From Evaluating Democracy Assistance to Appraising Democracy Promotion

Organisations involved in delivering international democracy assistance are engaging increasingly with questions about how to assess their activities. A double shift in the terms of reference, from the ex post evaluation of assistance projects or programmes to ex ante appraisal of the broader democracy promotion strategies, could make democracy promotion more effective. This does not mean abandoning the former; on the contrary its status would be enhanced. Improving the chain of learning that leads from assistance evaluations to the formulation of promotion strategies could improve decision-making over how and whether to promote democracy abroad. Because strategies for democracy promotion are constitutive of the political relationship with countries, different strategies have different implications for the possibilities of political self-determination. For that reason and because democratisation and hence effective democracy promotion may be beneficial for human development, international peace and national security, strategies that reflect informed appraisal would be an improvement on a defective status quo. The challenges include: more systematic data gathering; innovative ways of comparing the various democracy promotion options; and institutional changes that connect the research findings to the high politics of policy-making.     

Political Strategies of External Support for Democratization

Political strategies of external support to democratization are contrasted and critically examined in respect of the United States and European Union. The analysis begins by defining its terms of reference and addresses the question of what it means to have a strategy. The account briefly notes the goals lying behind democratization support and their relationship with the wider foreign policy process, before considering what a successful strategy would look like and how that relates to the selection of candidates. The literature's attempts to identify strategy and its recommendations for better strategies are compared and assessed. Overall, the article argues that the question of political strategies of external support for democratization raises several distinct but related issues including the who?, what?, why?, and how? On one level, strategic choices can be expected to echo the comparative advantage of the "supporter." On a different level, the strategies cannot be divorced from the larger foreign policy framework. While it is correct to say that any sound strategy for support should be grounded in a theoretical understanding of democratization, the literature on strategies reveals something even more fundamental: divergent views about the nature of politics itself. The recommendations there certainly pinpoint weaknesses in the actual strategies of the United States and Europe but they have their own limitations too. In particular, in a world of increasing multi-level governance strategies for supporting democratization should go beyond preoccupation with just an "outside-in" approach.     

Autocratic opening to democracy: why legitimacy matters

As recent experiments in democratisation around the world show signs of achieving success, or failure, or more usually something in between, the attention of democracy promotion actors in the international community is turning to the world's remaining outstanding autocracies. This article identifies the autocracies, discusses the notion of autocratic opening, and explores how opening can come about, with particular reference to international intervention. The article argues that, for identifying the prospects for autocratic opening and determining the forms of constructive engagement available to international actors, it is useful to distinguish between the different grounds on which various autocracies claim legitimacy, and the specific vulnerabilities to which their principal legitimating base gives rise.     

International support for action on climate change and democracy: exploring complementarities

International support for democracy and climate action (mitigation; adaptation; addressing climate loss and restoring damage) are two distinct spheres: motivations, purposes, activities and the relevant literatures exist independently of one another. This article challenges this separation by investigating the scope for policy complementarities that potentially could further both democracy support’s objectives and climate action. Findings that address possible future scenarios where global warming exceeds safe limits or where democracy and democratisation are threatened by climate change impacts are worth exploring. The article’s provisional findings are mixed but provide grounds for believing that democracy support and democratisation potentially could gain from taking support for climate action into consideration and that climate action might benefit too.     

Legislative Strengthening Meets Party Support in International Assistance: A Closer Relationship?

Recent reports recommend that international efforts to help strengthen legislatures in emerging democracies should work more closely with support for building stronger political parties and competitive party systems. This article locates the recommendations within international assistance more generally and reviews the arguments. It explores problems that must be addressed if the recommendations are to be implemented effectively. The article argues that an alternative, issue-based approach to strengthening legislatures and closer links with civil society could gain more traction. However, that is directed more centrally at promoting good governance for the purpose of furthering development than at democratisation goals sought by party aid and legislative strengtheners in the democracy assistance industry.     

Zambia's 2001 elections: The tyranny of small decisions, 'non-decisions' and 'not decisions'

The course of the 1990s witnessed deterioration in the quality of elections held across sub-Saharan Africa. Zambia's elections for the presidency, parliament and local government held on 27 December 2001 are no exception. They returned the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) to power, but with much reduced popular support and leaving doubts about the legitimacy of the result. A 'tyranny of small decisions', 'non-decisions' and 'not decisions' perpetrated over 12 months or more leading up to these elections combined to influence the outcome. The previous MMD government and the formally autonomous Electoral Commission were primarily but not wholly responsible. For independent analysts as well as for the political opposition, who secured a majority of parliamentary seats while narrowly failing to capture the presidency, identifying the relevant category of 'decisions' to which influences belong and comparing their impact is no straightforward matter. Zambia both illustrates the claim that 'administrative problems are typically the basis of the flawed elections' in new democracies and refines it by showing the difficulty of clearly separating the administrative and political factors. In contrast Zimbabwe's presidential election in March 2002, which had the Zambian experience to learn from, appears a more clear-cut case of deliberate political mischief by the ruling party.     

Book notes

The Emergence of East Central European Parliaments: The First Steps edited by Attila Agh. Budapest: Hungarian Centre of Democracy Studies, 1994. Pp.306. NP. ISBN 963 7415 96 3

Nonviolent Struggle and the Revolution in East Germany by Roland Bleiker. Cambridge, MA: The Albert Einstein Institution, 1993. Pp.53. NP. ISBN 880813 07 6

The Russian Press from Brezhnev to Yeltsin: Behind the Paper Curtain by John Murray. Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 1994. Pp.280; index. £45 (hardback). ISBN 1 85278 885 2

A Voice for the Excluded by Matthias Stiefel and Marshall Wolfe. London: Zed Books, 1994. Pp.xciii + 265; index; references; four annexes. £39.95 (hardback); £15.95 (paperback). ISBN 1 85649 247 8 and 248 6

Democratization in Eastern Europe: Domestic and International Perspective edited by Geoffrey Pridham and Tatu Vanhanen. London: Routledge, 1994. Pp.xiv + 274; index. £40 (hardback); £12.99 (paperback). ISBN 0 415 11063 7 and 11064 5

Grasping the Democratic Peace by Bruce Russett. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995. Pp.xi + 165; references; index. $13.95/£11.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 691 00164 2

Lobbying the European Union: Companies, Trade Associations and Interest Groups edited by R.H. Pedler and M.P.C.M. van Schendelen. Aldershot and Brookfield: Dartmouth, 1994. Pp.xii + 311. $59.95. ISBN 1 85521 609 4

The Victorious Incumbent: A Threat to Democracy? edited by Albert Somit, Rudolf Wildenmann, Bernhard Boll and Andrea Rommele. Aldershot and Brookfield: Dartmouth, 1994. pp.311; index; bibliography. £40 (hardback). ISBN 1 85521 515 4

Uncommon Opportunities: An Agenda for Peace and Equitable Development. UN International Commission on Peace and Food. London: Zed Books, 1994. Pp.210; index. $55 (hardback); $19.95 (paperback). ISBN 1 85649 305 9 and 306 7

The Resurgence of Central Asia: Islam or Nationalism? by Ahmed Rashid. London: Oxford University Press; Zed Books, 1994. Pp.278; index; bibliography; appendices. £36.95 (hardback); £14.95 (paperback) ISBN 1 85649 131 5 and 132 3

Greece and Europe in the Modern Period: Aspects of a Troubled Relationship edited by Philip Carabott. London: Centre for Hellenic Studies, King's College, 1995. Pp.xvi + 130. £8 (paperback). ISBN 1 897747 01 2     

Book notes

Freedom in the World: Political Rights and Civil Liberties 1991–1992 by Freedom House Survey Team. New York: Freedom House, 1992. Pp.570; tables; ratings. £58.50 (hardback); £22.50 (paperback). ISBN 0 932 088 75 9 and 74 0

The Middle East and Problems of Democracy by Heather Deagan. Buckingham and Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press, 1993. Pp.152; index; bibliography. £37.50 (hardback); £12.99 (paperback). ISBN 0 335 and 15686 X

Nation‐building and Democratisation in Thailand: A Political History by Prudhisan Jumbala. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute, 1992. Pp.144; index; bibliography; appendices. ISBN 974 582 219 1

Economic Reforms in New Democracies: A Social‐Democratic Approach by Luiz Carlos Bresser Pereira, José María Maravall and Adam Przeworski. Cambridge: University Press 1993. Pp.227; index. £30 (hardback); £10.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 521 43259 6 and 43845 4

Post‐Socialist World Orders: Russia, China and the UN System by Robert Boardman. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1994. Pp.200; index. £35 (hardback). ISBN 0 312 10671 8

Regime Transitions, Elites and Bureaucracies in Eastern Europe by Hans‐Ulrich Derlien and George J. Szablowski. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1993. Pp.150; index; bibliography; appendices. £10.99 (paperback). ISBN 1 55786 522 1

Political Dissent and Opposition in Poland: The Workers’ Defence Committee ‘KOR‘ by Robert Zuzowski. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1992. Pp.295; index; bibliography; appendices. £58.95 (hardback). ISBN 0 275 94138 8

Debating the Constitution: New Perspectives on Constitutional Reform edited by Anthony Barnett, Caroline Ellis and Paul Hirst. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1993. Pp.183. £39.95 (hardback); £11.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 7456 1199 0 and 1081 1

Quelling the People: the Military Suppression of the Beijing Democracy Movement by Timothy Brook. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp.x + 222; notes; bibliography, appendix. $27.50. ISBN 0 19 507457 2