Research projects
State of Democracy
Project Director at the University of Essex: Dr Todd Landman
Research Assistant: Ms Edzia Carvahlo
Drawing on the achievements of the
Democratic Audit in the United Kingdom, the State of Democracy project has
developed a framework for carrying out democracy assessments around the world.
In conjunction with International IDEA in
Stockholm, the project published a
Handbook
of Democracy Assessment, which was then used in eight pilot countries. The
framework proved equally applicable to both developed and developing democracies
and resulted in a
comparative summary of the assessments. The framework has since been applied
in assessments of democracy in South Asia,
Australia, and the
Philippines among other
countries. Following an experts meeting in London in June 2004, the project has
been consolidated through an institutional partnership between the University of
Essex and International IDEA.
To contribute to a series of follow-up activities to the Fifth International
Conference on New and Restored Democracies in
Mongolia (ICNRD-5), the project
carried out capacity building for democracy assessment, produced a desk study on
the state of democracy in Mongolia, and a comparative study on the state of
democracy in the five post-Soviet republics in Central Asia. The work being
carried out by Essex has been funded primarily by the United Nations Development
Programme.
A local team of assessors has completed a democracy assessment in Mongolia,
which developed a series of core and satellite indicators on democracy. The
project makes a contribution to ICNRD-6 in Doha, Qatar, which begins in November
2006.
In December 2005, the State of Democracy network held an Experts Meeting at
the University of Essex to discuss the lessons learned from past and ongoing
projects and how the framework can be enhanced and improved for future
assessments. With the assistance of experts from the State of Democracy network,
Essex and IDEA is developing a new set of handbooks for democracy assessment, a
network of democracy assessors to provide capacity building for teams wishing to
carry out new assessments, and a database for democracy assessment.
Basics of the framework for assessing the State of Democracy
Fundamental pronciples
The fundamental principles of the State of Democracy framework include:
- popular control over public decision-making and decision makers
- equality of respect and voice between citizens in the exercise of that control
Mediating values
These two principles are assessed through seven mediating values that
include:
- participation
- authorisation
- representation
- accountability
- transparency
- responsiveness
- solidarity
Organising columns
The framework includes a large number of ‘search questions’ on the following
four organising columns:
- Citizenship, law and rights
- Representative and accountable government
- Civil society and popular participation
- Democracy beyond the state
Executive summary
An executive summary of the framework can be found on the
International IDEA website in Arabic, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.