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Our Perspectives

Commentary from experts on the directions and challenges of democracy assistance programs.


09/18/2010	Could Kyrgyzstan be the Democracy in Afghanistan's Back Yard? Washington Post NDI Vice Chairman, Thomas A. Daschle, writes about his optimism for the future of democratic institutions in Kyrgyzstan in this Washington Post op-ed. While acknowledging the challenges the country faces, Daschle rejects the idea that Kyrgyzstan is a "new headache" for U.S. policy and urges the U.S. to support and strengthen democratic institutions in the country. "I was struck during my visit that politicians and citizens of all stripes voiced admiration for the rule of law, representative parliaments, civil society and political pluralism. How meaningful it would be if we could look back in a decade or two and see that those goals had been realized and that we were on the right side of history." Read More
07/01/2010	New Technologies for Democracy Community of Democracies Speaking at a panel at the Community of Democracies meeting in Krakow, Poland, in July, NDI Chief Technology Officer Chris Spence explores the role of technology in democratic development and the challenges and opportunities it poses in closed societies. Spence also addresses the importance of using technologies in new and emerging democracies using examples from Afghanistan and Uganda. He notes that while technology can provide useful tools, to be most effective they must be used to support well-organized "off-line" activities by civil society groups. Read More
06/09/2010	Women as Agents of Change House Foreign Affairs subcommittee Women's meaningful participation in politics affects both the range of policy issues considered and the types of solutions that are proposed. In places such as Timor-Leste, Croatia, and South Africa, an increase in the number of female lawmakers has resulted in more legislation related to domestic violence, inheritance and security. NDI President Kenneth Wollack testified about these gains at a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on "Women as Agents of Change: Advancing the Role of Women in Politics and Civil Society." Read More
05/24/2010	Election Technology TV2 Africa In this story from TV2 Africa, Pat Merloe, NDI's senior associate for elections programs, talks about using new technologies for better monitoring and transparency in elections around the world, but especially in upcoming elections in Uganda, Burundi and Kenya. Eric Gunderson, president of Development Seed, a technology partner of NDI's, talks about the potential for mapping election data to increase transparency around the election process. Read More
05/10/2010	Transforming The Balkans: Security, Political Stability and Economic Development Center for Strategic and International Studies "My optimistic message is that the region is stabilizing in ways we’ve not seen before." So begins Rob Benjamin, NDI regional director for Central and Eastern Europe, in a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies about the political situation in the Balkans. He explains his reasons for optimism, including increasing cooperation in the region, a desire to integrate with the EU and public opinion in the region which sees jobs and the economy as more important than borders and ethnic conflict. He also touches on remaining challenges in the region, which include lingering ethnic conflicts, growing Euro-skepticism and political stability within each country, and how democratic strengthening can begin to alleviate some of these issues. Read More
04/04/2010	Ukrainian Democracy's Regional Roots Business Ukraine Kristina Wilfore, NDI's director in Ukraine, hits the road to see how democratic institutions work outside of the capital city. Meeting with mayors from around the country, Wilfore sees local governments on the path to a stronger and more responsive democracy. "In a city hall made of glass that communicates transparency, Mayor Groisman has set up an office to hear from citizens and respond to their concerns. The result has been more accessible and clean parks, improved road conditions and better access to health care, and an assortment of other changes." Read More
04/01/2010	A Compassionate and Competent Response Foreign Service Journal NDI Board Member J. Brian Atwood looks at the U.S. response to the earthquake in Haiti, what was done well and what lessons U.S. disaster response efforts can learn in the future. Atwood argues that putting USAID in charge of the relief was the correct response since it has special expertise in international aid. "In the early days of the crisis, critical voices asked why USAID was put in charge of the response. Why not the military? Or the Federal Emergency Management Agency? The answer should be clear to anyone who studies this crisis carefully. An objective analysis will lead to the conclusion that future "all-government responses" should be limited to those organizations trained and certified to do this work internationally." (Also available in Spanish) Read More
04/01/2010	Talking Politics Living Well In this interview with Living Well magazine, NDI's resident country director in Jordan, Roula Attar, describes NDI programs in the country and explains why empowering women is so important to future of the country. "Leaving women out of politics doesn't simply disempower women; it actually stalls development and is detrimental to an entire nation's well-being." Read More
03/30/2010	Iraq's Election was Free and Fair Foreign Policy Les Campbell, NDI's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, writes about the recent parliamentary elections in Iraq for Foreign Policy. Campbell emphasizes that, despite some shortcomings in the system, the election results do reflect the will of the people. Nonpartisan observers conducted a parallel vote tabulation, which closely mirrors the official election results. "Every available objective measure tells the same story: The will of the people was expressed in the election results. These results can and should form the basis for the country's governance." Read More
03/01/2010	International Support for Elections: Effective Strategies and Accountability Systems Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Pat Merloe, NDI’s senior associate and director of electoral programs, presented on international support for elections in a conference of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Among the points Merloe made was that: “Citizens’ right to participate in governance and public affairs combines with the right to seek, receive and impart information in the electoral context as the basis for citizens to see into all aspects of the election process to determine whether elections are genuine.” Read More