Reflections on international political party assistance

Democratization

Volumn 12, Issue 4, 2005, Pages 505-527

  Kumar, Krishna ^a  

^a UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT   (United States)

Author keywords

Democracy assistance; Development; Foreign aid; Political parties

Indexed keywords

AID; DEMOCRACY; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; PARTY POLITICS;

EID: 27144472911     PISSN: 13510347     EISSN: 1743890X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13510340500226051     Document Type: Article

References (32)

1. For example, Thomas Carothers has questioned the assumptions behind the construct of 'democratic transition'. See his 'End of the Transition Paradigm', Journal of Democracy, Vol.13, No.1 (2002), pp.5-21.
2. The relative share of election and political process assistance in democracy assistance provided by the US Agency for International Development gives an indication of the low priority assigned to political party assistance. For example, election and political process category constituted 11.8 per cent in 1998, 5.8 per cent in 1999, and 7.3 per cent in 2000 of USAID assistance in democracy sector.
3. Thomas Carothers, Aiding Democracy Abroad: The Learning Curve (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for Peace, 1999), p. 141.
4. National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), A Guide to Political Party Development (Washington, DC: NDI, 2001), p.6.
5. For example, NDI, in close co-operation with Benin based 'Study and Research Group on Democracy and Economic and Social Development', held a series of consultations with party leaders, activists and government officials to decide the focus of the political party training seminars in 1994. After ascertaining the views of major actors, it decided to hold three seminars in three cities of Benin. The first seminar, held on 16-18 September, focused on structural issues facing political parties. It discussed such issues as the participation of local activists in party activities, bottom-up and top-down communication and resource development. The second seminar, held on 25-29 October, focused on information gathering, party platforms and message development through polling and focus groups. The third and the final seminar, held on 8-10 December, examined election related topics such as candidate selection, constituency mobilization and grass-roots organizing. The organizers believe that taken together, the three seminars covered many relevant topics that were important for political party development. See NDI (note 4).
6. Development Associates, Inc., Evaluation of Support for Electoral Processes, Political Party Development and Legislative Strengthening in Nigeria (Washington, DC: DAI, 2003).
7. The author has discussed this issue with many democracy practitioners who had worked both in Africa and Europe.
8. This information was supplied to the author by many informants, including experts engaged in electoral assistance.
9. NDI (note 4), p.29.
10. Ibid., p.29.
11. The author's experience confirms the observation by Carothers, Aiding Democracy Abroad (note 3), p.181, that legislative assistance has been the least successful form of democracy assistance.
12. Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, Final Report: Political Party Strategies to Combat Corruption Workshop (Bangkok: Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, 2002), p.1.
13. Institute for Multiparty Democracy, Report on the Evaluation of the IMD Programmeme in Guatemala (The Hague: IMD, 2003), p.4.
14. NDI (note 4), p.3.
15. Ibid., p.23.
16. For example, in February 2002, NDI organized a half-day meeting for 20 Montenegrin parliamentarians in Washington, DC. The delegates met with congressional staff.
17. NDI (note 4), p. 14.
18. Development Associates, Inc. (note 6), p. 14.
19. Ivan Doherty, Promoting Democracy in Different Settings, mimeograph (Washington DC: National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, 2002).
20. US Agency for International Development, USAID Political Party Assistance Policy (Washington, DC: USAID, 2003).
21. See Management Systems International, An Assessment of USAID Political Party Building and Related Activities in Russia (Washington DC: MSI, 2004), p.13.
22. A USAID-funded project 'Training in Investigation, Detection and Enforcement Program' is now helping political finance regulators in investigation techniques, auditing skills and money laundering detection mechanisms.
23. Thomas Carothers, Ousting Foreign Strongmen: Lessons from Serbia, Policy Brief No.5 (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2001).
24. Doherty (note 19).
25. USAID (note 20).
26. US Agency for International Development, Civil Society Groups and Political Parties (Washington DC: Office of Democracy and Governance, 2004), p.8
27. Doherty (note 19), p.2.
28. Ibid., p.2.
29. Marina Ottaway and Theresa Chaung, 'Toward a New Paradigm', Journal of Democracy, Vol. 10, No. 4 (1999), pp.99-113, argue that the models of party organization and finance remain tied to the contemporary experience of industrial societies instead of the conditions of each emerging democracy. Donors risk forgoing cheaper forms of party organization that in addition to costing less might also create more vibrant, representative party structures. They cite two examples: employment of full-time party workers to manage party affairs and high election campaign costs. First, they argue that the international political party training programmes are oriented toward full-time activists and often suggest techniques, such as television broadcasts or polling that cannot easily be implemented by volunteers. The employment of full time party organizers has been relatively a new innovation in established democracies.
30. The author has witnessed many cases in which local party leaders argued the case of their local clients with international donors in Asia and Africa.
31. Larry Diamond and Richard Gunther (eds), Political Parties and Democracy (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2001), p.23.
32. It may be mentioned in this connection that USAID is currently designing a multi-sector research initiative that will examine the impacts of political party as sistance (along with other democracy assistance programmemes) on recipient countries.