Newsletter 12

IDEAs for Democracy: Annual Report 1998

International IDEA has published its first annual report, "IDEAs for Democracy 1998", presenting the Institute's objectives and outlining its main activities since its foundation three years ago. The report includes information on the Institute's projects and publications, as well as on its membership, funding and organization. A section on the "Democracy Forum", the Institute's annual meeting of democracy practitioners, highlights discussions from the 1998 forum on "The Culture of Democracy". International IDEA's objective is to provide perspectives, options and practical instruments for promoting and advancing democracy world-wide. "IDEAs for Democracy 1998" outlines how the Institute works towards achieving this objective on two main levels: first, by helping to consolidate democracy on the ground, and second, by strengthening international responses to democracy promotion. The publication illustrates how the Institute's methodology, based on dialogue and consultation, has been implemented in countries such as Guatemala and Burkina Faso. It also discusses how International IDEA has helped to provide a meeting place for democracy practitioners to exchange ideas and develop common approaches for promoting democracy. In the three years that it has been operating, the Institute has been active in many areas. It has worked in both new and established democracies. It has addressed electoral issues -- such as how to organize cost-effective and sustainable elections (the ACE Project) -- as well as broader issues relating to consolidating democracy - such as how to build democratic institutions in societies recovering from conflict (Democracy and Deep-Rooted Conflict: Options for Negotiators). In its normative work, it has developed codes of conduct to guide officials who conduct elections as well as those who observe them. It has focused on ways to increase women's participation and effectiveness in political forums (Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers) and on the design of electoral systems to suit specific cultural, social and economic conditions (The International IDEA Handbook of Electoral System Design). These are some of the projects discussed in "IDEAs for Democracy 1998". The next annual report is scheduled to be published by September 1999. It will highlight new and ongoing projects, include financial information for 1998, and present the discussions of this year's Democracy Forum.

The International IDEA Voter Turnout Website

A Website containing the most comprehensive global collection of political participation statistics available will be launched this spring (accessed by International IDEA's website: archive.idea.int). Regularly updated voter turnout figures for national presidential and parliamentary elections since 1945 are presented country by country, using both the number of registered voters and voting age population as indicators. Included also are the most recent indicators of literacy and human development, along with the type of electoral system currently used and whether voting is compulsory or not. A flourishing democracy presupposes citizens who care, who are willing to take part, and capable of helping to shape the common agenda of a society. In this project we have chosen to focus on one dimension of political participation - voter turnout. Beyond the widespread belief that participation in political life is a positive thing, there is little agreement on what constitutes a good or democratic level of voter turnout. Does high turnout indicate great enthusiasm for the political process or reflect compulsion, sometimes subtle, other times overt, that a regime places on its citizens to vote? Does low turnout indicate a weak political system, or merely reflect a widespread contentment among the people with the system as it is? Some of the most dramatic findings from the project include: · High turnout is not solely the property of established democracies in the West. Of the top 10 countries in the 1990s only three were Western European democracies. · Turnout across the globe rose steadily between 1945 and 1990 - increasing from 61% in the 1940s to 68% in the 1980s. But post-1990 the average has dipped back to 64%. · Since 1945 Western Europe has maintained the highest average turnout (77%), and Latin America the lowest (54%), but turnout need not necessarily reflect regional wealth. North America and the Caribbean have the third lowest turnout rate, while Oceania and the former Soviet states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Central Eastern Europe are respectively second and third highest in the regional league table over this period. · Voter turnout across the world is beginning to converge at a figure between half and three-quarters of the voting age population of any given country. Turnout in Western Europe and North America and the Caribbean has remained fairly constant over the last 50 years, while in the rest of the world the rates have fluctuated more widely. Turnout in South America and Asia has steadily climbed while Africa and the Middle East hit high points in the 1980s but since then has slipped back. · The overall average turnout in the post-war period for established democracies is 73%, which contrasts with an average of 59% for all other countries. However, turnout rates in both established and non-established democracies have been converging over time. · Out of the 81 countries which had first and subsequent elections between 1945 and 1997, the average turnout in first elections (61%) is actually lower than the average for subsequent elections (62%). This represents a mixed pattern backed up by the fact that turnout in 41 countries dropped between the first and second elections but turnout actually rose in another 40 countries. · A low literacy does not necessarily mean a country's turnout rate will be low. There is no significant statistical correlation between literacy and voter turnout, although highly literate countries do, on average, have a somewhat higher level of voter turnout. Nevertheless, countries with a low degree of literacy amongst the general population, such as Angola and Ethiopia, have achieved high turnout rates.

Newsletter 12

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