| Today, more people than ever before are governed by elected representatives. Democracy – the idea that people have the right to control their government and that a government is legitimate only if and when it is controlled by the people – has acquired an almost unique global hegemony, hardly matched by any other worldview in modern history.
Democracy transcends cultures, religions and languages; but more importantly, it takes multiple forms and survives in the most inhospitable environments: in Liberia, the country started a democratization process on the wreckage of a 20 year civil war. In Chile, President Bachelet is launching a reform of the electoral system, a leftover from the Pinochet era. In Nepal, a constitution building process will seek to establish democracy following the rejection of the King’s authoritarian rule.
Yet democracy is under pressure and efforts to promote democracy are contested. The scepticism ranges from questioning the role and effectiveness of external assistance in general, to outright campaigns against democracy promotion. There is a growing sense that governments and citizens have lost control over democratization processes within their countries. Accusations are levelled against democracy support as having hidden agendas or double standards. The important international efforts against terrorism are too often misused to legitimize autocratic measures against individual freedoms and political opposition.
Against this background, the challenge is to support democracy from within and below. Democratic political changes do not happen by imposing an outsider’s technical institutional solutions, be that in the form of constitutions, elections, or political party systems. To be credible and sustainable, democracy building must be home grown and its delivery should be attributed to well known national actors. Democracy is highly adaptable and will inevitably take different institutional forms that resonate with local conditions in different regions, countries and localities. This is both possible and to be supported, whilst still recognising the universal validity of the broad principles that underpin democracy: representation, participation of the people and accountability of the government.
International IDEA provides an important tool for “homegrown” democracy in the form of our State of Democracy assessment methodology. Recognising the need to build, and to build on, national expertise, the State of Democracy gives citizens of any country the means to assess how their own democracy is performing. As opposed to systems ranking democracies from the outside, it triggers analysis, dialogue and demands for policy reform from within. The methodology has been pilot tested in eight countries across the world, and today the governments of Mongolia, Bosnia Herzegovina and the Netherlands alike are using it to drive institutional and political reforms.
The local nature of democracy does not mean that the billions of euros spent each year on democracy assistance amount to nothing. But being able to help requires the involvement and training of local experts at every stage, rather than international experts – from the design of sustainable institutions to the implementation of policies.
Take a look at electoral assistance: Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Indonesia, Palestine and Sierra Leone have all recently faced enormous challenges in preparing elections. Almost 300 million euros have been spent by the European Union alone in the past five years. But a big part of the money is spent by international donors on election day, on event driven electoral observation and too little on supporting national capacities for managing the election cycle. Too many electoral assistance programmes have the short term objective of citizens casting their votes. IDEA has taken the lead in advocating and developing common international standards for more effective electoral assistance between donors, recipients, and implementing agencies.
Today, we know that what happens after an election is just as important as the months leading to the vote. In a post conflict setting it is particularly important to get not only the first elections right, but the second and the third. If national authorities cannot ensure that electoral processes are free and fair, open and transparent, and perceived as such by their citizenry, the process is a failure.
Despite what seem to be hardening attitudes towards democracy, democracy building is possible as long as it promotes citizen participation, takes into account countries’ differing historical and socio economic contexts and recognises that democratization is a complex rather than a linear process. The Nepali demonstrators remind us that democracy is indeed a value and an end in itself. While it can neither be imported, nor exported, it can certainly be supported.
Vidar Helgesen, Secretary-General of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) discusses the nature and value of citizen driven electoral processes in democracy. While (democracy) “can neither be imported, nor exported, it can certainly be supported.” |
