Madeleine Albright - Fascism: A Warning

[pieter]

[pieter]

The National Democratic Institute (NDI), or National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that works with partners in developing countries to increase the effectiveness of democratic institutions.[1] NDI's core program areas include citizen participation, elections, debates, democratic governance, democracy and technology, political inclusion of marginalized groups, and gender, women and democracy.[2] The organization's stated mission is to "support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government."

NDI was founded in 1983, shortly after the United States Congress created the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The NED's creation was followed by the establishment of three related institutes, the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and the National Republican Institute for International Affairs (later renamed the International Republican Institute, IRI). The Endowment serves as the umbrella organization through which these three institutes and an expanding number of private sector groups would receive funding to carry out programs abroad.

NDI, loosely affiliated to the Democratic Party, is a "cooperating organization" with the Liberal International.

Overview

NDI works with political parties, civic groups, parliaments and other organizations and individuals in more than 70 countries. NDI works with local partners to encourage community dialogues, observe elections, increase citizen participation, and improve the responsiveness of government.

Sources of funding

NDI receives financial support from The National Endowment for Democracy, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of State, and the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS). Furthermore, NDI receives contributions from governments, foundations, multilateral institutions, corporations, organizations, and individuals. Some of these governments and multilateral institutions include the Government of Australia, Government of Denmark, and Government of Belgium.

Criticism

Critics charge that the term "democracy assistance" and "democracy building" are rhetorically employed to overpower nationalist and socialist resistance to US economic and cultural domination, particularly in Russia. However, NDI has been suppressed in relatively anti-Russian or pro-American regimes as well, such as Azerbaijan.

The NDI was expelled from Cambodia in August 2017.

Success

In 30 years, the National Democratic Institute has worked in 132 countries and territories around the world and supported the efforts of 15,000 civic organizations, 850 political parties and organizations, 10,000 legislators, and 1,300 women's organizations. Furthermore, NDI has organized over 150 international election observer delegations in over 62 countries. NDI has monitored over 340 referenda and elections and trained over 3 million election observers in over 85 countries. Furthermore, they have helped partner groups organize 300 candidate debates in over 35 countries.

Source: Wikipedia