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The collapse of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes in Central and Eastern Europe created the opportunity to increase the proportion of the world's people who live in free societies. Since 1989, the International Republican Institute (IRI) has conducted a broad range of democracy support programs in the region, including party training, coalition development, civic education, policy forums and governance training.
Launched in 1999, IRI's Regional Program responds to changing circumstances in Central and Eastern Europe and establishes partnerships with other political and international organizations based in these countries. Programs that encourage electoral participation are a mainstay of the IRI agenda, and successful get-out-the-vote campaigns have been organized in countries around the region. In countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Serbia, where IRI-supported parties and coalitions formed governments, IRI conducted programs designed to facilitate smooth transitions to power and promote reform.
While the region is now firmly on the path to democracy and free markets, IRI's Regional Program is continuing to help consolidate democratic gains in post-communist Europe and has established itself as an important mechanism for promoting cross border cooperation and information sharing on a broad range of issues related to institution building, political processes, policy development, government communication and citizen participation.
The Regional Program organizes regular seminars and conferences on topics such as internal political party management and development and increasing the role and capability of youth in politics. Recently, the Regional Program carried out a series of transatlantic seminars, examining issues such as the role of values in politics and how the U.S. and Europe can work together to encourage women's participation in politics in the Middle East.
The program also provides an important forum for meetings between political and civic leaders from the more advanced new democracies and those from countries with less developed democratic systems. The Regional Program enables the exchange of information, building working relationships and creation or enlargement of intra-regional support networks.
In 2005, the Regional Program began a series of new initiatives designed to bolster and expand IRI's partnerships with political parties and institutions across Europe. Building on longstanding relationships with institutions such as the British Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the German political party foundations, the Regional Program has expanded that network by developing new partnerships with organizations such as the Austrian People's Party and Swedish Moderate Party and their party foundations, the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, Spain's FAES, the Robert Schuman Institute, and the European People's Party. These flexible partnerships have led to a variety of joint conferences and workshops and helped many European politicians and experts to lend their services to IRI training missions and election observations.
The Regional Program has instituted a regular series of "political boot camps" for up-and-coming young leaders from across the region as part of its Leadership Institute for Central and Eastern Europe (LICEE). LICEE trainings have helped school the next generation of party and elected officials in modern campaign and communications techniques. Policy conferences and workshops examine issues of concern on both sides of the Atlantic, such as the role of values in politics, the use of the Internet and new technologies in campaigns, and the critical role of women in political transitions.
To complement these events, the Regional Program has also produced a number of publications, such as a guide to political parties, handbooks on public opinion polling and focus groups, and a study of governance that examined the reasons why pro-reform governments failed in their bids for reelection.
IRI's Regional Program for Central and Eastern Europe also sponsors a series of publications examining key topics in political development in the region and outside, including a study of the rise and fall of center-right parties across Central and Eastern Europe and a survey of recent issues-based campaigns in 10 countries.
The Bratislava-based Regional Program primarily operates in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Serbia. The Regional Program also serves as a focal point for IRI's interaction with western European political parties, institutions and democracy promotion foundations.
IRI is unique in its continuing engagement in the region. While the democratic direction of the region is no longer in doubt, IRI's Regional Program continues to provide valuable assistance which helps to cement ties with United States and build partnerships for IRI's core mission of democracy promotion around the world.
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