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Asian Center for Democratic Governance >> Freedom of Information for Good Governance
A Report by the Asian Center for Democratic Governance 6 - 8 August 2001 New Delhi, India |
Appendix 2 - BackgroundIn March 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton, during his visit to India, announced the creation of the Asian Center for Democratic Governance, a partnership between the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The Asian Center, located in New Delhi, conducts a program of conferences, workshops, training, and networking to help develop a knowledge base on governance issues and suggest policy options on democratic development. The Center will conduct one international conference and two or three workshops during its first year of operation. It is expected that a similar level of activity will follow in subsequent years.What are the Objectives of the Asian Center? Understanding the great variety of experiences with democracy and market economies, and learning from scholarship and research about how to deepen and improve democracy, is vital in trying to make democracy work. Entrepreneurs and executives, scholars and journalists, party and NGO activists, legislators and local experts-all have a stake in the outcome of efforts to build stable, representative, and accountable institutions of governance. Analyzing experiences in building and sustaining democracy would include the challenges of strengthening civil society, decentralizing power, controlling corruption, improving corporate governance, and implementing other political and economic reforms Opportunities to examine new theories or ideas, to consider new perspectives and alternative formulations, and to share the understanding from practical experiences-worldwide and from the Asian region-are essential if reformers are to succeed. Any inclusive picture of sustainable economic development today must, therefore, include an understanding of the problems of participatory government and consensus-building. The Asian Center will seek to advance knowledge of the general conditions for consolidating democracy at a time of economic globalization and volatility. It will be a forum for representatives from Asian countries to exchange information about their specific experiences in order to build a shared understanding of transparent and accountable governance. Finally, the Center will conduct programs to enhance the capacities of emerging leaders, in business and in public life, especially young men and women with leadership potential who are likely to play important roles in the development of democracy in their countries. Asian Center Programs: Conferences and Workshops The Center holds regional workshops as well as larger international conferences on leading themes related to the development and strengthening of democracy in market economies. The conferences are designed to introduce participants to the latest thinking on the subject through panel presentations by leading scholars and practitioners from India and the region's other established democracies, the newer democracies such as Thailand, Mongolia, and Nepal, transitional countries such as Indonesia, as well as multilateral development institutions, the United States, and other relevant democracies. The workshops are designed to facilitate active discussion among practitioners of democracy, businessmen, and professional executives of the region. Each workshop includes participants from Asia as well as a small number of international experts on democratic governance and economic development. Although New Delhi, where the Confederation of Indian Industry is based, is the site for the major conferences and many of the workshops, the Center also seeks out other centers in Asia to host some of the workshops. Subjects likely to be covered in future regional workshops include:
Although the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is primarily a grant-making organization, its International Forum for Democratic Studies has been sponsoring for the past five years conferences, country meetings, and colloquia focused on the most salient and important issues in democratic development. NED and its International Forum have organized several international conferences in partnership with other organizations in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe, including the successful first and second assemblies of the World Movement for Democracy, in New Delhi and Sao Paulo, respectively. The International Forum also publishes the highly regarded Journal of Democracy, conducts a Visiting Fellows Program, and operates a Democracy Resource Center that includes a library, archives on democracy, and the NED website, DemocracyNet. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) was established in 1895 to help build a strong national economy in India that could be globally integrated. It represents and services over 3,800 companies and industries, including both private-sector and government-owned corporations and utilities. CII is today the leading umbrella organization for industry in India, and a repository of information and knowledge covering a range of aspects of the relationship between government, Indian industry, and international business. Since they function commercially within a vibrant democracy, CII's members are keenly interested in exploring and understanding a wide variety of issues that relate to prospects for good governance within a democratic constitutional framework. CII's experience in organizing large international gatherings-including the inaugural assembly of the World Movement for Democracy in February 1999-as well as smaller, focused seminars and workshops is unparalleled in India. For more information about the Asian Center for Democratic Governance please contact: Gautam Adhikari Senior Consultant National Endowment for Democracy Asian Center for Democratic Governance 1101 15th Street, NW Suite 800 Washington, DC 20005 USA gautam@ned.org |
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National Endowment for Democracy | 1101 Fifteenth Street, NW, Suite 700 | Washington DC, 20005 | 202/293-9072 | Fax 202/223-6042 | |