Internal democracy in political parties

Internal democracy in political parties 

Courtesy: Institute of democracy and electoral assistance. 

The internal democracy work is aimed at developing more democratic, transparent and effective political parties. The aim is to identify specific challenges for the internal management and functioning of parties and party systems. 

Areas of specific focus include candidate selection, leadership selection, policy making, membership relations, gender, minorities, youth and party funding. These issues are considered within the wider development context: for example the relationship to governance issues, anti-corruption and service delivery. 

The internal democracy work seeks to develop comparative knowledge via policy papers in the key regions of the Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East and Latin America, with pilot activities in Nepal in 2007.

Using draft policy papers as an entry point, International IDEA carries out dialogue sessions with political parties and others (party internationals, academics, etc.) on internal party reform. International IDEA’s work on internal democracy will feed into the development of capacity building training initiatives for political parties.

International IDEA engages with other organizations involved in democracy building on the internal functioning and management of political parties. Thus far it has worked with Demo Finland and the Netherlands Institute for Multi Party Democracy in this field.

International IDEA press conference on internal democracy workshop in Sudan, June 2007

Policy paper dialgoue with public intellectuals, Khatmandu, Nepal, May 2007