'USAID political party development assistance is designed to facilitate the democratic process in newly democratizing countries, rather than to influence specific political outcomes. Promoting and strengthening the broader political process through political party development assistance require long term support for specific organizational, behavioral, and governance aspects of democratic parties, rather than the pursuit of short-term electoral goals. Within this long-term, process-oriented fram more...

'This handbook is designed to assist USAID Missions in developing strategies to help legislatures function more effectively and to perform their functions more democratically and representatively. It explains the importance of legislatures in a democracy, describes structural and other factors that influence legislative behavior, and enumerates problems legislatures commonly face. It then presents an assessment framework that is designed to help USAID field officers pinpoint the weaknesses and u more...

'A leading Palestinian journalist is jailed in the West Bank for broadcasting sessions of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Restrictive media laws in many post-communist countries curtail media freedoms guaranteed by these countries' constitutions or by international conventions that these countries have signed. In Central America, a select group of powerful families control the media and threaten democratic gains realized through the peace processes of the 1990s. Government control of print more...

Executive Summary 'The purpose of the Guide to Rule of Law Country Analysis is to assist USAID Democracy and Governance (DG) officers in conducting a rule of law assessment and designing rule of law programs that have a direct impact on democratic development, with particular attention to empowering poor and vulnerable groups. Within USAID’s DG assessment framework, five elements comprise democracy: rule of law; consensus; competition; inclusion; and good governance. This guide presents a stra more...

The Guide introduces the Center for International Private Enterprise’s proven techniques for advancing democratic and market reforms, which private sector groups around the world have used to improve the business environment and the quality of governance. It explains core concepts of market economies and democratic governance, principles for planning a reform agenda, and best practices for designing reform projects.

Summary of findings:

· The Open Budget Survey 2008 finds that, overall, the state of budget transparency around the world is deplorable. In most of the countries surveyed the public does not have access to the comprehensive and timely information needed to participate meaningfully in the budget process and to hold government to account.

· The Open Budget Survey provides government officials, legislators, development practitioners, civil society organizations, journalists, and research more...

This project focuses on Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions from 1800 to 2007, building on three previous projects. It provides data 163 countries as this is written. George Mason University.

Across Africa, elections are now becoming the de facto means of selecting political leaders; however, there is a dearth of elections information and knowledge online. As a means of contributing to resolve this problem, the African Elections Project was conceived to provide coverage of elections using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) across the continent. Thereby depending democracy on the continent and strengthening open societies via information and knowledge creation surroundi more...

Privacy is a key component of individual autonomy, and a voluminous literature has established both its practical value in healthcare contexts and its status as a fundamental, but not absolute ethical right. Because the Right to Information Act (2005) permits citizens to gain information under government control, it might be thought to threaten the privacy of patients and research subjects, especially those in government institutions. It is important for clinicians, administrators, information o more...

'The recent economic downturn has led to several voices round the world questioning the merits and effectiveness of capitalism as an economic system to promote the general welfare of human society.'