A snapshot of governance discussions at a global intergovernmental organization

Summary: International IDEA's governance structure and policymaking procedures reflect its commitment to promoting and strengthening democratic institutions and processes worldwide. The organization's consultative and consensus-building approach ensures that it is responsive to the needs and priorities of its Member States, Board of Advisers and other key stakeholders. Its Council and Board meetings serve as essential platforms for engagement, collaboration, and decision-making in the pursuit of democratic governance.

As an intergovernmental organization (IGO), International IDEA plays a crucial role in promoting and strengthening democratic institutions and processes around the world. To ensure effective decision-making and policymaking, International IDEA has a well-defined governance structure that includes the Council of Member States, the Board of Advisers, the Secretariat and other governance bodies. This blog post provides a snapshot of the governance processes at International IDEA by describing the Institute's governance structure and presenting some of the topics that were discussed in the context of the April 2023 governance meetings.

The Council is the highest decision-making body of International IDEA and is composed of representatives from 34 Member States. The Council usually meets twice a year to set the strategic direction of the organization, approve its budget, and discuss matters of institutional importance. The Council is also tasked to assign the Secretary-General. The Board of Advisers, on the other hand, provides expert advice to the Council and the Secretariat on matters related to the organization's mandate and strategic objectives.

International IDEA's Secretariat is responsible for implementing the organization's policies and programs. It is headed by the Secretary-General who is appointed by the Council for a five-year term. The Secretariat is organized into departments and units that work on specific areas such as electoral processes, political participation, democracy assessment, and constitution building.

The policymaking procedures of International IDEA are based on a consultative and consensus-building approach. The organization works closely with its Member States and other stakeholders to develop policies and programs that respond to their needs and priorities. The Secretariat also conducts research and analysis to inform its program development and develop insights with direct policy relevance to its Member States.

International IDEA's governance meetings provide important opportunities for Member States and other stakeholders to participate in the organization's policymaking processes. These meetings allow for the exchange of ideas and information, the sharing of best practices, and the development of consensus on key issues related to democratic governance. In the margins of the meetings of the Council and the Board of Advisers, the Institute also organizes briefings on key initiatives and thematic areas of its work. As part of the meetings in April 2023, this included briefings on International IDEA’s Democracy Tracker tool and its two new workstreams on Democracy and Digitalization as well as Democracy and Climate Change.

The Democracy Tracker is a novel and unique digital tool to assess the quality and performance of democracy worldwide. It provides an at-a-glance overview on the current state of democracy in 173 countries, combining annually updated quantitative scores with a comprehensive qualitative analysis on democracy-relevant events on a monthly basis. The Tracker lives up to today’s constantly and rapidly changing world by tracking changes in the democratic landscape that help to understand and explain democratic progress and declines. The Council and the Board received an introduction to the tool and discussed the importance of careful assessment when it comes to determining the impact of the monthly updates for long-term democratic performance.

Digitalization is one of the defining processes of our time. It also has direct implications for democratic governance. It is for that reason that International IDEA, as part of its new Institutional Strategy, has launched a new workstream on Digitalization and Democracy and hosted a joint discussion between the Council representatives and the Board of Advisers on the positive impact of digitalization on democracy. During the session, the participants shared examples of best practices and policies in terms of innovative and effective e-governance initiatives and discussed the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence to enhance digital democracy.

Climate change already has a clear impact on democratic governance. To address the complex challenge of climate change, International IDEA has launched a workstream on Climate Change and Democracy. The interventions stemming from the program are intended to support democracies in formulating and putting in place effective policy responses to combat the climate crisis. The discussants saw ample potential for International IDEA to work on the link between democracy and climate change and acknowledged the Institute’s unique role as a global convening power to initiate discussions on the nexus between the two in political fora.

Overall, the Council and the Board stressed the importance of these new initiatives and workstreams for the Institute and their global impact on enhancing democratic governance. These and various other issues will stay high on the agenda of both governance bodies as the Institute continues to implement its new Strategy.