Stellan Vinthagen, the Endowed Chair in the Study of Nonviolent Direct Action and Civil Resistance at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, the United States of America, gave a talk at International IDEA about the relationship between democratisation and resistance, on 24 January 2017, co-hosted by International IDEA and the Swedish Development Forum (Föreningen för Utvecklingsfrågor, FUF).
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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this commentary are those of the staff member. This commentary is independent of specific national or political interests. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the institutional position of International IDEA, its Board of Advisers or its Council of Member States.
“This training is useful for us as some unclear questions for us were answered.” - Daw Win Win Myint, Member of Yangon Region Election Sub-commission
Democracy is a system that allows for disagreement, for orderly competition between political parties and candidates in a “battle of ideas.”
On 1 December Africa had its own “shock election”. The incumbent president of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, lost to the opposition candidate Adama Barrow. Just as the Trump election in the US took political analysts by surprise, it was not expected that Jammeh would have to move out of the State House after more than 20 years.
The effective implementation of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development will depend on the ownership of the process at all levels of government, a multi-stakeholder approach, and the capacity to harmonize ambitions with realities.
Voter turnout is an important indicator of how citizens participate in the governance of their country.
Higher voter turnout is often a sign of the vitality of democracy, while lower turnout is usually associated with voter apathy and mistrust of the political process.
This Policy Brief shares documented examples and lessons from approaches to results management and evaluation in democracy assistance work that have successfully enabled flexibility, learning and ownership.
A constitutional text that enshrines and protects gender equality and women’s rights is a significant achievement.
However, a new constitutional text marks only the beginning, and not the end, of the road to achieving substantive gender equality. The constitutional provisions and the principles on which they are based must be put into practice through the processes of constitutional implementation.
Results management approaches can play useful roles in making democracy assistance projects more effective and enhancing their impact.
Robust and relevant approaches to planning, implementation and monitoring of projects, and feeding back learning, have proved useful for achieving and assessing results in democracy assistance.
As 2016 draws to a close, I would like to bring your attention to the important issue of money in politics.
International IDEA participated in the 2016 Bali Democracy Forum themed “Religion, Democracy and Pluralism” on 8-9 December.
This year will be remembered as the year that put direct democracy back on the agenda.
This year has been dubbed ‘the year of direct democracy’.
Opportunities and Challenges to Democracy in 2016
The case for direct democracy
Direct democracy is here to stay and should be welcomed. Direct democracy mechanisms such as referendums, citizens’ initiatives, agenda initiatives, and recall votes, reinforce the fundamental principle of democratic self-governance, provide a check on the tendency of representatives to become disconnected from their electors, and can enhance the popular legitimacy underpinning key political decisions.
Granting citizens a direct say in political decisions is often part of the political system in a country.
It is crucial to make a clear distinction between the different mechanisms and procedures of direct democracy. The terminology used by the jurisdictions can vary to describe the various direct democracy instruments. Therefore it is essential to agree on common definitions for the same institutions and processes.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are those of the individual author. This commentary is independent of specific national or political interests. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the institutional position of International IDEA, its Board of Advisers or its Council of Member States.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are those of the individual author. This commentary is independent of specific national or political interests. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the institutional position of International IDEA, its Board of Advisers or its Council of Member States.
On the 15-16th December, 2016, International IDEA's Secretary-General Yves Leterme took part in the high-level opening session of the “Warsaw Dialogue for Democracy 2016: From past to future: strengthening democratic values” in which he stressed the importance of fighting corruption and increasing democratic accountability to address the root causes of the current crisis of representation.