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The Millennium Declaration affirmed that democracy and democratic governance are essential for the success of the post-2015 development framework. Democracy is a universal value aspired to by people around the world. Democracy is also an enabler of social and economic development, and a political system which can manage conflict peacefully.

Political parties are often forced to focus on short-term crises to the disadvantage of the medium- and long-term development of their strategies.

This guide helps political parties address this issue by focusing on the importance of strategic planning as a means for strengthening their capacity to engage in organizational learning and respond to changing circumstances.

Political parties and organizations need to have the capacity to both compete and cooperate.

Dialogue among political parties usually takes place within democratic institutions such as national parliaments. Yet parliamentary dialogue alone cannot always meet the need for genuine exploration of consensus or compromise. Correspondingly, this Guide focuses on the need for more dynamic spaces of dialogue between political parties.

This Practical Guide presents International IDEA’s State of Democracy (SOD) assessment Framework. Developed for public use around the world, the SoD Framework has been applied in some 20 countries worldwide since its first launch in 2000.

This Discussion Paper seeks to identify and document how different modalities of democratic accountability are linked to improved service delivery in developing democracies.

The work extends an agenda proposed by International IDEA’s Democracy and Development Programme to better understand the workings of accountability mechanisms.

An effective electoral justice system is a key element in the unfolding of a free, fair and genuine democratic process.

Without a system to mitigate and manage inequality or perceptions of inequality, even the best management of an electoral process may lead to mistrust in the legitimacy of the elected government.

Regional organizations are among the key actors in present-day international relations. They foster dialogue among states and serve as a platform for the discussion of various transnational economic, political and social issues. They also play an increasingly important role in elections.

International election monitoring has become a prominent tool for promoting election integrity and democracy, but several factors raise questions about the validity and effectiveness of international election monitoring.

Regional organizations are in a delicate position when it comes to encouraging electoral integrity.

On the one hand, encouraging a free and fair electoral process necessarily means supporting a viable, competitive opposition. On the other hand, support for the opposition can easily be construed as bias and interference in the domestic political process.

Elections are vital to democratic government, but they are not sufficient.

Too often, incumbents rig elections, illicit funding or media bias distort the electoral process, and losing candidates refuse to accept the results. Where elections are marred in these ways, people lose faith in democracy and the political process, and human rights and security are put at risk.

On 17–20 September 2012 International hosted a workshop in Kathmandu, Nepal, on successful strategies for facilitating the inclusion of marginalized groups in customary and democratic governance. 

The participants at this workshop shared examples of good practice in supporting activities to improve inclusion by marginalized groups in democratic and customary/religious governance. 

How do countries around the world regulate the role that money plays in politics?

To help answer this question, in March 2012 International IDEA launched its Political Finance Database, containing data on political finance regulations in force in 180 countries.

Constitutional reform processes within a particular country are often about responding to broad challenges of peace building, reconciliation, inclusion and socio-economic development in a way that is seen as legitimate and is widely accepted.

Democratic accountability refers to the many ways in which citizens, political parties, parliaments and other democratic actors can provide feedback to, reward or sanction officials in charge of setting and enacting public policy.

Democratization in conflict-affected countries is a multidimensional challenge. Implementing democracy-assistance programs requires more sustained and strategic security, political and development support.

The debate over whether religion has any ‘public’ role in a democratic transition is not limited to the question of electoral and legislative involvement by religious groups.

The common idea about the Arab democracy deficit is that it must have something to do with the rigidity of the way religion functions in the socio-political setting of the region. 

In September 2011 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and International IDEA jointly organized a conference on how to best address the role of customary governance structures in a variety of current and potential future democracy-building contexts.

Election experts from all over the world met in Gaborone, Botswana, on 7–9 March 2011 for the 5th Global Electoral Organization (GEO) conference, organized by International IDEA and the Botswana Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

Donor efforts to support democracy and good governance have, in the past few years, been shaped by two dominant trends in international assistance to developing countries.

The development landscape is changing. The increased influence of the G20, the role of China as a donor and the failure of the Paris Agenda—only having met one of the 13 targets for 2010 in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness at the global level—are likely to change the direction of international aid.