Democracy promotion:

Unpacking the concept

Mateo Porciúncula

13th March 2015

Master in Development Evaluation and

Management

How to study democracy

promotion?

What lies inside/outside the “box”

?

Is this definition contested?

What kind of activities are

involved?

What are the expected results?

What are the implications for

assessment and evaluation?

Methodology

Democracy promotion and

democracy assistance

Narrow and broad definitions

“Demprom” and good

governance

Sector Goal

Electoral

process

Free and fair elections

Strong political parties

Institution

building

Democratic constitution

Effective judiciary / law institutions

Representative legislature

Responsive local governments

Prodemocracy military

Civil Society Active advocacy NGOs

educated citizens

Independent media

Strong unions

Democracy promotion core

Top down / bottom up

Linkage / leverage

Source: Carothers, 2011 and Fritz, Rakner and Rocha, 2008

Concepts Political Approach Developmental Approach

Value of

Democracy

Democracy and political

freedom.

Democracy is mostly a

contribution to development.

Democracy “Elections plus rights” Broad definition

Democratizatio

n

Key junctures of change.

Democrats vs. Status quo.

Slow, iterative process.

socioeconomic development

state building.

Methods Pro-democratic coalitions

Challenging regime?

More indirect.

Accountability > contestation.

non-confrontational.

Human rights approach.

Political vs Developmental

Source:

Carothers, 2008

Measuring

from inputs to outputsProcess assessment

Measuring what? why?

Scope

Aggregation

Core functions and

weighting

Data availability

Timing conundrum

Concept Attributes Components

Democrac

y

Conflict Right to form political

parties and compete

(association, assembly,

etc.)

Freedom of the press

Participation Right to vote

Fairness of the elections

(financing, media,

processes .etc.)

Outcomes: democracy measurements

Datasets

Limitations

Hybrid Regime

mimicry

Picture by Igor Siwanowicz (c)

+ Accountability: horizontal, vertical

Source: Dahl, 1971

Impact

Democracy determined?

Geography, culture, economy +

process, institutions and agency

Qualitative and quantitative

Known unkwons

Form and function of democracies

Isolating the treatment’s effect

Final considerations

Realistic expectations

A deeper look at program

theories

Political thinking

Time lag considerations

Meso-level indicators

Complexity

Thank you!