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Annika Silva-Leander, Head of the Democracy Assessment and Political Analysis unit at International IDEA was invited to present the most recent findings of the Global State of Democracy Indices data, funded by the Government of Sweden, at the opening seminar “Swedish aid in shrinking democratic spaces” of Stockholm Evaluation Week (SEW) at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

The United Nations has declared 21 September as the International Day of Peace. This year, the day will be marked with the motto “The Right to Peace - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70”.

Large-scale violent conflicts are devastating in many ways. They cause death, suffering, destruction of infrastructure and resource depletion.  Somewhat less visible though, is how they tear apart the delicate social fabric within and between communities.

Significant progress has been made in democratizing politics and governance in Haiti during the past two decades. Several challenges however, including extreme poverty, wide economic inequalities, weak democratic institutions and a polarized political landscape remain. Opposition political parties and citizens often express their frustrations through protests, which regularly degenerate into violence.

Democracy is pivotal in the pursuit for peace. The global conflict-prevention agenda that the UN Secretary-General seems committed to revitalizing is largely based on this assumption.

Looking at the news around the world today, one cannot help but wonder if peace is being taken for granted? While some of us are fortunate to enjoy peaceful lives, others live in conflict zones where livelihoods are endangered and families are threatened. Like democracy, peace has to be nurtured, promoted and protected.

In 2017, International IDEA launched the first Global State of Democracy report. The report provides evidence-based analysis and data on the global and regional state of democracy, and contributes to the public debate on democracy, informs policy interventions and identifies problem-solving approaches to challenges affecting the quality of democracy.

International IDEA attended the meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption in Vienna on 5-7 September 2018. This Working Group is a subsidiary body of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).

This Constitution Brief introduces the concept of self-determination and its evolution over time, and provides a survey of different approaches to self-determination from comparative constitutional practice.

The MyConstitution project works towards a home-grown and well-informed constitutional culture as an integral part of democratic transition and sustainable peace in Myanmar.

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and the Open Government Partnership (OGP) signed a memorandum of understanding to work closely together in supporting public and private institutions in the areas of political finance, citizen engagement and gender.

The choice of electoral system is one of the most important institutional decisions for any democracy.

In almost all cases the choice of a particular electoral system has a profound effect on the future political life of the country concerned, and electoral systems, once chosen, often remain fairly constant as political interests solidify around and respond to the incentives presented by them.

There is an intricate relationship between well-conducted, democratic elections and a fluid and positive communication between electoral management bodies (EMBs) and the media. During elections, the EMB relies on the media to provide election news to the public, to conduct voter education and to provide access to electoral contestants to communicate their programmatic platforms.

The Office of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) to the European Union, the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), and the European Network of Political Foundations (ENoP) welcome the publishing by the European Commission of its detailed proposal for establishing the 'Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI)' of the next EU budget, which covers the majority of spending beyond EU borders

At present, 151 countries out of 216 countries included in the International IDEA Voting from Abroad database have in place a legal framework for Out-of-Country Voting (OCV), while the remaining 65 countries have no system in place for citizens traveling or living abroad to cast their vote in elections.

Understanding and explaining outbreaks of election-related violence is a complex task; predicting whether forthcoming elections will turn violent, which factors may underlie or trigger violence, and what can be done to prevent violence is even more difficult.

Understanding and explaining outbreaks of election-related violence is a complex task; predicting whether forthcoming elections will turn violent, which factors may underlie or trigger violence, and what can be done to prevent violence is even more difficult.

Understanding and explaining outbreaks of election-related violence is a complex task; predicting whether forthcoming elections will turn violent, which factors may underlie or trigger violence, and what can be done to prevent violence is even more difficult.

Understanding and explaining outbreaks of election-related violence is a complex task; predicting whether forthcoming elections will turn violent, which factors may underlie or trigger violence, and what can be done to prevent violence is even more difficult.

Au cours des dix dernières années, les nouvelles technologies sont devenues prépondérantes dans l’organisation des élections dans le monde. De nombreux pays se sont tournés vers différentes solutions technologiques afin d’accroître l’efficacité et la rentabilité de leurs élections mais aussi de renforcer la confiance des parties prenantes à chaque étape du cycle électoral.

On 22 July 2018, International IDEA convened a panel at the International Political Science Association World Congress in Brisbane, Australia, entitled “The Global State of Democracy: Crisis or Trendless Fluctuation”. International IDEA invited leading scholars to discuss the global state of democracy and to evaluate whether extant measures of democracy are helpful tools to reveal the trends.