIV/AIDS issues in commemoration of World AIDS Day on December 1, 2009. The issue contains a video clip on the “Models of Hope” initiative in Ghana developed to help those living with HIV/AIDS and an announcement of Idasa’s Governance and AIDS Programme’s new project on “a community of practice for media practitioners working on HIV/AIDS.” Also included is a press release detailing the importance of small farmers to Africa’s development and a summary of the initiative that Idasa has developed to promote the ratification of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance.
The October 2009 Democracy in Action includes articles that detail a vast array of projects in which Idasa is involved across the African continent. An update on the first six months of Zimbabwe’s new government, an article about the alleged export of arms from South Africa to rogue nations, and summaries of the experiences of people who took part in Idasa’s Citizen Leadership for Democratic Governance training course in Zambia are included in the publication. The newsletter also contains a call for support for Idasa’s cause. To show solidarity or make donations, democracy scholars can find more information on Idasa’s new Facebook group.
Asia and the Pacific
The Centre for Democratic Institutions (CDI, Australia) held its second course on “Women in Politics” in Canberra, Australia on December 7–11, 2009. The course examined how women can maneuver effectively in the political realm and obtain influence through lobbying, networking, promoting gender equality, and candidate training. The 18 participants in the seminar came from 10 countries in the region and were members of either civil society or their respective governments. A full report on the course and a list of participants can be found here.CDI also conducted a “Women Candidates Training Workshop” from November 24–26, 2009, in Buka, in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. It represented the first course held by CDI exclusively focusing on training women candidates for upcoming elections. Dr. Norm Kelly presented “sessions on the three M’s of campaigning—Machinery, Money and Message” to the workshop’s 39 participants. Bougainville’s electoral laws were explained to the participants along with how to assemble a campaign team. The goal is for women to contest all open seats in the parliament—not just the three seats reserved for women. All of CDI’s work being carried out in Bougainville can be accessed here.
A professional skills development course for parliamentarians entitled “Parliament, Policy, the Press & the Public: Preparing for the Challenges of Being a Minister” was sponsored by CDI and held on October 21–30, 2009, in Canberra, Australia. In order to ensure that prospective parliamentarians have a secure foundation on which they can begin to make effective policy decisions, CDI included informative sessions on many crucial topics facing parliamentarians, including the development of legal frameworks, the assembling of ministerial support staff, budget making, media relations, and professional conduct.
CDI also hosted its annual address with the theme of “The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World,” which was presented by Center on Democracy, Development and Rule of Law (CDDRL, U.S.) Director Larry Diamond. The address was given at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia on October 12, 2009. The lecture expounded on Professor Diamond’s book and examined “the global trend of democratization” and “democratic progress and stress” by taking “account of new emerging trends and challenges to democracy around the world.” A recording of the event, photos, and background on the book upon which the lecture was based are available here.
Finally, the October/November 2009 CDI News announces the successful completion of the “Indonesian Parliamentary Induction Program” that took place on August 29–31, 2009, in Jakarta. CDI worked closely with the Indonesian parliament to construct sessions for the program that adequately introduced new parliamentarians to the system and instructed them on the best ways to fulfill their duties in a democratic and transparent manner. Also included is the “Solomon Islands Parliamentary Strengthening Roundtable,” held by CDI on August 24, 2009. Warren Cahill presented on “recent political reform proposals being considered by the National Parliament of Solomon Islands as well as the work undertaken since 2005 to rebuild and strengthen the role of the National Parliament in the Solomon Islands political process.” The full newsletter can be found here.
The Centre for Policy Research (CPR, India) and Palgrave published a January 2010 book entitled War and Peace in Modern India: A Strategic History of the Nehru Years, by Srinath Raghavan. The author taps into previously obscure documents to highlight Nehru’s personal approaches to violence and foreign and domestic policy. The book serves as a tool to understand the prime minister who led the world’s largest democracy for 17 years through its arguably most difficult period.
In December 2009, CPR’s PRS Legislative Research program published a review of “Parliament in 2009” as an addition to the Vital Stats section of its parliamentary monitoring website. The study found that the number of days that parliament was in session in 2009 declined, with the Lok Sabha meeting for only 64 days and the Rajya Sabha for a mere 63. This finding continues the trend of a consistently decreasing number of days parliament has been in session since the 1950s. PRS found that nearly two-thirds of the time in session was dedicated to the budget and only 16 percent was set aside to frame laws. The full report with graphs can be found here.
PRS’s website also contains a feature that allows visitors to search for members of the Indian parliament in order to see their recent activity in the 15th Lok Sabha. This feature, entitled “MP Track,” can be found here.
The Accountability Initiative, another initiative of CPR, released three new Policy Briefs prepared by Mandakini Devasher Surie. In December 2009, a brief entitled “Proactive Disclosure: Best Practices from Mexico” was added to the website as part of the RTI Briefs (Right to Information) series. The paper examines Mexico’s successes in ensuring that citizens are able to access government information and is intended to teach Indian civil society to advocate for the Indian government's compliance with the Right to Information Act of 2005 by learning from Mexico’s example. The findings indicate that most agencies only fulfill 30 percent of the RTI Act’s requirements. It recommends that the government use the Internet to provide information more reliably and encourages civil society to do its part in advising the government on how to make information accessible.
The additional two briefs, released in January 2010, are the first additions to the new Panchayat Briefs series, which will examine decentralization in India. The first of these, “Decentralisation: The Path to Inclusive Governance?” “examines the ability of decentralization to promote inclusive governance” by employing Gram Sabhas (village meetings) and Panchayats (rural, local governments). The brief finds that in the Gram Sabhas, women and scheduled castes, in some cases, participate in the discussions and achieve results that favor their interests within their communities. However, this is not the case in many communities. The Accountability Initiative urges the government to take a more active role in increasing participation.
The second Panchayat Brief discusses “Administrative Decentralisation in India: The 3 Fs.” The study determines to what degree functions, funds, and functionaries have been granted to local governments by the states. It finds that the amount of power attained by local governments varies greatly across different regions and has not been granted quickly or easily. In order to solve this, the Initiative recommends that the government establish a clear method for ensuring that funds flow as intended to the lowest levels of local government. Civil society must also continually track and monitor decentralization.
Teresita Quintos Deles, the executive director of INCITEGov (Philippines), presented a lecture on “Crossover Reflections on the Peace Process” at the National Women’s Summit on Women’s Self-reliant Leadership and Creative Empowerment in Times of Crisis on October 21, 2009. Ms. Quintos Deles’ speech, celebrating the upcoming 15th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, expounded on the harsh realities currently facing the peace process in the Philippines. She called on women to look for long-term solutions to the violence and problems that plague the country and urges women to stand for peace as the current president has failed to remain steadfast in the peace process, essentially allowing it to crumble around her.
The Security Sector Reform (SSR) study group at INCITEGov organized a seminar for local civil society activists from November 9–12, 2009, on the island of Mindanao. Twenty-one participants from all parts of the island, congregated in Davao City to learn about ways to push for policy change when dealing with corrupt security forces. The activists were able to meet with former members of the military in order to network, listen to their stories, and discuss solutions to many problems facing the Philippines. More information about the seminar and photos of the event can be found here.
On December 10, 2009, the Political Education Academy of Mongolia (APE) hosted an international conference on the “Historical Pathway of Mongolian Democracy: An Example in Asia” at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The conference was organized jointly by APE, the Konrad Adenauer Fund, and the Secretariat Office of the President of Mongolia to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Mongolian Democratic Revolution. Presentations ranged from the “Democratic Process and Mongolia” to “Unimaginable Successes in Mongolia During the Democratic Transformation” and were given by religious leaders, academics, and prominent members of civil society.
On January 14, 2010, the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) held a session on whether the “Constitution of Pakistan Should Govern Civil-Military Relations in Pakistan: PILDAT Briefing on Parliamentary Oversight of the Defence Sector” in Islamabad. The experts involved in the briefing, including current and former government and military officials, concluded that the constitution and parliament must intermediate in the relationship between state agencies as well as civil-military relations. The discussion employed background papers on case studies from Indonesia and Turkey. These included a December 2009 paper on “Civil-Military Relations in Indonesia: Lessons for Pakistan on Parliamentary Oversight of the Defence Sector” by Javed Jabbar; a December 2009 report on the “Pakistan Parliamentary Defence Committee Delegation Study Visit to Turkey,” which took place on November 15-19, 2009; and an October 2009 paper on “Politics of the Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector in Turkey,” by Volkan Aytar.
PILDAT also published a December 2009 paper entitled “The Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan Package: An Analysis” that analyzes the government’s actions taken to stem violence in the region and refutes its attempt to limit the amount of control that the Balochistan province has over creating and implementing its own laws. It calls for a drastic change within the federal government and highlights the areas of the Balochistan Package of laws that PILDAT feels should be approved by the parliament. To explore the issue further, PILDAT released a “Joint Sessions Roundup,” which reports on the two joint sessions of parliament in which the package was discussed, including its unveiling on November 24, 2009, and a follow-up dialogue on December 7–9, 2009. PILDAT recognizes the importance of the fact that the federal government placed the package before parliament for a decision but notes that parliamentarian turnout remains unsatisfactorily low for such imperative discussions.
On November 3, 2009, PILDAT hosted a roundtable discussion on “Making Intelligence Accountable.” The discussion included Senate and National Assembly Parliamentary Committees on Defense Chairs, members of the Defense Committees, and analysts who demanded that information produced by the government’s intelligence sector be more transparent and available to parliament upon request. They called for a parliamentarian committee to be created to oversee the intelligence community. The meeting also served as a formal launch for the publication, “Making Intelligence Accountable: Legal Standards and Best Practices for Oversight of Intelligence Agencies,” originally published by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces.
The East Asia Institute (EAI, South Korea) released a November 2009 Working Paper on “Understanding North Korea’s Strategic Assessments in 2009 and the Reference Point Gap on the Korean Peninsula,” by Jihwan Hwang. The paper analyzes the rationality of Pyongyang’s domestic and international policies. The author explains that the North Korean regime’s main fear is that of being humiliated in front of the international community—an apprehension that leads it to take actions that most international actors find both appalling and irrational. It is important to understand North Korea's goals or “reference points” to comprehend the country's otherwise seemingly irrational actions.
Another November 2009 Working Paper entitled “Kidnapping Politics in East Asia,” by Richard J. Samuels, focuses on the rarely examined topic of national organizations that are able to infiltrate the government by various methods so they may change the course of foreign policy. The paper hones in on the cases of citizens who are kidnapped by foreign states in order for those states to gain knowledge that will help them steer their foreign policies—particularly North Korean abductions of Japanese and South Koreans.
EAI, along with the Center for International and Strategic Studies, also held a roundtable discussion on “East Asia’s Future after the Global Economic Crisis: The Role of China and South Korea for the Region” on December 10, 2009. The discussion served as forum for ideas to improve the relationship between China and South Korea—undoubtedly one of the most crucial in East Asia in regard to the security of the entire region. It also touched upon how China and the United States will react to the end of the global economic crisis and China’s expected approach in dealing with North Korea’s nuclear threat.
Finally, the January–April 2010 Journal of East Asian Studies, edited at EAI and published by Lynne Rienner Publishers, features articles on “The Electoral Origin of Japan’s Nationalistic Leadership: Primaries in the LDP Presidential Election and the ‘Pull Effect’” by Hironori Sasada; “Strategies, Institutions, and Outcomes Under SNTV in Taiwan, 1992–2004” by Dennis P. Patterson and Hans Stockton; “The Muslim South in the Context of the Thai Nation” by Robert B. Albritton; “Transition from Single-Party Dominance? New Data from Malaysia” by William Case; and “North Korea’s Quest for Nuclear Weapons: New Historical Evidence” by Walter C. Clemens Jr. Abstracts of all articles included in the issue can be found here.
The Sejong Institute (South Korea) recently released two new issues of its Current Issues and Policy newsletter. The November 2009 issue includes articles on “Nuclear Armed North Korea and Extended Deterrence: Issues, Prospects, and Suggestions” by Yong-Ok Park; “G20 Summit in Korea in 2010: Historical Background and Korea's Role” by Ki-Soo Kim; “The Gravity of the Korea-China-Japan Summit in Asia” by Myon Woo Lee; “Wen Jiabao’s Visit to North Korea and Sino-North Korean Relationship” by Dong-Ryul Lee; and “China’s Economic Advance and Rising Influence” by Jae-Woo Choo. The December 2009 edition features articles on “US-North Korea Bilateral Talks and North Korean Nuclear Issue” by Yong Ok Park; “Change in the North Korean Foreign Policy and its Background after the Second Nuclear Test” by Jong-Seok Lee; “Rising East Asia and Its Implications for the ROK-US Relations” by Chi Wook Kim; and “A United Europe Meets the G2” by Miongsei Kang.
The Center for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), a division of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA, Sri Lanka), released its final report on “Major Incidents in the Southern Provincial Council Elections” that took place on October 10, 2009. The report depicts the events of the election-day and lists the voter turnout in various towns and regions. It also details any major incidents including situations in which citizens were refused the right to vote and places where monitoring teams were not permitted to enter polling stations. This report and all other reports released by CMEV can be found here.
Europe
The Access to Information Program (AIP, Bulgaria) released a year-end report on “Litigation on Access to Information in Bulgaria 2009–Trends and Conclusions,” by Kiril Terziiski. After sorting through the large number of lawsuits filed with legal support from AIP in Bulgarian courts for access to information, AIP finds that, although unlawful and nearly always defeated in court, many governmental institutions continue to resist freedom of information requests by denying access. Certain notable cases, such as gaining access to a governmental building by way of a FOI request, are outlined in the brief report with links available to more lengthy briefs of many cases.The director of the Centre for Liberal Strategies (CLS, Bulgaria), Ivan Krastev, published an article on “Deepening Dissatisfaction” in the January 2010 Journal of Democracy. The article begins by reiterating the exuberance that was felt across Central and Eastern Europe after 1989 and contrasts it to the current dissatisfaction that most citizens of the former Soviet bloc feel for democracy. Mr. Krastev expounds upon an ideology of “normality”—proposing that the revolutions of 1989 were Europeans’ attempts to “normalize” democratic institutions. By doing so, these countries declared “democracy the normal state of society and restrict[ed] democratization to an imitation of the institutions and practices of developed democracies.” Therefore, the democracies cultivated in Central and Eastern Europe are not as resilient today to the pressures that other democracies have learned to withstand.
CLS also hosted two conferences in December 2009. The first, “The 21st Century University,” was held on December 17, 2009, and featured Professor Yehuda Elkana. In his address, Mr. Elkana sought to detail the social and intellectual tasks facing 21st century academia, its changing role over the years, and the future significance of the university in a world of new institutions that create forms of knowledge and shape traditional knowledge. The second conference, “The Future Through the Culture of the Past: Bulgarian Economic and Social History,” presented on December 19, 2009, featured Dobrinka Parusheva as the keynote speaker.
Finally, CLS published the December 2009 Foreign Policy Bulgaria. Some of the articles featured in this Bulgarian-language publication are: Beau Kilmer and Peter Reuter’s “Doped: How Two Plants Wreak Havoc on the Countries That Produce and Consume Them—And Everyone in Between;” Georgy Kamov’s “The Family Affair with Our Eastern Neighbors;” Borislav Evlogiev’s “Europe After Lisbon;” Moisés Naim’s “Shadowy Finance: Schemers Didn't Lose in the Economic Crisis. They Won All Over Again: And Here's Why;” and Radostina Angelova’s “Internet Users: Regular and Irregular.”
The Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS, Bulgaria) published a December 2009 paper by Aleksandar Marinov on “Roma Migration From the Youth Perspective.” The author writes that, in a world where migration has come to be such a vital part of life, many groups are excluded from the benefits of relatively unrestricted movement. In the case of the Roma, the situation is especially problematic, as they are citizens of a Europe that has neglected them. As younger members of the Roma population begin to speak out more and more against the unequal treatment they receive, the author calls on all Europeans to do their part in ensuring that integration is enjoyed by everyone.
On August 15, 2009, the Center for the Study of Democracy (ZDEMO, Germany), represented by Professor Ferdinand Müller-Rommel and his team, received the 2008 Thyssen Prize for the best scholarly journal article in the social sciences from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, the only social sciences journal award outside of the English-speaking world. They received the prize for their work, "Von der Typologischen zur Dimensionalen Analyse Parlamentarischer Demokratien: Konzeptionelle Überlegungen am Beispiel Mitteleuropas” (From Typological to Dimensional Analysis of Parliamentary Democracies: Conceptual Considerations on the Example of Central Europe), which appeared in Politische Vierteljahresschrift (PVS) in February 2009.
ZDEMO also held a workshop on “Estonia: From Founding Elections to Democratic Consolidation” on December 18, 2009. The workshop discussed the forthcoming book, Founding Elections, which will be the first in a series of books with the same title edited by Hans-Dieter Klingemann and Charles L. Taylor. Dr. Vello Pettai presented on Estonia’s unique democratic foundation that took part in two stages in 1990 and 1992. Regional and international experts from the Baltic states, Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom discussed the implications of this multi-stage development and compared Estonia’s evolution to others in the region. Dr. Daniel Bochsler discussed his research on “Representing Inequalities: How Can Social Conflicts Be Radicalised Through Political Institutions” at ZDEMO on December 8, 2009. His research focuses on social conflicts beyond economic disparity—traditionally assumed to be the main source of social conflict—and “investigate[s] how different types of political institutions can moderate or radicalise social conflicts, and to which policy outcomes they lead.” The presentation detailed Dr. Bochsler’s exploration of ethnic radicalization during elections in Central and Eastern Europe and his opinion that the majority vote leads to intensified ethnic divisions.
The Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI, Germany) released its Transformation Index 2010: Political Management in International Comparison, BTI’s most recent series of indices rating the strength of democratic governance, political management, and economic stability in developing countries around the world and advocating for “democracy under the rule of law and a market economy anchored in principles of social justice.” It states that the quality of democracy has been deteriorating globally recently and finds that the major weaknesses in democracies are decreasing levels of rule of law and a lack of social and political integration. A full list of the top performers in various categories can be found in the report.
The Center for Policy Studies at the Central European University (CPS, Hungary) published a paper by Angela Kocze in October 2009 entitled “Missing Intersectionality: Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Class in Current Research and Policies on Romani Women in Europe.” The paper delves into the multiple layers of discrimination that Romani women face in the economic, social, and political arenas. The author includes her personal experiences of advocating for the rights of the community. It examines the effects of actions taken by Central and Eastern European states to address discrimination and finds that not nearly enough has been done to allow the Roma to obtain a position from which they can influence policy.
On October 15, 2009, CPS hosted a lecture on “Global Challenge of Minority Rights Law: Lessons from Around the World?” in order to examine the barriers that have hindered the establishment of fair, effective protection for all of the world’s minority groups. Middlesex University professor, Joshua Castellino, presented and raised points about the theoretical and practical obstacles that civil society must overcome in order to institute an effective system of equal protection for all. The lecture formed part of a workshop being held by CPS and its partners entitled “Incorporating Diversity Issues into the Teaching of Public Administration.”
The Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) 'Viitorul' (Moldova) released its “Early Warning Report” for the July–October 2009 period. The report details many of the risk factors that threaten the Republic of Moldova, including the internal threat of instability due to the unresolved elections that may lead to an interminable cycle of parliamentarian elections in the country. Other significant problems in the country are the diminishing role of youth organizations, economic decline, the relationship with the IMF, and political violence.
Viitorul also published a September 2009 Position Paper on “Moldova After the 2009 Parliamentary Elections: Challenges and Opportunities.” The paper details the political environment in the country after the April 2009 elections—the results of which were not recognized by opposition parties and were widely contested—and calls for international support of the newly formed government in order to grant stability and ensure that the government will uphold its promises to provide economic growth and political stability. The organization calls for leaders from the US and the EU to travel to Moldova in order to guarantee accountability and transparency in the Moldovan government’s actions.
In November 2009, the Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM, Montenegro) published its Democracy Index 2009, by Milos Besic, Srdjan Darmanovic, Veselin Pavicevic, Nenad Koprivica, Rajko Radevic, Nikola Djurovic, and Aleksandar Pajevic. The authors find that the most influential factor characterizing Montenegro’s democracy in 2009 is the economic crisis, which “moved into companies and homes of Montenegrin citizens” and has caused trouble for the Montenegrin government. The report details levels of openness and effectiveness within the education system, rule of law, the economy, the media, and protection of minorities. The findings point to a high level of democratization within the education system and minority protection, yet the authors highlight the need for much stronger levels of democracy in some of the most important areas such as rule of law, politics, and the economy.
CEDEM conducted its October 2009 “Political Public Opinion in Montenegro” report from October 14–21, 2009. The poll includes responses from over 1,000 citizens from every sector of society and finds that 40.7 percent of respondents believe that Montenegro is on the right path while 27.4 percent and 32.1 percent find that the country is on the wrong path or have no opinion, respectively. The report goes on to sample citizens’ ideas of the government’s effectiveness in many areas and polls them on their perceptions of corruption, confidence, and membership in the EU and NATO.
On December 7, 2009, the Institute of Public Affairs (ISP, Poland) held a conference on the “Czech Presidency in the Council of the European Union and Non-governmental Organizations: Lessons for Poland.” The upcoming six-month Polish presidency of the EU and the lessons that Poland can learn from countries that have hosted the presidency in the past were discussed at the conference. The primary case studied was that of the Czech Republic—a country that successfully incorporated non-governmental organizations into the government’s planning processes to prepare for the presidency. The conference participants suggested many ways that the Polish government can draw from the Czech experience so it may effect positive changes within the EU structure during its presiding period.
Drawing on the same theme, ISP released a December 2009 Analysis and Opinions paper entitled “Partnership for the Presidency?” by Agnieszka Lada. The paper calls for an international conference to be held before the Polish term of presidency begins in order to convene leaders from other EU states, experts, and members of civil society and NGOs to discuss the most relevant topics that need to be addressed during the upcoming term and develop a plan to implement ideas that will do so. The author also calls for the Polish government to establish a contact database so they may quickly reach out to the most qualified experts should any problem arise during its presidency—a simple tool that past presiding countries have lacked.
The Romanian Academic Society (SAR) recently published its 2009 issue of the Romanian Journal of Political Science. The issue, entitled “Political or Economic Crisis?,” focuses primarily “on the management of the financial crisis by national governments, the European Union and other intergovernmental organizations.” The articles examine how the international financial system should be governed and what responsibilities states must assume given the recent failure of many financial institutions. Topics analyzed in the issue include: “When the East Goes West: Romanian Migrants in Italy or How to Deal with Mobility Issues in the EU 27” by Anca Oprisor Domnar; “Romanian Fiscal Policies: Do They Fight or Exacerbate the Crisis?” by Ana Otilia Nutu and Sorin Ionita; and “Globalisation, Economic Policy and Rural Development in Europe” by Raúl de Arriba Bueno.
The Democratisation and Rule of Law Program of FRIDE (La Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior, Spain) released a number of publications since the last issue of Democracy Research News. These include an October 2009 book on Democracy's Plight in the European Neighbourhood, edited by Michael Emerson and Richard Youngs, in which the authors examine whether the EU community has any unemployed mechanisms that it can use to promote democracy among its neighbors. The authors discuss the future for democracy in Europe and how the international community can continue to encourage democracy by examining three groups of countries: immediate neighbors of the EU, former Soviet satellites, and Arab states.
Another book, New Challenges to Democratization, edited by Peter Burnell and Richard Youngs, was released in November 2009. By assessing the allegation that democracy and weak democratic regimes face a grim reality of decreasing support, the book brings together the writings of Thomas Carothers, Michael McFaul, Laurence Whitehead, Bassma Kodmani, Nancy Bermeo, Marina Ottaway, Shaun Breslin, and Renske Doorenspleet to explore recent developments within the democratic and non-democratic world and the steps that developed countries have taken to promote democracy around the globe. The book questions the importance of the recent democratic setbacks, ponders on whether it is a normal step in the democratic process, and imagines possible alternatives to the democratic system.
FRIDE also released a Working Paper on “The Kosovo Statebuilding Conundrum: Addressing Fragility in a Contested State” by Lucia Montanaro in December 2009. The author declares that the country is “critically weak and flawed on a number of axes.” She argues that the international community must do more to address the problems faced by weak states such as Kosovo and to develop a strong long-term plan by which the country can advance. Extended peace and economic advancement cannot be sacrificed to combat temporary problems.
Finally, FRIDE published two December 2009 Policy Briefs. The first, on “Beyond the Border Management Programme for Central Asia (BOMCA)” by George Gavrilis, details the Border Management Programme for Central Asia (BOMCA), which was established in 2003 and has been able to achieve a great deal in assisting the Central Asian states to more effectively manage their borders. The attainment of secure border policies by the program and its limitations are discussed in the brief. The second brief, “Beyond Copenhagen: Securitising Climate Change” by Richard Youngs, examines the developments around the Copenhagen Summit in December 2009. The author asserts that “one of the main imperatives beyond Copenhagen will be to incorporate the geopolitical dimensions of climate change fully into a broadened external energy security policy. On this matter,” he says, “Europe is a laggard not a leader."
The Quality of Government Institute (QoG, Sweden) added several Working Papers to its website since the last issue of Democracy Research News, including “Towards Better Governments? A Theoretical Framework for the Influence of International Organizations” (December 2009) by Monika Bauhr and Naghmeh Nasiritousi; “The Immigrant Issue and Anti-Immigrant Party Success—Is Sweden the Odd Case Out?” (December 2009) by Carl Dahlström and Peter Esaiasson; “Hidden Treasure or Sinking Ship? Diagnosing the Study of Political Leadership” (December 2009) by Ulrika Möller and Isabell Shierenbeck; “Social Protection Strategies in Efficient and Inefficient States” (December 2009) by Carl Dahlström, Johannes Lindvall, and Bo Rothstein; “Driving Forces behind Gender Equality: A Cross-Country Comparison” (December 2009) by Lena Wängnerud and Marcus Samanni; “Exploring the Impact of Foreign Aid on Corruption: Has the 'Anti-Corruption' Movement Been Effective?” (December 2009) by Nicholas Charron; “The Impact of Quality of Government as Impartiality: Theory and Evidence” (November 2009) by Jan Teorell; and “Perceptions of Corruption in Mass Publics” (November 2009) by Sören Holmberg. A full list of QoG’s Working Papers in full text is available under the Working Papers section here.
The European Stability Initiative (ESI, Turkey) published a November 2009 Discussion Paper on “Isolating Kosovo? Kosovo vs. Afghanistan 5:22.” The article explains how Kosovo was not included on the visa liberalization process that is currently taking place in most of the Balkan countries and the negative impacts that this has had on the citizens of Kosovo—making it more difficult to travel freely to other parts of Europe than it has been at any point in the last half-century. In fact, citizens of Afghanistan can travel to more countries without a visa than the citizens of Kosovo. Since the “strict but fair” policies imposed on the rest of the Balkans do not apply to Kosovo, it is unlikely that politicians will strive to bring positive change to the country.
ESI also hosted a conference on November 23, 2009, on “Communicating Europe” in Amsterdam. The conference brought together a number of senior officials from various West Balkan countries to meet with Dutch policy-makers and media representatives to discuss issues related to European enlargement and integration. A review of 2009’s events dealing with EU enlargement was conducted in order to learn lessons from the eventful year and plot a course for the upcoming year. The conference represented the eighth workshop in the “Communicating Europe” series. The entire list of conferences presented by ESI can be found here.
The Centre for the Study of Public Policy (CSPP, United Kingdom) recently published three new papers in the Studies in Public Policy section of its website. “The New Institutionalism in Studying Authoritarian Regimes,” by Andreas Schedler, studies what the author refers to as “new institutionalism” in authoritarian regimes: legislatures, party systems, and electoral processes that all wear a facade of democratic legitimacy but in practice barely resemble democratic rule. David J. Galbreath and Joanne McEvoy’s “Epistemic Communities and Inter-organizational Cooperation: The Case of the European Minority Rights Regime” “investigate[s] the impact of the epistemic community on the regime via standard-setting, standard implementation, and the expansion of standards on minority rights.” Finally, “What Makes a Good Citizen? Attitudes Towards Civic Virtue in Europe and How Social and Political Participation Impact upon Them,” by Florian Pichler and Claire Wallace, debates the definition of a good citizen and how one should best fulfill his or her role in a democratic system. The paper also determines which countries’ citizens hold stringent or relaxed views on the best model for good citizenship.
On September 11–12, 2009, the Human Rights Centre (United Kingdom) held the first annual Symposium of the Human Rights Section of the Law Society of England and Wales. The event, held at the University of Essex, consisted of six working sessions on practical human rights issues and included a keynote address by Mr. Aryeh Neier, a presentation of Robert Priseman’s new book entitled No Human Way to Kill, a performance by Actors for Human Rights, and a film screening. A report on the Symposium and the remarks of the director of the HRC are also available here.
Latin America
The Center for the Implementation of Public Policies Promoting Equity and Growth (CIPPEC, Argentina) released numerous articles over the past quarter. A December 2009 paper entitled “Testeo de Aceptación del Sistema de Votación por Boleta Única entre los Votantes” (Testing of the Acceptance of a Single Ballot Voting System among the Voters), by Carlos Gervasoni and Jorge Mangonnet, highlights the findings of an empirical survey carried out in the framework of the “Camino hacia la Boleta Única” (Path Toward the Single Ballot) project. Seventy-two percent of citizens polled found that the single ballot holds higher functionality and simplicity when compared to the current multiple ballot system. The survey’s findings also note that the design of the ballot greatly influences the degree to which voters can make the correct selection when casting their votes.Also released in December, the final report for 2009 on the “Diálogos de Protección Social” (Dialogues of Social Protection), by Fabián Repetto, Gala Díaz Langou, and Vanesa Marazzi, details the principal debates in the discussions which were co-sponsored by the Tzedaká Foundation, the University of San Andrés, and Manpower Argentina. The debates covered include: “Nuevos Paradigmas de Protección Social en América Latina: Una Lectura desde el Caso Chileno,” (New Paradigms of Social Protection in Latin America: A Reading from the Chilean Case) on November 17, 2009; “Riesgo y Protección Social: Más allá del Modelo de Mercado, Más allá del Modelo Corporativo,” (Risk and Social Protection: Further than the Market Model, Further than the Corporate Model) on April 6, 2009; and “Avances y Desafíos de las Políticas, Programas e Institucionalidad Social Subnacional,” (Advances and Challenges of the Politics, Programs, and Social Sub-national Institutionalism) held on March 9, 2009. All of these discussions sought to bring together public officials, academics, and leaders of civil society to contribute to the goal of advancing social protection in Argentina and Latin America.
“La Rendición de Cuentas: Un Punto de Llegada” (Government Accountability: Measuring Results), a December 2009 paper by David Groisman, Celeste Bustelo, and Trevor Udwin, examines the experiences of various American and Argentine cities and their histories of performance management and transparency. The findings encourage sub-national entities to always publish the results of their studies. Even if they reveal corruption or other negative aspects of the government, the augmented transparency will greatly increase the performance of the government. Cities should also start small in order to avoid being overwhelmed by trying to track every area of their performance.
Another paper, “Implementación del Tablero de Control en la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires” (Implementation of the Control Board in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires), by David Groisman, Celeste Bustelo, and Dolores Arrieta, was released in December 2009. The control board was implemented by the Buenos Aires’ city government in collaboration with CIPPEC in order to track the projects and objectives of each agency in the government and to follow their development. The intended outcome is increased transparency for citizens, press, and NGOs. The paper also examines the costs and benefits of applying the control board and its long-term effects on the promotion of accountability.
Other papers released by CIPPEC include: “El Nuevo Rol del Estado frente a las Mujeres, Niñas, Niños y Adolescentes: El Caso del Partido de Zárate” (The New Role of the State Concerning Women, Children, and Adolescents: The Case of Zárate’s Party), by Tatiana Salem in December 2009; “Reforma Política 2009: ¿Cómo Impacta en el Sistema de Partidos y en los Electores?” (Political Reform 2009: How Does It Impact the Party System and the Voters?), by Fernando Straface and María Marta Page in December 2009; “El Gobierno Electrónico: Aún Lejos de los Ciudadanos Análisis del Índice Nacional de Páginas Web Municipales 2008” (The Electronic Government, Still Far from the Citizens: Analysis of the National Index of Municipal Websites 2008), by Nicolás Fernández Arroyo, Diego Pando, María Victoria Boix, and Marina Calamari in November 2009; “Indicadores de Calidad Institucional para las Provincias Argentinas: El Caso de la Provincia de Santa Fe” (Indicators of Institutional Quality for the Argentine Provinces: The Case of the Province of Santa Fe), by Gastón Mutti and María Page in November 2009; and “La Boleta Única Mejora la Reforma Política” (The Single Ballot Improves Political Reform), by Fernando Straface and Ana María Mustapic in November 2009.
The Center for Opening and Development in Latin America (CADAL, Argentina) published more than thirty articles that will be of interest to democracy scholars since the last issue of Democracy Research News. The most recent of these is CADAL’s January 2010 report on “Democracia, Mercado, y Transparencia 2009” (Democracy, Market, and Transparency 2009). The report finds that, for the third consecutive year, Denmark and New Zealand lead the way in maintaining true development that signifies a mixture between extensive civil and economic liberties, a democratically elected government, and high levels of transparency. The ranking included in the report places Chile as the highest ranking Latin American country at number 19 and Argentina at number 71. The report details the cases of Argentina and Uruguay as well as some of the most repressive regimes in the world.
Also in January 2010, CADAL published the article entitled “Cambia el Gobierno, pero Chile No Cambia” (The Government Changes, but Chile Does Not), by Carlos Malamud. The article discusses the Chilean elections held on January 17, 2010, and the ramifications of the victory of the political right with Sebastián Piñera. Mr. Malamud asserts that Chile will not change dramatically with a conservative president even after years of dramatically progressive leadership under Michelle Bachelet; Chileans expect economic reform but also desire continued social progress.
The article, “El Mercosur Sigue Bloqueando la Democracia en Cuba” (Mercosur Continues to Block Democracy in Cuba), by the president of CADAL, Gabriel C. Salvia, released in December 2009, responds to the communiqué released by Mercosur at the reunion of the presidents of the Common Market Council in Montevideo, Uruguay on December 8, 2009. Mr. Salvia points out Mercosur’s relatively unbelievable attempts to promote democracy in Cuba and criticizes the organization for its call to end the blockade on the island without also demanding that the Cuban government support civil and human rights.
CADAL published an article on its website on the “Perfil del Pepe Mujica: Por las Urnas Sí, por las Armas No” (Profile of Pepe Mujica: For Ballot Boxes, Yes, for Arms, No), by Hugo Machín in December 2009. The article explains the political beginnings of Pepe Mujica, the president-elect of Uruguay, and his aspirations and goals for his time in office. Mr. Machín addresses the enormous change that the future president has undergone during the past half-century—having risen up in arms against the government in 1963 to winning the support of more than half of the Uruguayan populace in the 2009 elections.
Other relevant articles include: “La Racionalidad Económica del Nuevo Congreso” (The Economic Rationality of the New Congress), by Adrián Lucardi and Gabriel C. Salvia in December 2009; “La Opinión Pública de los Cubanos Es Contraria al Regimen” (The Cuban Public Opinion is Contrary to the Regime), by Elías Amor Bravo in November 2009; and “A 20 Años de la Caída del Muro de Berlín: La Nostalgia Totalitaria en América Latina” (20 Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall: Totalitarian Nostalgia in Latin America), by Pablo Díaz de Brito in November 2009. These and all other articles published by CADAL can be found here.
On December 10, 2009, CADAL held its “Conference on the International Human Rights Day.” The situation in Cuba and Venezuela was analyzed by Andrés Cañizález and Ricardo Rojas, and comments were made by Gabriel Palumbo and Gabriel Salvia. Publications previously released by CADAL on “Los Derechos Fundamentales y el Orden Jurídico e Institucional de Cuba” (The Fundamental Rights and the Juridical and Institutional Order of Cuba) in July 2005 and “Elementos de Teoría Constitucional y una Propuesta para Cuba” (Elements of the Constitutional Theory and a Proposal for Cuba) in July 2008, the yearly report of the Programa Venezolano de Educación y Acción (Venezuelan Education and Action Program), and a Human Rights Watch report on “Un Nuevo Castro, la Misma Cuba: Presos Políticos en la Era Post-Fidel” (A New Castro, the Same Cuba: Political Prisoners in the Post-Fidel Era) from November 2009 were examined by the participants.
Congreso Visible (CV, Colombia) announced the release of the new, interactive feature on its website entitled “Partidos y Candidatos Visibles” (Visible Parties and Candidates) that allows visitors to track their representatives in the legislature by viewing updates on their voting patterns and daily activities. A manual on how to employ this feature is available here. A reception was held on January 19, 2010, to celebrate the launching of the new feature.
The Instituto de Ciencia Política (ICP, Colombia) released its December 2009 Perspectivas magazine entitled “Libertad de Expresión” (Liberty of Expression). Articles include: “Lo que la Crisis No Altera” (What the Crisis Does Not Alter) by Tomás Mandl; “Elecciones América Latina 2009–2010” (Elections: Latin America 2009–2010) by Bibiana Clavijo and Lina Morera; “La Europa Insegura de Sí Misma” (The Europe Insecure of Itself) by Stephen Launay and Jacques Carbou; and “El Laberinto Iluminado: Los Liberales y la Política” (The Illuminated Labyrinth: The Liberals and Policy) by Hector Ñaupari. The entire newsletter can be found here.
ICP also published a Policy Report on “El Camino del Referendo Reeleccionista” (The Path of the Reelection Referendum), by Bibiana Andrea Clavijo Romero and Marcela Prieto Botero in October 2009. The report briefs the reader on the decision made in Congress on September 1, 2009, to hold a referendum to allow the president to run for a third consecutive term. The authors warn of the dangers of a “dictatorship of the majority” if the referendum allows for interminable presidential terms which would be seen as going against the constitution and the rights of minorities.
Finally, ICP sponsored a “Taller de Actualización en Temas Legislativos para Periodistas” (Update Workshop on Legislative Themes for Journalists) on October 24, 2009, as part of the project that it is co-sponsoring with KAS entitled “ABC Legislativo para Periodistas” (Legislative ABCs for Journalists). The workshop was proposed to bring together journalists and journalism students to train them on the principle concepts of legislative activities so they may accurately portray the work of the Congress in their publications. A guide which described how Congress functions and its different roles and mechanisms was distributed to the 26 participants.
The Latinobarómetro (Chile) published its yearly report on the state of democracy in Latin America in November 2009. The report announces that even in a troubled year in Latin America democracy was able to consolidate, and Latin Americans maintain more faith that democracy is progressing despite the coup d’état in Honduras, the H1N1 virus, and the economic crisis. The report highlights the views and opinions of Latin Americans on a broad range of other issues including opinion on foreign leaders, international relations, socio-economic development, and discrimination. The full report contains graphs and summaries of each poll carried out across Latin America and can be found along with the other yearly reports under the publications section of Latinobarometer’s website.
Grupo Faro (Ecuador) published the first report in its new Lupa Fiscal (Fiscal Magnifying Glass) series entitled “Proforma Presupuestaria 2010: Análisis, Avances, y Desafíos” (Pro Forma Budget: Analysis, Advances, and Challenges) in January 2010 with the support of the Open Society Institute. The report examines the Ecuadorian government’s expenditures planned for the year 2010 in areas such as education, defense, administrative costs, healthcare, and international commerce and compares them with the previous year’s spending. Grupo Faro urges the government to examine who will benefit from subsidies and other expenses before blindly spending and to look at the budget in a realistic way that will aid the development of democracy in Ecuador.
Grupo Faro also released a November 2009 report on “Nuevas Reglas, Nuevos Retos: Análisis y Aprobación del Presupuesto con Actores Más Informados” (New Rules, New Challenges: Analysis and Approval of the Budget with More Informed Actors), by Rafael Donoso. The report serves as the organization’s analysis and reflection of the discussion being carried out in Ecuador on how to implement a budget that will accurately reflect the needs and desires of society on a whole. It is directed to citizens and officials who take part in forming the national budget and contains a table of the principal actors in the budget-making process.
Finally, Grupo Faro released an August 2009 report by María Daniela Araujo entitled “¿Cómo Usar el Sistema de Evaluación y Rendición Social de Cuentas – SER – para Mejorar la Calidad del Sistema Educativo Ecuatoriano?" (How to Use the Evaluation and Social Accountability System – SER – to Increase the Quality of the Ecuadorian Education System?). The report analyzes the PDE (10-year Plan for Education) which aims to prioritize education over the next decade above other governmental foci. The new system will center on developing the performance of both students and educators and implementing a more rigorous national curriculum.
The Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, A.C. (CIDE, Mexico) published numerous articles since the last edition of Democracy Research News. Firstly, “Contacto y Control del Sistema de Informantes Policiales en México" (Contact and Control of the Police Informant System in Mexico), by Gustavo Fondevila, examines how judicial police maintain control over their informants on varying levels depending on the “type of contact, personal characteristics of the informant and criminal environment.” The author suggests that the legislative branch develop a regulation mechanism to ensure the legality of such relationships between police and informants.
Secondly, “E-democracia y Oportunidades de Participación Ciudadana en los Portales Web Estatales” (E-Democracy and Opportunities for Citizen Participation in State Web Portals), by Fernando González Miranda and José Ramón Gil García, underlines the power that the internet and other electronic resources have in allowing for governmental reforms. Transparency and citizen involvement can be increased by reaching out to the populace electronically. The article “proposes an index of citizen participation opportunities, ranks the portals according to this index, and explores some of the determinants of the availability of these participation opportunities.”
Additionally, “La Otra Reforma” (The Other Reform), by María Amparo Casar, examines the Mexican presidential system and the reform that political parties have proposed in order to alter many of the core institutional foundations of the system to strengthen the relationship between the president and the congress and allow for more agreement within the government in general. The authors question the proposal’s effectiveness at aiding the system and assert that it simply has been developed in an attempt to keep certain parties in power.
Finally, “The New Institutionalism in the Study of Authoritarian Regimes,” by Andreas Schedler, observes the growing trend for authoritarian regimes to be less forthright in their abuses and restrictions of freedoms by maintaining many democratic institutions as a facade although they truly barely reflect democratic traditions. The paper explores many essential issues faced by modern authoritarian regimes such as how to design institutions to maintain legitimacy, which decisions to make, and how to address pressure that builds in the designed institutions. These and all other articles can be found on CIDE’s virtual bookstore.
FUNDAR (Mexico) published its October 2009 “Índice Latinoamericano de Transparencia Presupuestaria 2009: Estudio Regional” (Latin American Index of Budgetary Transparency 2009: Regional Study), by José María Marín Aguirre. The Index ranks Latin American countries based on many variables including legislative participation, budgetary allocation, external control, accountability, and control over public officials’ actions. Taking everything into account, all countries surveyed received scores of less than 60 percent on their overall transparency with the exception of Costa Rica. FUNDAR recognizes the need for all Latin American countries to strengthen mechanisms of participation and transparency.
Middle East
The Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies (ICDS, Egypt) published the October 2009 Civil Society, which includes an article on “How Determined Are the Egyptian People?” by Hassan Elsawaf, that discusses the strong desire among Egyptians for democracy and freedom. The article asserts that it is only because Egyptians lack the opportunity to implement a freer system that they have not yet done so—a fact that should not be misconstrued as a lack of aspiration. Also included is an article written by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights on “UN Takes One Step Forward and Two Leaps Back: UN Human Rights Council Revives Freedom of Expression but Imposes ‘Traditional’ Limitations on Rights and Allows Impunity for Gaza War Crimes” that discusses the recent Freedom of Expression resolution that serves as the “strongest message yet that the concept of defamation has no place in the Human Rights Council and should be left out of its deliberations.”The Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) recently released three issues of its newsletter, Terrorism and Democracy. The October 2009 issue includes an article on the “Goldstone Report – Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict,” by Ido Rosenzweig and Yuval Shany. The authors present a summary of the report that found Israel to be in violation of international human rights law and called for the international condemnation of Israel’s acts during “Operation Cast Lead” in Gaza by going forth with criminal investigations. It also includes a brief on the “Definition of ‘Combat Action’ in Civil Tort Law (Liability of the State) – Amendment Bill (No. 8)” by Ido Rosenzweig and Yuval Shany. The piece explains how the bill, if passed, “would exclude from the scope of the Law counter-terrorism operations conducted by the Israeli Defense Forces outside the territory of Israel.”
The November 2009 issue includes reports by Ido Rosenzweig and Yuval Shany on “Without Trial–A Report on Administrative Detentions of Palestinians by Israel,” “The Israeli Supreme Courts Rebukes State on Rerouting of Separation Barrier—HCJ 2732/05,” and “Israeli Security Cabinet Declared 50 Groups to be “Terrorist Organizations.”
The December 2009 issue also contains a number of articles by Ido Rosenzweig and Yuval Shany including: “Establishment of a Legal Department by the Israeli Security Cabinet to Deal with Issues of International Jurisdiction,” “HCJ Dismisses Petition Regarding Use of Family Members as ‘Interrogation Tools’ – HCJ 3533/08,” and “District Court Dismisses Tort Claim Filed by Terror Victim against the Palestinian Authority – C 1214/04.”
In December 2009, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) announced the results of its “Palestinian Public Opinion Poll Number 34.” The poll contains significant data on a variety of issues facing the Palestinian populace, including state formation, foreign relations, political party support, and media preference. It finds that public opinion of both the president and prime minister have improved slightly, but it also concludes that the majority of Palestinians believe that President Abbas should not participate in another election.
PSR also released the “Joint Israeli Palestinian Poll” in December 2009. The poll’s findings indicate that since August, more Israelis and Palestinians feel that US President Obama’s policies favor Israel. It also states that the Saudi plan of recognition of the Israeli state if Israel withdraws from territories gained in the Six Day War in 1967 holds high approval among the Palestinians (67 percent), and even 40 percent of Israelis support the idea. A full list of the polls conducted by PSR is available here.
Finally, PSR released a Strategic Analysis Brief on “The Obama Presidency and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict,” by Shai Feldman and Khalil Shikaki. The piece expounds on the perceived lack of initiative taken by the Obama administration during its first months in office to focus on the peace process in the Middle East, specifically between the Palestinians and Israelis. The authors detail five possible solutions and steps forward that the administration could take in the coming months and implores the US to maintain an active role in the peace talks, decide on a definitive resolution and push forth with it, and abandon the principle that “nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed upon” that was established at the Camp David meetings beginning in 2000.
In December 2009, the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) released the latest edition of its Foreign Policy Analysis Series with a paper on “The Perception of Turkey in the Middle East,” by Mensur Akgün, Gökçe Perçinoglu, and Sabiha Senyücel Gündogar. The paper examines the increasingly influencial role that Turkey plays both in the Middle East and around the globe. Emerging from its traditional isolationist role, Turkey’s involvement in mediations in the Gaza Strip, in the 2008 crisis in Lebanon, and between Syria and Israel has propelled it onto the stage as an example for democracy in a region lacking many of the basic tenets of democratic rule.
TESEV cosponsored the sixth Bosphorous Conference with the British Council and the Delegation of the European Commission to Turkey on October 16–17, 2009. The conference, entitled “Turkey and the EU: Regaining Momentum,” included keynote speeches delivered by Olli Rehn, Mehmet Simsek, and Egemen Bagis. Discussion panels were presented on the most vital issues facing EU-Turkey relations in the coming decade, such as: “EU-Turkey Relations: The Critical Year of 2009,” “Belonging, Layered Identity and the European Project,” “Outlook for Europe and Turkey,” and “Europe's Global Challenges & Strategic Co-operation.” More information, including a conference program and full press coverage is available here.
TESEV also published the results of its study on the feasibility of a more encompassing Middle East and North Africa gender institute in October 2009. The study, which took place between 2005 and 2009, found that an overwhelming majority of concerned actors support an institute that will aid in empowering women across the region. Major roles that the aforementioned institute would play would include developing dialogue with politicians across the region to influence policy, promoting awareness for women’s rights by siding with university students and the media, and researching the areas that are most crucial to women’s rights. The full report is available here.
The Gulf Research Center (GRC, United Arab Emirates) published an October 2009 collection of papers presented at its workshop “India’s Growing Role in the Gulf” in a volume entitled India’s Growing Role in the Gulf: Implications for the Region and the United States. The papers note the significance of Indian immigrants in the development of the region and foretell an even greater influence in the future.
GRC also published Russian and CIS Relations with the Gulf Region: Current Trends in Political and Economic Dynamics, a November 2009 book by Marat Terterov, that presents many intellectuals’ “perspectives on contemporary relations and diplomatic engagements between Russia, the CIS, and the Gulf region.”
Finally, the GRC and The Nixon Center hosted a workshop on “China’s Growing Role in the Middle East: Implications for the Region and Beyond” on November 11–12, 2009, in Dubai, UAE. The event, which was part of the GRC’s extensive study on the increasingly powerful role of Asian states in the Gulf region, focused primarily on the role that China has begun to play in the Gulf concerning economic, security, political, and energy issues and brought together scholars from the US, China, India, and the Gulf. Other events hosted by the GRC include “Higher Education Cooperation Opportunities between the EU and the GCC,” “The Mediterranean: Opportunities to Develop GCC-EU Relations,” and the “Second GRC Premium Members Roundtable.” A full list of events can be found here.
Russia and the Former Soviet Union
The Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISS) released a November 2009 Policy Paper on “The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum: Next Steps” by Vitali Silitski. The paper outlines the next steps required by members of civil society in order to support the Eastern Partnership after the Civil Society Forum was created on November 16–17, 2009, in Brussels. The author lays out five proposals, including increased lobbying, definite national and regional platforms, and “a strategy of expansion of the institutional framework of the Partnership” to consolidate the efforts of CSOs within the Eastern Partnership and the EU.The Institute also published its latest BISS Blitz, a short policy paper, on “Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum And Potential Of Its Influence On Belarusian-European Relations” by Andrei Yahorau in November 2009. The paper recognizes that the Civil Society Forum holds great power to affect the relationship between the EU and Belarus but only if civil society creates standard platforms on issues and coordinates its work to increase its effectiveness. It also explores to what extent Belarusian CSOs can expect aid from the Forum and how civil society in Belarus can accurately convey a concerted voice to the delegation representing the country at the Civil Society Forum.
In November 2009, BISS published a Policy Paper “Back from the Cold? The EU and Belarus in 2009,” by Margarita M. Balmaceda, Sabine Fischer, Grzegorz Gromadzki, Andrei Liakhovich, Astrid Sahm, Vitali Silitski, and Leonid Zlotnikov. The paper examines the restrictions placed on Belarus by the EU, including a travel ban for many of the top officials in the Belarusian government and a freeze on their assets in the EU. The authors see the situation improving to some extent and believe that the EU is on course to loosen these restrictions, given Belarus’s acceptance to the Eastern Partnership and other initiatives between the two actors. However, they do not forecast a rapid, dramatic change in Belarusian foreign policy based on the current circumstances.
Finally, BISS cosponsored an event on “National Identity in Contemporary Belarus” with NovAK Laboratory and Budzma on October 12, 2009. Senior researcher of the NovAK laboratory, Nadzeya Yafimava, and BISS director, Vitali Silitski, presented at the event, and Budzma coordinator, Ihar Lialkou, moderated. Due to the current cultural situation in Belarus, the presenters agreed that the promotion of the Belarusian language and culture must be carefully strategized to ensure nation building, cultural unification, and the majority’s acceptance. The presentations and photos of the event can be found here.
The Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy, and Development (CIPDD, Georgia) announced a new project on the “Development of Early Warning System in Conflict Affected Shida Kartli Region of Georgia,” which is funded by the European Commission. The project hopes to contribute to the peace building process in Georgia by establishing an early warning network to sound an alarm on possible conflict escalations and reinforcing the role of the EU’s conflict prevention and resolution institutions by constructing a closer bond between them and local civil society. Roundtable discussions will be held to develop ideas and will result in monthly reports and quarterly reviews. CIPDD released the reports for October, November, and December detailing the current political, economic, social, and institutional indicators. The reports can be accessed here.
In October 2009, CIPDD released a report on “Javakheti One Year after the August War,” by Archil Abashidze, in which the author states that the deeply-rooted problems stemming from decades of underdevelopment have been intensified by the August 2008 war. He also provides “recommendations for the central and local authorities, and NGOs and international agencies working in the region.” The report, available in both English and Georgian and developed with financial support from the Think Tank Fund of the Open Society Institute, is available here, along with a blog about the topic.
Ghia Nodia, CIPDD’s Chairman, participated in a conference entitled “For Our Freedom and Yours! For Our Common Future!” in Lviv, Ukraine—a community that led in the development of democracy in Ukraine in the 1980s. The conference, held from October 25–27, 2009, brought together many of the leading figures in promoting unity and security in Central and Eastern Europe to discuss the future of the region and reflect on the 20 years since the fall of communism. The conference was co-sponsored by the Lion Society, the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, Europe XXI, PASOS, the EastWest Institute, and the National Endowment for Democracy.
Finally, CIPDD organized a training workshop on October 2–4, 2009, for the leaders of regional journalism associations, including Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli, and local newspaper editors. The workshop was held within the framework of the “Independent Media for Civil Integration Project,” funded by the Delegation of the EU Commission to Georgia. An agenda, list of participants, and a full report on the workshop can be found here.
The Carnegie Moscow Center published two books since the last issue of Democracy Research News. The first, Solo Voyage, by Dmitri Trenin, conjoins many articles outlining Russia’s policies arranged in chronological order. Secondly, The Lonely Power: Why Russia Has Not Become the West and Why the West Is Difficult for Russia, by Lilia Shevtsova, poses many poignant questions about the relationship between Russia and the West. The author seeks to answer how “Russia’s internal evolution affect[s] its relations with the West” and how Russia and the West interact.
The May-August 2009 edition of the Center’s journal, Pro et Contra, contains as a central theme “The Politics of History.” The articles detail how history and variations of the truth have been used in Russia and across the region to shape and bend policies with varying ramifications. Articles of interest include: “Russia: Power and History” by Alexey Miller; “Polish Debates about History in the 21st Century” by Robert Traba; “Estonia: A Political Struggle for a Place in History” by Alexander Astrov; and “Ukraine: Holodomor and Nation Building” by Georgiy Kasianov. Subscription information and past issues are available here.
The Center held two conferences in November 2009. The first conference, “20 Years without the Berlin Wall: Breaking Through to Freedom,” was held on November 18. The three sessions of the conference broadly coalesced around the advancement of freedom since the fall of communism and discussed how political, economic, cultural, and religious freedoms have evolved in the post-Soviet region. The second, “Russia and the EU: Beyond Misunderstanding,” sought to determine what positive outcomes can be attributed to the relationship between the two entities over the past 20 years, if they have any intersecting interests, and how they will continue to interact in the future.
Finally, the Center also released its October 2009 newsletter, which includes news and events concerning the Russian political arena and focuses on the regional and local elections held in October 2009. Articles on the topic include: Nikolay Petrov’s “Digging Their Own Graves at the Polls” and Alexei Titkov’s “The Results from Astrakhan Are the Biggest Scandal of the Recent Elections.” A radio program with Ekho Moskvy and Nikolay Petrov on “The Results of the Elections in Moscow and the Regions” is featured as well. In addition, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Russia is analyzed in the articles “The U.S. and Russia: Iran and Nuclear Weapons;” “The U.S. Is Ready to Give Russia Access to Nuclear Sites;” and “U.S.-Russian Relations: How Does Russia See the Reset?”
On December 11, 2009, the International Centre for Policy Studies (ICPS, Ukraine) published its “Activity Report for 2009.” The report details a successful year that served as a crossroad for the Centre. Having fulfilled its original mission of “introducing the concepts and procedures of public policy-making in Ukraine,” the Centre updated its mission and realigned its focus to what it sees as “the top priority for Ukraine’s development” which is “further democratization and structural reforms.” Assessments of each of the Centre’s programs are included as well as summaries of its outreach, new partners, publications, and a recently implemented associate system which will add many foreign experts to ICPS’s core team for increased analytical capabilities.
In November 2009, ICPS launched the first issue of a new current events publication entitled Inside Ukraine. The organization felt the need for such a publication designed to “meet the needs of key foreign policy makers as well as private and public investors.” Each issue will cover topics ranging from domestic policy, economics, and foreign and security policy to a topic of the month and featured interviews. Three issues have been released thus far. The November 19, 2009, issue features “The Presidential Election Campaign Kicks Off” as its topic of the month. The December 7, 2009, issue focuses on the question: “Is Ukraine Coming out of the Recession?” Finally, “December in Ukraine: Political, Economic, and Foreign Policy Developments” serves as an update on the presidential campaign taking place in Ukraine and summarizes the candidate’s positions in the December 30, 2009, issue.
Migration policy in Ukraine is addressed by Piotr Kazmierkiewicz, Olga Lvova, and Viktor Chumak in ICPS’s recently published paper on “Coordinating Migration Policy in Ukraine: Lessons from Poland.” The paper is based on the results of an October 2009 conference entitled “Migration Policy Problems and Perspectives” and addresses the pivotal role that Ukraine plays in regional immigration, especially to the EU. The authors draw on Poland’s successful immigration policies to solve the problem of emigration of educated citizens and undocumented migrants living within Ukraine’s borders.
Three recent issues of ICPS News, the Centre’s weekly newsletter, will be of interest to democracy scholars. The November 16, 2009, issue on “Ukraine’s Economy Hostage to Political One-upmanship” seeks to explain why there was so much panic over the state of Ukraine’s economy and what many perceived to be a pending economic meltdown in 2009. The November 30, 2009, issue on “Many Obstacles on the Road to Recovery for Ukraine” foretells a difficult path ahead for Ukraine’s economic recovery after a dismal 14.5 percent drop in GDP in 2009. The issue entitled “An Invitation to Develop a New Foreign Policy Strategy for Ukraine,” released on December 14, 2009, announces ICPS’s plans to draft a foreign policy strategy that will be delivered to the incoming president after the January 2010 elections and calls for suggestions and ideas through a discussion held via video. A complete archive of the weekly ICPS newsletter is available here.
The Democratic Initiatives Foundation (DIF, Ukraine) served as one of the co-sponsors for the above-mentioned conference on “For Our Freedom and Yours! For Our Common Future!” on October 25–27, 2009, in Lviv, Ukraine. DIF organized an open-air photography exhibit showcasing the struggles for democracy undertaken across Central and Eastern Europe. Vahtang Kipiani, Iryna Bekeshkina, and Ilko Kucheriv, all integral members of DIF, moderated sessions on “Media and Communications,” “Elections and Campaigns,” and “Think Tanks and the Transformation of Society,” respectively. Other prominent speakers included Carl Gershman, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Vaclav Havel. A full agenda of the conference can be found here.
United States and Canada
On December 8, 2009, Rights & Democracy (International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, Canada) held a ceremony to honor the winner of the 2009 John Humphrey Award, the Centre’s prestigious annual award “established in 1992 to recognize an organization or individual for exceptional contributions to the promotion of human rights and democratic development.” This year’s awardee was the Iraqi Nonviolence Network, La’Onf, in recognition of “its efforts to encourage Iraqis to reject violence and build a peaceful Iraq founded on the respect for human rights. More information about La’Onf, as well as a video of the award ceremony and a special issue of Libertas marking the occasion are available here.In October, Rights & Democracy also released its 2009 Right to Food and Nutrition Watch: Who Controls the Governance of the World Food System?, a unique publication intended to “monitor food as a human right,” examine abuses of this right, and call attention to the world’s food crisis with the aim of inserting the right to food into the policy-making arena. The volume includes articles on “Governing World Food Security: A New Role for the Committee on World Food Security” by Olivier De Schutter; “Follow-up to the Crisis of Soaring Food Prices” by Stineke Oenema; “The Global Food Crisis and the Right to Food” by Via Campesina; “Commercialising Young Child Feeding in the Globalised World: Time to Call for an End!” by Arun Gupta; and “Disappearing Peasants, Disappearing Land” by Joseph Schechla. The publication also includes a series of case reports listed by region and focuses on many of the countries where food shortages have led to the greatest outcries in recent years.
The Spring 2009 Libertas newsletter contains an article on “Afghanistan's Shia Personal Status Law: Rights & Democracy Makes Its Mark.” The article details Rights & Democracy’s pivotal role in the dissemination of information to the Canadian populace and the international media about the law that Afghan President Hamid Karzai approved that effectively repeals many of the rights that Shiite women hold. Among other news, the issue announces a new project on “Strengthening Democratic Governance and Promoting Human Rights in Haiti,” launched in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on June 5, 2009, and the beginning of a discussion series focusing on “Cross-Canada Dialogue” with a May 21, 2009, meeting entitled “Protecting Human Rights in a Globalized World: Monitoring the Impact of Foreign Investment in Developing Countries.”
On December 3, 2009, the Applied Research Center at IFES (ARC, United States) posted a feature story on “Reflections on the 20 Years Since the Fall of the Berlin Wall,” by Michael Svetlik, on its website. The article calls on members of the democracy research community to rededicate themselves to maintaining liberties and rights guaranteed to all in the democratic tradition and to not simply regard the 20-year anniversary as a celebration. Typhaine Roblot and Jennifer Mishory released another feature story on December 10, 2009, entitled “What Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Means to Democracy.” In accordance with the United Nations Commissioner on Human Rights’ call for the Declaration to be examined by all in 2009, the authors inspect Article 21 and how its affirmation that everyone should have a voice in the government that represents them affects democracy. They recognize that much still remains to be accomplished in ensuring democratic practices around the world but note that many countries are moving in the right direction.
ARC released a portion of the results from the August 2009 SWMENA Survey, conducted in Lebanon, Morocco, and Yemen in a report entitled “Highlights from the Lebanon SWMENA Survey” in December 2009. ARC conducted the survey in order to garner data that can be used to promote women’s rights across the Middle East and to query respondents on questions relating to education, income, issues upon which politicians should focus, civil marriage, gender quotas, and factors influencing voting. The survey is part of the larger SWMENA Project that strives to train CSOs in advocacy using data collecting skills.
In November 2009, ARC published Political Finance Regulation: The Global Experience, edited by Magnus Öhman and Hani Zainulbhai. The volume emphasizes the pervasiveness of corruption in political campaigns and the political sphere in general. Through various articles included in the volume, the authors find that even among the states that agreed to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, a majority of them lacks “formal disclosure requirements for the income and expenditure of candidates” and that a vigilant civil society must exist to keep the government in check.
ARC also published an August 2009 White Paper report on “Electoral System Options for Lebanese 2010 Elections.” ARC drafted the document “to provide background information on some of the available options for alternative electoral systems that could be used for electing municipal councils” and to determine how these options could be conducted with paper ballots including: bloc vote system, party bloc vote system, closed list proportional representation (PR) system, open list PR system, and the PR system with single transferable vote – the model already employed in Ireland and Malta.
The Center for Democracy and Civil Society at Georgetown University (CDACS, United States) launched a new blog in August 2009 entitled Democracy and Society: Thoughts on Democracy and Civil Society. The blog offers insight and opinion into many of the most pressing issues for the democracy community. Recent posts include “Kosovo As a Model for Afghanistan?,” published on December 8, 2009, in which the author disagrees with a Washington Post article on the subject and states that peace-keeping and occupational forces will not lead to stability in Afghanistan as they did in Kosovo. Also, “Freedom, the Rule of Law, and a Walk in Kampala,” posted on January 4, 2010, details how freedom and the rule of law do not necessarily go hand in hand. The author exposes the situation in Uganda and states that while Ugandans may be free to go about their business, corrupt police and officials, “ghost” offices, and violence persist. A full archive of blog posts, which often include cartoons and references to pertinent articles, can be found here.
The Center for the Study of Democracy at the University of California at Irvine (United States) published its yearly newsletter in the Fall of 2009. The events hosted by CSD in the previous year are detailed in the publication and include: a November 18, 2008, lecture by John Zogby in which he examined the results of the 2008 U.S. elections and which also kicked off the Chancellor's Distinguished Fellows Series; the Fifth Annual Graduate Student Conference with a Focus on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Religion on May 9, 2009; a lecture by the US presidential candidate Michael Dukakis about grassroots campaigning; and a May 2009 visit to UC Irvine by the son of the former Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi. The newsletter also includes a list of CSD’s publications released during the past year and the awards granted to the Center’s faculty.
On November 5–8, 2009, CSD sponsored a four–day commemorative event on “1989: Twenty Years After,” featuring a keynote address on “The Institutional Change after Socialism” by Leszek Balcerowicz of the Warsaw School of Economics and extensive panels on topics such as political institutions, political economy, state-society relations, state-society confrontations, social reconfigurations, economic transformations, and globalization. The full agenda of the conference is available here.
Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL, United States) recently released numerous publications. In December 2009, Michael A. McFaul, Kathryn Stoner-Weiss, and Valerie Bunce released Democracy and Authoritarianism in the Postcommunist World, which examines three distinct waves of democratization that have occurred in the former Soviet bloc. The volume scrutinizes the “internal and external dimensions of both democratic success and failure.” Joshua Cohen’s October 2009 book, entitled Philosophy, Politics, Democracy: Selected Essays, collects the author’s most extraordinary pieces published over the last 20 years that touch on democratic governance and a wide range problems that the U.S. has been tackling. He denies that democracy is solely a power struggle and asserts that philosophical arguments are an essential part of politics.
In September 2009, CDDRL released two books. The first, Political Liberalization in the Persian Gulf by Joshua Teitelbaum, examines the under-emphasized steps that the Persian Gulf states have taken toward political liberalization and questions “whether this trend is part of an inexorable drive toward democratization or simply a means for autocratic regimes to consolidate and legitimize their rule” by using eight states as case studies to anticipate the region’s future. The second, When the People Speak: Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation, by James S. Fishkin, “combines a new theory of democracy with actual practice and shows how an idea [deliberative democracy] that harks back to ancient Athens can be used to revive our modern democracies” and calls for citizens to use the power they wield lest they be swept into irrelevance.
In addition to the volumes released by CCDRL, a number of working papers were added to the Center’s extensive publication list. “The Role of Legal Process in the Redesign of Indian Government-Business Relations,” written by Chiranjib Sen and Anil Suraj and published in October 2009, outlines the process that India has undertaken to open its markets and liberalize the economy since the early 1990s and explores the role of the Indian legal system in the continuation of these reforms. “The Origins of Authoritarianism in Pakistan,” by Sumit Ganguly, was also published in October 2009. The paper compares Pakistan and India and examines why India’s democracy has been remarkably more successful in maintaining a strong democratic tradition when compared to Pakistan and seeks an explanation for what keeps Pakistan from consolidating itself into a functional democracy. In November 2009 CDDRL Director Larry Diamond published “Democratic Governance and the Performance of Democracy,” in which he calls for developed democracies to “empower and partner with advocates of good governance” in order to transmit to “them the full measure of political, financial and technical support they need to bring about a revolution in governance.”
CDDRL hosted various events of which the culmination will be of use to democracy scholars. They include: “State Development, State Building, and Foreign Aid” presented by Stephen D. Krasner on October 22, 2009; “Russia's Negative Influence on Democracy in the Post-Soviet Space” by Jakob Tolstrup on November 12, 2009; “Pious Words, Puny Deeds: The ‘International Community’ and Mass Atrocities” by Rajan Menon on November 13, 2009; the Fall quarter update seminar on “Legalizing Human Rights in Africa” presented by Helen Stacy and held on December 3, 2009; “Pluralism and Global Justice” by Christina Lafont on December 4, 2009; Jussi Impio’s experiences of “User Research in Africa” held on January 7, 2010; “Immigrant Identity in a Cosmopolitan World” by Diego von Vacano on January 8, 2010; and “Proving Crimes Against Humanity” by Terry L. Karl on January 12, 2010. A full list of CDDRL’s events can be found here.
The International Forum for Democratic Studies (United States) sponsored The Sixth Annual Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture on Democracy in the World entitled “Democracy and Diversity: Dealing with Deep Divides” and presented by Nathan Glazer, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Education at Harvard University, on Wednesday, November 4, 2009, at the Embassy of Canada in Washington, DC.
Additionally, the Forum held three luncheon events with current and past Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows. On December 10, 2009, Nikolay Rudenskiy presented on “Shrinking from Brainwashing: The Russian Media’s Response to Political Challenges, with comments by John Squier. Giorgi Areshidze, a 2008 fellow, presented on “The Impact of the Russia-Georgia War on Georgian Democracy” on December 16, 2009, with comments by Miriam Lanskoy. Finally, Radwan Ziadeh presented on “Syria’s Democratic Past: Lessons for the Future” with comments by Steven Heydemann on January 10, 2010. A full list of events held at the National Endowment for Democracy, including video recordings, can be found here.
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