The democratic experiment

By George A. Folsom
April 1, 2004

WASHINGTON, April 2 (UPI) -- In a series of well-publicized speeches this year, President George W. Bush committed the United States to a sustained policy of spreading political freedom around the world, to include the autocratic regimes of the Middle East.

Many commentators opined that this was an idealistic vision with little moorings in the real world. This has in turn led to questions about the feasibility of attempting to help Iraq transition from a totalitarian dictatorship to a representative democracy.

One of the best kept secrets of recent U.S. history is that over the past two decades the United States has had enormous experience and success building and nurturing democracies overseas. In this effort, non-profit groups along with organizations like the United Nations have played a significant, if not dominant role. There is a great deal of experience and talent to draw on as we contemplate the challenges of holding elections in Iraq.

I am the president of one such organization, the International Republican Institute. IRI and its counterpart, the National Democratic Institute, were founded along with the National Endowment for Democracy in 1983 at the height of the Cold War. These institutions came into being with government support after the United States committed itself to supporting political freedom in oppressed parts of the world.

At that time, elected governments represented a minority of the members of the United Nations. Twenty years later they are a majority, as many totalitarian and autocratic regimes in Eastern Europe and much of the former Soviet Union, Latin America and Asia were replaced with elected governments.

This, in fact, is where the hard work really began. Credible elections are a good start, but they will have little long-term impact without the growth of truly democratic practices and institutions -- a free press, issue-based campaigns, strong political parties, competitive elections, civil society, a competent and ethical bureaucracy, women's equality, and the rule of law.

Many political parties, for example, in new electoral democracies tend to be organized around personality, ethnicity, or religion -- a formula for sectarian strife and rule by leaders who are no less autocratic because they happened to be elected.

How then does one go about building such a democracy? It requires years of painstaking effort in a variety of programs that could be best described as "Democracy 101."

For example, following the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, the nonprofit democracy institutes spent years training political parties in Eastern Europe to form coalitions and run issue-based campaigns. Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and seven other formerly communist countries are now deemed democratically advanced enough to become members of the European Union and NATO.

There is also a wealth of experience overseeing logistically challenging elections in large, diverse countries such as Nigeria and Indonesia, though the security situation in Iraq represents an unprecedented challenge.

President Bush has said that he will make democratic change -- particularly in the Arab and Muslim world -- a central feature of the War on Terrorism.

This focus has led to a ramping up of democracy work in the Middle East. This includes programs to survey public opinion, increase the participation of youth and women, support a free news media, build political parties and train new legislators in Morocco, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Most recently in Iraq, the Institute has finished compiling a database of new political parties and an opinion poll to help those parties choose candidates and build platforms in preparation for the transition to sovereignty in July.

There remains much more work to do -- work that requires the support from people who, after Sept. 11, see the spread of democracy as a "have to have," and no longer a "nice to have" for the free world. In this venture, participation by citizens is on a par with financial contributions.

For example, both Democratic and Republican political operatives volunteer to go overseas to train new political parties how to create a platform or manage a member list and grassroots organization.

Whatever the disputes over recent U.S. military action, most would agree that it will be difficult to halt terrorism without fundamental governmental reform in much of the Islamic world. Much of all the other development assistance will not have a long-lasting impact without the creation and growth of sound and transparent democratic institutions.

Of course the ultimate objective of organizations like IRI is to make ourselves obsolete -- to essentially work ourselves out of a job. We still have a long way to go.

(George A. Folsom is president and chief executive officer of the International Republican Institute -- IRI.org -- a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Washington, dedicated to the development of democracy worldwide.)

(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)