Network of Democracy Research Institutes
Member Institutes
The institutional profiles below provide contact information, program descriptions, and research and publication highlights for current members of the Network. Most institutions provide more detailed information, including full texts of selected publications, on their own Web sites. Unless otherwise noted, all Network member Web sites listed herein contain information in English.
Latin America
Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL)
Contact: Gabriel C. Salvia, president and general director
Av. Roque, Sáenz Peña 628
Piso 2º Oficina R
1035 - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Phone: +54 11 4343 1447
Fax: +54 11 4343 1447
centro@cadal.org
www.cadal.org
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Mission:
Established in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2003, CADAL's mission is to promote and consolidate democracy, rule of law, and free market economies in Latin America.
Activities include:
- Organizes and participates in conferences, seminars, workshops, and lectures on Latin American politics, human rights, journalism, democracy, economics, rule of law, modernization of political parties, and institutional development and communication
- Conducts field research and publishes reports, books, and articles on journalism, human rights, and Latin American politics
- Partners with university students to analyze Latin American politics with a pro-democratic and free market perspective through annual seminars and conferences
- Circulates publications to government officials, universities, the media, and civil society
Publication Information: Visit CADAL's Web site for a list of publications.
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Congreso Visible (CV)
Contact: Elisabeth Ungar, project director
Cra. 1E # 18A-10 Edificio Franco 3p
Santafé de Bogotá, Colombia
Phone: +57-1-339-4949; +57-1-339-4999
Fax: +57-1-284-1890
cvisible@uniandes.edu.co
cvisible.uniandes.edu.co
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Mission:
Congreso Visible is a research project of the department of political science and the Center for Sociojudicial Research at the Universidad de Los Andes. Its main objective is to promote citizen monitoring of Congress and citizen access to elected representatives.
The project seeks to improve the level of information available to citizens regarding Congress through the centralization and dissemination of legislative information, which in turn will allow for citizen participation in the decision-making process.
Activities include:
- maintaining a legislative database that includes information on members of Congress
- conducting research on Congress using information from the database
- publishing project findings and analysis in the media
Publication Information: Please visit CV's Web site for a list of recent publications.
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FUNDAR– Centro de Análisis e Investigación, Mexico
Contact: Sergio Aguayo, president;
Olga Pellicer, vice president
Popotla No. 96-5
Col. Tizapán San Angel
Mexico DF 01090, Mexico
Phone: +52-55-95-26-43
Fax: +52-56-81-08-55
fundar@fundar.org.mx
www.fundar.org.mx
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Mission:
FUNDAR, the Center for Analysis and Research, was founded in 1999 as an independent organization to conduct research on and to promote Mexico's transition to democracy. The Center's priorities include public budgets, transparency, citizen participation, human and women's rights, and social justice.
Activities include:
- monitoring and conducting substantive research on public budgets, with the aim of analyzing the impact of government spending on diverse sectors; advancing citizens' interests; and contributing to the consolidation of new mechanisms of participation
- organizing workshops and preparing handbooks and topical documents on budget issues for legislators, leaders of nongovernmental organizations, and the media
- encouraging and promoting informed debates and decision-making processes, as well as strengthening the activities of advocacy-oriented groups
- developing a transparency scorecard for several Latin American countries (in cooperation with other organizations)
- conducting research on conflict situations, local power, and environmental protection issues
Publication Information: Please visit FUNDAR's Web site for alist of publications.
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Instituto de Ciencia Política Hernán Echavarría Olózoga (ICP)
Contact: Marcela Prieto, Executive Director
Carrera 11
No 86 – 32 Office 502
Bogotá, Colombia
Phone: +571-218-3858
+571- 218-3831
Fax: +571-218-3621
info@icpcolombia.org
www.icpcolombia.org
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Mission:
ICP is a non for profit organization founded in Bogotá, Colombia in 1987, independent of any political party or religious belief. Its mission is to be committed to the study of democratic and market economy principles and values, both indispensable elements in order to carry out adequate institutional building, satisfactory political development and accurate economic, social and cultural progress.
Activities include:
- publishing Legislative Observatory, a legislativel information bulletin that describes the content, scope and procedures of the most important bills or legislative action discussed in Congress. These bulletins have become a practical and important tool for Legislators, students/researchers, government official, journalists and civil society in general.
- organizes conferences, seminars, lectures, and meetings where national and international recognized experts analyze and debate important subjects of national and international importance. The events done by the Institute are widely attended and its public comes from diverse and demanding sectors. The active participation of businessmen, academics, students, and policy makers to such activities is recognized in having a direct impact in the decision making process.
- publishing Policy Papers and Policy Reports, which are aimed to provide specific ICP concepts on different important topics being discussed both nationally and internationally. The extent of the Reports does not exceed two pages. And in the case of the Policy Papers no more then five.
Publication Information: Please visit ICP's Web site for a list of their publications.
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Latinobarometer
Contact: Marta Lagos, executive director
Corporación Latinobarómetro
Providencia Orrego Luco 1130
Santiago, Chile
Phone: +56-2-334-4544
Fax: +56-2-334-6970
latinobarometer@latinobarometer.org
www.latinobarometro.org
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Mission:
Latinobarometer is an annual public opinion survey carried out in 17 Latin American countries by the Corporación Latinobarómetro. It expresses the opinions, attitudes, and behaviors of approximately 400 million inhabitants of the region. The survey started in 1988 with a pilot survey in four countries of the southern cone of Latin America— Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile—and focused on the social underpinnings of these new democracies. It had expanded to 17 countries in 1996. It is a private, nonprofit initiative for use by the social and political sectors of the region.
Activities include:
- conducting annual public opinion polls in 17 countries in the region with representative samples surveying the opinions, attitudes, behaviors, and values of the people of the region on such issues as the economy and international trade; integration and regional trade, democracy, politics and institutions; social policies and the distribution of wealth; civic culture; social capital and participation; the environment; gender issues; and indicators of discrimination
- holding an annual press conference to outline the major findings of the survey
- publishing survey-research data and analysis on the Internet
- disseminating the results of the surveys to government officials; presenting them in international forums and seminars; publishing essays in such news outlets as the Wall Street Journal and the Economist and in academic-journal articles in Spanish, English, and German
Publication Information: Please visit Latinobarometer's Web site for a list of publications.
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State of the Nation Program (Programa Estado de la Nación en Desarrollo Humano Sostenible)
Contact: Jorge Vargas Cullel, deputy coordinator
CONARE
Dr. Franklin Chang Díaz Building
Pavas
P.O.Box. 1174-1200
San José, Costa Rica
Phone: +506-290-3325 or +506-232-0640, +506-232-4750
Fax: +506-290-5879 or +506-296-5626
programa@estadonacion.or.cr
www.estadonacion.or.cr/index.htm
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Mission:
The State of the Nation Program was established in 1992 to advance the study and discussion of human sustainable development in Costa Rica. It was created by the Consejo Nacional de Rectores (National Council of University Deans) to provide a basis for collaborative efforts by different sectors of society to produce and distribute an annual report on Costa Rican human development.
Activities include:
- The flagship publication of the State of the Nation Program is a major annual report on human development in Costa Rica. The 2005 report (which was the eleventh in the series) focused on strengthening democracy, equality and social integration, economic stability, and environmentally responsible practices. For the complete Spanish text visit www.estadonacion.or.cr/Info2005/Paginas/indice.html. Visit www.estadonacion.or.cr/Informes/informes.html to access previous reports in the series.
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