Democracy Assistance Includes Technical Assistance

Democracy Assistance Includes Technical Assistance

Gordon Adams & Cindy Williams, International Affairs Professor American University & Research Scientist-MIT, 2010, Buying National Security: how America plans and pays for its global role and safety at home, p. 56

Treasury established its Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) in 1991. From FY 1990-98 the program was funded by a transfer of funds from USAID, in 1999, Congress provided $1.5 million directly to the Treasury Department too fund technical assistance programs beyond the Central European and Eurasian region. Treasury created the Treasury International Affairs Technical Assistance (TIATA) program to expand these operations to reform-oriented countries in Asia, Africa, Central and Latin America, and the Greater Middle East. TIATA funds have also been used to implement technical assistance programs in post-conflict countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti and Liberia.

Democracy Assistance Includes Civic Education

CIVIC EDUCATION IS PART OF US ASSISTANCE INTENDED TO PROMOTE DEMOCRATIZATION

Ayan M. Alsayed, Counselor in International Education and Development, 2008, Advancing Democracy Through Education: US influence abroad and domestic practices, eds. E. Stevic & B. Levinson, p. 75

Civic education is an increasingly important part of donor programs of assistance to developing countries. Programs of civic education are intended to promote democratization, which donors believe is essential for strong development in these countries. Goals of these programs include encouraging participation in formal political processes such as elections and referenda, developing democratic participatory norms in institutions of civil society and reinforcing the internalization of these norms across communities. Donor agencies argue that these processes will, by raising awareness and promoting citizen action, reduce corruption and encourage transparency and accountability. As components of so-called “good governance,” these changes are deemed essential to development.

Democracy Assistance Includes Funds, Expertise, Materials

DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE INCLUDES TRANSFFERS OF FUNDS, EXPERTISE AND MATERIAL

Lappin ‘09

(Richard, Ph .D . candidate at the Centre for Peace Research and Strategic Studies at the University of Leuven in Belgium, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Democracy Assistance: The Problem of Definition in Post-Conflict Approaches to Democratisation,” http://www.cejiss.org/sites/default/files/8.pdf)

Democracy assistance can be most accurately defined as the non-profit transfer of funds, expertise, and material to foster democratic groups, initiatives and institutions that are already working towards a more democratic society (De Zeeuw and Kumar 2006: 20) . These transfers are usually funded through governmental development agencies, such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), or the UK’s Department for International Devel- opment (DfID) . The programmes themselves are undertaken by a diverse group of inter-governmental organisations (IGOs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and, to a lesser extent, through bilateral agreements . Chief amongst the IGOs are the Organisation for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE), the European Union (EU), and the Organisation of American States (OAS) . The most prominent NGOs include the Carter Center, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and the Centre for Electoral Promotion and Advice (CAPEL) . In addition, within a given country, there will also be a range of local counterparts who receive democracy funding including electoral commissions, state institutions, civil society groups, media groups and political parties .
EXPERTISE PROVIDED IN DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS INCLUDE SHARING MODELS, EXPERIENCE AND FINANCIAL OR MATERIAL SUPPORT

Lennon ’03

(Alexander T J, editor-in-chief of CSIS's flagship journal, The Washington Quarterly, The Battle for Hearts and Minds, Pg 371)

Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has been able to move beyond its focus on defeating the Soviet Union and increasingly has made the establishment of democracy around the world a foreign policy priority. As part of this strategy, the United States has increasingly used foreign assistance to support the promotion of democratization. The United States now allocates a total of approximately $650 million annually to support elections and political processes; the rule of law; human rights protections; active participation by civil society; independent media; and governance, including strengthening legislatures, local governments and anticorruption programs. With the specific aim of strengthening the processes and proponents of reform that are keys to successful democratization, democracy assistance programs primarily involve providing expertise, including sharing models and the experience of like-minded countries, and direct financial or material support to critical actors and institutions.

Democracy Assistance Includes Economic Assistance

NO BRIGHT LINE BETWEEN ECONOMIC AND DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE

Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow Hoover Institute, In Search of Democracy, 2016, p. 393-4

Although the rigid divide between donor activities for economic development and those for democracy assistance is beginning to soften, it persists. There is still a tendency to view donor assistance for economic development—and particularly poverty reduction—as social, economic, and technical, in other words, as nonpolitical. This may be the biggest mistake in efforts to relieve poverty. After a half-century of international development assistance, the persistence of poverty is not for want of effort, resources, and international goodwill, though we could use more of all of these. It is not primarily a failing of technical understanding, though we can always do with more off that, too. It is certainly not a consequence of fate. Poverty persists because of power disparities. At every level of organized life, the powerful attempt to prey on the weak and disorganized (and not only in low-income countries). Two principal forces contain this predation: open and competitive markets, and resourceful and authoritative states, the latter preventing and correcting market distortions through democracy and the rule of law. Unless these forces are brought to bear to level accumulated power disparities, poverty will be reproduced from generation to generation.

In designing democratic and other governance institutions, the social, economic, and historical context is important to bear in mind. However, certain broad, generic features of governance will work to promote development, empowerment, social justice, and poverty alleviation. One obvious priority is to strengthen the overall training, capacity, and professionalism of state bureaucrats, including their technical understanding of economic policies that promote development. With specific respect to the elements of democratic good governance, two priorities are elaborated in more detail below: free and fair elections, and democratic political parties.

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