Amandla

http://column.global-labour-university.org/2011/04/economic-democracy-idea-whose-time-has.html

Global Labour University : Global Labour Column

The Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve this mission, the Foundations seek to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. On a local level, the Open Society Foundations implement a range of initiatives to advance justice, education, public health, and independent media. At the same time, we build alliances across borders and continents on issues such as corruption and freedom of information. The Foundations place a high priority on protecting and improving the lives of people in marginalized communities.

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Will economic interest take precedence over democracy?

In the aftermath of the global economic crisis, Africa is one of the regions of the world that are experiencing better-than-expected levels of economic growth.

While this growth may be off a low base, it is not insignificant in relation to the continent’s developmental and economic needs. If the growth continues, it will assist regional integration efforts in different parts of the continent. But the most important challenge this growth presents is with regard to the relationship between economic growth, on the one hand, and democracy and social justice, on the other.

It is in the challenge of linking growth to democracy that South Africa’s role on the continent will be tested. In other words, will South Africa pursue growth and investment opportunities at the expense of democracy and development? Are we going to commit ourselves to an understanding of respect for national sovereignty which is based on the need to deepen democracy in South Africa, while avoiding an insistence on the same elsewhere in Africa if such an insistence poses a threat to economic opportunities? Is South Africa going to hide behind multilateral approaches to avoid taking positions that may alienate powerful leaders who are not committed to good governance and democracy?...[More]

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From Polity.org.za

 

The Solidarity Peace Trust is a non-governmental organisation, registered in South Africa. The Trustees of the Solidarity Peace Trust are church leaders of Southern Africa, who are all committed to human rights, freedom and democracy in their region.

The chairperson is: Bishop Rubin Phillip; Anglican Bishop of KwaZulu-Natal, Republic of South Africa

The objectives of the Solidarity Peace Trust are to assist individuals, organisations, churches and affiliated organisations in southern Africa, to build solidarity in the pursuit of justice, peace and social equality and equity in Zimbabwe.

It shall be the special concern of the Trust to assist victims of human rights abuses in their efforts to correct and end their situation of oppression.

http://www.solidaritypeacetrust.org/

Gurtong Trust - Peace and Media Project is an independent, not-for-profit, community-based project, which seeks to promote democracy and human rights in Southern Sudan. Its website provides information on its mission, organisation and recent activities. This includes some articles and discussion of politics, political reform, elections and the peace process in Sudan. There are also links to diaspora resources. http://www.gurtong.org/

From Intute.ac.uk

     

What is International IDEA?

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) is an intergovernmental organization that supports sustainable democracy worldwide.

International IDEA’s mission is to support sustainable democratic change by providing comparative knowledge, and assisting in democratic reform, and influencing policies and politics.

What does International IDEA do?

In the field of elections, constitution building, political parties, women’s political empowerment, and democracy self-assessments, we undertake our work through three activity areas:

• providing comparative knowledge derived from practical experience on democracy building processes from diverse contexts around the world;
• assisting political actors in reforming democratic institutions and processes, and engaging in political processes when invited to do so; and
• influencing democracy building policies through the provision of our comparative knowledge resources and assistance to political actors.

Where does International IDEA work?

International IDEA works worldwide. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, it has offices in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The Transparency for Technology Network was co-funded by Open Society Institute's Information Program and Omidyar Network's Media, Markets & Transparency initiative, during the first three months of 2010 it is creating an online mapping of over 30 case studies of technology projects that increase transparency, government accountability, and civic engagement in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, South Asia, China, and Central & Eastern Europe. Users to the site may view summaries of the projects, listen to interviews with their founders and materials relating to them. They highlight good use of web 2.0 technology and citizen participation to increase democracy. Copyright and technical information is displayed on the website. http://transparency.globalvoicesonline.org/

From Intute.ac.uk

Centre for Liberty in the Middle East

Centre for Liberty in the Middle East (CLIME) is a non-profit organisation which seeks to promote democracy in nations of the Middle East. It supports a network of democratic activists throughout the region. Services include training on women's political participation, and political development in general. The website includes information on the aims of the organisation, its membership and activities. It includes access to some reports and training manuals from its members. Topics covered include political reform in Egypt, Jordan and Syria; Islam and politics and women and politics. FROM: Intute.ac.uk
http://www.mideastliberty.org/

Deliberative democracy in practice: the perspectives of practitioners in Germany and Britain
This site provides free access to a conference paper by Emmeline Cooper which was delivered at the 2009 Political Studies Association conference, Manchester, April 2009. The 22 page paper compares and contrasts the practice of deliberative democracy in two European countries, focusing on examples of projects in Britain and Germany. It suggests that while there is some common ground, country differences do exist. From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/5/2009/Cooper.pdf

Challenges to democracy in the 21st Century
Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century is a research programme launched in 2005 by the The National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) Switzerland. Areas of concern include: the impact of globalization upon democracy, the effect of supra-national structures such as the European Union and the increasing 'mediatisation' of politics (growing interdependence between the media and politics eg use of spin doctors and political consultants). The website provides background information on the aims and activities of the programme. It includes free access to online working papers generated from the programme. From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.nccr-democracy.uzh.ch/nccr/about

Living Reviews in Democracy (LRD)
Living Reviews in Democracy (LRD) is an online, open access academic journal launched in 2009 with the support of the Center for Comparative and International Studies at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich.ISSN: 1663-0165 It publishes articles and reviews covering all aspects of democracy. This includes coverage of political theories of democracy, democratic systems of government and democratic deficits in individual nations, regions or systems. It is possible to sign up to receive RSS feds of updates. From Intute.ac.uk
http://democracy.livingreviews.org/

Democracy as subjective function
This site provides free access to the full text of a conference paper by Callum Neil which was delivered at the Political Studies Association (PSA - UK) 2008 annual conference. The 12 page paper considers issues relating to the nature of democracy, The paper draws on Lacan's theory of the subject to put forward a theory that democracy should be understood as a subjective function, rather than a political system. From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/5/2008/Neill.pdf

South Africa: overcoming apartheid, building democracy
South Africa: overcoming apartheid building democracy is an educational resource created by the Michigan State University. It aims to provide teachers and researchers with free access to primary resource materials, instructional texts, and other classroom materials suitable for teachingabout the history of apartheid and the building of democracy in post-Apartheid South Africa. Highlights of the site include online interviews with over 60 people involved in the anti-apartheid struggle, multimedia film clips and digitised images of orignal documents. The educators section contains suggested lesson plans, glossaries and bibliographies to guide further reading. Topics covered include colonialism and the origins of apartheid, the Sharpeville Massacre, anti-apartheid struggle of the ANC, the release of Nelson Mandela and the Truth Commission. Technical and copyright information is displayed on the website. From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/

IRI- Asia
The Initiative & Referendum Institute – Asia seeks to promote direct democracy in Asian nations. Its website provides information on its aims, membership and activities. It includes free acccess to press releases and reports. Thes einclude introductory materials on the nature of direct democracy, deliberative democracy and referendums and case studies and asessments of their specific usage in Asian nations. The latter includes reports on recent constitutional and other local referendums in Taiwan, Japan, China. From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.iri-asia.net/

Democracy and development in a globalized world
This site provides free access to the full text of a book published in 2009 by International IDEA ISBN 978-91-85724-58-1. The 109 page text contains papers from the Democracy and Development Round Table held in New Delhi from 17 to 18 June 2008 which was organized by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, International IDEA, and the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). It examines the inter-relationship between globalization, democracy and development in the 21st Century. Case studies are presented from Mexico, Pakistan and India. Issues covered include democracy and pro-poor development, the linkage between economic development and democratic development. Free registration required for full text acess.From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.idea.int/publications/dd_globalized_world/index.cfm

Israel Democracy Institute
Israel Democracy Institute is an independent think tank which seeks to promote the strengthening of democracy in Israel and the creation of an inclusive society which recognises the position of the Arab Community. Areas of research include religion and state, national security, economic policy, education, the media, and Jewish and Israeli politics in general. The English language website provides information on the aims of the centre and its recent activities. It includes free access to full text press releases, research reports and papers. The latter include examples from the Army Forum series (discussing the Israeli Defennce Forces and security); papers on democracy (discussing elections and the political system); Guttman Center Publications (including the annual Israeli Democracy Index Project which audits and evaluates democracy in Israel). There are also some policy papers relating to the Arab-Israeli conflict and the situation of Jewish settlers in Palestine, Gaza Strip and West Bank and free access to its online journal parliament which contains articles on aspects of the Israeli parliament, electoral and political system. From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.idi.org.il/sites/english/Pages/homepage.aspx

State of Democracy network
The State of Democracy (SoD) website provides free access to an assessment mechanism for studying the state of democracy worldwide which has been developed by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) in association with Professors Stuart Weir and David Beetham of the UK Democratic Audit and The Human Rights Centre, Essex University. It differs from other indexes and measures of democracy, in that rather than applying external criteria it encourages local actors to ask a series of questions in order to determine 'How democratic are our country and its government?'. The website provides free access to the methodology questionnaires, guidelines and case studies of its usage. It also contains statistical data and reports which have applied it. These include assessments of the state of democracy in different regions and countries worldwide. From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.idea.int/sod/index.cfm

The Crisis of democracy: report on the governability of democracies to the Trilateral Commission
This site provides free access to the full text of the book by Michel Crozier, Samuel P. Huntington and Joji Watanuki published by New York University Press in 1975. ISBN 2270814713645. The 227 page report to the Trilateral Commission is renown for its analysis of the state of democracy and challenges facing democratic governance in the 1970s. It includes cases studies which assess democracy in Europe, United States and Japan. From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.trilateral.org/library/crisis_of_democracy.pdf

Popular attitudes to democracy in Ghana 2008
This site provides free access to Afrobarometer briefing paper no.51, published in June 2008. Afrobarometer is a series of public attitude surveys conducted in African nations. It is a cross-national survey research project, coordinated by the Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA), and the Institute for Research in Empirical Political Economy (IREEP, Benin). This 7 page report considers how satified Ghanaians are with the state of democracy in their nation, what threats they see and their attitudes towards popular democracy in general. It is a useful background on the run up to the 2008 elections.
http://www.afrobarometer.org/papers/AfrobriefNo51.pdf

National Democratic Congress (Ghana)
The National Democratic Congress is a leading political party of Ghana. Its website provides information on its aims, history, membership and recent activities. It includes access to recent press releases, party maniestos and other political policy documents. It also contains coverage of involvement in recent elections in Ghana.
http://www.ndc.org.gh:8080/ndc/home.do

New Patriotic Party (Ghana)
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is a major political party of Ghana. Its website provides information on its political policies, membership and recent activities. It includes press releases, political policy statements and current manifestos as well as calendars and photographs of recent events. These include coverage of involvement in recent elections in Ghana.
http://www.npp-ghana.org/

Ghana elections 2008: web dossier
This site has been created by the African Studies Centre, University of Leiden. It provides free access to a web dossier of information and materials relating to the December 2008 parliamentary and presidential elections in Ghana.It includes some background on the context of the elections, the full text of the constitution, a bibliography of references to selected journal articles and books, and links to important websites and blogs monitoring the events.
http://www.ascleiden.nl/Library/Webdossiers/GhanaElections.aspx

European Union Election Observation Mission to Ghana
This is the official website of the European Union delegation which monitored the December 2008 parliamentary and presidential elections in Ghana. It provides information on the aims of the mission, its composition and methods as well as background details on the electoral system of Ghana. Users may access press releases, photographs, and full text monitoring election reports from the website.Thes einclude statement on the conduct of the elections and state of democracy in Ghana.
http://www.eueomghana.org/EN/default.html

Ghana: Carter Center resources
This site is maintained by independent research organisation, the Carter Center. It provides free access to information about its development and peace and democracy programmes in Ghana. Users may access press releases and full text reports. These include parliamentary and presidential election monitoring reports from approximately 1992 onwards.
http://www.cartercenter.org/countries/ghana.html

http://www.ashinstitute.harvard.edu/

The Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation has the worthy goal to foster "creative and effective government problem-solving." The Institute uses research, education, international programs, and government innovations awards to affect such problem solving. The homepage is divided up into four sections, "Innovations in American Government," "Global Network," "Knowledge Building," and "Teaching and Training." To read some of the publications the Institute puts out, click on "Institute-Wide Publications" at the bottom of the "Knowledge Building" section. Along with the "5 Year Report" and the "2008-2009 Course Guide", "The Ash Institute Resource Guide" and "Communique: Ash Newsletter" are in PDF format here. In the "Innovations in American Government" section on the homepage, clicking on "Innovations News" will lead you to a three-part documentary that shows the presentations of the finalists for the 2008 Innovations Awards in front of the National Selection Committee. Just click on the link to "Part 1, Part 2, Part 3" at the bottom of the 2008 Innovations Winners section. It's sure to have you on pins and needles! [KMG] Scout Report

Cultural Anthropology virtual Issue: democracy, voting & elections
This site is maintained by Cultural Anthropology: the journal of the Society for Cultural Anthropology. It provides access to a collection of articles and supplementary papers relating to democracy, elections and voting which were published during 2008. These include a useful insight into the US elections from Palestinian citizens, Making Democracy Count: Opinion Polls and Market Surveys in the Chilean Political Transition by Julia Paley; Rose-Colored Glasses? Color Revolutions and Cartoon Chaos in Postsocialist Georgia by Paul Manning and Multipartyism and Nostalgia for the Unified Past: Discourses of Democracy in a Dance Association in Cameroon by Clare A. Ignatowski. They offer a useful insight into elections from an anthropological perspective. Intute.ac.uk
http://www.culanth.org/?q=node/173

Democracy, Citizens and Elections Research Network (DCERN)
The Democracy, Citizens and Elections Research Network (DCERN) is a research network based at the University of Manchester. It specialises in researching elections, electoral systems, electoral behaviour, election campaigns and political marketing, citizenship and participation and legislatures. Its website provides information on its aims, objectives and ongoiung research programmes. It includes free access to some full text working papers from its members. Intute.ac.uk
http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/dcern/

Polls for the public good: mass and elite evaluations of the health of democratic governance This site provides free access to the full text of a paper by Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart which was prepared for the for the WAPOR/AAPOR annual meeting “Polls for the Public Good.” New Orleans, May 2008. The 38 page document considers approaches to measuring democracy. It uses the world value Survey 2005/7 and cross compares and analyses them with rankings of democracy, good governance, human rights, and corruption produced by elite ruling groups. Intute.ac.uk
http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~pnorris/Acrobat/WAPOR%20Norris.pdf

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Everyday democracy index

This site provides access to a pamphlet by Kirsten Bound, Paul Skidmore which was published by the Demos think tank in January 2008. ISBN 978 1 84180 193. The index measures levels of democracy in 25 nations in the EU using an innovative approach which includes the 'formal dimension' of democratic political systems' as well as 'everyday measures' experienced by individuals such as levels of democracy in the workplace, community and levels of access to public services. The 77 page report presents the results of the survey as well as details on its methodology and rationale. From Intute.ac.uk
http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/theeverydaydemocracyindexbook

Alison Brysk and Gershon Shafir, ed., National Insecurity and Human Rights: Democracies Debate Counterterrorism: University of California Press / UC Global, Area, and International Archive, vol. #5, 2007. http://repositories.cdlib.org/gaia/gaia_books/5

Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law Website of the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University, a research centre founded in 2002 to conduct policy relevant research and provide training to help transitional countries “in the design and implementation of policies to foster democracy, the rule of law, and balanced and sustainable economic progress”. There is information on research programmes being conducted along with associated publications, events and presentations. Research areas include democracy, economic performance and the rule of law. The publications section includes details of books, articles, occasional papers, working and discussion papers some of which can be downloaded in full from the site. Other areas of the site provide details of news and events, courses offered, profiles of staff and a media guide containing a list of policy experts at CDDRL. From Intute.ac.uk
http://cddrl.stanford.edu/

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U.S. Democracy Promotion During and After Bush
Source: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

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How Capitalism Is Killing Democracy. By: Reich, Robert B. Foreign Policy, Sep/Oct2007 Issue 162, p38-42, 5p; (AN 26271775)
PDF Full Text(7.0MB)

Journal of Public Deliberation

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Independent on Sunday politics blog

Unlock democracy:YouTube Channel on UK politics

Turkey: ODIHR election reports

Atlantic Community (More)

Should Market Liberalization Precede Democracy? Causal Relations between Political Preferences and Development
Source: institute for the Study of Labor

+ Full Paper (PDF; 173 KB)

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http://www.nimd.org/

From Intute.ac.uk

Popular Conceptions of the Meaning of Democracy: Democratic Understanding in Unlikely Places
Source: Center for the Study of Democracy, University of California-Irvine (More)

Nigeria: NDI resources

European union Election Observation Mission Nigeria 2007

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Economist intelligence Unit's Index of democracy 2007

African Liberal Network

Nigeria: International Republican Institute resources

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Understanding Political Corruption in Low Income Countries
Source: Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, Faculty Research Working Paper Series (More)

Insurgency and credible commitment in autocracies and democracies
Source: World Bank Policy Research Working Paper (More)