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Assisting Liberal Parties AbroadLessons learned and uture prospects

Department Political Consultancy &International Policy Analysis (Ed.)

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Assisting Liberal Parties AbroadLessons learned and uture prospects

Inhouse Conerence

28th – 29th September 2009

Potsdam, Germany

Department Political Consultancy & International Policy Analysis (Ed.)

Picts Front Page:top let: Otto Guevara, RELIAL-Kongresstop right: Helen Zille, Demokratic Alliance, Südarikabottom let: Sam Rainsy, Cambodiabottom right: Eduardo Montealegre, Nicaragua

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Contents

Introduction – executive summary 5Dr. Gabriele Reitmeier, Head Department or Political Consultancy& International Policy Analysis

1. Welcome, conerence outline and objectives 9Harald Klein, Director International Politics, FNF, Potsdam

2. International party assistance – new agenda and 13unsolved problems?Gero Erdmann, Director Berlin-Oce, German Institute

o Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Berlin

3. Twenty years o political consultancy by FNF 23Peter Schröder, Political Consultant, Siegburg

4. Project scope: Analysis o our liberal parties rom 37new EU memberstates in Eastern EuropeUlrich Niemann, Regional Director Central, East andSoutheast Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia, Soa

5. Panel Discussion: FNF party-assistance and democracy 39promotion around the globeParticipants:Athol Trollip, Parliamentary Leader o the DemocraticAlliance, Cape TownNereus Acosta, ormer Congressman, Secretary General CALD(Council o Asian Liberals and Democrats), Manila

Eduardo Montealegre, MP, President ”Movimiento Vamos con Eduardo“ , ManaguaDr. Osama Ghazali Harb, President Democratic Front Party, CairoArto Aas, Head o Prime Minister’s Oce, Tallin

6. An US-view on eective party–assistance 58Daniel Cohen, Political Consultant, United States

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7. The bilateral NIMD-approach o strengthening political parties 59Jasper Veen, Regional Director Arica, Netherlands Institute orMultiparty Democracy (NIMD), The Hague

8. Working Groups‘ Recommendations 66

WG 1: General benchmarks or FNF’s co-operation with liberalparties abroad.

WG 2: FNF instruments in support o liberal parties abroad.How can we increase their eectiveness and eciency?

WG 3: International co-operation o liberal parties under scrutiny

WG 4: Political Communication / Political Marketing

Annexes 76

Programme

Participants list

Speakers’ bios

Guiding questions or working groups

Introduction – Executive summary

Cooperating with and promoting political parties plays a prominent role in the in-ternational activities o the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation ür die Freiheit (FNF)and orms part o its core mandate and main areas o expertise.

In almost all o the FNF’s 60 oces outside Germany, there are ongoing activitiesaimed at strengthening democratic party structures and procedures. In these coun-tries FNF encounters a vast array o dierent types o political parties at varyinglevels o institutionalization. The position o parties within the political systemalso varies (government vs. opposition). This makes it essential to tailor projectactivities to the specic context.

Parties are supported directly and indirectly. Indirect party support ocuses on theparties’ environment and promotes such democratic principles as the rule o law,the separation o state powers, and political liberty. Direct party support aims tostrengthen the party organization, develop liberal policies, establish participationand democracy within the parties, improve political communication both internallyand externally, and build stronger links between the parties and broader society.

Promoting political parties is not an objective in itsel, but an important means tothe ultimate goal o enhancing a modern representative democracy along with itsprinciples, procedures and institutions. Democracy can only work when parties areable to exercise their classical unctions – mobilizing and articulating the politicalinterests o citizens, acting as a link between the state and its citizens, recruitingand training elites or executive and legislative positions, and exercising a checkon government. Research into political parties has also shown that there is a directlink between the eciency and stability o parties and the party system on the onehand and the quality o democracy on the other hand. Thereore, party assistancehas to be seen as part o a holistic approach to promoting democracy.

The FNF can now look back on more than 20 years o experience in promoting andcooperating with political parties on a global scale. During this time, we have seenradical polical changes worldwide – symbolized by the all o the Berlin Wall in1989 and the attack on New York’s twin towers on 11th September 2001. Duringthis time, competition in the eld o international political consulting has grownerce, and the FNF has to equip itsel to compete successully.

Against this backdrop, the time is right or a thorough stocktaking o FNF partyactivities. To begin with, the oundation has to assess whether its strategies andconcepts are still valid; secondly, it must determine whether the eciency o its

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key instruments (political consulting, political dialogue and political education)and methods can be improved. Thirdly – and this is perhaps the most dicult un-dertaking – the FNF has to ask about the outcome and impact o its activities inthe eld o party cooperation and party promotion.

For this purpose, project managers, political consultants and representatives o partner parties gathered or two days (28th and 29th September 2009) at the FNFheadquarters in Potsdam, Germany, and attended an in-house conerence titled“Assisting liberal parties abroad – lessons learned and uture prospects”, hostedby the Department or Political Consultancy & International Policy Analysis withinthe International Politics Division at the FNF head oces in Potsdam.

The ollowing strategic recommendations were drated during these two days. They

are o utmost importance or uture activities in this eld and will be ollowed in2010 by an evaluation o the FNF’s party cooperation and promotion activities, aswell as by an update o the FNF´s “Concept or Political Consultancy”:

➤ Criteria or starting and ending cooperation with a party 

Beore embarking on a long-term commitment with a political party, the FNFshould require that the ollowing conditions are met:

– a party platorm which cover key liberal issues (individual rights, separationo church and state, market economy etc.), or policies which at least showa visible liberal orientation (this validation o liberal values should be adeciding actor),

– a stable organizational structure,– a pool o active members,– transparent and democratic internal procedures.

The FNF should end its cooperation with a party in the event that:

– the party’s ideology changes to the point where it is no longer liberal (as inthe case o Mel Zelaya in Honduras),

– a reputational risk exists or FNF (e.g. in the case o corruption),– the party suers "electoral death“,– it becomes clear that the party needs an unreasonable timerame to mature

into a liberal party.

A party’s membership in Liberal International (LI), however, should not automati-cally lead to cooperation with FNF, as LI nowadays has more than 100 member-parties covering a broad ideological spectrum. At the same time, membership in

another international party ederation should not automatically lead to an end o cooperation with the FNF.

➤  Instruments (political consulting, policy dialogue, political education)

– The three instruments need to be coordinated better when applied in theeld o party cooperation and promotion.

– Seminars or high-level politicians need to take place in Berlin to giveparticipants the chance to meet with liberals in the ederal legislative andexecutive.

– IAF programmes should address issues o specic relevance to politicalparties like coalition building, working in opposition, campaign techniques,the internet as a tool or political communication etc.

– Interregional exchange programmes should be acilitated on an experimentalbasis (e.g., programmes between South Arica and India or Brazil).

➤ Methods: A new approach to political consulting

Each cooperation with a political party should start o with a strategic planningworkshop. During this workshop a rigorous appraisal o the current situation(strengths, weaknesses etc.) has to be conducted and a clear long-term strategy(4-5 years), including a time action plan, needs to be developed. It is importantthat the strategy also covers the time between elections. Annual “milestones” orassessment and adjustment should be laid down. This new approach to politicalconsultancy can lead to greater eectiveness and eciency because it placescooperation between the FNF and the party on a more long-term, continuousooting.

➤ Monitoring implementation

The implementation o recommendations by political consultants has not been

satisactory, and monitoring needs to be intensied in this area. Possible toolsinclude: agreements with the partner party on objectives, regular talks withan appropriate party representative, reports by the FNF project manager andorwarded to the regional oce and head oce, opportunities or dialog duringregional meetings.

➤ Outcome and impact: the need or clear indicators and evaluations

A common set o reliable indicators or measuring the success ore ailure o FNFparty cooperation and promotion is still lacking. Possible indicators or success

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in the 1970s – mainly in Spain and Portugal – it was in South America where theFNF’s expertise and support, along with that o its political consultants, was mostin demand in the early 1980s. In Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, the military dic-tatorships had been overcome and the construction work had started on liberal-democratic multiparty systems. In Chile and Paraguay, the ocus was on strengthe-ning the liberal orces opposing the dictatorships, until they too were overthrownin that momentous year, 1989.

Ater 1989, the year in which events o geopolitical importance initiated the col-lapse o communist authoritarian regimes worldwide, liberal democracy triumphedon an unprecedented scale. In the course o this process political parties gainedinfuence in the new democracies across the globe. Against this backdrop, the FNFocused its worldwide activities on the political arena, especially on promoting and

cooperating with liberal organisations.

With the all o the Berlin Wall and the end o Soviet communism, the geographi-cal ocus o party cooperation shited more and more to the countries o Middle,Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. Here, too, liberal parties made decisive con-tributions to strengthening political liberties and building stable democracies. Atthe same time, the end o the east-west confict also opened new possibilities orcooperation with Asian parties – rst in South Korea, then progressively in thePhilippines, Thailand, and Indonesia. In Arica, many countries experienced theend o one-party rule and their rst ree elections at the beginning o the 1990s.This meant the time had come or the FNF to start working with liberal orces incountries such as Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, and South Arica. It was onlyvery recently that cooperation was initiated with liberal parties in Arabic countriessuch as Morocco, Egypt and the Lebanon. In all regions, bilateral cooperation withparties is now accompanied by collaboration with liberal party networks.

The strategic principles and aims or it’s party-assistance activities are stipulated

in the Foundations’ “Strategy or activities abroad”, which denes party assistanceas one out o three overall objectives o the Foundation. Besides that the “Concepto Political Consultancy” denes the areas o consultation and the target groups.

The Foundation’s core instruments – political consultancy, political dialogueand civic education – are o crucial importance also in the party-assistance pro-grammes.

Political consultancy is primarily conducted as work in progress by our projectdirectors on the ground. Strategic consultancy however is only provided by hand-picked experts rom Germany. They are practicioners with a long experience in in-

ternational consultation and party-work within the Liberal Party o Germany. Theirassignments have increased quite signicantly over the last years. Some o themare here with us in this conerence.

But also the political dialogue at an international and regional level has gainedmore and more importance due to the act, that many problems o the 21st centuryask or solution beyond national boundaries. The bilateral cooperation o liberalparties with Liberal International (LI) is complemented at a regional level. FNF isproud to have succeeded in establishing networks o liberal parties in mostly allregions o the world:

➤ the Arican Liberal Network (ALN),

➤ the Council o Liberals and Democrats (CALD) in Asia,

➤ the Network o Arab Liberals (NAL),

➤ and the Liberal Network o Latin America (RELIAL).

On top o that the Foundations’ Dialogue Programme Brussels (DPB), it’s Transat-lantic Dialogue Programme (TAD) and the International Academy or Leadership(IAF) oer platorms to spread l iberal ideas and reinorce organized liberalism.

Objectives o the conerence

Having been active in the eld o party-assistance or more than twenty years weeel an urgent necessity o undertaking a thorough stocktaking. Twenty years is avery long time in political lie. In this time we have seen:

➤ Fundamental changes in world politics:

the collapse o Socialism in 1989/90 and the attack on the twin-towers o New York on 11st September 2001 have probably been the two events with the mostar-reaching consequences.

➤ As a consequence party-systems o many countries have changed rom one-party to multy-party systems.

➤ An increasing competition in the eld o party-assistance and political consul-tancy.

We have to assess whether our strategies and concepts are still valid and i andwhere we have to undertake modications. We also have to assess whether westill can improve the eciency o our instruments and methods. Thirdly – and thisis perhaps the most dicult undertaking – we have to ask about the outcome and

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impact o our party–assistance. The recommendations which will be drated duringthis conerence will be ot utmost importance to us.

Last but not least, this conerence oers a good opportunity or inhouse-learning,meaning the exchange o experience and best-practice between our colleaguesabroad but also with party representatives and political consultants.

I wish you all very interesting two days and I thank you or your attention.

2. International Party Assistance: New Agendaand Unresolved Problems?

Gero Erdmann, GIGA German Institute o Global and Area Studies,Berlin

I. Old or new agenda?

The rst question I will address is: How old or new is international party assistance?The answer is twoold: It is (1) partly old and (2) partly new.

(1) Partly old:

We have been amiliar with international political party aid or a long time. Sincethe ormation o the international political party associations in the nineteenthcentury we have been amiliar with international party-to-party assistance. It star-ted with the Second Socialist International in (1889).

In the 1960s political party aid was being provided by German political oundations– long beore we talked about or used the terms democracy promotion or politicalparty assistance as we do today.

However, one major problem concerning this ormer type o party assistance is thatmost o the experience gathered during that time seems to have been lost; hardlyany written sources survived that could tell us something about how the practiceo granting political party aid was carried out, what strategies were used, and whyand when. We know very little about successes and ailures. There are only a ewaccounts o the work o the oundations; one is a published booklet about the worko a particular oundation on one continent (Arica), and others are (unpublished)evaluation reports on the general work o the German oundations in two countries(South Arica and Chile, viewed as success stories) commissioned by the Ministryor Economic Cooperation and Development in 1995. However, political party as-sistance was only one aspect, among many others, o the work o the oundationsduring the 1970s and 1980s.

(2) Partly new:

Political party assistance is new, since it was ‘discovered’ very late as a special com-ponent o democracy promotion. During the 1990s, the high days o democracypromotion, civil society assistance was the dominant issue; political party aid wasa non-issue, excepting or a ew insiders. The term ‘political party assistance’ was

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mentioned in the academic literature or the rst time by Thomas Carothers in1999.1 Among the German oundations a serious debate on party aid began – al-most hesitantly – only ater the beginning o this century. The Friedrich NaumannFoundation, which started an internal debate about the issue in the early 1990s,was the one exception.

Apart rom the German oundations, most o the providers o political party as-sistance are very young institutions; 24 out o 31 European political oundations(aid providers) were less than 21 years old in 2005. Most o them were ormedduring the 1990s.2

Publications on political party assistance only started to come out as o 2004. Sincethen, very ew publications have been available; closely related to this, there exists

very little genuine political science research on political party assistance.Hence, the conclusion to this rst part o the discussion is – and this is the hearto the problem – we are dealing with a very young and completely under-resear-ched topic.

There are two dimensions to this unknown eld:

(1) Political party promotion in practice: what is actually done in the eld or sup-posed to be done.

(2) The recipients o party aid: the new types o parties which have emerged in manyparts o the world during the third wave o democratisation, which started in1974, and especially ollowing the all o the Iron Curtain in 1989.

All these actors make the issue o international political party assistance verycomplicated. Beore turning to the intricacies o the issue, I will briefy highlightvarious approaches in providing political party aid.

1 Carothers, Thomas (1999): Aiding Democracy Abroad. The Learning Curve, Washington, pp.140.

2 Van Wersch, Jos/De Zeeuw, Jeroen (2005): Mapping European Democracy Assistance. WorkingPaper 36, Netherlands Institute o International Relations, Clingendal, The Hague.

II. Approaches in Providing Party Aid

There are various approaches to assisting political parties. The ollowing dierentia-tion has been suggested by Peter Burnell and seems to still be the most useul, withsome minor modications;3 some o the approaches are intended to have a moredirect impact on political parties, whereas others have only an indirect eect.

1. ‘Partisan approach’: Assisting sister parties which are ideologically close; this isoten mistakenly assumed to be the ‘German approach’, but the German oun-dations apply all the other approaches as well, although to dierent degrees,and not all o them are engaged in party aid.

2. Multi-party approach: Assistance is provided to all relevant political parties,usually to those which are in parliament.

3. Cross-party dialogue or the mediation/reconciliation o polarised politicalparties: The idea is to create a special protected space outside o the normalpolitical process or building trust and cooperation or even or joint political-reorm measures.

4. Civil society approach: Support is directed towards so-called ancillary organisa-tions that are socially and ideologically close to political parties such as tradeunions, proessional and religious organisations, think tanks, etc. In this case,the assistance to parties is indirect.

5. Transnational cooperation: Assistance is granted or the creation and operationo international networks o like-minded political parties within a particularregion (or example, conservative parties in West Arica).

6. Institutional ramework support: Assistance is provided to institutions that arerelevant to and regulate the operation o political parties (electoral system,party law, electoral commission, and parliament).

7. Party system approach: Intended to ensure a stable and unctional party system

(this approach as a category o its own seems to be doubtul, because it is alreadycovered by (6), that is, the provision o support or the institutional ramework,which bears on the party system).

[NOTE: many o my suggested changes in this list are to make the items parallelso that the list sounds better when you read it aloud, or when someone else readsit on paper]

3 Burnell, Peter (2004): Building Better Democracies. Westminster Foundation, London.

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1. Political party aid has not had transormative eects in Eastern Europe andLatin America – nor, one can easily add, in Arica or Asia.

2. It has had partly modest positive impacts on the organisational developmento political parties in Eastern Europe.

To bolster his argument, Carothers points to the general phenomenon o the on-going crisis o Latin American political parties’ in recent years – despite the majoreorts o various party aid providers, such as the German political oundations,who have been active since the 1970s and 1980s in many Latin American coun-tries. Similar observations have been made in Eastern Europe since 1989.

O course, this judgment is quite sobering, i not devastating. However, it is basedon a very strong criterion, the transormative eect. The problem is that there is

no generally agreed-upon yardstick available to judge the success or ailure o political party assistance.

Carothers explains what he means by a transormative eect: ‘A leader-centric,structurally debilitated, ideologically incoherent, weakly rooted party’ is transor-med into a party with ‘genuine internal party democracy’, a ‘strong organisationalstructure’, an ideologically rooted platorm and an ‘extensive social basis’.5 

It is probably dicult to nd this aim explicitly stated in any document that dealswith political party aid. But it seems, in a reading o all the programmes and de-clarations, that this is, implicitly, to be the ultimate aim pursued by most party aidproviders: the Northern and Western European mass-party model.

So what are the reasons or this poor balance o international party assistance orwhat allows, perhaps, such a undamental critique?

1. Lack o clear-cut criteria or the evaluation o party aid

2. No proper concepts and strategies (including those which provide or evaluationcriteria)

3. Hardly any proper evaluations and studies

4. And generally, the problem o identiying causes and eects – the very unda-mental problem in democracy promotion

5 Carothers op cit, 2006, p. 163.

5. A very special issue, which should be mentioned here as well, is the smallamount o nancial inputs in political party aid; political party aid accountsor about 10 % o the approximately 3 to 4 bill ion US$ (2005) spent annuallyon democracy promotion worldwide (which is a very rough estimation). Eventhis amount is much smaller than what private sources, even internationally,pour into political parties. The implication or international party assistanceis that small investments usually have no major impact. This might be part o the explanation or the unimpressive results o party aid.

2. Lack o research & evaluation 

There is another problem with political party aid: the act that we have little de-tailed knowledge about political parties in young democracies – especially in non-European polities. And this problem is related rst and oremost to political science

research. More recent research on political parties has provided some general n-dings on these parties, which are typically characterised by

– weak institutionalisation,

– weak societal linkages,

– a lack o major ideological dierences,

– a high degree o personalism / weak organisations.

However, beyond these general eatures, our knowledge about these parties – howthey operate, how they develop, what sort o eect they have on the party systemand the development o democracy – is still very limited.

There are at least our problems that explain these shortcomings in political partyresearch:

– The Western European bias o concepts

– Insucient research outside Europe– The dominant unctionalist approach in party research

– The lack o historical research on the development o political party organisa-tions

However, there is also a lack o research and evaluation, which explains our poorknowledge about political party assistance:

– Political party aid is a new topic or political science research.

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– There is a undamental lack o systematic evaluation o political party assistanceprojects/programmes.

– And there is a lack o communication between practitioners and political sci-entists – although this is slowly improving.

IV. Perspectives

In ace o this highly critical assessment, the question remains: How can we over-come some o these problems in order to improve party assistance?

1. We need a conceptual discussion about the strategic aims or possibilities o political party assistance that addresses the ollowing questions:

– What is possible and what not?

– Is the support o a party organisation in order to change it in a particulardirection possible at all? Or to phrase it dierently, shall we aim at a trans-ormative eect as outlined by Carothers – or is that too much, because theoverall development o political parties is beyond the reach (capacities andmoney) o external political party assistance providers? There are too manyother structural societal actors that infuence political party organisationswhich cannot be controlled by an outside agency – not to mention the actthat it is even very dicult or each party to determine its own ate asparties are dependent on the electorate in competition with other politicalparties. To some degree, political parties are a refection o the society inwhich they operate.

– What would be the time horizons or such an aim? In order to change anorganisation in the way envisaged above, I would expect we would be talkingabout 10 to 15 years, or possibly longer.

– What are other possible aims that can be achieved within a shorter time-

rame? Perhaps, support in programmatic/ideological orientation? Or justsupport o the parliamentary representation o parties to provide a decentservice to the electorate? Support o societal linkages (civil society organi-sations)?

2. In any case, and regardless o the specic aims chosen, there is a need orclearly designed and ocused strategies that provide answers to the ollowingquestions: What should be done, and why should it be done? Who should do it,and when?

3. At the same time it is clear that no overall strategy or all countries is possible,but that each country need its own specic strategy .

4. This does not preclude an overall strategic decision on particular aims such as amultiparty-, sisterparty- or civilsociety orientated approach to providing partyassistance. Country-specic strategies are necessary in either case.

5. To improve the quality and the eects o party assistance, more independentevaluations o political party aid projects and programmes are necessary, toge-ther with an improvement o evaluation instruments. This is a challenge bestresolved by:

6. Better collaboration between practitioners and political party experts in politicalscience.

7. And in political party research we need more historically orientated researchabout political party development – in addition to the extension o research topolitical parties outside Europe.

Discussion

Osama Ghazali Harp indicated, that communist and islamist parties also have along tradition o party-cooperation.

Barbara Groeblingho missed in the presentation the point o human resource.To her opinion, there are not many experts in party assistance. She also reminds usnot to orget that party-assistance is something or the long-run. To set up threeor six year goals is oten impossible. She disagrees with Erdmann that party assi-stance ailed in Arica; especially not in South Arica and Tanzania.

Emil Kirjas called himsel a product o the FNF party assistance. He is very thankulor the FFN work. He wonders why there is still so much reluctance around partyassistance? He re-minds us rom his experiences in Liberal International that is itdicult to compare parties in dierent countries. Parties refect their society andtheir structure can be very dierent. Not all parties, which call themselves liberal,

are able to handle the things we talk about.

Gero Erdman raises the question o what we understand by success in the eld o party assistance. Electoral success is only one o several possible indicators. Chile,Spain and Portugal are widely considered as success-stories in democracy-buildingby the German political oundations. What were the conditions or their success?In all cases strong political parties were already existent on the ground. It seemsthat this was a decisive actor in all three cases.

Rainer Erkens remarks FNF uniqueness in this special eld. FNF is the only political

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oundations who does party assistance and political education on party skills sincemany years. Many people still see party assistance as “dirty work”, in his view is abig problem which needs to be solved. For him, one hint or successul work is, i participants o a seminar come to thank him or the seminar/work FNF is doing.

For Atholl Trollip electoral results should be a indicator. He emphasized FNF stra-tegic planning and coalition building workshops as very important or his party.The worth o the oundation is less nancial than ideational, which can infuencea party ar deeper. Money can be used or employing or paying the phone bill, in-stitutional learning and skill training is something more sustainable. In his viewtraining politicians means having infuence.

I a party becomes less leader centric, more ideology committed and is promoting

liberal values through the media or by bringing orward liberal petitions, those areindicators or successul party assistance or Siegried Herzog. He added, even i the FNF has not a lot o money, which usually means the infuence on parties islimited; we have infuence through strategic partnerships. O course this means,real success can only be measured over a long run.

Jules Maaten says political parties want electoral success, that’s why they want towork with FNF to become more successul in elections. He supports that FNF triesto sell how a party does became a stable democratic party, because a stable par-ty systems provides a basis or a stable political system in a country. He suggestsocusing more on the people we trained over decades, and asked: Where are theynow? Do we have a database; do we connect with time rom to time to time?

Gero Erdmann concludes that FNF does a lot in the eld o party assistance andobviously with success. FNF had the clearest sense o what they wanted and at avery early stage. This makes a clear dierence to all other political oundations.However he is still wondering how FNF can proo the success. That’s or him stillthe core question. Election results are infuenced by so many actors that they

can’t be accepted as a clear proo, only as indicators. He could not give an answerto the question, why it is so delicate to support political parties. Has it do to withour environment? Can we do something against it? Erdmann expresses his hopethat political oundations would publish more/deeper inormation on their partyassisting activities in the uture.

3. Twenty years of political consulting bythe Friedrich Naumann Foundation

Peter Schröder, strategy and communications consultant

(Extract)…………….I we approach the question o party consulting systematical-ly, then clearly the nature o the party being consulted is o great importance. Itmakes a dierence whether we are working either directly with the party or partso the party while engaged in consulting, or whether we are working through anintermediary, such as an organization associated with the party, a think tank or adierent type o organization. I have already noted some o the problems by wor-king with associated organizations. But sometimes it cannot be avoided becausedirect cooperation between a German institution and a national party may violatelaws in certain countries.

Cooperation with parties

I the party itsel is the partner, the cooperation depends on the status o the par-ty or its type. Here, any decits should be in the ocus o attention. In countrieswhere the Foundation is represented, liaisons with parties that do not have suchdecits should be pursued and the dialog aspect o cooperation expanded. As anexample, I would like to mention our cooperation with South Arica’s DemocraticAlliance. When I encountered the party shortly ater apartheid was abolished, it wascompletely convinced that South Aricans, especially blacks and coloreds, wouldvote or the then DP out o sheer gratitude. It took a long time or me to convinceseveral key persons that voters do not operate on the basis o gratitude.

When I asked participants at a consulting session where they saw their weaknesses,their answer was: “We are too pale, too male and too British.” This sentence I havenever orgotten. But the party was not prepared or big campaigns at that time

and had to completely redesign its strategy. Many consulting sessions with die-rent organizations and individuals provided help. Today the party has grown up. Itis strong at the local government level and its leader, Helen Zille, holds the premi-ership o the Western Cape province. It has reached a good state o developmentin local government and leads the opposition at the national level in a dicultenvironment. It has learned things are done and does not really need any more po-litical consulting. Instead, its representatives and politicians could travel to othercountries to advise parties there. I believe that the Foundation should develop newmethods o cooperation in this area.

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When cooperating with other parties, the objectives are usually to create impro-vements in the area o liberalism, to strengthen the organization, and to developand ortiy liberal human capital. In order to achieve these overarching goals, de-ciencies have to be addressed.

When starting to cooperate with a party, or when providing direction to a co-operation, it makes sense to carry out a joint review o the party’s situation atertaking steps to build up trust. Common analysis techniques are suitable or thispurpose.

Aterwards, decisions have to be developed regarding positioning, the politicalorientation, and possible medium- or short-term strategies within the context o strategic long-term planning. Any deciencies noted in the areas o organization,

structure, communication, resources, the program and political solutions thenhave to be translated into tactical planning. In the next step, the activity plansdeveloped on this basis are implemented, taking into consideration recommenda-tions and experiences rom best practice, campaigns, and management. From theFoundation’s perspective, ater implementation has taken place, the tools or ope-rational and strategic control should be in place. The controlling process, in turn,will help to identiy weaknesses or new challenges. On this basis, the cooperationcycle can be repeated as oten as is necessary to achieve tangible results with re-spect to organized liberalism or the inclusion o liberal aspects in the politics o the project country.

This means, ideally cooperation with parties should not happen until a strategicanalysis has been completed. I am currently in the process o launching such plan-ning processes in several countries in the context o long-term project planning.The processes eature milestones allowing the Foundation to run controlling pro-cedures at specic intervals instead o only ater elections. We have started theprocess with a re-launch o the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) in Cambodia.

When we started advising the SRP in 2002, it stood at about 15-17 %. Step by step,we got the party to stabilize at over 25 percent, but this appeared to be the upperlimit. On the one hand, this was because Sam Rainsy keeps a tight rein on the partyand believes that he can do with it whatever he wants. But not everybody shareshis view, and so there are regular deections, oten supported by enticements romthe Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) and Hun Sen, which always leads to a loss o MPs. On the other hand, the party has so ar not managed to make inroads intothe intellectual circles o the large cities. It is not believed to be competent. Andso it concentrated on the marginalized members o society and took on a radicalopposition role. But in South Asia, like in Arica and contrary to Europe and North Peter Schröder and Manred Richter (rom let to right)

America, opposition is a concept that is not generally accepted in society. Ater themost recent elections, which should have enabled greater gains to be made becauseseveral other opposition parties more or less disappeared, the point was reachedwhere the SRP was prepared to consider a general relaunch. We then positionedthe SRP so that it can claim certain positions or itsel through parliamentary ini-tiatives. In this way, it took on the role o a constructive opposition that is gainingincreasing competence, supported by experts and scientists. On August 18th o thisyear, the party submitted its rst drat bill to parliament, an event that attractedgreat interest rom citizens. Just imagine – since its rst appearance in parliament,the SRP had never submitted a motion or proposed a law. This new positioninghas now been laid out in a our-year project with specic milestones, prior to thestrategic consulting planned or the next elections. Initial eedback rom the partyis positive, so we live in hope that things have been set on the right path.

Cooperation with party personalities

In some cases, there is no cooperation with a party as a whole, but only with in-dividuals who may hold a pronounced liberal position. Or there may be one or se-veral candidates who are particularly liberal – in spite o a dierent orientationprevailing in the party as a whole. Typically this is the case with parliamentarians

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or candidates or one-person wards in direct-election systems, or candidates orexecutive unctions, such as mayor or governor. There are many real-lie experiencesthat could be mentioned here, sometimes with better outcomes than we expectwhen working with a party. One such instance involved advising candidates or theSt. Petersburg town council, who belonged to the Jabloko. The party itsel was notable to cope with receiving political consulting, but individual candidates were.In this way, we managed to get several Jabloko councilors under the leadership o Mr. Amosov onto the St. Petersburg town council.

The list o examples also includes the very young Minister or Youth and the En-vironment in Senegal, Modou Fada. 13 young MPs, the Group o 13 in the PDS,grouped around him and staked their claim purely on the basis o the quality o their work in parliament. As we now know, it was an intervention by the Foun-

dation that the parliamentary party leadership did not particularly like because itresulted in a sel-condent group that had its own “liberal” ideas and which wasnot as easy to control as the PDS leadership would have liked.

There are many examples o this nature, some with good outcomes, and othersthat were condemned to ailure rom the start because the preselection was doneunproessionally and only on the basis o private interests. One example is MayinCorrea, the mayor o Panama City, who had been persuaded – amongst others bythe Foundation – that she should run as a candidate or the presidency o Pana-ma. She was not really keen on the idea, but let hersel be talked into taking partin several consulting sessions. In the end, she did not run. In a conversation with asmall group o people, she once said that the only reason or possibly running oroce would have been to get back at her potential opponent, Mireya Moscoso,who was indeed later elected and became president. And this was because Mireyahad “stolen” her boyriend when they were still at school.

When the Foundation decides to support and advise individual candidates, thenthe objective has to be to promote liberalism. It may be strategically advantageousor the Foundation to support such candidates or groups o candidates, in orderto implement more liberal politics with a liberal group within a party, or at leastto publicize liberal positions. The overarching strategic goal o such cooperationshould be to promote liberal solutions and to increase infuence on the party as awhole; at some stage, the party in its entirety should adopt a liberal orientationand become a suitable cooperation partner. This means that the Foundation has toundertake additional supporting measures to strengthen the group or the individualand to enable them to carry out their mission in accordance with the Foundation’sgoals. To do this, the Foundation has to develop models on how to extend and le-verage beachheads successully.

Parties with actions

Almost all parties include actions that pursue dierent political goals. This mayhappen in dierent orms. One path that leads to the ormation o actions is whenthere are several dierent political orientations within parties. These orientations o-ten compete against one another at congresses and meetings, and may complementone another or be in confict. Usually, actions have no organizational structure, butare instead ound in loose networks, discussion groups and similar ormats. Suchactions are in most cases led by a political leader who act as spokesperson or theaction. The overall political orientation is usually decided at party conventions orcongresses and is supported rom the outside by the respective actions.

In the case o parties with primary elections, the actions act as an established

orm o internal democracy by publicly taking opposing positions. Leadership po-sitions are lled, or party list places allocated in accordance with the outcome o the internal elections. In extreme cases, one may nd the classical party spectrumrefected within a single party. Such actions have their own structures and areable to ght intense battles against each other, with their own headquarters, pressspokespeople, etc.

The ormer parties in Uruguay serve as a prominent example. The Blancos and theColorados each contained socialist, liberal, conservative, Green, and other actions.The parties did compete against one another in terms o the special electoral law“Ley de Lemas”, and were able to decide elections in their avor, but the presiden-cy was then given to the strongest internal group within the victorious party. Thatis why there were sometimes internal battles that were more severe than the ex-ternal ones.

In such cases, the Foundation has to decide on a candidate with whom to cooperate.During one o my rst presidential election campaigns, the Foundation supportedAlberto Zumaran o the Blancos and not Luis Alberto Lacalle, who ended up be-

coming president. This concentration on the losing candidate, who did contributeto Lacalle’s election victory, turned out to be a liability with the Blancos at a laterstage to the degree that Lacalle had infuence within the party.

Cooperating with party actions can take dierent orms and is sometimes ex-traordinarily challenging. This is particularly evident in cases where the party hasactions which have their own organizational structures. In the case o Paraguay,this was not really a problem as long as the action o Domingo Laino was so strongthat the other actions played only peripheral roles. Today, it is dierent. There arebetween three and our actions o approximately equal strength, and they ght

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to draw blood. But even so, they do not want to hold a so-called ideology congresswith a decision at the end – because this would most likely lead to a breakup o the party. That is something none o the action leaders wants, because each o them intends to gain dominion over the party as a whole.

In such cases the Foundation oten declines either to intervene in the preliminariesor help a specic orientation to win. This would be viewed as unwelcome meddlingin the internal election campaign and would close the door on uture cooperationwith the entire party. The classical example is the liberal party in Honduras, thePLH. The party ocially reers to itsel as a “liberal” party and is also a member o Liberal International. But within the party, there are highly diverse actions, someo which are clearly social democrat or even socialist in their views. For practicalpurposes o cooperation, the Foundation rerains rom politically judgment o in-

dividual actions and accepts any winning action as a potential partner or coo-peration in elections or in government. Whether this can continue requires moreintense discussion. In Honduras, I acted as political consultant during several pre-sidential election campaigns. First, successully, with Carlos Roberto Reina, thennot quite as successully with Pineda Ponce, and then again successully with MelZelaya. We were not able to get access to Carlos Alberto Flores because we hadspoken critically about his rst election campaign against the candidate o thePNH Calleja; this inormation was then misused or a book publication by a sta member o the educational institute that cooperated with the Foundation.

The miraculous transormation o Mel Zelaya rom a liberal president to a ollowero Chávez’s socialist ideology under the infuence o the earlier party presidentPatricia Rodas had been anticipated during the election campaign, but this inor-mation was suppressed in public communication. Both the dramatic events o thepast ew weeks and the media coverage o the Foundation show that the Founda-tion runs the risk o becoming the object o public criticism whenever it supportsa political direction or candidate.

Let us now move rom the large parties that can aord actions, to concentrateon the smaller parties.

Cooperation with Microparties

Some liberal parties are so small that even ater intensive market analyses, theredoes not appear to be any real chance that they will ever play an important rolepromoting liberalism in their country. Sometimes they are breakaways rom othergroups with a liberal orientation. Sometimes the parties are grouped around one orseveral personalities who maintain the party or reasons o prestige. Sometimes the

positions o the party are based so rmly on pure orthodoxy that they give up anychance they might have in the market, and instead act as a sect. One such partyis the Liberal Party in Sri Lanka. When participating in national elections, it hadnot gained more than 100 votes and also has no recognizable stronghold where itmight be important on a regional level. The party is a member o LI and CALD.

When such microparties become members o serious international party groupings,they may cause real damage to the grouping’s reputation. I sucient analyseshave been carried out and it turns out there is no space or such a party in thepolitical spectrum o a country, or when the party is ound to be superfuous be-cause others are already occupying its intended space, then the Foundation shouldcooperate by helping to consolidate the market by merging the microparty with itsremaining human capital into a dierent party. I that is not possible, the Founda-

tion should concentrate on more important partners and not pursue any urtherattempts at cooperation.

Cooperation with parties in the building phase

Such parties are usually not suciently strategically ocused. Let me use a partyin India, one that is just beginning to develop, as an example. India is a dicultenvironment or liberal parties because only socialist parties may be ounded, ac-cording to the constitution. This new party is the “Lok Satta Party”. It emerged roman NGO called Lok Satta and its leader is J.P. Narayan. He is the star and withouthim the party is unthinkable. That means that everything revolves around him.

But this is detrimental or a decent election result because the party is conrontedwith a “rst past the post” type o election law and thereore needs many stars.From a European perspective, the Lok Satta Party is a program party that wouldstand a good chance in an electoral system based on proportional representation.But there is no proportional representation – the electoral system is instead basedon majority voting. Political consulting thereore pursues goals that are contraryto the objectives o the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. The consultant has to helpthe party produce stars who have a chance in their wards. He has to ensure thatloyalty relates to people, not to programs. The programs provide the backgroundmusic, but the candidate is the soloist.

The consultant has to teach the party that – at least during election campaigns –it may not continue its classical behavior as an NGO, inviting all and sundry andwanting to be “everybody’s darling”. Instead, it has to split society into supportersand opponents o its oering, which has to be aligned with the needs o the party’s

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target group. During such times, the party should not pursue the goal o educatingsociety in liberalism.

Because, what use is a party that looks great rom a l iberal perspective, but whichhas no chance at all o participating in power to change the society in accordancewith liberal tenets? In the course o my lie as a political consultant, I have seenthe “baddies” or “populists” win elections all too oten because the “goodies” spenttoo much time worrying about the culture o politics in their country and orgotthat they are ghting or power and infuence. This meant that I did not alwaysnd my advice being welcomed in the Foundation, but this did not stop me rompositioning parties in such a way that they at least have the chance o gaininginfuence. On the other hand, the Foundation should only oer parties to the con-sultants that have passed the test o liberalism.

On one other occasion, which occurred in Turkey in the 1990s, I had a remarkableexperience, the outcome o which is not exactly one o the high points o my lieas a consultant. Under the leadership o textile entrepreneur Cem Boyner, a partyhad emerged rom a think tank that mobilized against all essential non-liberal ten-dencies in Turkey. It ought or tolerance or the Kurds, against the concentrationo power in the military, against threats to secularism in Turkey, against humanrights violations and against corruption, especially in the judiciary. All o the goalslisted were promoted – at least verbally – by many political groupings, and so wediscovered, during discussions on the role o the state and economic policy, that anumber o socialists and Marxists were members o the party. This meant we hadto cleanse the party early on and build it at the same time. These two activities arehard to combine. Nonetheless, the party reached values o up to an amazing 23 %in polls, which was highly signicant in a country with a 10 % entrance require-ment or parliament. Then, the ocus in the political debate shited to the confictbetween secular parties and a more undamentalist Islamic party, and the YDH’spercentage disappeared into thin air in a matter o weeks. When the 10 percent

level had been reached, support or the party dissolved within a week. The drama-tic nal result was 0.3 % or a party that had seemed so promising rom a liberalperspective. Even so, I would take the risk o helping this party rebuild anytime.

Cooperation with parties not represented in parliament

Parties not represented in parliament have a hard time even becoming visible. Thatis why they need a clear strategic orientation and consistent public relations. Eit-her their absence rom parliament is the result o strategic mistakes in the pastand can be xed in the uture, or the party is still in the process o being built and

has thereore not been able to participate in elections yet. I addressed this type o party earlier on. I like to call them “parties in statu nascendi”.

But i a party’s absence rom parliament is the result o mistakes in the past, thenthe causes have to be intensively analyzed and the party’s willingness to learn rommistakes has to be tested. I it is not prepared to draw conclusions rom the pre-vious result and act on them, then the Foundation should not cooperate with theparty because it would be a bad investment. It cannot be a goal o the Foundationto take care o ailed parties over extended periods o time.

In countries without any recognizable liberal groups in parliament or with a veryhigh entrance requirement or parliamentary representation, keeping a liberal par-ty alive even i it is not represented can make sense i the group can be used as amedium to promote liberal politics. Here, one needs to wait or a suitable momentwhen the trend allows the party to enter parliament.

Cooperation with small parties in government

A small liberal party in government has to ensure that it remains visible in thegovernment’s activities. For this purpose, the ministries or departments it headsneed a clear strategy and have to perorm exceptionally well in implementing liberalpolicies. The small liberal party has to ensure that it develops or maintains a reco-gnizable image and thereore has to dierentiate itsel rom its larger partner.

Parties that do not themselves run an election campaign, but that are instead parto a pre-election coalition, and which thereore do not enter parliament directly,but only in combination with other parties o the pre-election coalition, ace specialproblems. I the smaller parties in such a pre-election coalition do not manage todevelop a clearly dierentiated, independent prole and appear as a notable orcewithin the election, their survey results will trend continuously downward. Thismeans that the party will appear too weak by the end o the parliamentary period

to join a new pre-election coalition, and it will be traded below its value. One suchexample is the Liberal Democratic Party in Macedonia. Together with the SocialDemocrats and others, it joined a pre-election coalition (Together or Macedonia).As a member o this coalition, it won 12 seats. Aterwards, concentrated completelyon its work in government. This led to a considerable decline in its survey resultsand disappeared rom peoples sight.

Another example is the ate o New Democracy (ND), later the Liberal Party o Serbia (LDS). It also ran as part o a group o parties in the pre-election coalitionDOS. It never quite managed to create a prole as an independent party, although

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it made important contributions in government. At a later parliamentary election,without a pre-election coalition, the party was voted out o parliament with avery poor result. This orm o pre-election coalitions is very common in Central,Southeastern, and Eastern Europe. The most recent examples are similar coalitionsin the Ukraine.

In such cases, the Foundation should ocus its advisory eorts on helping the partygain weight and an independent prole within the coalition. The problem is thatthe party may view increased dierentiation as a violation o the coalition peacewhile it is in government, and members o government may object to it.

Cooperation with disreputable parties

In my consulting career, I was sometimes asked to work with parties that theFoundation or parts o the Foundation did not trust, or which were the subjecto rumors about the party being involved in events that should preclude any co-operation. From the perspective o a undamentalist liberal, such parties have anobjectionable smell.

I experienced this when working with the Partido Frente Liberal in Brazil, whichwas said to be too close to the military and to have collaborated with the ormerdictatorship. On the other hand, it was a government party and an important actoror Brazil. The project manager at the time had a good relationship with the party,whereas the regional director would have preerred to terminate the relationship;he tried to infuence an evaluation in this direction, but did not manage to do so.

Another case in point was the cooperation with New Democracy in Serbia. Hereit was not so much the party itsel that was the object o criticism, but rather itsleader, Dusan Michajlovic, who was criticized or having previously worked withthe government under Milosevic.

The cooperation with the Islamic Civic United Front (CUF) in Tanzania is also asubject o critical debate, albeit not quite as strongly. Occasionally somebody saysthat this party surely should not be a partner o the Foundation.

I believe it is important that in the case o party consultancy, the Foundation as awhole should back any party that receives political advice nanced by the Foun-dation. The success o the party should be a publicized success or the Foundationand the strengthening o liberalism. It is not a good basis or successul consultingwhen the consultant eels slightly ashamed about being successul with a party.

This is why the selection o parties with which the Foundation cooperates should

be intensively discussed with all stakeholders rom a politically strategic perspec-tive, including the FDP’s oreign policy experts – who wrinkle their noses romtime to time – as well as Liberal International and other regional associations. Inthis context, benchmarks should also be developed or evaluating work within aregion or a country.

Recommendations

Allow me to end by summarizing the key points and by mentioning some things Ihave noticed over the course o the years and which relate to strategic decisionsby the Foundation. Such decisions infuence party political consulting. And this iswhy I am here to report:

1. When relations between the Foundation and the respective leader o the partywork eectively and the leader is not a controversial gure within the party, itis relatively easy to engage in consulting the party. But this does not necessarilymean that liberalism will be promoted. Oten, having a stable party leadershipis a symptom o restricted democracy within the party and may in some casessimply refect ownership relationships with the party.

2. In times o great turmoil, as when the socialist systems collapsed in Central,Eastern and Southeastern Europe and when parties and party derivatives rapidlyemerged, one cannot completely exclude a trial and error approach. But thismeans that an even greater eort has to be made to strategically analyze thepartner as early as possible, in order to establish the acts. Such a strategicanalysis should be done everywhere i it has not already been done.

3. I I think back to the beginnings o my work as a political consultant, I realizethat there were one or more expatriate sta members o the Foundation ineach country who were well-inormed, including having an awareness o thelittle power games that can make or break the success o working with a party.They were able to build up a large number o contacts, to maintain them, andto generate trust. Today, the situation is completely dierent. The number o politically oriented expatriate sta members has dropped so low that there aretoo many countries with too many parties that, they need to be cared or. In manycases, the expatriate representative o the Foundation visits the country wherea party is being consulted no more oten than I do as an external consultant.Sometimes, it seems to me as i the Foundation’s expatriate representatives actlike travelling salesmen dealing in liberalism: they turn up rom time to time,hand out a couple o invitations to regional events as incentives, and ask i theparty needs anything else. I consider this to be a negative development withregard to sustainable consulting work.

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4. In many countries where the Foundation does not have a permanent represen-tative, the party contact is the person responsible or international contacts.From my own observations, I know that the so-called “Internationals” rarelybelong to the inner leadership circle o a party, but are instead seen as somewhatexotic. However, good party political consulting requires direct access to oneor more power bases within the party. Only there can agreements be reachedthat ensure that the participants in consulting sessions are competent andinfuential. I have oten taken part in events where sta rom head oce weredeployed to ll the room, and at least create the quantitative impression thatthere was real interest in political consulting. There have also been cases wherethe party leadership did not even know that the party was being consulted (orwhere they acted as i they did not know). There has even been a case wherethe party leader hurriedly let the country whenever I arrived to consult the

party. For him, this was the best option, so he avoided having to conront theoutcome o the consulting and the resulting discussion with the secondaryleadership level.

5. I should like to return to one problem that I have mentioned several times pre-viously. This is the issue o building beachheads. When consulting activities havebeen successul, and a liberal group was ormed in parliament or even joinedthe government, then it is critical to ollow up. All too oten, the Foundationloses ocus once the primary goal has been achieved, namely gaining a shareo power. That is why limiting ourselves to party political consulting may notbe enough. More comprehensive concepts need to be developed that includecontinuous advising o the parliamentary group on liberal solutions and initi-atives, continuous consulting with ministers or the entire government.

6. I have used this opportunity to speak very critically about the relationship bet-ween consultants and parties. And this is certainly appropriate because we havenoticed that the relationship between parties and citizens is increasingly at riskeverywhere, and that multi-party democracy is consequently under threat. Some

years ago, at an international conerence in Bogotá, I attempted to describe therelationship between citizens and politicians with the ollowing words: “Thecitizen sees politicians and parties as being arrogant; they claim to be omnipo-tent, but when they attain power, they show themselves to be impotent.” Butsometimes that is also how our consulting partners interact with us. “They knowit all, they can do anything, but when push comes to shove, they ail.” But as aninstitution that deals with adult education and political consulting, the Fried-rich Naumann Foundation has to take care not be seen in the same way by itspartners. It would be catastrophic i the partners thought: “They know it all, theycan do anything, but when push comes to shove, we’re on our own.” This means

that the Foundation shouldtake a critical look at whatit can really deliver andhow much experience itcan really access in specicareas and make availableto others. Critical qualitymanagement is desirablebecause an organizationthat does not have to earnits money by perormingeciently and eectively,and which instead uses

taxpayers’ money to undits services, is always atrisk o overvaluing its oering or o not paying attention to quality.

7. While discussing the uture design o political party consulting by the FriedrichNaumann Foundation today and tomorrow, we should not lose track o the actthat our challenges will change, that we will be conronted more and morequickly by new problems and that we need to nd solutions or permanentpolitical and crisis management. In an era when the eruption o a party-relatedcrisis in Southeastern Asia or South America becomes known immediately inGermany and is an instant topic o discussion by interested parties, the Foun-dation, too, needs to perect its crisis management in Germany.

Discussion

(a extended discussion o his recommendations took place in working group 1)

Barbara Groeblingho  suggests that the IP to organises seminars and cone-

rences on special party-topics like "local politics“, inviting project directors andparty leaders.

Emil Kirjas complains, that recommendations o political consultants are otenimplemented only with delay. He mentions the lack o a clear liberal benchmarkor LI-member parties: should we insist on this benchmark and break-up with ewparties or not?

Peter Schröder agrees on Mr. Kirjas words. The Liberal International is currentlyaccepting all parties, excepting only post-communists. A clear liberal benchmark

Peter Schröder

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or LI-membership is needed. He urther describes a striking phenomena: whenparty-leaders receive political consulting in the ramework o the ALN-network,they are very supportive. However, as soon as the consultant arrives in their re-spective home countries, they oten reuse cooperation and/or to implementatrecommendations. In his opinion, the Honduran‘ crisis demonstrates the need ora „party-crisis management“ within the FNF. As inormation about parties is re-aching Germany very ast nowadays, the FNF needs to be prepared in the case o a crisis like in Honduras this summer. He stresses, that the FNF has managed thiscrisis in a brilliant manner.

For Harald Klein, the Honduran crisis was a unique chance to build up prole. TheFNF managed very well in inorming not only the German public, but even leadingGerman newspapers. This is an important role or a politcal oundation in times

when the number o oreign correspondents is very reduced.

DA is today a very ecient and recognised party. We are ready, says Athol Trollip,

to transer our knowledge and experience to Arican neighbour countries. 

4. Project scope: Analysis of four liberal partiesfrom new EU memberstates in Eastern Europe

Ulrich Niemann, Regional Director Central, East and Southeast Europe,South Caucasus and Central Asia

The Transition to liberal democracy in the new EU-member states nears completi-on. The predominant political model is pluralistic parliamentary democracy. Thereare a large number o ELDR/LI-member parties in the region. In most countriesat least one party is member o Liberal International. However, despite the stableconstitutional ramework, party structures remain volatile, and a certain liberal“atigue“ can be observed, with numerous ormer government parties either goneor on the verge o extinction. Perormance o liberal parties varies widely despitesimilar historical transition.

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Central- and Eastern Europe has a strongocus on party cooperation and consulting to strengthen liberal parties and orga-nisations. In order to urther improve the FNF’s party assistance programmes in theregion a comparative analysis o our liberal parties rom new EU member-statesin Eastern Europe is under way. Ulrich Niemann outlines the project scope:

The selected parties are all members o ELDR/LI but have each a dierent deve-lopment history.

They also show dierences in the national and historical context o their origins:

➤ The Reormist Party in Estonia – ounded as a programmatic party; stronglyinfuenced by the Western party model; well-dened programme with a narrowliberal prole; politically successul party; now in government.

➤ The Democratic Party in Poland – roots in the movement or democracy and

reedom, which carried out the transition to democracy; has undergone partymergers and splits; ormer governing party; liberal prole; has survived recentlyby coalitions with letist movements; acing its political sunset.

➤ NMSS in Bulgaria – ounded abroad as a leader-oriented populist movement;developed into a liberal party; ormerly in government; still not a classicalprogrammatic party; diminishing political infuence.

➤ LDS in Slovenia – arose rom the communist youth movement; party in govern-ment; no clear-cut liberal prole; underwent a major split, has a stable 10 % o electorate.

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A qualitative and empirical analysis o each party has been carried out by politicalscientists in the respective countries. They were based on the ollowing criteria:

Historical development: historical background; history o establishment; nationalspecics; party type; splits and mergers; key gures; party development stages tothe present moment.

Organizational structure o the party: number and characteristics o members;organizational structure o the party (at national, regional and local levels); identi-cation o general strengths and weaknesses and o specic eatures (such as beingstrong in cities but weak in rural communities); internal democracy, managementstructure, and organization culture.

Programme development: analysis o the most signicant party and election pro-

grammes rom a liberal viewpoint; development o programmes over time; reaso-ning behind the changes in the programmes.

Elections and the electorate: election results and interpretation; electoral struc-ture, possibilities or change; development potential o the party.

The analyses are o a high quality and are in line with the standards or internati-onal comparative analysis o political parties.

The comparative analysis is based on the ollowing leading questions:

➤ Are the perormance and development o the parties strongly related to theirspecic type o origin and their specic historical context?

➤ What are the similarities and what are the dierences between the partiesstudied?

➤ Can useul general conclusions be drawn rom these ndings to better denethe uture conditions or the development o liberal parties in the region?

The Analysis Paper will be completed in 2010.

5. Panel Discussion: FNF party-assistance anddemocracy promotion around the globe

Participants:

– Arto Aas, Head o Prime Minister’s Ofce, Reorm Party, Estonia

– Nereus Acosta, ormer Congressman or the Liberal Party, Secretary General CALD (Council o Asian Liberals and Democrats), Philippines 

– Dr. Osama Ghazali Harb, President, Democratic Front Party, Egypt 

– Eduardo Montealegre MP, President ”Movimiento Vamos con Eduardo“,Nicaragua

– Athol Trollip, Parliamentary Leader o the Democratic Alliance, South Arica

Arto Aas, Eduardo Montealegre, Nereus Acosta, Manred Richter, Osama Ghazali Harb(rom let to right)

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Question 1: What legal regulations exist in your country, defning the signi-fcance, unctions and procedures as regards political parties.Where do you see major defcits?

Arto Aas: Estonias political system did quite well over the last 20 years. The coun-try re-achieved its independence in 1991. The past 18 years have taken them ona road ull o twists and turns, rom totalitarian society to a ree Western world.Estonia is uncompromisingly a ree parliamentary republic with a transparent anddemocratic election system. Estonia ollows the highest standards o human rightsand rule o law. Estonia is a member o the European Union and NATO since 2004.We share the same ramework o international law and western values. Accordingto the latest international studies, Estonia is one o the most liberal countries inthe world.

Nereus Acosta: parties in the Philippines have a leader centric-structure. Partieshave enormous campaign expenses, which are covered by their MPs, their candi-dates, and private sponsors, most o whom are rom China. In his view, the Philip-pines have a problem regarding transparency: the party system is corrupt. The partiesbenet rom the rule that no legal reports o nancial supports during elections areneeded. At present no general party law exists, but they have a party-list systemor better representation or minorities, women, and under-represented groups.

Osama Ghazali Harb: Egypt has a dicult political system, with a restricted partysystem. There are parties, but it is very complicated to establish a party. His party,the DFP, had luck. The parties especially have problems gaining or growing mem-bership. Not just anyone who wants to become a member, will get membership.Some people get even threatened by national security. National security also triesto limit the membership o parties. It is nearly impossible, except or governingparties, to hold meetings outside party headquarters: it is orbidden, says Harb.Financing is another problem in Egypt. He told us about a business man who wan-ted to und his party, but hesitated to give money, because o the expected threatsrom the state against him. Freedom o speech is limited: there is no reedom o the press, no ree civic society.

According to Eduardo Montealegre in Nicaragua, the construction o democraticinstitutions and the current political party-system began in 1991, when the Nica-raguan people, through elections, managed to overcome the totalitarian regimeo the Frente Sandinista (in power since 1979). Nicaragua does not have a law onpolitical parties. The legal regulations on creation, unction and dissolution o po-litical parties are contained in the Electoral Law. Only 15 articles are dedicated topolitical parties (chapter "On political parties”, articles 61 to 76). In consequence,

the Supreme Electoral Council, having state authority has wide, almost unlimited jurisdiction.

During the 1990s, the Electoral Law acilitated the creation o political parties,alliances o parties and independent candidatures. As result, a multiparty system(ormally) with two mayor parties and many small parties o little importance wascreated. The current Electoral Law, approved in 2000 by an agreement o the Par-tido Frente Sandinista and the Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (PLC), changedthis panorama, supporting a two-party-system aiming or shared control o theelectoral system by the two mayor parties.

The prevailing Electoral Law:

• Makesthecreationofpoliticalpartiesdifcult,denescomplicatedprocedures

and allows the Supreme Electoral Council unettered reedom to decide i aparty is recognized or not.

• Eliminatesthepossibilityofparticipatinginelectoralprocessesthroughinde-pendent candidatures supported by citizens.

• Establishesthedissolutionofapoliticalparty,whenitdoesnotparticipateina national or local electoral process, or obtains less then 4 % o the votes castin an election.

• AllowstheSupremeElectoralCouncil,controlledbythePartidoFrenteSandi-nista and the PLC, wide powers to supervise the internal operation o politicalparties, imposing sanctions which include the dissolution o the party and notrecognizing the elected party authorities.

The Supreme Electoral Council uses its powers in an arbitrary way, acting in theinterest o the two parties which control the Council. For example:

• Dissolvingpoliticalpartiesduringanelectoralprocess,

• Arbitraryremovalofparty-authorities,• Restitutionoflegalentitytoalreadydissolvedparties,duringanelectoralpro-

cess.

These illegal actions o the Supreme Electoral Council reached a peak during themunicipal elections o November 2008, during which a massive raud was de-tected. In more than 40 municipalities, including Managua, authorities overrodethe citizen vote.

To summarize, the mayor decit o the Nicaraguan legal regulation regarding po-

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litical parties is the act that the Supreme Electoral Council is an institution underthe infuence o two major parties and regulated competences. In consequence,there is no legal certainty in the creation and unctioning o political parties.

Ater the electoral raud o November 2008, the central debate is not so muchbased on the railties o the party-system or the electoral system, but on whathas to be done in order to avoid the collapse o representative democracy and theimposition o a new dictatorship.

Atholl Trollip: South Arica does not have a ormal set o regulations governing po-litical parties such as that o Germany’s "Law on Political Parties” (Parteiengesetz).Apart rom the Bill o Rights o the South Arican Constitution stating that "Everycitizen is ree to make political choices“ (which include the right to create political

parties, to take part in party activities, to recruit members, and to campaign or apolitical party or cause), political parties and their ormations are airly unregulated.However, the Electoral Act 26 o 1998 requires all political parties to register withthe Independent Electoral Commission IEC) in order to participate in public electionsAct 1998, 26). Political parties have to adhere to some regulations according to theIEC’s Regulations or the Registration o Political Parties 2004 in order to registersuccessully, including the requirement that a political party must submit a name(not longer than 60 letters in length), an abbreviation (not longer than 8 letters inlength), a distinguishing emblem, and its constitution.

One o the problems in South Arica is the lack o regulations governing party un-ding. Currently there is no law regulating private unding to political parties, andthis is oten abused by stakeholders in the private sector, oreign governments oreven criminals who provide unding in exchange or having infuence on public o-cials. The Democratic Alliance has on a number o occasions raised its concern thatit appears that the ANC government’s election campaigns have been bankrolled byautocratic, repressive regimes in the past, including the ruling Chinese Communist

party and the ruling parties in Libya, Syria, Angola and Equitorial Guinea.Some o the most notable examples include:

– Receiving 50 million US dollars rom the late General Sani Abacha o Nigeriain 1995.

– Receiving 10 million US dollars rom King Fahd o Saudi Arabia in 1999.

– Receiving 10 million US dollars rom the United Arab Emirates in the lead upto he 1999 elections.

– Receiving a total o 60 million US dollars rom the Indonesian government o General Mohammed Suharto in 1999.

There is every reason to believe that the donations which the ANC receives romthese governments orms part o its strategic relationships with ruling parties inother countries, to und each other‘s elections campaigns in return or post-electionavours. This could result in South Arica supporting autocratic governments in in-ternational orums, even where clash with the democratic values enshrined in ourConstitution, and when they represent oppressive regimes guilty o gross humanrights abuses. The saga o our government‘s reusal to allow the Dalai Lama intoSouth Arica or the 2010 World Peace conerence appears to be the most recentexample o how oreign donors use their leverage to urther their interests – evenwhen this means undermining the sovereignty o the state concerned. It must not

be orgotten that President Motlanthe, in his previous capacity as Secretary-Ge-neral o the ANC, traveled to Iraq with other senior ANC ocials to meet with thegovernment o Saddam Hussein, and, urthermore, according to a UN report onthe Oil-or-Food scandal, was prepared to 'sell‘ South Arica‘s diplomatic supportor Iraq in exchange or access to lucrative oil contracts.

In light o these controversies the DA has called on the ANC to make ull disclosureo its unding rom oreign governments, in order to dispel the irresistible conclu-sion that it is selling the country’s oreign policy to the highest bidder. Regulati-ons governing private unding could assist the current situation. However, the DAalso recognises that this could become a double edged sword, as private local andnational unders are oten reluctant to disclose their unding programme as theyear that they might be discriminated against by the ANC Government i it is madepublic that they have been unding opposition parties.

Question 2: What structural pattern shows the party-system in your country ?

According to Arto Aas, Estonia has a pluralistic party system. A unicameral par-liament is elected every our years. Eleven political parties participated in the lastelection in 2007; six o them reached the election threshold and entered the Ri-igikogu. Electoral unions and independent candidates participate mainly in localauthorities elections. In principle, Estonian political parties operate as NGOs. Ho-wever, we have additional party law that regulates the activities o political partiesand places extra demands and greater control over the parties. The ormation o a political party is very simple – 1000 registered ounding members are needed toorm a new political movement. Recent years have been quite active in consolida-tion through mergers o political parties.

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Estonia has six major political parties that are represented in the parliament. Theycover the whole political spectrum o parties, and they have a solid constituency.Political parties represented in the parliament are nanced rom the state budgetaccording to the number o mandates in the parliament. In addition, party membersand other private individuals can make donations. All the sponsors and donationsare public and observed online. Donations rom companies and oreign organiza-tions are prohibited. Still, party unding is always a hot topic both in Estonia andin other European countries.

Nereus Acosta: The Philippines introduced the Party-List System during the electionsin 1998. Under this system, citizens vote or parties rather than or candidates, andparties are given electoral seats based on the proportion o votes they get. Citizensare given a bigger voice, as more parties may be voted into oce. And because

now it is parties that are elected rather than individuals, parties have bigger spaceto concentrate on platorms and programs rather than on individual candidates,so Acosta. The election is divided into three steps: the campaign, the election, andthe post-election, and so it takes weeks to get a election result.

Osama Ghazali Harb: In Egypt, one can get election result even two or three daysbeore the election. The party system is very dicult. Egypt has a multi-party sy-stem, one ruling national party, ve little parties and 20 quite unknown parties.The division in the opposition is large.

The election process is always under judicial supervision.

As Eduardo Montealegre outlined, the political party system in Nicaragua is not yetwell developed due to the act, that Nicaragua is a new democracy. Seen politically,citizens dene themselves by being committed ore not to democratic principles.

In consequence:

• Ahighpercentageofthepopulationdoesnotbelongtoapartyoridentifyitselfin public with a party.

• Formalmembershipofpartiesispoor,andparticipationofthememberswithinthe party is even poorer.

• Partyactivitiesareprincipallyorientedtoelectoralprocesses.

• Partiesarenotbasedonideologicalplatformsbutonpersonalleadership.

Considering these conditions, one could set the ollowing political tendencies:

• ThePartidoFrenteSandinista,underDanielOrtegaandactuallyinthegovern-ment, with a populist and authoritarian tendency, and with a discourse alignedto the „Socialism o the 21st century” brought on by Hugo Chávez.

• Adiversenumberofpoliticalpartiesandmovementscommittedtothevalueso a representative democracy, together with citizen rights and the ree mar-ket economy, which together orm electoral alliances, always led by a liberalparty.

From 1995 to 2006, the principal parties were the Frente Sandinista (in the roleo the opposition rom 1991 to 2006) and the Partido Liberal Constitucionalista(PLC).

In 1999, Daniel Ortega established a political agreement (mostly known as „ElPacto”) with Arnoldo Aleman, who at that time was President o Nicaragua andleader o the PLC; an agreement which resulted in a constitutional reorm. Theundamental objective o the "Pacto”, was to guarantee continuity and perpetu-ation o both politicians as leaders o their parties and obtain shared control o the state institutions.

Thus, they distributed the control o the state powers among the major parties andthe required percentage to win an election was reduced to 35 % o votes casted, inorder to make it match with the percentage maintained by the Frente Sandinistasince 1991.

As another consequence o the "Pacto”, many members and voters o the PLC letthe party and in 2005 created a citizen movement denominated "Movimiento Va-mos con Eduardo” (MVE).

For the general elections in 2006, the Movimiento Vamos con Eduardo,

constructed out o an alliance o diverse democratic parties and called "AlianzaLiberal Nicaragüense”, won second place in the voting. Daniel Ortega won thePresidency o the Republic with only 38 % o the casted votes.

Due to the act that in 2007 the Supreme Electoral Council illegally removed Edu-ardo Montealegre o the presidency o the Alianza Liberal Nicaragüense, in themunicipal elections o 2008, the MVE built an alliance with the PLC, which wonthe elections in the majority o the municipalities, including Managua. But theSupreme Electoral Council, through a massive raud, gave the main part o themunicipalities to the Partido Frente Sandinista.

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At present the MVE has ormally integrated into the Partido Liberal Independiente(PLI), which is the oldest liberal party o Nicaragua. From the PLI we continue thedialogue with other liberal parties, in order to achieve the unity o liberals, this asa rst step to keep together all the democratic parties with regard to the generalelections in 2011.

This process continues despite a proound crisis o the democratic system o Nica-ragua, due to the total loss o credibility o the electoral authorities.

Consequently, besides achieving unity or the coming general elections, the mainclaim o Nicaraguan democrats is that elections have to be held guaranteeingtransparency and respecting public will, which implies at least the nomination o suitable electoral authorities and the presence o national and oreign electoral

observers.Athol Throllip outlined that South Arica has a dominant party system where theArican National Congress (ANC) has won the majority o votes since 1994, whichhas culminated in the ANC gaining a two thirds majority (69.68 %) in the 2004elections – meaning that it could unilaterally change the Constitution i it so wis-hed. The results o the April 2009 national election clearly shows how the ANCdominates South Arica’s political party system:

– Arican National Party (ANC) 65.90 %

– Democratic Alliance (DA) 16.66 %,

– Congress o the People (COPE) 7.42 %

– Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) 4.55 %

(despite the act that the ANC has a dismal track record o service delivery, and isunable to control crime and corruption, and so relies on blind, loyal support romethnic, racial, and cultural communities)

However, there were a number o signicant occurences during the 2009 provincialand national elections that show how the ANC’s dominance has decreased:

1) It lost its two-thirds majority;

2) A new party COPE came into being just beore the election as a result o anumber o ANC politicians leaving the party and it won 7.42 % o the votes;

3) The DA grew by one million votes or 4.29 percentage points in the nationalelections (the only party that took part in the 2004 elections to grow)

4) The DA won the Western Cape province thereby taking away one o the nineprovinces rom the ANC government.

These results reveal that ANC support has diminished slightly, however oppositi-on parties ace a huge challenge, as voter support is not directly related to votersatisaction and contentment with the ANC government and its delivery o ba-sic services. The majority o South Aricans vote according to racial identity andthe ANC is seen to be the only party to represent the black majority o voters inthe country. Linked to this, is the act that when voting or the ANC voters alsovote inadvertently or the South Arican Communist Party (SACP) and the SouthArican Congress o Trade Unions (COSATU), as these three parties orm a tripar-tite alliance whose members hold senior positions in the ANC and infuence theparty’s policies and thereore the policies o government. (This is despite the act

that neither the SACP or COSATU have ever contested any elections under theirindependent banners).

As long as South Aricans vote according to race and not according to how theANC government has perormed and kept its promises to its voters, South Aricawill continue to be a deacto oneparty state dominated by the ANC. The greatestchallenge or the DA is to become a party that identies with all voters and isidentied, particulary by the black majority in South Arica, as a viable alternativeto the ANC.

Question 3: Please elaborate on the internal organisation o your party, i.e.internal democracy, internal policy making, internal decision-making. Where do you see major problems or challenges?

Arto Aas: the Estonian Reorm Party has built a strong party organization withinternal democracy and subordinate sovereignity holding an important role. Theparty consists o 15 country organizations as well as a large youth organization

and associations or senior members and women. All sub-organizations have theirown governing board and representatives on the governing bodies o the ReormParty.

Estonia is a pioneering e-country with several years o practice in electronic parlia-mentary and local electoral voting, and the voters are showing a growing interest init. The Reorm Party has also established an e-voting system or electing the partyboard and council. Inner-party e-voting is used to orm the nal list o the candidatesor the parliamentary elections. The internal democracy is very well developed withinthe Reorm Party. The only true exception is election campaign management.

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Nereus Acosta: the Philippines´ Liberal Party is the oldest party, but not very big.In addition, the party had a very big split, so Acosta. Last year, the Supreme Courtdecided they were the only liberal party in the country. The Liberal Party is the onlyparty which also works as a think thank; it is drating positions and policy relatedpapers. A huge problem o the party is undamental weakness in its structure. Ithas to struggle with weak grass roots and the gap between traditional and mo-dernizing elements in the party.

Osama Ghazali Harb: The aim o DFP party leaders should be to educate democraticbehaviour and set up democratic regulations in the party, so Harb.

Eduardo Montealegre: In all Nicaraguan political parties:

• partystructuresareweak,

• theprogrammaticplatformsarelittleknownorinexistent,

• theprocessesofdecisionmakingarelittleparticipative,

• thereisadeeplyrootedtraditionof„caudillismo”(thepartyisledbyoneaut-horitarian leader),

• theinternalregulationsarepooranddecient.

As a consequence political parties traditionally have been seen as ormal vehiclesthat participate in electoral processes with the institutional development o partystructures not being a priority.

Anyhow, there is a growing awareness o the need or modernizing political partiesand on promoting eective participation o citizens in the lie o political parties,ater having recognized that the traditional orm o doing politics suits the rise o dictatorial ambitions.

Our movement was born as a rebel orce within the PLC, as a result o the lack o 

internal democracy and treason o the liberal values by the party’s own board.

Although our structure isn’t dierent rom other parties in Nicaragua (Board, Ge-neral Assembly, local organization, youth), we make a dierence as we oer aparticipation in the decision making on the local level, especially while creatingalliances and dening candidates.

As you know, it isn’t easy work, but it has been an interesting experience or Ni-caraguan politics, where the local structures and the youth are traditionally onlyexecutors o the decisions taken by the party leaders.

For example:

• Inthe2006generalelections,ourrstelectionexperience,wehadprimarieswithin our party, the Liberal Alliance to elect the candidates. As a result, themajority were "new aces”, mainly younger people, who were supported by theircommunities.

• Inthelocalelectionsin2008thelocalassembliesweregiventotalfreedomtochoose their candidates within our movement.

• Todaywearesettingthebaseforarenovationofourlocalpartyauthoritiesthrough internal elections.

The major problems in the internal organization:

• TheobstaclesgivenbytheSupremeElectoralCouncilmaketheparty‘sconso-lidation a dicult task.

• Thelackoftechnicalandnancialresourcestodevelopinternalelectionsatthe local level.

Atholl Trollip: Firstly, there is – and always has been – a tension between theconstitutionally created decision-making structures o the party, and the proes-sional sta. Both make decisions, and sometimes these decisions confict with oneanother, particularly in an era characterized by increasing proessionalization o politics.

The constitution o the Democratic Alliance is ederal and democratic, and devol-ves decision-making to the lowest level at which it can eectively be exercised.Thus the members o the DA, organized into branches, elect delegates to regionalcouncils, provincial councils, and to the Federal Congress, which according to theFederal Constitution, is the "supreme policy-making body”. The problem is that Fe-deral Congress "generally” meets every two years or a day and a hal; provincial

councils might meet quarterly or hal a day, and regional councils slightly moreregularly.

The important decisions in the DA are taken by the Provincial Executives, with theFederal Executive generally acting on the advice o the proessional sta. Theseexecutives meet much more regularly (in the case o the Provincial Executives ge-nerally monthly or more regularly, and the Federal Executive once every six weeks,with telephone conerences o these bodies scheduled as and when the needsarises). This is because the executives are much smaller bodies, composed by andlarge by individuals who are more experienced and who have the time to debate

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issues and resolve problems. But politics is increasingly complex. Interaction withthe IEC, advertising agencies, lawyers, computer consultants, and direct-marke-ting specialists require a level o expertise that very ew elected politicians have.Accordingly, this task is generally perormed by sta members, who report to theexecutives. This necessarily implies that decisions are made by individuals andsmaller bodies, who do not always have express mandates rom the democratical-ly elected decision-making bodies. From time to time confict arises between the"proessional” and the "democratic” decision making structures. In order to deusethis, the DA draws a distinction between "political” and "operational” decisions. A"political” decision would concern strategy, while an "operational” decision wouldconcern the implementation o such decisions. To reinorce this, all proessionalsta sign an undertaking that they will not involve themselves in internal politicsand the Federal Executive recently resolved that no sta member could be a pu-

blic representative.

Another tension relates to the policy-making process. Again the Federal Constitutionmakes this the responsibility o the Federal Congress or the Federal Council whenCongress is not in session. In cases o "urgency” the Leader may "interpret” policywithin the ramework o our policies and principles. At no stage are the caucuses o the party (the people who actually legislate) allowed to make policy, and I suspectany attempt to give them this power would be resisted by the party.

Question 4: How would you describe the contribution o your party to thedemocratization process in your country ?

Arto Aas: During its 15 years o existence the Estonia Reorm Party has grown anddeveloped a great deal. The circumstances have been rather complex and dynamic,but we have been successul. Now we are ready to share our model o successwith other liberals around the world. We are not rich in monetary terms, but weare certainly wealthy in knowledge and experience. We are willing and ready tocontribute and spread liberal ideas worldwide. This can only be successully im-plemented in close partnership with FNF.

Eduardo Montealegre: During the last 100 years, democratic changes and socio-economic progress in Nicaragua were implemented by liberal governments. Butcorruption and bad work on the part o the liberals provoked the rise o dictatorswho provoked poverty and armed conficts. Our movement was born in 2005, asit was necessary to renew liberalism. Since then it achieved a democratization o Nicaraguan politics by breaking the monopoly held by the Frente Sandinista andthe PLC. It promotes political action in deense o democratic values and broad

participation in decision making. Beore the movement arose, the Frente Sandinistaand the PLC ruled and occupied political power. Citizens, who repudiated corruptionand the use o public institutions to deend personal interests, had no chance todeend themselves. This anti-democratic system was broken as hal o the voterswere in avor o our party in the 2006 elections.

Since Daniel Ortega gained power, democratic institutions were systematicallyattacked and the opposition was oppressed even through courts. Despite thoseattacks our movement was able to resist and to deend democracy. We were ableto create a democratic alliance or local elections in 2008, and the majority votedor our candidates.

Today, we continue being the most credible option or the deense o democra-tic values. As we are aware o our responsibility, we are working to achieve unityamong the democrats o Nicaragua in order to resist the hostile actions by theruling government.

Athol Throllip: An important point to make here, is that South Arica’s Constitutionis probably one o the most advanced in the world when it comes to respecting and

promoting undamental humanrights and reedoms, as well aschampioning democracy, andParliament plays a key role inensuring that every provision o the Constitution is protected atall the times, though this aspectrequires constant vigilance anddetermined protection, as theANC is all to oten wants tomarginalise parliament.

The DA, as the ocial opposi-tion in Parliament, plays a vitalrole in this regard, as it exer-cises oversight over the ANCGovernment and ensures it isheld accountable or its actionsand decisions at all times. Bydoing so, the DA ensures thatthe ruling party does not abu-se its majority power in Parlia-Osama Ghazali Harb and Athol Trollip (rom let to right)

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ment and does not put its own party political interests beore the rights o SouthAricans, or beore the authority and independence o the Constitution and all itsimportant provisions.

One only has to look at Zimbabwe to see what happens i this oversight role is notexercised properly, and a political party is allowed to increase it majority powerthrough unscrupulous and corrupt practices. Building a stronger and more viableDA is the only thing that stands between a successul South Arica and anotherailed Arican state.

Secondly, South Arica is acing the ultimate litmus test or any young democracy,which is when one political party has to hand over it’s governing power to anotherparty. The DA successully won control o the Western Cape in the 2009 elections,

which was previously run by the ANC government. The DA has grown in everynational election since 1994, and not only does it plan to win a large number o municipalities in the upcoming 2011 local government elections, but it also plansto become part o national government in 2014. By doing this, the DA will ensu-re that South Arica does not all into, the same trap that so many other Aricancountries have allen into where one party rules uncontested or many years, andso democracy in these countries is eroded.

Also the DA currently leads various intiatives to combat the co-option o the judicia-ry, where the ANC led government is hell-bent on compromising the independenceo this important oundation o our constitutional democracy. Recent machinationsaimed at ensuring an ANC-aligned majority on the Judicial Service Commission(JSC), is but one o the ways that the ANC seeks to ensure that there is a compliant judiciary, as the JSC appoints all judges and Constitutional Court judges. This hashad a proound impact on the corruption case against President Zuma and othersuch cases involving senior ANC aligned political and public sector gures.

Question 5: How would you assess the FNF’s contribution to the deve-lopment o your party? What are the most signifcant achie-vements? Do you have any recommendations or our utureco-operation? Do you see possibilities to increase your party’scontribution to consultancy measures?

Arto Aas: The FNF has played an outstanding role in the organizational develop-ment o the Estonian Reorm Party, as well as the whole democratic system o Es-tonian politics. The FNF has been the main source o know-how and experience,the main importer o Western values the kind o help was particularly necessary in

the 1990s. Thanks to the German liberals, the Estonian Reorm Party has achievedthe most authoritative and successul position in Estonian politics.

The main areas where FNF’s help is highly needed and appreciated:

1) managing election campaigns (excellent cooperation with Peter Schröder)

2) educating young party members – the new generation o liberals

3) developing and implementing liberal politics – programs or the members o Parliament

4) networking or liberal leaders

The role o FNF is very important or the Estonian liberals. FNF has always been ourmain gateway to the international liberal amily.

Nereus Acosta: The FNF has been partner o the Liberal Party Philippines or thelast 15 years. The FNF gave them a liberal ace and helped them to unction like aparty. The FNF ound liberal allies and connected them, so they have a good party-network. We nd workshops on communication, human rights, economic reedom,constitutional rights to be very helpul.

Osama Ghazali Harb: He eels very lucky with the assistance o the FNF. This is, orthe Democratic Front Party, very important. But still more education and learningon liberal values and concepts are needed in Egypt.

Eduardo Montealegre: In order to achieve renovation and unity in Nicaraguanliberalism is undamental or:

• theformation/trainingoflocalleaders;

• thepromotionofliberalideology;

• internaldemocracyatallpartylevels.

In these 3 areas the support by the Naumann Foundation has been very important,especially during the last ten years through:

• Educationalprogramsonliberalideologyandleadershipforyoungerpeopleandlocal leaders.

• ThepromotionoftheexchangeofexperiencebetweenliberalsfromNicaraguaand the world, through scholarships and visits to Nicaragua.

• Educationalprogramsindemocracyforjournalists.

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• Thepromotionofinternaldemocracywithinliberalismthroughnancialandtechnical support.

The support is so important that it turns the Naumann Foundation into the mayorpartner in the eld o education or the liberals o Nicaragua.

An evidence or the successul work o the FNF in Nicaragua, is the act that themajority o the young people now in unctions within the movement, the nationalparliament, or local administrations began their political careers with a scholar-ship rom the FNF.

Also, due to the support by the FNF, they established relations, cooperation andexchanges o experience between the liberals o Nicaragua and other liberal par-ties within the Liberal Network o Latin America (RELIAL).

These relations are very worthy and useul, as in many Latin American countries,including Nicaragua, there are anti-liberal, populist and authoritarian governmentsin power.

Considering the success o the cooperation and the actual problems o Nicaragua’sdemocracy, we would like to go on with the support by the FNF, especially aimingat:

• Technicalassistancefordialoguebetweendemocraticforcesinordertodefendthe democratic system.

• Leadershiptrainingforlocalleadersandmembersoflocalgovernments,workingunder the harsh conditions set by the ruling national government.

• Intensifythetrainingforyoungerpartymembersandthepromotionofpoliticalparticipation.

• Programsaimingateducationindemocracyandliberalideologyagainstthe

strong propaganda or the „Socialism o the 21st century”.

As national donors suer repression by the socialist government, we have to recal-culate our nancial possibilities or activities and training. President Daniel Ortegauses government money and money given by Hugo Chávez or his own party, inorder to stay in power even longer than until 2012. Due to this act, it dependson the uture work o the Liberals in Nicaragua, as to whether democratic systemcan be hold up or a dictatorship is imposed. Under these circumstances the in-ternational cooperation will be undamental in realizing such tasks as training,promotion o democracy and party organization beore the general elections inNovember 2011.

Athol Throllip: FNF has links all the way back to the 1970’s with the predecessorso the Democratic Alliance, namely the Progressive Federal Party (PFP) and the De-mocratic Party (DP). During the rst post-apartheid election in 1994, the DP onlywon 1.7 % o the vote at a national level, and only 10 seats in Parliament, but theFNF stood squarely behind the party and has since then had a close, supportiverelationship with the DP and later the DA (which was ormed in 2000 with themerger agreement between the DP, Federal Alliance and the New National party)at all three spheres – local, provincial, and national.

The FNF has played an extremely large role at the local level o the DA by assistingthe party with the ormation o the Association o Liberal Democratic Councillors(ALDC, which later became the Association o Democratic Alliance Councillors-ADAC). ADAC was ormed in 1995 with a membership o around 100 councillors

– this membership has grown to well over 1000. ADAC is one o the FNF’s mostactive political partners in South Arica and is centred on capacity building or DAcouncillors, sharing ideas and inormation between councillors, communicatingbetween councillors and other spheres o the DA, local government policy deve-lopment, ocused research on local government topics, advocacy support on localgovernment issues, and councillor concerns. The FNF has thereore eectively as-sisted the DA in creating a strong, organised network between DA councillors whoare spread thoroughout the country. (This capacitation programme is bearing ruit,as many councillors eventually become MPL’s and MP’s – their experience and ex-pertise contribute to the DA perorming well above its political weight)

The FNF oundation plays a similar role in the DA at a provincial level. It worksclosely with the DA’s MPL’s (members o the provincial legislature) through the DAMPL’s network as well with women and youth in the party through the DA women’snetwork (DAWN) and the DA Youth (DAY). At a national level, the FNF works ex-tremely close with the national parliamentary caucus o the DA which has 77Members o Parliament (MP’s) as well as with the DA’s National Head Oce. The

FNF assists the DA in all three spheres o government by providing political edu-cation as well as political consultancy on an ongoing basis. In any one given year,there are usually over 100 joint events between the FNF and the DA in these threespheres. A great example o one o these events, was the DA parliamentary caucusretreat, in which the FNF contributed to nancially as well as playing a acilitationrole and providing administrative back-up. This retreat was centred around helpingthe newly elected parliamentary caucus come up with its vision and plan o actionor the next ve years. This is extremely important, especially seeing that we havebecome a party o government at both local and provincial levels.

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Most o the consultancy asistance that is provided to the DA is conducted by theFNF sta and not by outsiders fown in by the organisation. Furthermore the FNFhas, over the years, developed and trained political strategists and planners romamongst the DA, or example, a number o the party’s councillors, who can nowdesign political strategies or their own caucuses. In this way, the FNF has donesterling work in empowering the DA and its public representatives.

The FNF have been instrumental in a number o important achievements the DAhas enjoyed over the last couple o years.

Firstly, the FNF has helped the DA successully deal with the large number o ad- justments that have had to be made as the party and its various caucuses havegrown over recent years. These included organising a large number o retreats,

where these caucuses have been able to come up with new strategies and plans o action or the coming years. This has been enormously helpul during the ormationo various alliances and coalitions that have brought us to government.

The creation o ADAC is most probably one o the greatest achievements o the FNF/DA partnership. ADAC has grown substantially, not only in membership but also interms o infuence, and has led to the DA Federal Constitution being amended sothat it now has a ormal representation in meetings o the Federal Executive.

Currently, the major ocus or both the DA and the FNF is the upcoming localgovernment elections in 2011, where the DA aims to win a large number o newmunicipalities in all nine provinces, either with an outright majority or by ormingcoalitions with other opposition parties. Forming coalitions with other political par-ties is a new and strange phenomenon to the DA. However, the FNF is in a strongposition to advise the DA on the coalition process, due to its strong links with theFederal Democratic Party (FDP) in Germany.

The FNF plans to fy in experts on coalition governments rom Germany to come

and speak to and help train uture negotiators at all three levels in the DA, in orderto assist the party with this uture process that will have very big implications orthe growth and development o the DA. With regard, to the question o the possi-bility o increasing the party’s contribution to consultancy measures, I have had adiscussion with Barabara Groeblingho on this issue, and we both agree that theonly way or the DA to do so would be to take over paying the salaries o FNF sta,as currently the party is paying or all or the majority o the costs, in teamwork o partnership with the FNF, or the consultancy services that are provided to its va-rious structures. The DA believes its contribution to consultancy is currently at an

optimum level, and we can thereore not see any room or increasing the currentcontributions we make.

However, the DA as a party is o the opinion that it should play a bigger advocacyrole with other liberal parties especially in the South Arican Development Commu-nity (SADC) region. We would consider it an honour to do this in partnership withthe FNF as we believe we have over the years developed invaluable experience andhave some important ideas on best practice in the Arican context.

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6. An US-View on effective party-assistance

Daniel Cohen, political consultant

David Cohen, who as state director ran Obama’s caucus campaign in Nevada, andwho managed the election campaign or both Rory Reid running or Governor o Nevada and Jill Derby running or Congress, gave us a US-view on eective party-assistance. At rst he started with a short overview over the caucus campaign inNevada beore telling us more about Obamas national campaign.

Obama started with a very small team, but at the end 300 people worked rom Ob-amas election headquarters in Chicago. The team was split in to dierent groupswith special responsibilities. One team was responsible or text messaging, pod

casts, and video clips; 25 people only answered incoming emails; 25 people didonly data research and ran phone banks. The campaigning team also outsourcedpolls questionnaires, to make specialized emails or target groups. Just ten peopleorganized the oce.

Obama used the internet to build a topdown organization that equipped volun-teers to act as surrogates or the campaign, though with direction rom campaignheadquarters. He tried to get people involved through online workshops such as"How to create a un raising page”, iPod applications, and Google ads or polls.These tools created micro spaces which could be used as platorm or direct mar-keting with calls, postcards. For example, the only goal or the Obama-Webpage,known as MyBO (www.mybarackobama.com) was to inorm the public about Ob-ama and his amily.

In addition they had www.voteorchange.com, which inormed the people aboutObama´s political opinions, debates, and current news. Obama also hired a proes-sional writer rom "The Nation” as ocial campaign blogger.

Since the successul Obama primary campaign, digital media and their impact onelections have much been talked about. However, at the end they also enorcedpersonal marketing, because it was cheaper to pay or students to go rom door-to-door to hand out caucus pledge cards and explain Obamas campaign, than toset up media adds. The supporter could answer questions directly, and bring a per-sonal touch to the campaign.

7. The bilateral NIMD-approach of strengthening political parties

Jasper Veen, Regional Director Arica

Introduction

NIMD´s approach is underpinned by its three main guiding principles: non-partisan/inclusiveness, local ownership, and partnership. The inclusive approach means thatNIMD works with all parliamentary political parties – not just the opposition orruling party. Local ownership means that the local partners identiy and prioritizetheir own needs and design their own policies, and are responsible or implementingtheir own programmes. For NIMD, partnership means a spirit o mutual respect,

transparency and mutual responsibility, which is paramount in a partner relationwhere one side is nancially dependent on the other.

NIMD provides direct assistance to over 150 political parties o which the vastmajority is in Sub-Sahara Arica. Following a process o internal party consulta-tion, parties present to NIMD a multi-annual plan and subsequently an annualplan highlighting a number o specic objectives or institutional strengtheningand capacity building. Parties are assisted by NIMD sta or acilitators in deningstrategic and realistic objectives, strategies, activities, and perormance indica-tors. Ater approval o the annual plan NIMD signs a individual contract with thepolitical parties.

Strong accountability mechanisms are put in place to ensure the implementation o the annual objectives: spot-checks, monitoring, and evaluation, narrative and nancialreports, and an audit are agreed between NIMD and recipient guide the partnership.A breach o these conditions would result in the withdrawal o the support.

Although NIMD’s cooperation with political parties in Sub-Sahara Arica has yieldedimportant results, notably by enhancing requent contact between national, regional,and local party representatives in the period between elections, the overall process o institutionalisation aces numerous challenges. Based on its rst ve years o expe-rience in working with political parties and relevant research, NIMD is in the processo developing a revised and updated bilateral support strategy.

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Lessons learned

a) Content

• ThemostpositiveimpactofNIMD’ssupportprogrammehasbeentotogreatlyimprove contact between the national party leadership and their regionalrank-and-le in the period between elections. Independent monitoring re-ports indicate that internal party communication has improved. In addition,in some countries many public events were organised by individual parties,or by parties collectively, at the local level in these periods.

• Forsomeparties,internalaccountabilityhas greatlyimproved.Regionalrank-and-le members questioned their national leaders during internalparty meetings. But or other parties, national leaders used (NIMD unded)

projects to entrench their own positions and dictate party positions to lowerranks.

• Linkingcross-partyandindividualpartysupporthasprovedsuccessfulinthearea o policy development and outreach (communication). In Zambia, orexample, a debate on improved access to media in the run-up to the 2006elections, between the Minister o Inormation, the heads o media, andsenior party representatives, was ollowed by a cross-party training on issuebased campaigning. Subsequently all parties were individually enabled todrat a media strategy ollowing an internal consultative process, and comeup with a twopage issuebased agenda. These were then published togetherand big inter-party meetings were organised in every province where thepolicy issues were discussed.

• Providingsupporttoproposalsfocussingoninternalpartyelectionscausedmany headaches in the absence o a clear NIMD strategy. Without reliablemembership data available, in the context o severe internal wrangles andhuge amounts o foating unds, supporting true internal party democracy

has proved ar rom easy.b) Management

• Atthe start ofthe programme,NIMDsupportprojectswere sometimesmonopolised by a ew party representatives who pursued their own agenda.Their aim was rst and oremost to strengthen their own power basis withinthe party and not so much to strengthen the party institutionally. It is impor-tant to (i) have all major documents tabled at the NEC meetings and signedby 3-4 key players within the party, and (ii) ensure project management isconducted by technical sta in stead o politicians themselves (who do tryto control the process).

Strategic considerations or the uture

A number o strategic choices have been made within NIMD based on the expe-rience o party-assistance during the last years:

a) Focus on a specic aspect o party institutionalization (niche): Policy debateand development

b) link party support to the electoral cycle,

c) nd a balance between generic approaches and countryspecic analysis.

With respect to a)

analyzing the institutionalization process o Arican political parties requires an

holistic approach, integrating external and internal actors infuencing the possi-bilities o urther institutional strengthening. But when it comes to supporting thestrengthening o such process by NIMD, with a very modest budget available anda minor infuence on many o the infuential actors, a specic ocus is required. Aspecic niche or NIMD in the broad arena o possible interventions is needed. Thisstrategic choice, nevertheless, should still leave sucient possibilities or Aricanpolitical parties to take ownership over the content o their institutional strengthe-ning programmes as supported by NIMD and possibly other contributors.

NIMD will ocus much o its bilateral support to the increase o policy relevanceor Arican multi-party democracies. (voice, accountability).

Policy issues have become more and more important during recent elections innumerous Arican countries. Issues that were hotly debated, amongst others, edu-cation, Chinese involvement in the home-country, youth (un)employment, agricu-ltural policies. In some elections these issues proved even more important thanpersonalities.

Political parties are the main vehicles or connecting citizens concerns ("Voice“)on various terrains with national policies. Internal policy based discussions couldensure the translating o citizens voices into national policies. Issues o accoun-tability are inevitably about policy – about whether policy choices in institutionalsettings are compatible with the preerences o political principals.

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Time X Actors

Beore During Ater

Citizens Participation Attention Obligation

RepresentativesMobilisation(pro-con) infuence Compliance

Rulers Accessibility DeliberationResponsive-ness

The more citizens participate actively, the more attention they will pay to the sub-sequent process, and the more likely they will eel obligated to conorm to whateveris decided – even i they opposed the decision themselves.

Representatives will play a key role in mobilisation, by telling their constituentswhat is at stake and canvassing their opinion. During the making o a decision,these representatives compete under pre-established rules against rival sets o representatives to infuence its substance. Should they ail, it is understood theywill nonetheless comply with the result and try to persuade their supporters toaccept it as well.

The more that rulers provide accessibility to the greatest number and widest vari-ety o individual citizens or organisations rom civil society – the more inormati-on they will carry into restricted deliberations, and the greater the likelihood thatthe decisions they eventually take will be responsive to the interest o the citizensand their representatives.

Strengthening the policybased capacity o political parties also enables thestrengthening o constructive relations with civil society organisations that maintainpolicy relevant data and analysis in particular elds o expertise.

Parliamentarian coalitions have the possibility o directly infuencing ocial na-tional policies and holding the executive to account. A detailed (countrybased)analysis o the existing support activities to parliaments, strategic entry points orNIMD, will orm the basis o increased NIMD support to the party – parliamenta-rian caucus relations and policy capacity o the caucuses.

In cooperation with various media associations (joint programme with RNTC), theoutreach o policy issues will also enable a better inormed citizenry and impro-ved image o political parties. Relevant data rom local opinion research and theArobarometer will be used as input to these debates.

Thus politicians and political parties play a central role in making accountabilitywork by their ability to articulate and aggregate citizens‘ interest and through le-gislatures who lie at the nexus o interstate and electoral accountability.

With respect to b)

as countries go through an electoral cycle, the main activities o political partiesshit accordingly and thereore should their plans and NIMD support refect the‘phase’ the parties are at. Within the NIMD’s revised bilateral support strategy, therelation between party support and the electoral cycle is quite central.

Most (opposition) parties are dormant between elections and only surace shortlybeore an election. It is important to ensure that contact between the national andlocal level within parties is maintained in between elections. There are some 10 %

o active rank-and-le that needs to be kept busy to keep the party alive. That isa great added value o NIMD work, and a great result so ar. Too much activity atthe local level depends on an MP o a given constituency, which would be impor-tant to ensure party presence and activities are maintained.

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8. Working Groups’ Recommendations

(fnd the guiding questions in the annexe)

Working Group 1) General benchmarks or FNF’s cooperation withliberal parties abroad.

To start a long-term commitment with a political party the FNF requires the ol-lowing preconditions:

➤ a programme which covers liberal key issues (individual rights, separation o church and state, market-economy etc.) or at least a visible liberal orienta-tion;

➤ a stable organizational structure

➤ a pool o active members,

➤ transparent inner party procedures.

The party’s membership in the Liberal International however should not automati-cally lead to a cooperation with the FNF. Likewise leaving the Liberal Internationalor joining another international party ederation should not automatically lead toan end o the cooperation with the FNF.

For the ongoing cooperation between the FNF and a political party the ollowingminimal requirements are necessary:

➤ open access to party representatives and inormation,

➤ time, space and willingness to cooperate,

➤ a permanent interlocutor within the party,

support by the party leadership, i.e. readiness to implement recommenda-tions.

A contract signed by both partners would be the best legal basis or a cooperation.However, in many countries contracts between a political parties and a oreignorganisations are illegal.

Each cooperation with a political party should start o with a strategic planningworkshop.

During this workshop a rigorous appraisal o the current situation (strength, weak-

nesses etc.) and a clear long-term strategy (4-5 years), including a time-activityplan, needs to be carried out. It is important that the strategy also covers the timebetween elections. Yearly “milestones” or assessment and adjustment should bexed. This new approach to political consultancy – called “structured consulta-tion cycles” – can lead to more eectiveness and eciency because cooperationbetween the FNF and the party is more continuous and on a long-term basis.

The isolated, sporadic deployment o consultants which we have seen during thelast decades have oten shown little eectiveness and sustainability. More otenthan not consultations have only taken place beore elections and recommenda-tions by the consultants have not been ollowed by implementation.

The closer the cooperation between the FNF and the party’s representatives and

leadership is, the better are the results. Thereore a direct cooperation with partiesis preerable and the presence o FNF sta in geographical proximity to the partyis the key asset! As a consequence the FNF should reconsider its oce-structureabroad on the basis o the existence o an important liberal party.

A revision o the consultation strategy can become necessary when one o the ol-lowing situations occurs:

➤ party enters parliament/government,

➤ heavy internal rits within the party,

➤ splits into wings,

➤ election o a new leadership.

Possible indicators or success are:

➤ elections results (they do matter),

➤ number o parliamentary initiatives,

➤ liberal policy concepts,

➤ organisational reorm o the party.

The FNF should nish it’s cooperation with a party in the case that:

➤ the party’s ideology becomes illiberal (e.g. the case o Mel Zelaya in Hondu-ras),

➤ a reputational risk exists or the FNF (e.g. case o corruption),

➤ the party suers „electoral death“,

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➤ What role can ALDE play in the relationship between decision makers and theelectorate?

The ALDE caucus in the European Parliament (EP) is composed o both Liberals andConservatives. It is to preerably pick up issues/policies within the jurisdiction o the European Parliament like health, immigration and climate change. For his workthe caucus has a sucient budget.

The composition makes it dicult to nd MEPs who are supportive and commit-ted to initiate resolutions or make written questions. ALDE rather waits or inputs.ALDE has a shiting thematic prole; it seems to be hostage to/dominated by con-servatives. ALDE provides support o member parties by urgent response on issuesin the respective language.

Lack o impact is demonstrated in the work with the Foreign Aairs Committee o EP which is rather powerless while the Human Rights Committee o the EuropeanParliament gives ALDE more opportunities to contribute and is more eective.

European Liberal, Democrat and Reorm Party, ELDR(Input by Daniel Tanahatoe)

ELDR shows a highly leveraged impact by having leaders meetings beore EuropeCouncil meetings. The budget o €1.5 million is sucient to cater or events andcampaigns. Member parties can apply or ELDR unds “Politics and Inormation”.The network is weak in Southern Europe and has been wiped out in Central Euro-pe. It seeks or strategies to provide support to parties especially in those regions.Networking beyond Europe is let to Liberal International.

Liberal International, LI (Input by Emil Kirjas)

Particular questions or the LI:

➤ How to improve prole, infuence, presence o LI at international level, especiallyoutside Europe?

➤ How can LI be made more attractive to its members?

➤ Are there strategies to win new and infuential members?

The Liberal International now has more than 100 member parties. More than hal come rom Europe. The LI communicates with even more parties, partners and in-stitutions worldwide. The LI recognizes the importance o the regional party net-works.

The LI aims to serve the parties through know-how transer, best practices, andimproved policies. But its budget o US$ 260.000 is insucient to render the ex-pected services. It is about motivating parties to seek LI support, while capacitiesdo not allow satisy demand.

However, the LI has the intention to provide a knowledge base or parties throughweekly newsletters and a new website (2010). The LI also intends to be more in-fuential at the UN level and have a deeper impact on such international events asCopenhagen but admits its lack in capacity.

To meet 100 dierent interests, the LI considers management o organisation andtopics as the biggest challenge in the way o group to allow group benet.

The LI is to keep issues high so to support parties locally. The question to be raised

is o public action versus quiet diplomacy. This reers also to thorough selectionprocesses or prospective parties and issue o behaviour ater joining and mecha-nisms to expel parties even though networks are to lose members. A comparativeview o SI, IDU, and CDI has to be taken into account.

Neurus O. Acosta and Manred Richter (rom let to right)

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In reerence to the liberal data base on policies the LI intents to cooperate withother liberal bodies providing data on parliamentarians, European experts, and acalendar o events as is being done by ALDE, ELDR and FNF. These databases areto be integrated with special access privileges.

Council o Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD)(Input by Nereus O. Acosta PhD)

CALD, on one hand, is challenged by its 10 member parties and by events in Thai-land, Philippines etc. On the other hand, eorts are being made to win parties romIndonesia and Mongolia.

Founded in 1994 and with its oces in Manila, the budget o € 120.000 is rathersmall. Membership ees support one sta member, while the overall budget comesrom partners. Improved benets or members are expected through new mediaapplications and more branding eorts. In this light, a research study is being un-dertaken by CALD to determine the role o the opposition in Thailand, Philippines,and Indonesia. Special attention is given to the solidarity with Liberals in Burma.

Network o Arab Liberals (NAL)(Input by Dr. O. al-Ghazeli Harb)

Dierent perceptions o liberalism exist in the Arab world. While Islamists distingu-ish between secular and islamic reedoms, liberalism should rather seek consensuson values and undamental rights and not to impose “truths” on others. And it israther the question on the relationship between state and religion, which guidesArab liberals in their quest with state and religious leaders including modern andundamental (Wahaabis) positions.

To stimulate dialogue, outside actors have been and always are very important.The upcoming LI-Congress in Cairo will take this into account. It should not avoid

conrontational discussions between Liberals and Islamists, which are necessaryto determine liberal policies adapted or the Arab World.

The FNF should become a “clearing house” or liberal policies. It should build trustamong international decision makers to raise their interest in liberal analysis andpolicies. It also should ormalise input to the LI in order to allow the LI to digestinormation into standard paragraphs in the annual report, motions to internationalparliaments, list o parliamentarians involved in oreign aairs. FNF may becomelocal interlocutor to transorm and translate certain content o database.

Working group 4: Political communication/political marketing

Input: Frederik Ferié, Vice-President IFLRY

Results

Almost all politicians, whether in democratic or non-democratic regimes, use theinstruments and techniques o marketing - but most o them do not admit to itopenly.

As a scientic eld o inquiry, political marketing has gained popularity in recentdecades. There are dierent ways whereby science approaches the topic o poli-tical marketing: political scientists tend to ocus on the management o electo-ral campaigns, while communication science’s interest is mostly with the use o 

communication instruments. As a third paradigm, marketing attempts to attain amore holistic understanding o political marketing. This includes the managemento parties in between elections and the long-term relationship between a partyand the electorate.

It is a common misunderstanding in the media and the public that marketing issimilar to “promotion”. By this, the assumption is made that the use o marketingrequires a “ollower-mentality” o a party, which inevitably leads to populism. Ho-wever, this assumption is alse. Political marketing can be best dened as seeking“to establish, maintain and enhance long-term political relationships at a prot orsociety, so that the objectives o the individual political actors and organisationsinvolved are met. This is done by mutual exchange and ullment o promises.”(Henneberg 1996)

Political marketing signicantly diers rom product marketing, but shares strongsimilarities with services marketing, especially with services that aect one’s per-sonal lie signicantly and require a trust-based relationship, such as in healthcare,insurances and nancial planning.

The goal o strategic Political Marketing Management is nding, planning andmanaging the optimal marketing mix o all instruments possible. It is crucial thatnot only the best marketing instruments are ound but also that their use is coor-dinated in order to reach the set goals eectively and eciently.

One set o marketing instruments that have seen a signicant change since theemergence o the Internet is communication instruments. In recent years politi-cal communication has seen a rapid enhancement o the use o new social media,in addition to the traditionally used broadcast media. New social media have the

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advantage that they allow direct communication between political parties andpoliticians on the one side and the electorate and other stakeholders on the other.Furthermore, new social media can be used to spread content such as policy opini-ons, utilizing the multiplier capabilities o social media instruments, e.g. Facebook,Twitter, web logs (blogs) and YouTube, among others.

Consequences or the project activities o FNF

The FNF works in environments with very diverse media conditions and the toolsdier rom country to country. The FNF already works on these topics, but withdierent instruments and with dierent intensity.

New social media are becoming increasingly important in politics; we ignore themat our peril. New communication tools need to be used strategically. All related

activities should be embedded in a comprehensive political strategy. The strategyhas to be developed or each project with the respective target groups. The partnerparty needs to conorm with the strategy. There is no scope or a central strategyo the FNF.

Political communication is amongst the core skills o political parties. The FNFshould be at the cutting edge o it and should intensiy training activities or localmedia specialists among its sta members. The FNF has to know and understandwhat is going on, what the tools are and how they can be used. Political commu-nication should become a priority within FNF.

The projects abroad have to prioritize the needed skills. Some basic knowledge hasto become compulsory knowledge. The FNF has to organize the necessary trainingin the regions. The FNF should continue to train local media specialists (like AbeOlandres, Wael Abbas, Gulmina Bilal etc). According to FNF guidelines they canassist FNF in the work with the parties. The FNF needs to manage the media com-petence. This could be a task or the Division IP.

   P  a  r   t   i  c   i  p  a  n   t  s

  o   f

  c  o  n   f  e  r  e  n  c  e

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Annexes

• Programme

• Participants list

• Speakers’bios

• Guidingquestionsforworkinggroups

Programme

Monday, 28th September 2009

09.00 am Welcome, conerence outline and objectivesHarald Klein, Director International Politics, FNF, Potsdam

09.15 am International party assistance – new agenda and unsolved pro-blems?Gero Erdmann, Director Berlin-Ofce, German Institute o Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Berlin

Discussion

10.30 am Coee break

11.00 am 20 years o political consultancy by FNFPeter Schröder, Political Consultant, Siegburg 

Discussion

12.30 am Comparative analysis o our liberal parties in new EU-memberstates in Central & Eastern EuropeUlrich Niemann, Regional Director Eastern Europe & Central Asia, Sofa

13.00 pm Lunch (caeteria FNF-head oce)

14.00 pm Panel Discussion:  FNF party-assistance and democracy promotion around the globe

  Arica Democratic Alliance (DA), South Arica

  Athol Trollip, Parliamentary Leader o the Democratic Alliance, Cape Town

  Asia Liberal Party (LP), Philippines  Nereus Acosta, ormer Congressman, Secretary General   CALD (Council o Asian Liberals and Democrats),

Manila  Latin America Movimiento Vamos con Eduardo, Nicaragua

  Eduardo Montealegre, MP, President ”MovimientoVamos con Eduardo“ , Managua

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Mediterranean Countries  Democratic Front Party (DFP), Egypt  Dr. Osama Ghazali Harb, President DFP, Cairo

  Eastern Europe Reorm Party, Estonia  Arto Aas, Head o Prime Minister’s Ofce, Tallin

Discussion

16.00 pm Coee break

16.30 pm An US-view on eective party–assistanceDaniel Cohen, political consultant, USA

Discussion17.30 pm The bilateral NIMD-approach o strengthening political parties

Jasper Veen, Regional Director Arica, Netherlands Institute or Mul-tiparty Democracy (NIMD), ormer LI-Secretary General, The Hague 

Discussion

18.30 pm End o Working Day

19.30 pm Transer by bus rom Hotel Avendi to Schloss Cecilienho 

20.00 pm Dinner hosted by:

  Dr. Wol-Dieter Zumport, Vice-President, FNFRol Berndt, FNF-Executive Chairman

   Venue: Restaurant Schloss Cecilienho Neuer Garten

Potsdam

22.00 pm Transer by bus to Hotel Avendi and Hotel Mélia, Berlin

Tuesday, 29th September 2009

09.00 am Meeting in the plenary, Kaminzimmer

Introduction into working groups

09.30 am Working groups

  WG 1: General benchmarks or FNF’s co-operation with liberalparties abroad.Input: Peter Schröder, Political Consultant 

  WG 2: FNF instruments in support o liberal parties abroad.  How can we increase their eectiveness and efciency?

Input: Manred Eisenbach, Political Consultant, Berlin

  WG 3: International co-operation o liberal parties under scrutinyInputs: Emil Kirjas, Secretary General, Liberal International,

London  Daniel Tanahatoe, ELDR, Brussels   Jules Maaten, MEP 1999-09, Brussels   Nereus Acosta, Secretary General CALD, Manila

  WG 4: Political Communication / Political MarketingInput: Frederik Ferié, Vize-President IFLRY 

10.30 am Coee break

11.00 am Continuation o working groups

13.00 pm Lunch (Caeteria FNF-Head Oce)

14.00 pm Recommendations or the uture co-operation o FNF with l iberalparties abroad (Presentation o working group results)

14.00 pm Group 1

14.45 pm Group 2

15.30 pm Coee break

16.00 pm Group 3

16.45 pm Group 4

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17.30 pm How do we ollow-up rom here ?Eva-Maria Koehler, Head o Department Strategic Controlling & Eva-luation

17.45 pm Wrap-up and concluding remarksHarald Klein, Director International Politics, FNF 

18.00 pm End o conerence

Free evening

Wednesday, 30th September 2009

Continuation o „Auslandsrunde” or regional directors

Departure o project directors

Participants’ List

Facilitator Manred Richter, Member o the Board o directors, FNF,ormer member o the German Parliament and ormerMayor o the City o Bremerhaven, Political Consultant

Speakers  Gero Erdmann, Director Berlin-Oce, German Instituteo Global and Area Studies (GIGA), BerlinDaniel Cohen, Political Consultant, Washington D.C.

  Peter Schröder, Political Consultant, SiegburgJasper Veen, Regional Director Arica, NetherlandsInstitute or Multiparty Democracy (NIMD), ormer LI-Secretary General, The Hague

Counterparts  Arto Aas, Head o Prime Minister’s Oce, Tallin (ReormParty)Nereus Acosta, ormer Congressman, Secretary GeneralCouncil o Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD), ManilaOsama Ghazali Harb, President Democratic Front Party,CairoEduardo Montealegre, MP, President ”Movimiento Vamoscon Eduardo“, ManaguaAthol Trollip, Parliamentary Leader o the DemocraticAlliance, Cape Town

ALDE Jules Maaten, ormer MEP (1999-09), Brussels

ELDR Daniel Tanahatoe, Political Unit, Brussels

FNF-Sta abroad Arica  Hubertus von Welck, Regional Director, Johannesburg

Barbara Groeblingho , Johannesburg, Project Director,Cape Town, Tanzania, Zimbabwe

  Werner Nowak, Dakar, Project Director Ghana, Senegal

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Central, South East Ulrich Niemann, Regional Director, Soaand East Europe, Peter-Andreas Bochmann, Soa, Project DirectorSouth Caucasus and  Bulgaria, Macedonia, Moldavia, RomaniaCentral Asia  Christian Christ-Thilo, Belgrad, Project Director Albania,

Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, SerbiaBorek Severa, Prague, Project Director Baltic States,Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia

Latin America  Ulrich Wacker, Regional Director, Mexico CityRainer Erkens, Sao Paulo, Project Director Brazil

  Christian Lüth, Tegucigalpa, Project Director Guatemala,Honduras, Nicaragua

Mediterranean Ronald Meinardus, Regional Director, CairoCountries  Alexander Knipperts, Algier, Project Director Maghreb

European Institutions Jürgen Wickert, Regional Director, Brussels& North AmericaSouth Asia  René Kla , Regional Director, New DelhiSoutheast Asia Rainer Adam, Regional Director, Bangkok

Siegried Herzog, Manila, Project Director Philippines  Rainer Heuers, Jakarta, Project Director Indonesia

Moritz Kleine-Brockho , des. Project Director Birma,Cambodia, Malaysia

FNF-Head Ofce  Detmar Döring, Director Liberal Institute (Tuesday only)  Harald Klein, Director International Politics

Eva-Maria Köhler, Head o Department StrategicControlling & EvaluationBirgit Lamm, Head o Department InternationalConerences and Domestic Programmes

  Gabriele Reitmeier, Head o Arica/Latin AmericaRegional Department and Political Consultancy &International Policy Analysis Department

  Michael Roick, Head o Central, South East and EastEurope, South Caucasus and Central Asia/MediterraneanCountries Regional Department

  Christian Taaks, Head o Asia Regional Department

  Denise Dittrich, Desk ocer Political Consultancy &International Policy AnalysisErnst Specht, Desk ocer Arica & Political ConsultancySaskia Steiger, Assistant to the director InternationalPolitics

Political Consultants  Manred Eisenbach, BerlinWul Pabst, AachenRol Steltemeier, Berlin/Heidelberg

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Speakers‘ bios

Arto Aas, Estonia

Head o the Prime Minister’s Ofce

Mr. Aas has been serving as the Head o the PrimeMinister’s Oce since April 2007

Since 2002, Arto Aas has worked as the campaign-manager in the headquarters o the Reorm Party; he has been also managing thecommunication unit o the Party to date.

Beore that, Arto Aas served as an advisor in the Tallinn City Council and as anadvisor to the Deputy Mayor responsible or the areas o road construction, envi-ronment and city planning.

Having graduated rom the specialty o Public Administration in the Tallinn Uni-versity o Technology, Arto Aas took additional courses in the University o Tur-ku and currently participates in the University o Tartu MA programme in PR andCommunication.

Nereus Acosta, Philippines

Congressman, House o Representatives(1998-2007) CALD Secretary General 2005-present

Dr. J.R. Nereus Acosta is the current Secretary Gene-ral o the Council o Asian Liberals and Democrats andthe ormer Secretary General o the Liberal Party o thePhilippines. He served as representative o Bukidnon

province in Northern Mindanao to the House o Representatives or three conse-

cutive terms (1998-2007). Besides sponsorship o major environmental legislationon clean water, solid waste management and biodiversity protection, he was theprincipal author o the groundbreaking Clean Air Act that has become a model o environmental legislation in Asia. Dr. Acosta served as Chairman o the Commit-tee on Ecology and Vice-Chairman o the Committees on Science and Technology,Human Rights, and Foreign Relations o the House o Representatives. He has re-presented the Philippines in numerous international orums, including the UnitedNations Special Assembly on HIV/AIDS and the Asian Forum o Parliamentarians onPopulation and Development, where he served as the Deputy Secretary General.

An academic and civil society stalwart, he earned his PhD in Political Science romthe University o Hawaii as an East West Center Scholar. He received a BA in Poli-tical Science rom the University o the Philippines, an MA in Public Aairs (Inter-national Relations and Political Studies concentration) rom the Indiana Universi-ty o Pennsylvania and attended the special programs on Leaders in DevelopmentProgram (1999) and Environmental Economics (2002) at the Kennedy School o Government o Harvard University. In 2004 he was named the rst Filipino World

Fellow o Yale University.Dr. Acosta is now Associate Proessor at the Asian Institute o Management andthe Ateneo de Manila University. He continues to be active in micronance, ruraldevelopment and environmental protection projects in his native Bukidnon.

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Gero Erdmann, Germany

Director Berlin-ofce, German Institute o Globaland Area Studies

Since 2009 Gero Erdmann is head o GIGA Research Pro-gramme 1: Legitimacy and Eciency o Political Systemsand Head o the GIGA-Berlin Oce.

Between 1999-2009 he served as senior research ellow at the GIGA Institute o Arican Aairs with the ollowing responsibilities: democracy and democratiza-tion, political parties, civil society, co-operative societies, traditional rule, humanrights.

From 1994-1999 he was senior Research Fellow at the Institute o DevelopmentResearch and Development Policy, Ruhr University o Bochum.

Between 1986-1994 he worked as research ellow (ree lance) at the Arnold-Berg-straesser-Institute or Socio-cultural Research, Freiburg.

1985/86 he was research ellow at the Economic Research Bureau, University o Dar es Salaam, and at the Co-operative College Nairobi.

He has published extensively.

• Studies:

  1973-1981: Magister Artium in Political Science and History at the Universityo Freiburg;

1982-1983: Master o Arts  in Politics, History, Ethnography o Eastern Arica(Swahili) at the School o Oriental and Arican Studies, University o London,

• 1990:PhD,PoliticalScience,UniversityofFreiburg.

Osama al-Ghazali Harb, Egypt

President o the „Democratic Front Party

In March 2008, Dr. Osama al-Ghazali Harb was electedPresident o the „Democratic Front Party“, the mostrecent liberal party established in Egypt, having beenapproved in mid 2007. Due to his conviction that the

National Democratic Party, the ruling party in Egypt, is not committed to eecting

democratic change in Egypt, Dr. Harb resigned rom there and took the initiativeto invite independent gures to establish the Democratic Front Party.

Dr. Harb has been a member o the Shura Council (upper house o the Egyptian par-liament) since 1995 and is also a member o the National Council or Human Rightsand a ounding member o the Egyptian Council or Foreign Aairs. Dr. Harb hasalso chaired the Arab Association o Political Science between 1990 and 1998.

Dr. Harb obtained his PhD in Political Science rom Cairo University. He worked asa researcher and later Chair o Al-Ahram Centre or Political and Strategic Studies.Aterwards, Dr. Harb became the Editor-in-Chie o Al-Siyassa Al-Dawliya (Interna-tional Politics) periodical in replacement o Dr. Boutros Boutros Ghali, the previousSecretary General o the United Nations (1991).

Dr. Harb has several books, researches and articles published in Arabic and English.He has also participated in conerences and seminars all over the world.

Dr. Harb is married and has two daughters.

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Harald Klein, Germany

Director o the Department International Politics,Friedrich Naumann Foundation ür die Freiheit

Since July 2007, Harald Klein has been the Director o the Department International Politics o the FriedrichNaumann Foundation or Freedom (FNF) in Potsdam,responsible or the overall unctioning o the Founda-

tion’s programmes in Arica, Asia, North America, Eastern Europe, Middle East and

Latin America.Harald Klein originally joined the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation or Freedom in1988, starting as project manager and national representative o Peru, at a latertime also managing urther countries o the Andean region. In 1996, he was ap-pointed Regional Director or Central, Southeast and Eastern Europe, based in Bu-dapest, Hungary. From 2002 to 2007 he has been assigned Regional Director orLatin America based in Mexico-City.

Ater 19 years based abroad, Harald Klein became Director o FNF’s internationalwork at the headquarters in Potsdam, Germany. He is responsible or the world-wide programmes o FNF, overseeing an annual budget o approx. 23 million Eu-ros (2009).

Born in Trier, Germany in 1955, Harald Klein holds a Master Degree in Political Sci-ence, Sociology and Journalism. He speaks Spanish and English fuently. Togetherwith his wie he l ives in the German capital, Berlin.

Eduardo Montealegre MP, Nicaragua

Member o Parliament

In the November 2008 municipal elections in NicaraguaEduardo Montealegre ran as candidate o the ALN led byhis ormer party, the PLC still ruled by Arnoldo Aleman.Montealegre lost the election to Alexis Arguello, but

alleged that the election was rie with raud. The municipal elections were highly

contested and were held without international observers, due to the Sandinistagovernment’s reluctance to invite any observers. The supposed raud o the muni-cipal elections resulted in several days o protest mostly limited to Managua.

Two years beore in the 2006 general election or president, he ran as the candi-date o the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN-PC), a spin-o o the ConstitutionalLiberal Party (PLC) in alliance with other liberal parties and the Conservative Party.He nished in second place ater Daniel Ortega, receiving 28.3 % o the vote. Dueto this result he was granted a seat in the Nicaraguan congress.

Beore that Eduardo Montealegre served as minister to the presidency in 1998under Arnoldo Alemán. He also served as oreign minister rom 1999 to 2000 inthe government o Arnoldo Alemán and as nance minister rom 2002 to 2003 inthe government o the next President Enrique Bolaños. Subsequently, he served asminister to the presidency o Enrique Bolaños. He announced his split rom the PLCin protest o the control o the party by ormer President Alemán, who was impri-soned or misappropriation o unds. Montealegre objects to an alliance, reerredto in the popular media as „El Pacto“, between Arnoldo Alemán and Daniel Ortega,

who ran as the candidate o the FSLN in 2006 or the ourth consecutive time sincehis 1985-1990 presidency, this time successully. Because o Montealegre’s standagainst corruption, Arnoldo Alemán, and Daniel Ortega‘s Sandinista National Libe-ration Front, the U.S. ambassador in Managua openly endorsed his candidacy.

Mr. Montealegre was born in Nicaragua’s capital Managua. He received an B. Sc.in Economics rom Brown University in 1976 and an MBA with a ocus in nanceand strategic planning rom Harvard University in 1980. He later became a busi-nessman in Nicaragua.

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Ulrich Niemann, Bulgaria

Head o the Regional Ofce or Central, East andSoutheast Europe South Caucasus and Central Asia

Ulrich Niemann is head o the regional oce or Cen-tral, East and Southeast Europe, South Caucasus andCentral Asia o the Friedrich Naumann Foundation orLiberty (FNF) in Soa, Bulgaria. He is an economist by

training, worked previously as FNF representative or Northeast Asia in Seoul, and

is a ounding member o the Asia-Europe Foundation in Singapore. Beore theseassignments abroad, he held various positions in the German Federal Governmentand Parliament, dealing with economic policy issues, German re-unication andEuropean aairs.

Peter Schröder, Germany

Political Consultant

Since 1987, had assignments as reelance consultant inmore than 75 countries in all parts o the world: Planningor political strategies, consulting in political communi-cations, training adult educators and managers.

Consultation or parties, politicians, non-governmental-organisations, governments,

local authorities in strategies or elections, confict management and negotiationsand projects o decentralisation, deregulation, new public management.

Author o the book "Political Strategies“ (at present available in German, English,Spanish, Turkish and Bahasa) and other publications and essays.

Born in Germany in 1943, now living in Siegburg, Nordrhein-Westalen; marriedwith two children.

Studied at the Christian Albrechts Universität in Kiel (Chemistry and Nutrition).

Ater his studies he joined the adminsitration o the liberal Free Democratic Party(F.D.P) in Schleswig-Holstein.

1971-1978: General secretary o the ederal state organisation o the liberal FreeDemocratic Party (F.D.P.) in Schleswig Holstein

1978-1982: Head o „Department or communications and elections“ in the head-

quarter o the party and at the same time head o „Department or training andprogrammes“ in the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation.

1982-1987: Director o the advertising agency or social marketing (BOSS).

Since 1987 Director o the "Institute or communication research“ and lecturer inpolitical science at the "Cologne School or Politics and economy“ in Cologne.

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Athol Trollip, South Arica

Parliamentary Leader o the Democratic Alliance

Born and bred in Bedord in the Eastern Cape, Athol wasdeputy head boy and captained the rugby, swimming,water polo and sur liesaving 1st teams at high school.For 20 years, he armed his amily arm in Bedord, was

Chairman o the Farmers Association, Chairman o the Bedord Club, committee

member o various sporting associations, executive member o the Eastern Provin-ce Agricultural Union and the "Smaldeel” Soil Conservation Committee. His com-munity bestowed an honorary lie membership or the Bedord Club and Farmer’sAssociation on him.

Athol was elected Executive Councillor Amathole District Municipality in 1995. In1999, he was elected to the Legislature and re-elected in 2004. He served as Leadero the DA Caucus and Leader o the Ocial Opposition in the Eastern Cape beorehis election to Parliament in 2009.

Within the Party, he has held various positions including DP Provincial Chairpersonin 1998 and DA Provincial Leader since 2002. He has served on the Federal Counciland Federal Executive since 1998 and 2002 respectively.

Coming rom a political amily, with his grandather being a MP or the UnitedParty, and his ather a Divisional Councillor, Athol is motivated by community andpublic service and is accustomed to leadership responsibility. As Eastern Cape lea-der, he led a Province that was recognised by the 2004 Federal Congress or its

eorts and received the Province o the Year award. His ability to communicate inEnglish, Arikaans and Xhosa is a valuable asset.

Athol was elected to Parliament in May 2009, where he was elected DA Parliamen-tary leader. He is also Shadow Minister on the Presidency.

Jasper Veen, Netherlands

Regional Director Arica, Netherlands Institute orMultiparty Democracy (NIMD)

Mr Jasper Veen joined NIMD in June 2007 as politicaladvisor on behal o D66 (Dutch social liberal party).

He is the ormer Secretary General o the London-basedLiberal International, the world ederation o liberal and progressive democratic par-ties. In this capacity he has maintained a network o 120 liberal parties worldwideand provided support to parties in new democracies whilst building a proessionalcordial relationship with ministers and parliamentarians worldwide.

He has relevant experience in political party aairs, policy- and decision-makingwith an emphasis on international issues, management and coordination o poli-tical events and programmes, and statements at an international level.

He has studied political history with a ocus on state and nation building andDutch parliamentary history. He has lived in Botswana or 4 years and in the Uni-ted Kingdom or nearly 7 years.

He is an active member within D66, being a board member o International Demo-cratic Initiative (IDI) and editor o the political science magazine Idee.

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Guiding questions for working groups

Working group 1: General benchmarks or FNF’s cooperation withliberal parties abroad

Input: Peter Schröder, Political Consultant

Which general benchmarks should apply to cooperation between the FNF and lib-eral parties abroad:

1 Selection o parties

• WhichrequirementsshouldpartiesfullliftheFNFistoenterintoame-

dium- to long-term commitment with them.

2 Ongoing cooperation with parties

• Whataretheminimumperformancerequirementsthatshouldbeachievedduring ongoing cooperation?

• ShouldtheFNFbeclosetothepartyandit’scurrentleadership,orshouldit be an arm’s length relationship (cooperation through national associatedorganizations)?

• HowcantheFNFensure:

– the continuity o the consulting process,

– the commitment o the partner to the outcomes o consulting sessions,(i.e. implementation o recommendations)

– the sustainability o the outcome.

• HowshouldtheFNFreactifotherconsultantsofferconictingadvicetoitspartners?

• AretheredevelopmentsorsymptomsinthecooperationbetweenFNFandpolitical parties which should cause FNF to review its consulting concept?

• HowcantheFNFcontributeto:

a. strengthening trust o citizens in parties?

b. ending the party’s nancial dependence on chairpersons/sponsors whoare oten authoritarian and corrupt (concepts or sel-nancing)?

• HowshouldtheFNFbehavewhenthereis/are:

c. two or more liberal parties in a country,

d. actions’ split rom the party or a party break-up,

e. no liberal party in the country,

. no FNF oce inrastructure in a country with an important liberalparty?

3 Terminating cooperation with a party

• Whenisittimetostopworkingwithaparty?

• Fromwhichpartiesshouldwedistanceourselvesintheshorttomediumterm? Why?

• Whatwouldbetheconsequencesfortheprojectstructure?

4 Monitoring outcomes and impact

• Howcanwemeasurehowsuccessfulourworkwithpoliticalpartiesis?

• Whatarepossibleindicatorsforsuccess?

• Howdoweensurethatperformanceismonitored,andwhowilldoit?

Please ormulate the output o your work as recommendations to the Foun-dation.

Working group 2: FNF tools in support o liberal parties abroad. Howcan we increase their eectiveness and efciency?

Input: Manred Eisenbach, Political Consultant

Is FNF using its tools – political consultancy, policy dialogue and political educa-

tion – eectively and eciently to promote liberal parties abroad? Can the waythe tools are used be improved?

1 Are the IAF-activities and inormation-programs to Germany (Besuchspro-gramme) aligned with the “Strategy or work abroad?” (Auslandsstrategie)

• Towhat extentdo theIAF-activitiesandinformation-programs supportcooperation with parties abroad?

• Howdothedialogactivitieslinkupwiththepoliticalconsultancyandpoliti-cal education activities?

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• Whichnewtopicsshouldbeintroducedandwhichtopicscanbediscard-ed?

• Arethereanyinterestingnewmethodsortrainingapproachesthatshouldbe adopted?

2 How should political education and policy dialog activities be used in acomplementary way in order to achieve the greatest synergies?

• Whatsortoftoolscouldbeusedforthejointplanningofpoliticalconsul-tancy, political education and policy dialogue?

• Wherewillthemixofactivitiesbedeveloped?Atthecustomer(party)ortop-down (IAF, BP, PB)?

3 In the uture, should visiting programs be supplemented to a greater de-gree with interregional programs?

Please ormulate the output o your work as recommendations to the Foun-dation.

Working group 3: International Co-operation o liberal parties underscrutiny

Inputs: Emil Kirjas, Secretary General, LI, London

Daniel Tanahatoe, ELDR, BrusselsJules Maaten, MEP 1999-09, BrusselsNereus Acosta, Secretary General CALD, Manila

• Arethecostandeffortthatgo intointernationalandregionalcooperationbetween parties justied and do they benet the participants?

• Howcanmemberpartiesderiveagreaterbenet?• Howcanthetransferofknowledgeandskillsbetweeninternationalandnational

representatives be ensured?

Liberal International

• Howcantheprole/inuence/presenceoftheLIbeimprovedataninternationallevel (i.e. outside o Europe)?

• HowcanLIbemademoreattractivetoitsmemberorganizations?

• Howshouldthe FriedrichNaumann Foundationdealwithpartiesthatjoinanother international ederation or association?

• Aretherestrategiesforrecruitingnew,inuentialmembersandwhatarethey?

ELDR / ALDE

• Inits Parliamentarywork,dowe expectstrategicleadership from theALDEGroup, or should ALDE ollow the leadership o national Liberal ParliamentaryGroups in the House o Commons, Bundestag, Folketing, Tweede Kamer etc?

• ShouldweseeALDEasa convenientcoalitionofparties,manyofwhich(butperhaps not all) are Liberal, who cooperate on a pragmatic basis, or as a cohesivepolitical orce?

• CantheforeignaffairsworkofALDEbemademoreusefultosupportinterna-tional Liberalism?

• Europeandemocracyisimperfect:whatrolecanALDEplayincreatingastrongerbond between European decision makers and the electorate?

Please ormulate the results o your working group as recommendations to theoundation.

Working group 4: Political communication / Political Marketing

Input: Frederik Ferié, Vice-President o IFLRY

Guiding Questions:

• Arethereanyopportunitiesforvoterrelationshipmanagement,andisthereany demand or it?

• WhatcanFNFachieveintheareaofdesigningandbrandingpolitics?Isthere

any demand or such an activity on the part o the parties, and is it even pos-sible in dierent cultural and language regions?

• ShouldFNF’sconsultingactivitiesextendtocoverconsultingforsocialmarket-ing campaigns?

• Whathasthehighestpriorityinconsulting:politics,structures,oractions?

• ShouldFNFbuymedia-basedcampaignadviceordoesithavetodoitbyitself?

Please ormulate the output o your work as recommendations to the Foun-dation.

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NotesNotes

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100

Notes

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