democracy rising

8/2/2019 Democracy Rising

1/28

GrassrootRevolutions

Electionsand Beyond

DEMOCRACY

RISING

U.S. Agency for International Developme

Building

Freedom

September 2005


2/28

Results

K

So it is the policy of the United States to

seek and support the growth of democratic

movements and institutions in every nation

and culture, with the ultimate goal ofending tyranny in our world. America will

not impose our own style of government

on the unwilling. Our goal instead is to help

others find their own voice, attain their

own freedom, and make their own way.President George W. BushSecond Inaugural Address, January 20, 2005

Democracy Risingwas published by the U.S. Agency for International Development, Bureau forLegislative and Public Affairs. It was written and researched by Ben Barber, designed by Nan Dearborn,

and photo research was by Claire McIntyre, Kristina Stefanova, and Kyle McNeely.


3/28

Overview: In a new wave of massdemands for democracy in the past twoyears, millions defied threatsfrom Kiev toRamallah to Bishkekdemonstrating orsimply voting in their first free elections. 2

Post-Soviet Revolutions

Georgia: The Rose Revolution sweptthe old regime of Eduard Schevardnadzefrom power as thousands demanded anend to corrupt elections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Ukraine:After the government riggedelection results, a million people joinedthe Orange Revolution, leading to a newelection won by Viktor Yushchenko. . . . .8

Kyrgyzstan: In the Tulip Revolution,angry crowds in Osh and the capital

Bishkek swiftly ousted the government ofAskar Akayev after election fraud. Newvoting followed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Near East Democracy

Lebanon: The Cedar Revolution brokeout as almost a million people demandedfree elections and an end to Syrianoccupation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

West Bank/Gaza:The death of Yasser

Arafat in 2004 led to newPalestinian elections,widely seen as legitimate,for president and localcouncils. Legislativecampaigning began in theWest Bank and Gaza.18

Iraq: Defying threats, millions voted inJanuary 2005, for a new governmentcoalition in one of the most free and fairelections ever held in the region. . . . . .20

ORANGE REVOLUTION

Peaceful ProtestUkrainian riot police neverattacked protestors, whoseorange balloons symbolizedtheir call for democracy,November 27 2004.Page 8

Afghanistan: Loya Jirga traditionalcouncils wrote a constitution and set upelections8 million voted, nearly half ofthem women. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Legacy of Change

Democracy Takes Root: The newrevolutions follow decades of progress inLatin America,Africa andAsia, endingdictatorial ruleand nurturinggovernmentschosen by thevoters. . . . . 23

Strategy: The $1.2 billion annualUSAID democracy aid budget is based onfour point strategy tailored to assist eachcountry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

COVER PHOTO: After voting in Iraqsfirst democratic election in January, 2005,Iraqis triumphantly hold aloft their fin-gers stained with indelible ink to preventmultiple voting. PHOTO: ADRIAN DENNIS/ AFP


4/28

Overview

Reaching for Democracy

2

Crowds surged through streets of Kiev, Tbilisi,Beirut and Bishkek. Millions of men and

women defied threats to stand in line and votefreely in Baghdad, Kabul and Ramallah. Allof them asked for the same thing: democracy.

eign policy since the end of World War I,when President Wilson promoted democrat-ic self-determination for Czechoslovakia,Poland, Hungary, Austria and Romania.

After World War II, the United Stateshelped write democratic constitutions fordefeated Germany and Japanwhich re-

main democratic today.When post-war Western Europeweak-ened by warappeared vulnerable to com-munism or fascism, the United States beganthe Marshall Plan in 1948 to rebuild itseconomies. All nations that got help aredemocratic today, from Finland to Portugal.

In 1961, U.S. foreign aid agencies werecombined into the U.S. Agency for Interna-tional Development (USAID) which fo-cused on helping development in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Among the ad-vances towards democracy the United Statessupported were the following: Over time, South Korea, Taiwan,Thailand,

the Philippines and many other countriesadopted democratic systems. In the 1980s and 1990s, Latin Americachanged most of its leftist or rightistauthoritarian governmentsChile, Brazil,Nicaragua and El Salvador for exampletoelected democracies with free press andmulti-party politics. Then, after the fall of communism, U.S.democracy assistance helped Poland, theCzech Republic, the Baltics, Slovakia,Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary revive orcreate new democratic systems. In Indonesia, President Suharto quit in1999 amid public protests, after 25 years inpower. The country became the worlds thirdmost populous democracy in 2004 when itheld landmark direct presidential andlegislative elections.

THE NEW WAVEThe colorful revolutions were created by cit-izens from Ukraine to Lebanon, with U.S.and other support.

Ukrainian journalists, five years befothe Orange Revolution, were trained U.S.-supported groups to deliver balancfair reports on politics; to investigate and port on government abuse; and to throw

spotlight on fraudulent elections.Georgian political parties learned how

organize and register their voters, train eltion observers, prepare party platforms acommunicate their agendas to the public.

Lebanese and Kyrgyz non-governmeorganizations (NGOs) got help from UNGOs such as the American Bar Assoction, Eurasia Foundation and FreedoHouse. These groups trained people on leissues, elections, human rights and media

The United States was the main suppoer of democracy around the world, alowith the European Union and other dono

For years, America realized that economand social development were unlikely to taplace unless people can investigate how thgovernments operate, voice complaints, aultimately change their leaders through fand fair elections.

The fallen rulers in some countries mblame outside interference for their defeBut U.S. and other democracy aid onserves as a source of ideas and inspiratioThe real work of creating democracy is cried out by courageous and committed peple within the countries undergoing chanUnless people are ready for democracy, amount of aid can make a difference.

As the dust settled on the new democric revolutions, U.S. and other donohelped new governments carry out promito serve honestly and fairly. International avisors helped national and local officials many countries to write tax laws, fight coruption, revive private markets, open

e saw them marching fordemocracy through thestreets of former Sovietcapitals such as Kiev andTbilisi. Millions more de-

fied threats of violence and lined up to casttheir first democratic votes in Kabul and

Baghdad.In parts of the world that had long beenruled by despots, or those who still believe aone-party state can control the lives ofmankind, a vast outpouring of people reach-ing out for democracy stunned the world inthe past two years.

One picture summed it up: in the colddark night of Tbilisi, Georgia, as peoplemarched towards the seat of government toprotest a fraudulent election, one firm handheld up a model of the Statue of Liberty.Millions are asking for the rights that statuerepresents: elections to choose their leadersand freedom of speech, press and religion.

The newly elected governments face anenormous burden. They must respond to theneeds of the people, and provide the servicesof the modern nation such as roads, electric-ity, health and education.

Governments must eliminate the corrup-tion and nepotism that drain the economy.They must be accountable to the public fortheir spending and their actions. In shortgovernments must learn to govern justly.

Many people watched in wonder as themulticolored revolutions took placetheOrange Revolution in Ukraine, the Rose inGeorgia, the Cedar in Lebanon, the Tulip inKyrgyzstan. Each country had a differentform of government but all were denyingpeople a chance to chose new leadersthrough fair elections.

Few realized that for years, the UnitedStates and other countries and organizationshave been supporting this homegrown desirefor democracy.

Support for democracy around the worldis not new. It has been a key part of U.S. for-

W

Germany, JapanWorld War II ends,

U.S. authorities moveto form democraticgovernments

1945

Western EuropeU.S. Marshall Plan

brings economic aidto support Europeandemocracies

1948

Africa EndWar support t

tors bring demto South AfricaMozambique, e

1990s

Asia Democraticelections replace

authoritarian regimesin South Korea,Taiwan,Thailand, Philippines

1980s

Latin America15 strongmen replaced

by elected leaders inArgentina, Chile, Brazil,El Salvador, Peru, etc.

1978-94

Soviet Union collapses.Democratic systems

emerge in Poland, Baltics,Czechoslovakia, Hungary,Bulgaria, Romania

1989-1991

We should all look toa future when everygovernment respects the

will of its citizensbecause the ideal of

democracy is universalMillions of people aredemanding freedom forthemselves and democracfor their countries.Secretary of State Condoleezza RiceRemarks at the American University in Cairo, EgyptJune 20, 2005


5/28

government to public scrutiny and createcity councils accountable to voters.

Democracy is nothing new. The worddescribes the ancient Greek city states,meaning authority of the people. It has ex-

isted in many cultures throughout recordedhistory: Panchayat village councils of India;Buddhist Councils of India and China;Japans 7th Century constitution; and Amer-ican Indian councils.

In the 13th century, the English KingJohn signed the Magna Carta, foundation ofBritish-American democracy, but it tookhundreds of years of before its ideas were ap-plied to all citizens. And every democraticcountry continues to defend and extenddemocratic rights.

More than 180 countries havesigned the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights guaranteeingpeople the right to chose theirown government.

But it is difficult to sup-port democracy where theleaders have no tolerance for it.Burma, North Korea and othercountries will not allow freedomor those who support it to entertheir borders. War and turmoilin Somalia, Congo and othercountries make it difficult tosupport democratic institutions.Furthermore, China and Viet-nam allow economic freedom

but permit only limited rightsto replace some local leaders.However the United States re-mains committed to supporthomegrown movements that seekfreedom.

This magazine tells the story ofthe recent explosion of democraticvalues in several corners of the world.Its the story of courageous people whoseized the chance to reform and improvetheir own societies. One thing remains clear:while U.S. and other aid can help local peo-ple overseas strengthen their democratic po-litical parties, conduct elections and improvetheir government, it is only when citizensand local leaders in each country decide tochange things that countries move from au-thoritarian rule towards democracy.

Serbiaising ousts

bodan Milosevic

00

GeorgiaRose Revolution

2003

Afghanistanelection

2004

UkraineOrange Revolution

(December)

Palestineelections

(December)

Iraqelection (January)

2005

LebanonCedar Revolution

(February)

KyrgyzstanTulip Revolution

(February)

CEDAR WAVE: Some of the millionLebanese who demanded democracy afterthe slaying of ex-Prime Minister RafikHariri in Feb. 2005.


6/28

ROSEREVOLUTION

GEORGIA RISING:Thousands jamTbilisi to protest election fraud.

GEORGIAS


7/28

LIBERTY: As crowds surge to the parlia-ment, a Georgian holds up a Statueof Liberty, symbolizing the democracythey want.

For 10 years, thousandsof Georgias journalists,local officials, lawyers,judges, political partiesand NGOs built grassrootsdemocracy which becamethe Rose Revolution when

the government tried tosteal the 2003 election.TBILISI, Georgia In November 2005 it willbe two years since this ancient Black Seacountry produced the Rose Revolution,when tens of thousands of people came from

across the land demanding freedom, fairelections and democracy.

Without violence they came, after an in-dependent parallel vote count showed thegovernment claim to have won the Novem-ber 2 parliament election was a fraud.

Waving red and white banners bearingthe St. Georges Crossnow on the nation-al flagdemonstrators grew in number anddetermination for 20 days until PresidentEduard Shevardnadze left his office peaceful-ly. After 12 years in power, he was replacedby opposition leader Mikhail Saakashvili,who in January 2004 was elected presidentby a landslide.

Georgias was one of four corrupt post-communist governments to fall since Ser-bians ousted Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.

The Rose Revolution came next in 2003


8/28


9/28

and stopping corruption. The economy wasbadly damaged when Russia stopped thesupply of electricity, gas, fertilizer and otheressentials after Georgia declared its inde-pendence and stopped payments. Manysmall villages are now unable to feed them-selves. In Tbilisi one meets young men from

the countryside who work hard to sendmoney to their families.

Another obstacle lies in breakaway re-gions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, whichcut off land routes to markets in Russia andEurope and left thousands of Georgianrefugees in need of assistance.

The main sources of future income

could be: exporting fruits and vegetables toEurope; transshipping commodities betweenthe Black Sea and the Caspian and oil from

BREAKING OUT: Chants organized byKmara movement call for new electionsand an investigation of government fraud.

SPEAKING UP:A student protestor withthe Kmara movement explains to theindependent media the groups demandsfor clean, open democratic government.

SIGNING UP: Voters register Jan. 4, 2004,in first free ballot since the Rose Revolu-tion erased fraudulent elections.

Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean; atourismthe countrys hills are crown

with ancient churches and castles.In a broad valley an hours drive west the capital, farmer Eldar Midelashvili, 3told a visitor what democracy meant to hi

Freedom, he said, as a dozen men awomen planted cabbage seedlings in freshturned rows of black earth. On the northehorizon, beyond the white-topped CaucasMountains shrouded in clouds, lay Russia

No one wants the communists backhe said. Here, if you work, what you mais yours. He said that in his village of 1families, we vote for whom we like for tlocal council. In Shevardnadzes time thwere appointed.

Its good that America helps. Now have hope that the future will be better awe are not alone. Someone will help us.

$91 million in U.S.aidsince 1994:

Helped train judges increating a code of ethics

Trained journalists onreporting, ethics

Provided press clubsfor press conferences,

meeting places andlibraries

Helped elected localand national legislaturesdevelop skills in legalwording, parliamentaryprocedures

Trained members ofdemocratic politicalparties on campaigning,organizing,media

For Georgian Democracy

Supplied technicalexperts to help thepresidents officeimprove efficiency

Sent experts intransportation, energy,economy and otherareas to improve budgsystems, personnelsystems,

communications andother aspects ofaccountable governme

Funded NGOs thatorganized studentcouncils

Improved localgovernments

KMARA

BESOGULASHVILI/24HOURS


10/28

ORANREVOLUTION

UKRAINES


11/28

EUp to one millionUkrainians marched tothe main square of KievNovember 2004, after thegovernment committed

fraud in the election.Tensof thousands camped forweeks in the freezing coldof the Ukrainian winter,waving orange banners asthey demanded thatViktor Yushchenko bedeclared president.

KIEV, Ukraine Observers had reported mas-sive vote fraud in favor of Prime MinisterViktor Yanukovich. Two independent pollsof voters reported that Yushchenko had won.But the government said he lost. The ap-pearance of fraud unleashed widespreadanger and the determination by many ordi-nary people not to stand by while the coun-

try of 50 million slid back towards authori-tarian rule. The Supreme Court agreed and anew election December 26 gave Yushchenkoa clear victory.

The world lauded the unexpected peace-ful, democratic revolution.

ORANGE POWER: Protestors crowd Kievsmain square Nov. 29, 2004,protesting elec-tion fraud, as opposition leader Yushchenko

addressed the vast crowd.


12/28

10

BALLOONING PROTESTS: (above)Yuschenko supporters carry orange bal-loons in a Dec. 2 rally in Kiev. Parliamenthad just voted down the Cabinet proposedby the government candidate.

MONUMENTAL DEMONSTRATION:(above) Yuschenko supporters demon-strate Nov.28, 2004 atop a Kiev statuehonoring the legendary founders of theUkrainian capital.

Ukraines Orange Revolution10

STEPAN

CHUYKO/AP

ODEDBALITY/AP

DEMOCRACY CAMP:(below left) An op-position supporter fills out a questionnaireDec. 5, 2004, in the tent city up in Kievsmain square.


13/28

TV ALERTSNATION When the Orange Revolution began, year-old television anchorman AndShevchenko was news director of Channelthe only regional independent TV netwoHe had received media training throuInternews, a USAID-funded NGO, a

visited U.S. TV stations where he learnabout investigative reporting, balancimany points of view and other aspects of tfree press.

At 2:30 a.m. Monday after the secoround of elections, strange results came frothe election commission, said ShevchenkYushchenko left the commission buildiand said we dont trust the results. He askpeople to come to the Maidan Nezalezhnti [Independence Square] in the morning.the station, we realized we would not gosleep that night, and we kept coverage of tsquare for 15 days non-stop.

HOLDING FIRE: (above) Riot policeface a Ukrainian woman in front of thepresidential offices in Kiev, Nov. 24, 2004.

DISFIGURED LEADER: (below) His facemarked from dioxin poisoning,Yuschenkoaddresses a massive rally in downtownKiev Nov. 28, 2004.


14/28

United States and the Organization for Se-curity and Cooperation in Europe also is-sued widely publicized reports of fraud.

BUILDINGCREDIBILITYCredible polls helped push the public intoaction.

U.S. aid helped us to conduct the pollthat showed Yushchenko won while the au-thorities intended to falsify the elections,said Anatoliy Rachok, director of theRazumkov Ukrainian Center for Economicand Political Studies which received U.S.and Eurasia Foundaion aid.

For five years, we polled people and re-ported that the attitude of people towardsthe government was very negative. The pop-ulation believed in those figures, saidRazumkov.

Then, when the Center reported that Yushchenko had really won the election,

The first days we were the only channelcovering it. Then other channels followed.Soon hundreds of thousands would leavetheir homes and villages to join massdemonstrations.

People were fed up with corruption, elec-tion fraud and the slide back to authoritarianrule which the independent press was report-ing, said Shevchenko, one of 2,000 Ukrain-ian journalists trained over the past decade.

Support from the United States, In-ternews and the European Union created afeeling that others stood with them in thetrenches, said Shevchenko.

Election observers from Ukraine, the

12

our poll was believable and it was used bythe Supreme Court in overturning the offi-cial tally.

U.S. aid help for the poll was absolute-ly importantthe poll results after the sec-ond round made people go to the street, headded.

Rachok rejects critics who say U.S. sup-port caused revolutions in Serbia, Georgiaand Ukraine: There must be natural condi-tionswise people use assistance right.

Another NGODevelopment Associ-atesdid its own democracy preparation work with the Central Election Commis-sion, training 100,000 commissioners forthe 2004 elections.

Even so, the second election round wasstolen through fraud and it was only whenthe Supreme Court threw out the secondround that the commissioners carried out anhonest election count.

People stood up for democracy becausethey were sick of corrupt police, schools andtax inspectors as well as sales of big state com-panies to government cronies below cost.

NGO got 70,000 calls on its hotlines, askifor information or reporting problems.

Other NGOs helped farmers get titlesland parcels when their collective farms wbroken up. Government officials were askifees and kickbacks but the NGOs providlegal help for free. The people who receivthis help realized it was time to get rid corruption in government.

Yet another NGO set up dozens of prclubs in cities around the countrypla where reporters could meet, attend prconferences, read magazines and newsppers, and use the Internet.

Said one press club official: We have perts and officials who speak on the WoTrade Organization, privatization of stfactories, fiscal reform, pensions, voter edcation, anti-corruption, anti-trafficking women and corporate governance.

Natalia Ligachova of TelekritikaNGO focused on press freedomexpossecret government instructions to the med

Ukraines Orange Revolution

NEWSMAKER: Andriy Shevchenko, thena Kiev anchorman, broadcast accusationsof election fraud all night long.

FREE WORD: Reporter Lesya Alexeyenkofrom Zhytomyr newspaper Vilne Slovo,received journalism training.

THINKER: Anatoliy Rachok,director ofthe Razumkov Center, said his groupspost-election polls helped Supreme Coudeclare electoral fraud.

One protestor told a foreign diplomat hehad worked in Western Europe and saved$8,000.

But when he came back to Ukraine, heused up $5,000 of it on bribes and extortionfrom government officials as he tried to starta small business. He then took his remaining$3,000 and came to Kiev to join the protestand try and change things.

Freedom House gave additional aid toUkrainian NGOs that sponsored voter edu-cation, mobilized voters to get to the pollsand observed elections.

The groups also held meetings, youthdances, rock concerts and karaoke to attractyoung voters. They also ran public serviceads on TV stations, informing people abouttheir right to vote.

They brought democracy trainers fromSerbia, Slovakia, Russia and Croatiafor-mer Socialist countries where conditions andproblems were similar to Ukraine.

Then, when the voting took place, one

If you have a journaliststrong enough to stick withstandards, thats a littleterritory of freedomand Internews trainedthousands of them.Andriy Shevchenko, News Director, Channel 5

BEN

BARBER/USAID

CHANNEL5,KIEV

BEN

BARBER/USAID

BEN

BARBER/USAID


15/28

It also collected signatures for a petitionagainst censorship and established the firstjournalists trade union.

Reporters from a half-dozen regionalnewspapers gathered around a table in onepress club and told how they had learnedthrough training not to be afraid and to getrid of the old Soviet habits of writing what-ever the government wanted them to write.

Professionalism makes you a differentperson, said one writer for a bi-weeklynewspaper. Another said learning the invert-ed pyramid style of U.S. news writing putsthe main idea on top and helps readers getthe news.

NOT WITHOUT RISKBut it was not always easy. Reporter OlexiyYermolin from a Crimean newspaper was as-saulted and beaten in 2003 after reportingon black market land sales. The police didnot investigate. NGO officials have also

been threatened and assaulted.President Yushchenkos face was disfig-

ured in a still unsolved dioxin poisoning be-fore the election.

Nevertheless, Ukrainians were ready and willing to carry out projects in support ofdemocracy offered by aid groups. They of-fered training to all political parties on elec-tion laws, running campaigns, drawing up

party platforms, communication with votersand financial management of the campaign.Top judges in the Supreme Court went

on a study tour to the United States wherethey were able to observe how the courtsfunctioned.

Ostap Semerak, 33, who is now head ofthe secretariat of the ruling Our Ukraine fac-tion in parliament, said he too went to theUnited States to observe U.S. governmentin action through an association of formerU.S. congressmen.

I learned how to write laws, work withother agencies and contact peers, he said.

Now he drafts laws on the economy.Unless new democratic government c

improve the economy, people may accepreturn towards the old, authoritarian rule,happened in many post-Soviet regimes.

Dmytro Solovey, 77, a solitary figureblue work clothes as he wielded a spragainst bugs, stood in his potato field aagreed. There is more democracy and if

goes on like this it will be all right, said tfarmer, whose parents died during WoWar II when Ukraine was overrun by Narmies.

He said there was more order in tcommunist times and nowadays we feel ucertain. But its good that the United Stahelps democracy grow.

If it continues and our government suceeds, itll be all right. Under Kuchma, th was no future. Our former presidents stroyed everything. They worked for thown pocket, not for the people. Yushchenhas started well.

$213 million in U.S.aid since 1994:

Trained 2,000journalists

Funded civic groups,opinion polls

Trained 150,000election officials

Supported 96,000domestic and 2,500foreign electionmonitors

Printed 5 million votereducation pamphlets

Broadcast electionguides on national TVand radio

For Ukrainian Democracy

Helped youth groupshold dances, rockconcerts and karaoke tattract young voters

Assisted farmers toobtain land titles whencollectives were brokeup, giving them a stakein government

Trained politicalparties on election lawdrawing up partyplatforms, communi-cating with voters andfinancial aspects ofcampaigning

Brought SupremeCourt judges to theUnited States to visitU.S. courts

ASSAULTED: Ukrainian journalistVladislav Savinok says he was beaten forhis views in 2002 and police failed to inter-vene. He still lives in fear as democraticchange moves slowly in his city.

NEW LEADERS:Election official AndriyMahera (left), who disavowed governmevictory, and parliament official OstapSemerak, both joined democracy traininprojects.


16/28

14

The Rose and OrangeRevolutions were inspiringdemocracy advocatesaround the world. Nowthe democracy movementwas to have its impact onCentral Asia.

Years of work by Kyrgyz citizens wasabout to pay offyears spent in trainingNGOs to end corruption in schools, to re-solve local conflicts over water, land and eth-nicity, to express themselves in independent

newspapers, and to monitor free elections.It is often said that the squeaky wheel

gets the grease, and the Kyrgyz had learnedto speak out, join together in NGOs andmake their views heard.

They grew to believe they could get thegovernment to serve them and listen to theirproblems. Then, when the government triedto steal the election, people spontaneouslyrose up and threw out Akayev. Howevermany of the old regimes officials remain inplace.

HOW DEMOCRACY GREW

Typical of the grassroots programs that sup-ported democracy in Kyrgyzstan were grantsto train 60 representatives of communityself-help bodies or local NGOs in humanrights and lobbying tactics in 2003 in theJalalabad region.

The groups then published a guide tothe courts explaining how they worked , thenames of court members and meeting dates.

In the Naryn Oblast (region), the NGOChinar Bak used a small grant to run semi-nars and create information centers in li-braries on womens rights.

The group trained 160 women in six vil-lages and this led to advocacy actions and a

change in the way the state dealt with someof the womens issues. They won free seedsand a cut of 20 percent in water and landtaxall critical in the dry plateauand un-employed women got help starting business-es. The group also planned budget hearings.

While many people only see electionsand freedom of the press as signs of democ-racy, these efforts to help people bring theirissues before the government, and lobby of-ficials to provide help, are fundamental todemocracy.

They allow people to take the initiativeinstead of waiting for a remote and cumber-

some central government to actthe pat-tern under Soviet rule for 70 years.For example, Islamic clerics or mullahs

visited a civic education class in Karakol or-ganized by the U.S.-based democracy NGOIFES. Students asked the mullahs why theybless the increasing number of forced mar-riages involving kidnapped brides.

After an uncomfortable moment, onemullah said unless the woman agreed, themarriage was improper and he would notperform it.

In other towns, Internet service was pro-vided to open up the flow of information topreviously isolated people.

Other grants to Kyrgyz NGOs train journalists on the practical aspects of banced reporting; and political party mebers got training on organizing, spreaditheir message and getting out the vote.

Before the February 2005 parliamentaelections, thousands of voters were taugthat everyone was required to have a fingmarked with indelible ink after voting,

would prevent cheaters from voting twNGOs supported local TV coverage of tvoting in Bishkek, the capital, and in smaer cities and towns.

MEDIA MONOPOLY BREACHEDWhen the Akayev regime tried to prevent dependent newspapers from publishing ports on corruption and election fraud, officials used some of the $12 million democracy funding provided by the Cogress to support independent newspapers.

Freedom House, with funding from tU.S. State Department, shipped in a priing press, enabling the papers to publish

The Tulip Revolution that rushed across theplains of Central Asia in March was one ofthe first signs of democracy in the formerSoviet republics of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Mobs of protestors took to the streets in

the southern city of Osh and then the capi-tal Bishkek after the government was ac-cused of fraud in the February 2005 parlia-mentary elections.

A month later, peaceful protests grewinto a peoples revolutionor as otherscalled it, the Tulip Revolutionand Presi-dent Askar Akayev fled the country after 15years in power.

The Kyrgyz Parliament called a mid-term presidential election, which was wonby the interim president, KurmanbekBakiyev. Kyrgyz and international monitorsreported the election was not completely freeand fair but it was a step forward in a region

not generally friendly to democracy.Ruled by autocratic offshoots of the de-

funct communist parties, the five CentralAsian republics had initially allowed a whiffof freedom after the collapse of the SovietUnion.

Kyrgyzstan was perhaps the most openand democratic in the region. But it toomoved to control the press, sell off govern-ment firms to cronies and limit politicalfreedom by the mid 1990s. Poverty spreadbut a few got very rich.

In this landlocked environmenthemmed in by China, Russia, Iran,

Afghanistan, and Pakistanit was a shockwhen people rose up in March to protest therigged election.

But those who worked to build demo-cratic institutions in their homeland andthose who supported these efforts were an-ticipating moves in this direction, even if notso soon and not so vigorous.

The Kyrgyz rulers were not, after all, theworst of the regional rulers.

But the Kyrgyz people had seen thedemocracy movement succeed in other ex-Soviet republicsthe Rose and Orange Rev-olutions were inspiring democracy advocatesaround the world.

FED UP: Kyrgyz men in traditional hatsjoin in protests that brought down thegovernment in March 2005.

TULIP REVOKYRGYZSTANSREUTERS


17/28


Trained human rightsNGOs to lobby

government

Supported womensrights groups

For Kyrgyzstan Democracy

Brought Muslimclerics together withstudent councils

Supported private

newspapers

Funded the AmericanUniversity of CentralAsia in Kyrgyzstan

POLICE WORK: Kyrgyz police officersread What Is a Fair Election? bookletsas they guard the presidential palace inthe capital Bishkek on July 7,2005, a week

before fresh elections took place.Thebooklets were issued by foreign democrat-ic institutes and distributed by volunteers.

NEW LEADER:Kurmanbek Bakiyev wasnamed interim leader after the presidenfled the country during protests. Bakiyevarrives for a debate days before he waselected president in July.He has said he committed to democracy.

poses of the excessive spending and wealththe presidents familyfacts that enragmany in this nation of five million where pcapita income was just $1,700 in 2004.

U.S. funding also supported the Amecan University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstand funded exchange programs for studenand professionals in the United States.

The new president, Bakiyev, went one of the exchange visits. Parliament Speer Omurbek Tekebayev is another Kyrgwho visited the United States last year undthe State Departments International Visit

Program. While supporters of the ousted regiand its allies abroad accuse the U.S. aid prgrams of seeking to change the governmethe American programs are only aimedpromoting the rule of law and giving Kyrgcitizens the chance to have their votes couand not accept rigged elections.

It was the local democracy movemethat removed part of the old guardtKyrgyz themselves, some of them layitheir own lives on the line in confronting tsecurity forces, had decided to make thvoices heard at last.

LUTION

IVAN

SEKRETAREV/AP


18/28

to work trying to unite the communitieswhose civil war in the 1970s and 1980s ledto Syrian intervention: Maronite and Ortho-dox Christians; Sunni and Shiite Muslims;and Druze.

Standing behind Lebanons current effortto build democracy are U.S. and other inter-national aid groups. Many had spent thepast years building the foundations for dem-ocratic change. Now they can help ensurethe success of what is known as the CedarRevolutionnamed after the national treewhich is depicted on the Lebanese flag.

Because honest local government buisupport for democracy, aid groups helpmore than 900 municipalities improve and financial records. In efficient offiequipped with Internet access for the publpeople can now directly access their tax b

on a computer, without dealing with tax ficials. Reducing those meetings tended reduce corruption.

Guides were published for citizens wneeded licenses or permits. These explainfees, the time to process applications and tpaperwork needed to open a store, put billboards or change the outside of a hom

Next, Lebanese NGOs backed by Ufunding printed guides to advise municipcouncils how to make meetings productand reach decisions, not fall into chaotrhetorical sessions.

City and village officials were trained write up minutes of meetings and sub

CEDARREVOLEBANONS

It was the assassination of the former prime ministerin February 2005 that set off almost a millionprotestors whose demands ended two decades of

Syrian occupation and won free elections.BEIRUT, LebanonGrowing throngs of peopleprotested after a bomb killed former PrimeMinister Rafik Hariri. A month after thekilling, March 14, almost one million pro-testors took to the streets, bringing down thegovernment and forcing Syria to withdrawits forces after 29 years of occupation.

Syria withdrew April 30 and by late June, Lebanese voters completed a four-round election that was widely seen as freeand fair.

The new parliament, dominated by agroup formed around Hariris son Saad, set


19/28

them to the Interior Ministry for permanentrecord-keeping.

Revenue officials received assistance inreforming the tax system and balancingbudgets. USAID and the U.S. State Depart-ments Middle East Partnership Initiative,

also provided election support.But it was the courageous outpouring ofLebanese support for democracy in MartyrsSquare on March 14 that created the CedarRevolution.

Voting wont be enough to create democ-racy unless those elected learn to govern ef-fectively, and unless the government is trans-parent and accountable. So new members ofparliament as well as municipal leaders re-ceived kits with pamphlets explaining thenuts and bolts of democratic systems.

U.S. foreign aid provided more thanbooklets: it provided trainers, computers,phones, and fax machines so that officials

computerize tax systems. But he warned ththe sickness of sectarianism is in our hearand Lebanon needs to work to overcome

When you have educated citizens wwill vote against people of their own religior family when they are not fit for the jothat is democracy, Zogheib said.

AFTER THE REVOLUTIONThe mayor of Tripoli, a city of 500,0north of Beirut on the Mediterranean cowhich received help from SUNY to impro

services, said that Lebanese democracy igood solution to the variety of sects in tcountry.

Mayor Mohammed Rachid Jamaly wreferring to the ongoing agreement to havChristian as president, a Sunni Muslim prime minister and a Shiite Muslim speaker of parliament.

Our election laws are undeveloped, maly said. We have features of democrabased on mutual understandingan agredemocracy. What we need is upgrading the municipal level.

The Cedar Revolution took place quickly that democracy groups, NGOs, plitical parties and foreign aid officials are junow preparing long-term plans for the nestage of democracy-building.

We need to double our efforts and egage civil society with government ownship, said Osamma Safa of the Center Policy Studies.

Lebanon needs a new electoral law, npolitical parties law, programs to engayouthful votersthe ones who took to tstreetsand get them involved in decisiomaking, he said.

I think the country is ready to get ovits communal divisions, its sectarian divid

The civil sector is most secularizedm[NGOs, media] have people from all confsions.

Progress for democracy has gone too to fall back into clan hatred, he said: I thithe process is becoming increasingly irversible.

But quick action should be sustaineand help should be offered to the new pliament seated in June through foreign suport to the civil society groups who botrain the government and act as watchdoto see it reforms itself and cuts corruption

We should not stop hereour workstarting now, he said.

and the public were able to communicate.NGOs brought together people from

different parties and communities to discussthe burning issues of the day. For example,some Shiite Muslim parties first opposed re-moving Syrian troops and holding elections.But once Syrians left, the parties which had joined in NGO-sponsored dialoguebecamepart of a new coalition government.

The opinion polls helped Lebanese un-derstand the feelingsof their neighbors andfocus groups helpedpolitical leaders feelthe countrys pulse.

Without these keymeasures, many pro-vided through theState University ofNew York (SUNY) with U.S. funding,the Cedar Revolutionmight not retain sup-port in the EasternMediterranean nationof four million.

And once the Syr-ians left and the oldgovernment stepped

down, urgent aid went to NGOs to helpprepare the political parties for the elections.

For example, the Lebanese Associationfor Democratic Elections taught politicalparties how to draw up coherent and mean-ingful pamphlets and radio spots to commu-nicate their message to voters.

Up to $2 million in aid since 1994helped the parliament to function as an in-stitution and develop a system so the public,media and members of parliament had ac-cess to proposed laws while they are debatedin committee.

Another democracy project broughtNGOs together with members of parliamentto debate new laws. U.S. grants also helpedbloated agencies such as the civil service au-tomate personnel files and eliminate ghostworkers. Computers and computer systemshelped the courts to track government trans-actions.

You cant talk about democracy withouttransparency and accountability, said Mah-moud Batlouni, Lebanon project director forSUNY.

Improving local governance in more

than 700 cities and towns, at a cost of about$15 million every three years, was the core ofU.S. support for democracy in the years be-fore the Cedar Revolution, he said.

Since 1998, aid programs helpedLebanese municipalities conduct elections.Newly elected mayors and counselors weregiven workshops and training on how towrite laws, draw up a budgetin short, gov-ern justly. Municipal revenues increased 50percent in the last few years as new financialsystems improved tax and fee collections.

Mayor Assad Zogheib of the mainlyChristian city Zahle said U.S. aid helped 70percent of the countrys cities and towns


Reformed tax officesin 700 municipalities

Helped local councilsand the nationalparliament speed andopen up debates

For Lebanese Democracy

Printed guides to runlocal council meetings

Supported inter-community dialogue

Funded opinion pollsand election training

ION

SEA OF FLAGS: Lebanese demandedand won the withdrawal of Syrian troopsafter 20 years and new elections. (Inset)

Woman and child clad in symbols of theCedar Revolution attend mass protest.

DAILY STAR, BEIRUT


20/28

West Bank/Gaza

18

other support to work as advocates forwomens rights, students and other groups.

Maali Shawish, a dynamic young Pales-tinian woman, is one of these. For years she worked with Associates in Rural Develop-ment (ARD) which administered an $18million U.S. aid program over eight years to

support the Palestinian Legislative Council

(PLC)the parliament of the future stateLegislators in the West Bank were link

with those in Gaza by video-hookup, alloing them to hold joint meetings even whtravel between the two regions was blocke

Legislators received computers, phocopiers, fax machines, phones, microphonand a system to record meetings.

Experts helped them draft laws whwere then printed in booklets for the genal public. Legislators were also sent to tUnited States and other countries to obse

how other legislatures work.

battle of posters is taking place in

the dusty streets of Ramallah,Nablus and Gaza these days.Election posters of political

candidates in dignified suits viefor space with posters of young men holdingrifles who carried out suicide bombings.

The two sets of posters symbolize thechoice that lies ahead for Palestiniansthepath towards democratic rule through elec-tions and peaceful resolution of conflict, ver-sus continuing violence among rival Pales-tinian groups and with Israel.

Even as the future remained uncertain,and the Palestinian Authority (PA) soughtto assert its authority and protect a six-

month cease fire with Israel, thousands of journalists, teachers, students, women, judges and civic activists continued adecade-long process of building democracy.

Assisted by U.S. and other foreigndonors, work continues to create democraticinstitutions which will be the foundation ofa new state of Palestine, living side-by-side inpeace with the state of Israel, once the peaceprocess is completed.

The PA held fresh rounds of municipalelections in December 2004 followed short-ly after by presidential elections won byMahmoud Abbas.

Thousands of Palestinians voted, con-ducted the elections and monitored them. It was a sign of the widespread appeal ofdemocracy as well as the preparation that went into the institution of elections. Butdemocracy work has gone on at all levels.

In a Ramallah hotel recently, dozens ofPalestinian men and women gathered withforeign aid officials to celebrate the comple-tion of their masters degrees at Americanuniversities. Now they are fanning out totheir jobs in the government or private sec-tor in management, computers and otherfields, bringing with them their experiencein a democratic society.

Other Palestinians received training and

A

FACING CHANGE: Palestinian PresidentMahmoud Abbas is shown on a billboard

just after winning a landslide electionvictory in January 2005.

The death of longtime

Palestinian leader YasserArafat was followed bymunicipal and presidentialelections as thousands ofhours of preparation paidoff and new leaders tooktheir seats.

ALEXANDERZEMLIANICHENKO/AP

PalestiniansChoose

RAMALLAH, West Bank


21/28

In all its work, ARD said it works only with non-extremist, respected PLC mem-bers, Shawish said.

To build confidence that the governmentcan address problems and is not just a sourceof corruption, another U.S. aid projecthelped PLC members get out into theircommunities and fix basic services.

For example, a grant helped a legislatorfrom Nablus rehabilitate 13 schools. By fix-ing and cleaning the facilitiesand by fol-low up visits to assure they remain in goodconditionattendance improved and thebond between government and people wasformed.

Other American aid programs helpedrenovate the PLC chamber; and broughtschool children to see the sessions.

Additional evidence that democracy ispushing down its roots into Palestinian soci-ety is that the PLC increasingly questionsministers, asking them to explain their ac-tions or policies. Recently, demonstrationsover various issues have taken place in frontof the chambers of the PLC.

In fact, the banners of protestors outsidethe PLC reminds a visitor of the protestorsoutside the Israeli Knesset or other parlia-ments around the world. We are moredemocratic than other Arabic countries,said Shawish. We have better freedom ofexpression.

THE RULE OF LAWJericho is the worlds oldest continually-in-habited city, and the lowestlocated at 800feet below sea level near the Dead Sea. Nowits struggling to install democracy by im-proving its judicial system.

The courthouse in Jericho was old, shab-by, hot and lacked space for the prosecutors.The judges all shared one room. But U.S.aid helped rent offices for judges and prose-cutorspart of a project to upgrade judicialoffices in seven cities, said prosecutor KhalilAwad.

Before that, there was no privacy andwe had to interrogate suspects in the sameroom, said Awad.

Prosecutors also received computers withstandard indictment forms that can be filledout on screen to speed work and access files.All this supports democracy and the publicopinion of the judicial system, Awad said.

WOMEN SPEAK UPPalestinian women have long been a force inPalestinian affairs and now are working toincrease their role in the democratic govern-ment by running for office.

One democracy group, MIFTAH,trained 150 women on campaign techniquesand 95 of them won seats in municipalcouncils, said the groups Lily Feidy.

MIFTAH was also one of 100 NGOsthat trained monitors for the January presi-dential race in which 70 percent of 1.1 mil-lion registered voters cast ballots at morethan 1,000 polling centers.

The few problems Ive witnessed were

resolved quickly, said Khalid Nassif of theCivic Forum Institute, who coordinated ateam of observers.

I wanted to participate in the democrat-ic process and make it more transparent,said Rani Khalawi, a 21-year-old studentwho donated his time to a small NGO in-

volved in the election observation.For many participants, this is the firsttime they take part in elections, not only asobservers but also as voters, said Aref Jaffal,head of the Civic Forum Institute, also sup-ported by USAID.

As election monitors made their rounds,a project known as Tamkeen or empower-ment in Arabic deployed a team to observethe observers. Project staff completed formscapturing what they saw.

Aside from elections, NGOs are alsomonitoring Palestinian and Israeli television,radio and newspapers for signs of incitementto violence.

Other NGOs prepare youth to take a

leadership role in society. Youth for Dem

racy trains children ages 13 to 16 throu workshops on elections, conflict resolutand mediationthen the children run eltions and write about their activities as was other local news in the Youth Times, thown newspaper. The youth groups have atackled problems such as cleanliness and hgiene in the schools and villages.

One of the Palestinians who returnfrom his U.S. masters degree prograsummed up his hopes for democracy.

We have a chance to make a differencsaid Ashraf Al-Zaghal, who studied civil egineering at Colorado State University.

A nation is being built and its on t

road to statehood and independence.

$126 million in U.S.aid since 1994:

Linked West Bank-Gaza legislative meetingsby video

Supplied legislaturewith computers, faxes,phones

Trained politicalparties on election

campaigns

For Palestinian Democracy

Helped set upwomens NGOs insmall towns

Trained prosecutorsand judges; repairedcourts and offices

Helped 60 studentsearn masters degreesat U.S. universities

Trained electionmonitors

Im volunteering forthe sake of my countryI want to show thatPalestine is the firstdemocratic countryin the Arab world.Maha Ahmed Issa,19, election monitor

CAMPAIGN: Palestinian LegislativeCouncil member Dalal Salamah speaks

with a constituent.

KEEPING TRACK: Election monitorsobserve the officials running the vote inthe Palestinian elections of January 2005.

TAMKEEN


22/28

group could apply for a computer from thecity government. Although at first some ofthe men, especially a turbaned cleric, refusedto talk to her, they later grew to respect herand voted to send her to the Baghdad CityCouncil representing their district.

U.S. Army Civil Affairs teams and US-AIDs contractor Research Triangle Institutehelped Iraqis organize meetings of local citi-zens across Iraq. Neighborhood leaders,businessmen, clerics, teachers and other re-

spected residents were selected as members.The local councils in turn elected represen-tatives to district councils and those in turnelected representatives to city councils.

The new councils, parent teacher associ-ations, NGOs, human rights organizations,and environmental societies are giving peo-ple a voice in their own affairs and a say inhow they are governed. A former officialfrom Colorado wrote a guide for local gov-ernment meetings that was translated intoArabic and distributed to the local councils.

The local councils were given smallbudgets so they could fix street lights, pro-vide water or clean up streets. At least 700

local, city and state councils were establishedand they have run thousands of communityprojects.

Aid programs also sponsored thousandsof meetings to help youth and other groupsform NGOs to tackle local issues. In schools,teachers, parents and administrators got to-gether to fix classrooms and washrooms orget better textbooks.

That is grassroots democracy in Iraq.

$708 million in U.S.aid from 20032005:

$40 million for January2005 election

Helped civic groupsinform and train voters

Ran TV spots withSunni and Shia clericspromoting voting

Trained some of55,000 election monitors

Set up 28,500 democ-racy dialogues

Helped set up govern-ment offices in citiesand governorates

Gave $15 million tomunicipal authoritiesfor education, health,electricity, sanitation,and water

Helped form 16governorate councils,90 district councils, 194city or subdistrict coun-cils, and 445 neighbor-hood councils

Iraq

Iraq Embraces Self Rule

20

For Iraqi Democracy

ight million Iraqis defied terroristthreats January 30, 2005 and linedup to vote in the first democraticelection in Iraq and one of the mostfree and fair ever held in the Arab

world. Voting took place six months afterthe Coalition Provisional Authority handedover authority to the Iraqi interim govern-ment.

Candidates from many parties reachedout through television, newspapers, radio

and public meetings in a free-ranging debateto win support from the electorate.Men and women held up their ink-

stained fingers with pride to show they hadvoted, and the entire Middle Easteven theskeptical Al Jazeera television networkap-peared to gasp at the enthusiasm with whichIraqis voted.

The election took place despite attackson politicians and election workers andthreats by militants to attack voters.

In April, Iraq installed its first democrat-ically elected leaders: Kurdish leader Jalal Ta-labani was chosen as president and he namedShiite Arab leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari as inter-

im prime minister.Struggling against the ongoing violence

by opponents of democracy, and against thedifficulties of uniting various ethnic or reli-gious groups, Iraqi leaders continued withefforts to build a democracy. In August,2005, they drafted a new constitution andworked on plans for new elections to choosea constitutional Iraqi government.

The foundation for democracy was laiddown soon after the end of Saddam Hus-seins rulein hundreds of local councils.

LOCAL COUNCILS

A man in a sport shirt energetically shoutedhis opinions while a turbaned cleric, three women, and other members of a districtcouncil listened as Iraqis met in Baghdad forthe first time in their lives to explore democ-racy in September 2003.

I saw that Americans are here to help usand take us from the pits, said a council-woman who used to work in an office. Sad-dam the criminal did nothing for us. TheAmericans gave us food and gave us electionsin the neighborhood. The people chose meto be on the council.

They debated how to hire an administra-tor, how much to pay as salary, and how the

E

COMPETING:As boys chase a soccer baIraqs new political parties chase votesthrough billboards in January,2005.

SAMIRMIZBAN/AP

JIMMACMILLAN

/AP

After the fall of Saddam Hussein,eight million voters showed theywanted to participate in democracy.

BAGHDAD, Iraq


23/28

he pink and blue posters stuck onmud walls of Afghan cities and vil-

lages last year invited Afghan menand women to register and vote inthe first presidential election in the

history of this nation of 30 million.We have never had elections but we

know that other people have them and we want to decide who will rule us, said anAfghan farmer in a village outside Jalalabad.

In Tormay, Jalalabad and across thisTexas-sized country, candidates formed 20political parties and joined coalitions prepar-ing posters and radio advertisements to sup-port their views.

For people who lived under a monarchyand then communism and finally a medieval

theocracy that stoned people to death for re-ligious crimes, this is a new era.

A lot of people argued the [Afghans] were not ready for electionsthey wereproved wrong so far, said the U.S. Ambas-sador to Afghanistan in 2004, ZalmayKhalilzad.

The Taliban threatened to kill anyone who registers to vote. But with U.S., UNand other aid, over 10.5 million Afghansregistered to vote.

Moreover, in a land where only threeyears earlier the Taliban barred women fromeven leaving their houses unless accompa-

nied by a male relative, 41 percent of thosewho registered were women.The participation is amazing, said

David Singh, spokesman for the UN Assis-tance Mission. There was a lot of skepti-cism about this process at the beginning.

October 9, 2004, three-fourths of theregistered voters turned out to cast ballots,electing Hamid Karzai with 55 percent ofthe vote. To avoid fraud, voters dipped theirthumbs in ink. The elections were widely ac-claimed, despite some controversy, as reflect-ing the will of the Afghan people.

A poll by the Asia Foundation before thevote said 81 percent of Afghan planned to

Afghanistan

Defiant Afghans Vote

vote and 77 percent said they thought telections would make a difference.

AFTER THE TALIBANSoon after the Taliban were driven fropower in 2001, steps towards democrawere begun by Afghan leaders working wU.S. and other international agencies at tBonn conference. It called for an EmergenLoya Jirga or national council which metJune and established the Transitional IslamState of Afghanistan.

A second Loya Jirga adopted a new co

stitution establishing an Islamic Republic January 2004. U.S. aid supplied securtransport, constitutional advice and the ant tent in Kabul where it took place

The United States gave $85 million

T

WOMEN:Voting in Kabul at firstpresidential election in Afghan history,October 2004.

They are thirstyfor this openness.Its like takingbirds out of a cage.Abdul Rauf Lival,Pashwak news editor

After two Loya Jirganational councils set up aninterim government,

millions of Afghan menand women defied threatsby the defeated Talibanand voted for the countrysfirst democratically-electedpresident.

support the elections, more than any othdonor. This paid for training of poll watcers, printing of field manuals, civic edution for the public and security for the po

Beyond supporting the elections, aid hconstructed 20 courts, trained nearly 6 judges and printed 1,000 copiesAfghanistans basic laws in Dari and Paslanguage. Training and other preparation going on for the next big step towardemocracyparliamentary elections in Stember 2005. NATO had said it would se2,000 more troops to provide securagainst attacks by holdouts of the Talib

KABUL, Afghanistan

ELECTION INK: An Iraqi man dips hisfinger in ink after voting in January 30,2000 elections to prevent voting morethan once.


24/28

22

$213 million in U.S.aid from 2001 to 2005:

Constructed 20judicial facilities

Trained 550 judges

Printed Afghanistansbasic laws in Dari andPashto

Provided funding,security and logistics fortwo Loya Jirgas in 2003

For Afghan Democracy

and 2004 which createthe interim governmenand approved a newAfghan constitution

Supported 2004 presdential elections througvoter registration,education, monitors,logistics and security

Built schools and adormitory for girls;helped women run foroffice

determined to intimidate the Afghan publicwhich remains equally determined to vote.

RADIO WAS KEYSince 64 percent of Afghans cannot read andmany live in remote regions without the op-portunity or the cash to buy newspapers andmagazines, radio is the key to buildingdemocracy. Dozens of new radio stationshave taken to the airwaves, supported by aidgrants.

Aina, an NGO backed by U.S., French,Finnish, Japanese and other aid, producesnewspapers, magazines and radio news pro-grams distributed around the country.

In collaboration with UNESCO and theWomen Publishing Group, Aina started thefirst community radio programming forwomen in 2003, broadcasting four hours perday in numerous local languages.

Aziz Ullah, 30, editor of Ainas childrens

magazine Parwaz, runs articles that subtlyteach children to respect those who are dif-ferent from themnot to hate them as theTaliban did. One article tells how bubblegum is used by children around the world,Ullah said. Indirectly, Afghan kids learnthat there are kids in America and elsewherewho like gum.

My idea is that the magazine goesthrough the children to the family, Ullahsaid. In most of Afghanistan, the childrencan readnot the parents.

In another Kabul house, the first Afghannews servicePashwaktrains reporters.Their stories are burned onto CDs and theNGO Internews delivers them by taxisaround the country to 50 radio stations. TheInstitute for War and Peace Reportingtrained the Pashwak staff, headed by newseditor Abdul Rauf Liwal, 46.

This is the first time in this countrys

history we can write and say what we wansaid the portly, middle-aged newsman adozen young reporters wrote their stories

him to edit.

LOYA JIRGA: Afghan men and womendelegates attend one of the Loya Jirganational assemblies which set up a temprary government and constitution.


25/28

MongoliaIn the eight centuries since

Genghis Khan united its tribes,Mongolia has been a nomad em-pire, an oriental khanate, a theoc-racy, a Chinese vassal state and aSoviet satellite.

The ex-communist MongolianPeoples Revolutionary Party(MPRP) gradually yielded powerduring the 1990s to the Democ-ratic Union Coalition (DUC),which won the national electionin 1996. Since then, parliamentaryelections returned the MPRPoverwhelmingly to power in 2000

and produced a coalition govern-ment in 2004.The United States began

working with Mongolian democ-racy advocates in 1991.The initialfocus was on supporting demo-

Worldwide Democracy

In recent years in Africa, Latin America,and Asia, countries have dumped theirstrongmen for democratic elections.

MaliMali, a sub-Saharan nation of 12 million, has be-come one of the most stable and democratic na-tions in West Africa.

The United States worked closely with Malisince the early 1960s. But it was only in the 1990sthat political developments allowed democracy-building programs such as support for electionsand women candidates.

Dictatorial rule ended in 1991 and the firstdemocratic presidential election was held in 1992.After reelection in 1997, President Alpha Konarecontinued political and economic reforms andfought corruption. In 2002, he was succeeded byAmadou Toure.

Mali held the chairmanship of the Communityof Democracies in 2005.

The West African country also moved to handpower to local officials and move away from thehighly centralized French colonial system.

Malian women such as Ba-Aminata receivedU.S.-sponsored training to improve their villagesor run for office.

The number of women holding communal

council seats rose from 22 in 1999 to 41 in 2004.

he earlier articles in this magazine describe the power-ful wave of democracy movements emerging in the lasttwo years in Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon,the West Bank and Gaza, Afghanistan and Iraq.

On this page and the next, we describe some of themany countries that have moved towards democratic systems inthe 1980s and 1990s and ways the United States was able to as-sist them.

T

US-MALI: President Bush and Malis formerpresident Alpha Oumar Konare at July 2005G8 summit in Scotland.

The Legacy

cratic leaders and a civil society

movement. Soon afterwards, thefirst major peaceful alternation ofpolitical power took place whenthese democratic leaders sweptinto office in 1996.

Since then aid groups havehelped Mongolians to ensure thatelections and political processesremain competitive. It has alsosupported the birth of an inde-pendent judiciary.

In 2000, the MPRP re-gainedpower, and for the last four yearsthe competitive aspect of Mongo-

lian politics was at risk due toMPRP dominance at all levels ofgovernment. In 2004, Mongoliansheld their seventh national elec-tion since 1991, and installed acoalition government.

East TimorIn a climate of calm, the tiny island nationof East Timor elected in August 2001 aconstituent assembly of 88 members whowere promptly charged with drafting a

constitution for the emerging nation.Two years earlier, a referendum on in-

dependence from Indonesia led to a vio-lent reaction by those against independ-ence. Nearly 90 percent of Timoresevoted for independence and in reactiongroups aligned with Jakarta killed 1,000people.The conflict displaced a quarter ofthe countrys population, and sent manyfleeing into the adjacent Indonesianprovince of West Timor. Most of East Tim-ors infrastructure was destroyed.

Out of the chaos of 1999 that left al-

most nothing standingeither physicallyor institutionallyaid donors have helpedTimorese to build an independent nation.

U.S. aid averages $20 million a year,

largest of all bilateral aid programs. Ithelped civil society by providing grants toTimorese NGOs and media organizations

Many of East Timors future jurists andlegal professionals are being trainedthrough aid programs.The Agency is alsohelping international efforts to addresspast injustice by supporting investigatorsand prosecutors of perpetrators of humanrights abuses and other crimes.

Doctors, lawyers, civil servants, healthofficials and educators have receivedtraining through aid programs.

AP


26/28

El SalvadorA decade after a 12-year civil war left75,000 dead, El Salvador is a stabledemocracy with a market-friendly econo-my and active civil society.

During the 1980s, El Salvador was thelargest recipient of U.S. aid in Latin Amer-ica as it struggled against leftist insur-gents. Since the 1992 peace accord, U.S.aid went to elections, legislative and judi-

ciary reform, and municipal services.U.S. assistance helped former guerril-

las reconcile with the government whichbrought the Farabundo Marti NationalLiberation Front (FMLN) into the elec-toral process.

Support for the Legislative Assemblyimproved the caliber of deliberation andprovided political space for the FMLN toemerge as a viable opposition party.

Before the peace accord, El Salvadorsjudicial system was seen as an instrumentof repression. U.S. aid helped the courtsinvestigate high profile cases of deathsquads by providing funding, technical

assistance, equipment, and training.

EAGLE EYED: Woman watches count-ing of ballots bearing party symbols.

24

of aid, leading to Mozambiques steadyeconomic growth. In 2004, its economygrew by an estimated 8 percent.

With each election, domestic ob-servers played a growing role in assuringfairness and transparency. In 2003 munici-pal elections, a parallel vote count helpedassure results were correct and acceptedby all.

In December 2004, voters electedArmando Emilio Guebuza as president.

South AfricaSouth African democracy and humanrights advocates received U.S. aid sincethe 1980s, long before the fall of thewhite-dominated apartheid government.

In April 2004, South Africa held itsthird free and fair national elections.

Democracy assistance focuses onfighting crime, improving local govern-ment services and beefing up civil society

to engage with government.Another focus is victim support to

women and children; and bringing togeth-er counselors, officials and communityleaders to reduce the effects of theHIV/AIDS pandemic.

But some are frustrated. Only 57percent of South Africans believed theirdemocracy was better than any otherform of government, a 2002 survey found.Low voter turnout in 2004 was anotherindicator of this frustration.

MozambiqueAfter the 15year civil war in Mozam-bique ended in 1992, the southeastAfrican nation of 20 million people madequiet, steady progress towards democra-cy, reconciling the former enemies andimproving the economy.

U.S. and other foreign assistancehelped move the country back from thebrink of total state failure by helpingMozambiquans run elections, support forthe National Assembly, building civil socie-ty and training the two major politicalparties that were armed opponents onlya few years earlier.

Fighting corruption was another focus

MANDELA AND MBEKI:The former

and current presidents campaign in 1999.

PICTORIAL BALLOT: A voter holds upa ballot with presidential candidates onthe final day of voting, Dec. 2, 2004.

AP

The will of the peopleshall be the basisof the authority ofgovernment; this willshall be expressed inperiodic and genuineelections whichshall be by universal

and equal suffrageand shall be heldby secret vote orby equivalent freevoting procedures.Universal Declarationof Human Rights1948


27/28

U.S. Democracy Budget $1.2 billion

s a matter of principle, as a partof national security, and as an in-dispensable element of develop-ment, the United States supportsthe development of democracy

and good governance throughout the world.At the heart of U.S. support for democracyis the fundamental goal of expanding theglobal frontiers of democracy. This consistsof supporting fledgling democracies, consol-idating democratic transitions, and backing

democratic openings in the worlds remain-ing autocracies.Because every country has its own

unique political culture and circumstances,democracy experts have developed a flexibleapproach that works worldwide. At its coreis the ability to assess each countrys politicalenvironment and to help sympathetic forcesexpand democracy.

Country assessments are an early step.They are guided by a unique system ofanalysis for identifying critical democracyproblems in each countrys political system.Through this assessment, U.S. aid adapts itsapproach and emphasis to fit the local con-

text and address the most pressing issues.The assessment results in recommenda-

tions consisting of a mix of the followingfour program elements.

Free Political CompetitionThe expansion of political freedom andcompetitionthe essence of a democraticstate and societyis supported throughmultiparty elections, private voluntary asso-ciations (particularly watchdog groups), andan independent press.

Free, fair, transparent multiparty elec-tions and representative, responsive politicalparties are promoted by U.S. aid projects.These projects provide expert advice on elec-tion administration, law, constitutional pro-visions, and electoral commissions, as well assupporting the UN and other internationalbodies in the actual administration of elec-tions.

Aid programs train domestic and inter-national election monitors to ensure fairnessand transparency, and train civic groups toconduct parallel vote counts ensuring a real-time public check on official election results.

Nonpartisan assistance is provided to

USAID

A Strategy for DemocracyEach country has its ownpath to democracy so theU.S. aid offered must be

adapted to help out.

democratic parties, including advice andtraining on democratic campaign tech-niques, campaign messages, party platformsand internal structure. Training is also givento civic educators to aid in registration and

voting campaigns. The aid projects bring po-litical actors to the table to discuss and ad-dress disputes, and political parties arehelped with internal governance, constituentoutreach, polling, leadership recruitment,and training.

In addition to elections, U.S. assistancefocuses on structural competition such aschecks and balances between executive, judi-cial, and legislative branches; decentraliza-tion of authority; and on competition ofideas through media outlets and civic organ-izations.

Rule of LawNo democracy can function without an ef-fective and efficient legal system based onclear rules, an independent judiciary and le-gal restrictions on the state itself, especiallyfor human rights.

U.S. aid provides legal advice on consti-tutions, codes, laws, and regulations. Thegoal is to improve laws and institutions suchas the judiciary as a check on the executive, while providing support for due process,nondiscrimination, and representation of allsegments of society.

Support is given to local groups that testhuman rights cases in court, as well as

groups that provide legal assistance, media-tion, and dispute resolution. U.S. fundedprograms support private law schools andbar associations, and build the capacity ofthe judiciary, prosecutors and other institu-tions of the justice sector.

Accountable GovernanceBuilding democratic and accountable gover-nance is the third major goal, in both thestate and non-governmental sectors. Thefailure of democratic governments to meetrealistic needs is one of the reasons for dem-ocratic backsliding.

Support is offered for the effective, trans-parent and accountable provision of publicgoods and services, public oversight, andmeaningful separation of powers with checksand balances.

Corruption is tackled through independ-ent audit agencies, anticorruption commis-sions, procurement reform, and legislation aswell as civil society groups, the press, and thebusiness sector.

The strategy is to strengthen local gov-ernments through the improvement ofbudgets, financing, provision of basic servic-

es, and community participation.Aid projects improve the effectiveness

ministries, executive offices and legislatuthrough staff training, policy developme

and research, basic materials and hardwarSupport is given to human rights orgaizations focused on issues such as traffickinwhile civilian government offices responsifor military oversight receive training. Dmocratic policing and dialogue between plice and communities are also funded.

Citizen ParticipationHelping NGOs to engage society and hcitizens to participate in and monitor goernment is the fourth key element. The mdurable democratic transitions are driven a broad-based civil society movement, crcial for transparency and pluralism. It oft

serves as the link between U.S. support democracy and governance and that for ecnomic reform, education, and the othbuilding blocks of development.

Civil society organizations hold goverment accountable, organize and mobilize tpublic, and deliver better health and edution services. Equipment and training aprovided to media as well as support production of radio programs for public formation and civic education.

A key feature of U.S. assistance is flebility: the use of a range of instruments tothe needs and circumstances on the grounThese include grants to local groups, granfor partnerships and contracts for specigoods and services.

All these efforts are based on U.S. desito assist people in securing democratic stems to improve their lives and the futuretheir children.

For further information onUSAID democracy assistance see:

www.usaid.gov/our_work/democracy_and_governance

A $0$200 million$400 million

$600 million

$800 million

$1 billion

$1.2 billion

1990 98 2000 02969492

Governance

Elections and Political Processes

Rule of Law

Civil Society


28/28

U.S. Agency for International Development1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20523Tel: (202) 712-0000Fax: (202) 216-3524

www.usaid.gov

ELECTORAL GER: Mongolianvotes at her remote ger, or tent,in presidential election, May 2005.

democracy rising

Documents