The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

Ex-State Senator From Hendersonville Helps Uzbekistan Develop Leaders

Clark Plexico, a former three-term state senator from Henderson County during the 1990s, serves as NDI country director in Uzbekistan, where he works with government leaders and continues to focus on emerging leaders. During his recent trip to the U.S., Plexico brought along nine political leaders from Uzbekistan to visit Raleigh and Washington, D.C.

“If you talk to someone who has never had that history of having a democracy or federal system,” Plexico said, “the only way you can really understand it is to see it. So I said, ‘To get to Washington, we have to go to North Carolina.' ” Plexico's group met with several state leaders — some of whom were former colleagues in the '90s — and discussed how things work at the state level. Plexico said the hope is that regional legislatures may be formed in Uzbekistan that would bring elected leaders there “closer to the people.”

Montana Politico Travels the Globe for Democracy

David Hunter has been a central figure in Montana politics for more than 30 years. For the past two and a half years, Hunter has set aside his political career in Montana to help transitioning democracies around the world craft the rules of legislative procedure, and to work with novice candidates as they learn the basics of conducting a political campaign.

Working through NDI, a nonprofit organization loosely affiliated with the U.S. Democratic Party, Hunter has traveled to Libya, Nepal and Ukraine but has spent most of his time working in Liberia. "Nobody who currently serves in the legislature in Liberia has ever served in a legislature before," said Hunter. "None of the staff have ever been the staff of a legislative body before. NDI invited me other there to work with Liberia's legislative staff on the basic mechanics of how a legislature works."

Examining the U.S. Policy Response to Entrenched African Leadership

Entrenched and often autocratic one-man rule is causing a “democracy deficit” and impeding political development in many African countries, Christopher Fomunyoh, senior associate and regional director for Central and West Africa at NDI, said in congressional testimony April 18. But, speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, Fomunyoh said that significant political change has occurred in Africa in the last two decades through better elections and peaceful transfers of power.  He was joined at the hearing, "U.S. policy response to entrenched African leadership," by Johnnie Carson, assistant secretary of state for African affairs; Earl Gast, assistant administrator for Africa at the U.S. Agency for International Development; and Mo Ibrahim, founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.

“Denying leadership opportunities to a whole generation of African youth and emerging leaders deprives Africa and the rest of the world of the tremendous talent, exuberance and energy that the continent is capable of contributing to a better world in the 21st century," Fomunyoh said.  While optimistic about the democratic process in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Fomunyoh warned that backsliding through constitutional change or restricting civil society must be closely guarded against. Using recent elections in Senegal and Cameroon as examples of both extremes, Fomunyoh explained how a vibrant civil society can protect electoral processes and hold leadership accountable. In Senegal, "thanks in large measure to effective grassroots mobilization by Senegalese civil society, the media, youth movements and political parties, the electoral process was safeguarded and the country experienced a credible transition of power," he said.

Read his full statement»

What Do Democracy Promoters Actually Do?

NPR talks to NDI President Kenneth Wollack and his counterpart at the International Republican Institute, Lorne Craner, about the work of democracy promotion groups.

"'It's not the idea of going in and trying to impose a particular system,' he (Wollack) says. His group trains election monitors, teaches civic groups how to advocate their causes and helps parties develop their platforms, Wollack says."

"'We work with parties across the democratic spectrum. We don't identify ourselves with a particular ideology. We help on the process of platform development. We can do focus groups or polling and help parties better understand citizens' needs,' he says."