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El secretario general de IDEA Internacional, Dr. Kevin Casas-Zamora, participó en un panel de discusión el 7 de septiembre de 2021, sobre la mitigación del impacto de la pandemia Covid-19 en la democracia, como parte de la Quinta Conferencia Mundial de Presidentes de Parlamento (5WCSP).

In view of ongoing and recent contestations between the president and prime minister, and president and legislature in Tunisia and in Sri Lanka, International IDEA’s Constitution-Building Programme organised a webinar on the ‘Value and Perils of Semi-Presidentialism in Transitional Contexts’ on 2 August 2021.

Gender inequalities and marginalisation of segments of societies remain a persistent challenge in democracy building across all regions of the world. What measures have been taken to promote gender equality in democracy building processes—on political partiticipation and representation(political parties, parliaments, local government councils), constitution building, electoral processes? What are the pros and cons of gender quot

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La democracia no es solo un sistema de gobierno, sino el reflejo de una aspiración humana y el único tipo de régimen que nos permite vivir con autodeterminación. Pone límites al poder, posibilita la libertad de expresión y garantiza nuestra participación. 

Public participation has become a core element of modern constitution-building. Robust participation is credited with a range of benefits—from improving individual behaviours and attitudes to democracy to shaping elite bargaining dynamics, improving constitutional content, and strengthening outcomes for democracy and peace. Yet it is not well understood whether and how public participation can achieve these ends.

This Primer examines the recognition, roles and rights of the opposition and the legislative minority in democratic constitutions. Opposition parties operating in democracies rely upon a wide range of constitutional protections, such as the freedoms of association, assembly and expression, backed by an independent judiciary and an impartial civil service.

When electoral risks are not understood and addressed, they can undermine the credibility of the process and the results it yields. Electoral management bodies (EMBs) encounter numerous risks across all phases of the electoral cycle. They operate in environments that are increasingly complex and volatile and where factors such as technology, demographics, insecurity, inaccurate or incomplete information and natural calamities, create increasing uncertainty.

Dr. Kevin Casas-Zamora is the Secretary-General of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), with over 25 years of experience in democratic governance as a researcher, analyst, educator, consultant and public official. Here he discusses the role that democracy plays in mitigating climate change.

Democracy is not just a type of regime; it is a human aspiration and the only type of government that allows us to pursue the type of lives we want to lead. It checks power, enables free speech, and guarantees our participation. 

Con motivo del Día Mundial de los Refugiados 2021, reconocemos la perseverancia y conmemoramos el trayecto de todas las comunidades migrantes (refugiados, solicitantes de asilo, desplazados internos, apátridas, trabajadores e inmigrantes indocumentados) en todo el mundo.

On the occasion of World Refugee Day 2021, we recognize the perseverance and commemorate the journey of all migrant communities (refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced, stateless, labour migrants and undocumented migrants) across the globe. We mark this day in the midst of unprecedented social changes and a global pandemic that has tested our resilience and highlighted systematic inequalities.

International IDEA’s Secretary-General, Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora, took part in a high-level panel on 9 June 2021 on the challenges and opportunities for governance in times of democratic backsliding. The event was organized by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) as part of its Governance Week and the broader Governance Network Journey.

Political finance is one of the elephants in the room in any policy conversation on fighting corruption. It is also at the core of the credibility crisis that negatively impacts on public trust in political institutions in all regions of the world. Article 7.3 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) provides a crucial entry point for enhancing political finance transparency.

Es indudable que el dinero desempeña un papel importante en la política. Sin embargo, si el flujo de dinero en la política, conocido habitualmente como financiación política, no se regula adecuadamente, existe el peligro de que la influencia y el poder político se concentren en las manos de unos pocos.

Training is the process of learning the skills you need to do a particular job or activity. For election officials, training organized by electoral management bodies (EMBs) can be geared towards election procedures before, during or after elections; or be part of staff's lifelong learning to maintain and improve the professional com

This lecture deals with the intersection between three sets of challenges, each of which constitutes an existential threat to democracies across the world. The first is linked to money in politics, which poses the danger not only of ‘policy capture’ but also, in worse-case scenarios, of state capture by monied interests.

Forms of special voting arrangements (SVAs) conventionally include early, postal, online, proxy voting and use of mobile ballot boxes.

The open-list proportional representation (OLPR) system, as opposed to the closed-list version, allows voters to pick their favourite candidate from the party list while retaining proportionality of the election results.

In the Asia & the Pacific region, this system is used in among others: Fiji, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. What are the upsides, downsides and unintended consequences of this system? Follow the lecture and/or read the paper for the answers.

The discussion on how technology can be applied to improve the integrity and transparency of elections often focuses on complex and expensive technologies such as biometrics, electronic voting and voter identification systems.

Systemic and legal barriers to equal political participation persist at all levels and take different forms, including unfavourable electoral systems, lack of support from political parties, socio-economic, and cultural.