open Democracy News Analysis -

• Democracy support: where now?, Vidar Helgesen
  

  Even international civil servants not given to the expression of overtly political sentiments can find themselves moved by a display of public and democratic affirmation. Such was the case around midnight on 4 November 2008, when I found myself in a gathering crowd outside the White House - a crowd that was wildly celebrating the imminent election of Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.

  Vidar Helgesen is Secretary-General of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA)
  
  This is the opening contribution of an international debate on democracy support co-hosted by International IDEA and openDemocracy

  There was something both familiar and extraordinary about the experience. For here in Washington, DC - where I had taken part in a US election programme organised by the non-aligned International Federation for Electoral Assistance (IFES) - I was observing scenes that I would expect to see after first-time elections in new democracies, not in one of the oldest of them.

  At the same time, I could not help reflecting that these celebrations were in support of a president-elect with strong bonds to two countries - Kenya and Indonesia - whose recent democratisation experiences also included exuberant popular mobilisation on the streets. The distance between Jakarta, Nairobi and Washington seemed to fall away in a moment. The first African-American was being elected as United States president - and the first truly global citizen. 

  Indeed, the connections between the remarkable election in the US and events in the rest of the world go further. For the US electoral process as it has unfolded over the last two years holds promise of renewal in a long-standing democracy - and of a kind that addresses the same challenges that face democracies across the globe. Among them are:

  * how to manage diversity

  * how to ensure inclusion of all groups in society and in the political process

  * how to encourage and mobilise participation by citizens

  * how to promote political choices and outcomes that are both responsible in themselves and responsive to citizens' key needs and demands.

  The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) is an intergovernmental organisation that supports sustainable democracy worldwide. Its objective is to strengthen democractic objectives and processes. International IDEA - based in Stockholm, with offices in Latin America, Africa and Asia - acts as a catalyst for democracy building by sharing comparative knowledge, developing policy, and responding to national requests for assistance in democratic reform.  democracy issues. It works together with policy-makers, donor governments, UN organisations and agencies, regional organisations and others engaged in the field of democracy building.                      
  International IDEA's notable areas of expertise are: electoral processes, political parties, democracy and gender, and democracy assessment.
  
  Read more about International IDEA

  There was in addition a particular factor in the US election, one uppermost in the minds of many voters: the need to repair their country's image abroad following years of excesses committed in the name of democracy promotion.

  A United States election with a global resonance and impact, which raises issues shared by democratic countries everywhere, and which took place in the context of unprecedented questioning of how democracy has been and should be supported - I can think of no more acutely relevant backdrop to the debate that the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and openDemocracy are launching.

  A global challenge

  International support for democracy has had its ups and downs in recent history. After the end of the cold war it was consecrated as a lofty and legitimate goal of the international community, and for a decade and more it surfed on the high tide of what appeared to be an emerging global pro-democracy consensus. Today, however, the picture is a good deal more complex. In a number of important respects the nascent pro-democracy consensus is overshadowed by doubts - doubts that themselves mirror the challenges faced by current democratisation processes.

  This makes the current moment a propitious one for all those involved in democracy support - international organisations, development cooperation agencies, donor governments, NGOs, scholars, pro-democracy activists, and engaged citizens - to assess its condition. It is even more timely in view of the fact that 2009 will be a year of anniversaries: thirty years since the beginning of the "third wave" of democratisations in Latin America, twenty years since the fall of the Berlin wall, fifteen since the end of apartheid in South Africa, ten since the start of the Reformasi (democratic reform) in Indonesia. 

  The commemoration of these great events, in a context where there are many causes for concern in the contemporary democracy landscape, is a unique moment for a broad dialogue that can take stock of the successes and failures of democracy support, and gauge the many challenges ahead. 

  From the perspective of International IDEA, the dialogue's main objective should be to identify options that can be both shared and applied in responding to the needs of all those who continue to pursue democracy out of a conviction that it constitutes an essential goal for their societies and countries. In doing this, however, the aim is not to seek universally applicable recipes - since there is already ample evidence that such recipes simply do not exist.  

  Indeed, the current global developments with regard to democracy's advance - or retreat - seem uncertain, and to elude the clear identification of trends. Yet it can be said that democracy continues to be equated with freedom and equality, and as such to be sought by people around the world. It remains a strong driving force of political change on all continents. 

  In Latin America today all countries (with one exception) are ruled by a democratically-elected government. A number of elections were held in 2007-08, most of them (Mexico apart) without significant hitches, and another series of important polls will take place in 2009-11. In Asia, democracy has made a critical breakthrough in Nepal and the Maldives, and has taken root in Indonesia. In Africa, it has been making headway in several countries such as Sierra Leone, Burundi and Liberia; and on the  continent as a whole - following the adoption of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance in January 2007 - democracy is also on the way to becoming a key component of the regional-cooperation framework.