Spotlight:

Deputy Secretary of State Negroponte Addresses Pakistan Forum at NED
On May 5, Pakistani parliamentarians and civil society leaders were joined by regional experts at NED for a day-long conference. Participants met to discuss what institutional reforms and strategies can help Pakistan beat the odds and build an effective and stable democracy.  U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte gave a keynote luncheon address.
[read remarks/ view video]

NED Calls on Serbian Government to Protect Human Rights Defenders and Journalists
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has petitioned the government of Serbia to act to protect human rights defenders and journalists who have come under threat since the recent declaration of independence by Kosovo. NED is particularly concerned for the safety of grantee Natasa Kandic, director of the Humanitarian Law Center in Belgrade. [read more]

NED Mourns the loss of Congressman Tom Lantos
“The loss of Tom Lantos will be felt around the world, as those who fight for freedom and human dignity everywhere have lost a true friend and ally,” said NED Chairman Vin Weber in a statement issued by the Endowment. Congressman Lantos, pictured here, presented NED’s 2007 Democracy Award honoring the murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. [view video]

Vicente Fox speaks to New York Democracy Form
Mexico’s Long Road to Democracy: The Challenges Ahead was the topic of former Mexican president Vicente Fox’s remarks on February 6 when he addressed the New York Democracy Forum, a joint initiative of NED and the Foreign Policy Association. [view event]

Discourses on Democracy: New Books by NED Authors Marc F. Plattner and Larry Diamond
On January 31, NED hosted a book launch event featuring two new books by the coeditors of NED’s Journal of Democracy. Democracy Without Borders? Global Challenges to Liberal Democracy by Marc F. Plattner and The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World were discussed by a panel that featured Tamara Cofman Wittes, William Galston and Gideon Rose. [read more]

From Prison to Freedom: Difficulties and Hopes
On January 15, Dr. Yang Jianli, Founder and President of the Foundation for China in the 21st Century, made his first public remarks at NED since his release from 5 years in a Chinese prison.  Dr. Yang described his experiences as a prisoner of conscience and offered his views on the role of the U.S. in promoting democratic values in China as well as reporting his own observations from several months of travel in China that followed his release. [read more]

The State of India's Democracy
Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner, co-editors of the Journal of Democracy, along with Professor Sumit Ganguly of Indiana University are co-editors of The State of India's Democracy, the latest edition in the Journal of Democracy Book Series. Essays in the book focus on India's economy, politics, and society as the country marks its 60th year of independence. [read more]

Alejandro Toledo Briefs Latin Leaders on New Initiative
Former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo, who recently established the Global Center for Development and Democracy (GCDD) with seed funding from NED, met on November 26 in Washington with six former heads of state to discuss the mission of his new organization, which aims to forge a new social agenda for Latin America. President Toledo was joined by Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar from Spain, President Vicente Fox from Mexico, President Carlos Mesa from Bolivia, President Ricardo Maduro from Honduras, and President Rodrigo Carazo from Costa Rica, as well as Secretary-General of the Organization of American States Jose Miguel Insulza and José Ignacio Salafranca from the European Parliament. [read more]

Pierre Hassner delivered Fourth Annual Lipset Lecture
On November 15, the Embassy of Canada in Washington, DC hosted the fourth annual Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture on Democracy in the World featuring Pierre Hassner, research director emeritus at CERI (the Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales) in Paris, who addressed the topic: Russia's Transition to Autocracy: The Implications for World Politics.[read more]

NED's Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) is pleased to announce that several reports and a searchable bibliography of over 600 media assistance books, manuals, and articles have been posted to CIMA's newly designed website. [read more]