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International Forum >> The Democracy Forum for East Asia>> "Civil Society, Political Parties, and the State:
Balancing Democratic Development in Asia"
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Introduction
Session I: Relations between the State and Civil Society Session II: Relations Between Political Parties and Civil Society Session III: Domestic and International Linkages of Civil Society Session IV: Directions for Reform Agenda Participants |
The conference on "Civil Society, Political Parties, and the State: Balancing Democratic Development in Asia," held in Bangkok, Thailand on February 15-16, 2002, was the sixth meeting (and fifth working conference) sponsored by the Democracy Forum for East Asia, a collaborative program of the Sejong Institute and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). This working conference was also cosponsored by the Asia Foundation and by King Prajadhipok's Institute in Thailand, which served as the local host. The Democracy Forum was established in November 1998 to promote joint nongovernmental efforts to encourage democracy in East Asia. The inaugural conference was held in July 1999 in Seoul; it was followed by four working conferences in Seoul and Bangkok between 1999 and 2001. The fifth working conference focused on relations among civil society, political parties, and the state, particularly on the types of relations that are most likely to foster democracy and good governance. Conference participants consisted of leaders of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), national and local government officials, and other experts on civil society and democracy. Participants came from six Asian countries-Cambodia, Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand-plus the United States. Dr. Borwornsak Uwanno, secretary-general of the King Prajadhipok's Institute (KPI), welcomed participants at the opening session and described briefly the work of his institute in studying the relationship among civil society, parties, and state in Thailand. Representatives of the other three cosponsoring organizations-Marc F. Plattner of the National Endowment for Democracy, Kie-Duck Park of the Sejong Institute, and Gordon Hein of the Asia Foundation-also made welcoming remarks that described their respective institutions, recounted the previous activities of the Democracy Forum for East Asia, and introduced some of the topics they hoped would be discussed in this conference. As Mr. Hein noted, "No one would want to turn back the clock to the old authoritarianism-but no one can be fully satisfied with current state of democracy in Asia. It remains a work in progress, and that is what we are here to talk about." |
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