The 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq transformed Iraq’s political settlement by ejecting the previous elites from power and by initiating state-building processes with previously marginalised elites and different governance principles. Iraq’s current day elites and institutions are the inheritors of that process. This review summarises the post-2003 processes that structure the ...» more
Political parties
Dominant party systems and development programming
There is a lack of applied thinking or rigorous empirical investigation into how donors and the international community can work with dominant party systems to promote more responsive state-society relations, or other forms of development progress. Frequently cited examples of existing research are not based on recent, systematic comparative research and focus mainly on ...» more
Factors supporting the emergence of democracies
This review of empirical case studies in this report suggests that, rather than a single theory to explain democratic transitions, a combination is usually applicable. In all cases it was a mix of factors that supported the emergence of democracies, due to time frames (some short-term, some long-standing) and also origin (some domestic, some external). This report draws on the ...» more
Political economy of conflicts in Kyrgyzstan since the 2000s
A fundamental finding, widely shared among authors, is that it is not only the national level that matters, but also regional and local ones, in violent and non-violent conflicts. In recent and older history, local conflicts sometime develop into national ones. Other key findings of the literature review include: The root causes of both conflicts are largely similar and ...» more
Political systems
Political systems are the formal and informal political processes by which decisions are made concerning the use, production and distribution of resources in any given society. Formal political institutions can determine the process for electing leaders; the roles and responsibilities of the executive and legislature; the organisation of political representation (through ...» more
Political party development in Ukraine
There are a combination of institutional and structural factors that account for party development in Ukraine. They include: The weakness of ideology in political parties Poor incentives for party institutionalisation due to the design and instability of the institutional rules of the game Extensive use of state administrative resources by regime-supported parties The ...» more
Elected women’s effectiveness at representing women’s interests
This rapid literature review collates evidence on women’s actions and interactions in parliaments in Africa. The literature mostly focuses on Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania (Bauer, 2012). There are several consistent findings from African countries, which enables drawing together key lessons: Effectiveness at representing women’s interests: The presence of ...» more
Working with members of parliament’s constituency funds
The key points from this rapid literature review include: CDFs are a relatively recent phenomenon (with most being established from the 2000s onwards), and they are relatively few in number (Barkan & Mattes, forthcoming). As a result, little is known about them. Countries that have used CDFs include: South Sudan; Philippines; Honduras; Nepal; Pakistan; Jamaica; Solomon Islands; ...» more
Democracy strengthening in Sudan
This report summarises key points of development work and research conducted on democracy strengthening in Sudan. It excludes the nation-state of South Sudan, but does include some work covering the southern areas of Sudan before the secession in 2011. Most of the literature focuses on democratic elections, from voter education to election conduct, but this report also tries to ...» more
Community activism in Jordan
Protests in Jordan have been largely peaceful but unsuccessful in achieving real change. They have centred on improving governance, democracy and socio-economic conditions, not on overthrowing the regime. All strata of society have been involved. Findings include the following: Most of the recent protests in Jordan revolve around the socio-economic situation. Some ...» more
Impact of parliamentary and party assistance
Key findings: The impacts of parliamentary and party support have not received much analysis; there are a few rigorous evaluations, but significant evidence gaps remain. The existing evaluations are non-experimental short-term studies, which use case studies, interviews and literature reviews as their analysis methods. In general, they emphasise processes, outcomes and ...» more
Integrating parliamentary and political party strengthening in sectoral programmes
Key findings: There are limited examples of sectoral programmes that explicitly integrate support to parliamentary or political party strengthening in pursuit of sectoral goals. The majority of donor activities in support of parliaments and political parties have the objective of strengthening parliaments for the broader purpose of improving democratic governance. Such ...» more
Donor Activity on Parliamentary Strengthening and Electoral Support
Parliamentary strengthening is becoming an increasingly important part of governance work in international development, and many bilateral, multilateral, and non-governmental organisations (including political parties) are involved in parliamentary strengthening. According to a recent ODI study, the World Bank Institute, the Parliamentary Centre (Canada), United Nations ...» more
Gender Equality in Parliamentary Strengthening and Electoral Support
Many countries around the world have recognised the under-representation of women in politics and started to adopt measures to help women enter politics and national legislatures. However, most of the research to date has focussed on explaining the process of women’s entry into politics, rather than whether and how they can make a difference once they enter parliament.Some of ...» more
M&E of Parliamentary Strengthening and Electoral Support Programmes
Parliamentary stengthening: Attempts to assess the effectiveness of parliamentary strengthening programmes need to go beyond monitoring changes within parliament, to measuring changes in parliament’s influence on government. Moreover, the political nature of legislatures, the particular types of functions for which they are responsible, and the constant evolution in membership ...» more
Election-related Conflict
Election-related conflict or violence can occur at any stage of the electoral process – from pre-election registration, candidate nomination and campaigning to election day balloting to post-election results. Although election-related conflict is an under-researched area, there is a small body of literature that addresses its potential causes and methods of prevention and ...» more
Electoral Assistance Lessons
Since the 1990s, there has been a movement away from viewing elections and electoral assistance as one-off events, towards viewing them as an integral component of democratic transition and governance. Much of the literature notes that whilst electoral assistance has generally been successful in establishing and promoting the technical aspects of elections, such technical ...» more
Political Party Financing
The methods of party financing used in Africa are primarily individual donations (membership fees and fundraising); private sector donations (corporate contributions); public funding (cash subsidies, in-kind or indirect assistance); and foreign donations (foreign governments, diaspora communities).There are advantages and disadvantages to each. In general, it is considered ...» more
Communist Government in Kerala, India
This query discusses the experiences of the Communist Party of India, Marxist (CPM) in India – specifically in the states of Kerala and West Bengal.It is widely argued that almost continuous communist rule in Kerala since 1957 has produced both order and some success in alleviating poverty, despite facing some considerable challenges to its government. The CPM has used its ...» more
Quotas for Women’s Representation in Africa
The success of quota systems in many African countries is largely attributed to: strong and active women’s movements; regional bodies such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that have adopted gender balanced representation and set quota targets for member countries; and opportunities in post-conflict and transition societies, which allowed for advances in ...» more
