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National Endowment for Democracy     News and Information     Issue 1 2005

Ukraine's "Orange Revolution," a series of massive, peaceful protests that broke out in the aftermath of the falsified second round of Ukraine's presidential elections, was the single most important political event in Eurasia in 2004. On the evening of November 21, when the Ukrainian Central Election Commission announced a vote count that disagreed with the results of independent exit polls and parallel vote counts, over a million citizens took to the streets of Kyiv and of other key Ukrainian cities. Despite freezing temperatures, protesters blockaded government buildings and stayed for days on end in a tent city on Kyiv's Independence Square while the Ukrainian Supreme Court considered evidence of vote fraud presented by the democratic opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko. This massive visible sign of civil disobedience riveted international attention and prevented an official declaration of victory in favor of Viktor Yanukovich until the court had time to order that the second round be re-run. A final round of voting on December 26 resulted in a decisive victory for Mr. Yushchenko, who was inaugurated as president in January 2005.

This dramatic outcome ran counter to international expectations, which assumed that Yanukovich, the handpicked successor of departing President Kuchma, would make effective use of his most important political asset, the so-called "administrative resource." The administrative resource is the financial, physical, media and human assets controlled by the Ukrainian state that can be deployed by the president-albeit with dubious legality-to advance his own personal agenda. What the conventional wisdom underestimated was the deep dissatisfaction of a majority of the Ukrainian electorate, and its determined desire to change course from a history of manipulated elections and official corruption and to regain legitimate control of the government.

Despite Yanukovich's determined efforts to wield the resources of the government to his advantage, more than a decade of Ukrainian independence had witnessed the rise of numerous civil society organizations that could work to promote free, fair and transparent elections even in such a hostile environment. NED grantees were in the forefront of this movement. Independent internet newsletters such as Maidan, Ostriv and Ukrainska Pravda became a key source of objective information that undermined the state's near-monopoly on the news. Organizations like the Ukrainian Youth Association, Young Rukh, and the School for Policy Analysis of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy carried out nonpartisan get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaigns targeting various segments of the electorate. NED's affiliated party institutes IRI and NDI provided training and advice to campaign workers from all interested candidates, and the Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU) used Endowment support to monitor the composition of voter lists and the preparation of polling places for Election Day. Finally, the Spilnyi Prostir Association monitored the use of media in the campaign and documented the full extent of the state's bias.

On election day itself, NDI, IRI and the CVU all posted election observers who, along with OSCE and other international observers, provided critical evidence of active attempts to interfere with voting and manipulate the count. In addition, the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, in cooperation with a consortium of research organizations, carried out a nationwide exit poll of voters that provided further evidence of extensive vote fraud. As a whole, these independent efforts helped to turn out voters and then, when attempts were made to thwart their will, provided the evidence needed to rouse citizens to protest. Finally, the careful documentation and persistence of the groups' leadership helped avert possible bloodshed and keep the resolution of the crisis within the bounds of the Ukrainian constitution.

For neighboring Belarus, which held parliamentary elections last fall, the outcome was, unfortunately, not nearly as positive. The October 17 election was especially important because it was combined with a referendum that would lift the two-term limit on the presidency and give Alexander Lukashenka "Europe's last dictator" the chance to run for a third term in 2006.

NED grantees were again at the forefront of efforts to promote free, fair and transparent elections. In more than 40 of 110 election districts, local nonpartisan coalitions used NED support to organize GOTV campaigns. Independent national and local newspapers provided citizens with objective information on all candidates and their platforms. Other grantees trained independent observers, published nonpartisan GOTV materials and monitored the state-controlled media. IRI offered training to a broad range of candidates with a focus on the "Five Plus" Coalition, which united five democratic political parties and over 100 NGOs. IRI also commissioned the Gallup organization to conduct an exit poll to provide independent results on the referendum. NDI trained and deployed thousands of domestic poll watchers for the parliamentary elections.

As was true in Ukraine, Mr. Lukashenka drew heavily on his administrative resource. Following a campaign and election marred by intimidation, fraud and manipulation, the regime declared that not one opposition candidate had been elected to parliament or even made it to a run-off. Furthermore, the Central Election Commission declared that over 78 percent of voters had cast a "yes" vote in the referendum, thereby lifting the presidential term limit and providing Lukashenka with the opportunity to become president for life. IRI's exit poll, however, offered independent evidence that the referendum and election had been rigged. The Gallup poll found that Lukashenka received less than the necessary 50 percent of registered voters he needed to win the referendum. It also indicated that more than 35 prodemocratic candidates had actually won outright majorities or made it to run-offs. As a result, the parliamentary election was not recognized as free or fair by the US, EU or OSCE.

Despite clear evidence of massive vote fraud, large numbers of Belarusians did not take to the streets like Ukrainians because of specific historical, cultural and political differences. Nevertheless, the election-related activities supported by NED have helped to advance the prospects for democratic change in Belarus. "Five Plus" was the largest union of democratic forces in the history of independent Belarus, and it continues to expand and develop. The majority of its candidates and coalitions performed well and carried out strong campaigns. The foundation for a domestic election monitoring capacity has been laid and continues to be strengthened. The stage has been set for 2006 elections when Belarus' democratic opposition will contest Mr. Lukashenka's continued rule and civil society will again try to ensure a free and fair contest. Together they will attempt to follow in Ukraine's footsteps and produce their own version of the “Orange Revolution.”

On January 30, 2005, the Iraqi people engaged in the country's first democratic elections in over a half century. The entire world watched as millions of Iraqi citizens ignored grave security concerns and courageously turned out to vote, endorsing democratic processes over violence and embracing a democratic future for their nation.

Since the liberation of Iraq in March 2003, the National Endowment for Democracy has supported a variety of programs that address democracy promotion through both political party development and civil society projects. These efforts helped to create the climate that allowed the Iraqi people to participate freely in the January elections for the transitional national assembly. The Endowment plans to remain active as the political process unfolds and will continue to provide assistance to the Iraqi people as they draft a permanent constitution, ratify and promulgate the constitution, organize the December 2005 elections for a constitutionally elected government and seek to consolidate democratic gains.

The Endowment's family of affiliated core institutes, the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (Solidarity Center), all have significant programs in Iraq that address the needs for democracy building through the development of political parties, civil society and the business and labor sectors. IRI and NDI both have political party development programs that offer all the parties a wide range of training and consultations on leadership, coalition building, campaigning, platform and message development, poll monitoring, information technology and communications.

Using offices and local staff in Baghdad and other cities around Iraq, the two institutes offered the Iraqis resource and media centers that presented opportunities to develop general political skills in preparation for the electoral process, as well as conducting specific campaign and candidate trainings for women. In addition, IRI conducted a variety of focus groups and public opinion polls that covered the vast majority of the provinces of Iraq and played an important role in strategic planning for government, political parties and civil society. CIPE established offices in Baghdad and Sulaymania and embarked on a program to strengthen the business community through executive and management training, small grants and technical assistance to over 15 business associations, economic roundtables and studies, supporting entrepreneurship, training for economic journalists, and engaging political parties in economic policy making.

In addition to the support provided by the Endowment's core institutes, there are currently over 30 local grantees in Iraq receiving NED support. Many of NED's Iraqi grantees played instrumental roles that contributed to the success of the January 30th elections. For example, several grantees worked in leadership roles in the NDI coordinated Election Information Network (EIN) which provided 10,000 domestic election monitors to 80% of the polling stations throughout the country on election day. EIN's monitors included representatives from more than 150 Iraqi civic organizations, representing the diversity of the country's ethnic and religious communities.

Over the past six months, in preparation for the January 30th elections, many of the NED grantees whose primary focus had been on women's and human rights, civic education and other areas, became active in the political process and provided assistance in election education, constitutional awareness and get-out-the-vote efforts. A Baghdad-based NED grantee, for example, created a webpage devoted to electoral developments and became an essential source of information for the Iraqi electorate. Such efforts by Iraqi civil society gave the elections the local and international credibility that made them so successful. These organizations and others received their first-and sometimes their only-grants from the NED, which helped them build the capacity and skills necessary to serve in these important roles.

NED-funded programs also assisted in training Iraqi print and broadcast journalists to enhance their skills and prepare them to cover news and activities related to democratic political processes. NED also provided support for local Iraqi groups that conducted election and constitutional awareness campaigns and for groups that conducted civic education campaigns in Baghdad and other difficult places like Sadr City, Hilla and Karbala. NED also supported the efforts of Iraqi and international NGOs to help upgrade the technical and institutional capacities of nascent Iraqi NGOs, activists and leaders.

Over the next few months, NED will continue to build on the successful elections by supporting programs that help Iraqi citizens and civil society organizations constructively influence the country's political process. As of today, NED grantees represent a cross section of Iraqis from the north, central and southern regions with organizations from Baghdad, Babylon, Basra, Karbala, Thi Qar, Maysan, Nineva (Mousl), Sulaimanya, Erbil, and Duhuk provinces. The Endowment will provide assistance for coalition building and organization within the newly elected Transitional National Assembly, debate and education on constitutional issues, and citizen involvement in the referendum and elections. Priority will also be given to ensuring the continued diversity of the Endowment's grant portfolio.

Once again an election in the former Soviet Bloc has been the occasion for a massive display of "people power." And once again, a homegrown civil society has stood up to an authoritarian regime to say it has had enough of fraud and corruption.

I am writing, of course, of recent events in Ukraine, where a civic movement of peaceful demonstrators clad in orange succeeded in overturning a rigged election, following its exposure by the relentless efforts of monitoring organizations and independent journalists. The movement of this large and strategically located country toward greater democracy is potentially one of the most significant events in the democratic world since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Some have raised questions about the undue influence of western donors, particularly U.S. organizations such as NED, in recent events. But as we have learned in so many similar situations, democracy assistance can be effective only when popular support for democratic reform already exists. As NED's Program Director for Eurasia, Nadia Diuk, points out in the case of Ukraine, "People have been suppressed, manipulated and downtrodden for so long, that this is resulting in an explosion of their best instincts." She notes that the same independent polling group that accurately predicted the March 2002 parliamentary election results has conducted exit polling for nearly a decade. Similarly, a national civic group (The Committee of Voters) has trained and fielded tens of thousands of domestic election observers since the mid-1990s.

Although a critical breakthrough has been reached, much hard work lies ahead. As important as elections are (and those who would denigrate them as insignificant should pay heed to how critical they were here as a rallying point for the prodemocratic forces), the task of building democratic governing structures is an arduous and long term process.

The Endowment has been assisting democrats in Ukraine since before its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Our determination to support those working toward an effective transition to full democracy remains as strong as ever.

Chinese political prisoner Rebiya Kadeer was the focus of a January 26 Capitol Hill award ceremony sponsored jointly by the Uyghur American Association (a NED grantee), the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, the National Endowment for Democracy and the Thorolf Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, which honored Kadeer with its 2004 Rafto Memorial Prize. "Kadeer has distinguished herself in the struggle for the rights of the Uyghur people, for the rights of women, and against social and economic marginalization," said Arne Lynngard, Chairman of the Rafto Foundation.

Rebiya Kadeer, a leading representative of China's Uyghur minority, was jailed in August of 1999 just before she was scheduled to meet with a U.S. Congressional staff delegation to discuss human rights in China. She was later charged with "providing secret information to foreigners" and was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment. Prior to her arrest, Kadeer was a successful business woman, philanthropist and community leader. She felt a strong social responsibility to improve the lives of her fellow Uyghurs; Kadeer once stated, "It is our moral obligation to help the ones in need, and we must leave no one behind."

Since her detention, the mother of 11 has become a symbol of the struggle for basic human rights in the Turkic-speaking and predominately Muslim Uyghur community, who make up one of China's largest ethnic minority groups. "She is like the mother and the voice of the oppressed Uyghur," said Nury Turkel, President of the Uyghur American Association.

Other distinguished speakers included: Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA), cochairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus; Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen(R-FL); former NED board member Congressman Donald Payne (DNJ); Randall Schriver, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Martin Palous, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Washington; Lorne Craner, former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and current president of the International Republican Institute; and T. Kumar of Amnesty International.

Throughout the ceremony, supporters called for the immediate release of Kadeer and urged the Chinese government to respect and protect the civil, economic and cultural rights of the Uyghurs as well as other minorities in China. Congressman Wolf urged President Bush not to speak with China without raising Kadeer's case.

"I know that she can feel the love, support, and encouragement this award signifies to her and her people," stated Kadeer's daughter, Akida Rouzi, who accepted the award on her mother's behalf. "This award will not only bring to my mother, but to us all as Uyghurs, strength, courage and hope."

The Rafto Prize was established in honor of Dr. Thorolf Rafto, Professor of Economic History at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration in 1987. Professor Rafto was a staunch proponent of human rights for those behind the iron curtain in Eastern Europe. For more than 20 years Rafto worked tirelessly and at great personal risk to assist those individuals in Eastern Europe who were resisting repression. The Rafto Prize is awarded annually to an active participant in the struggle for the ideas and principles embodied by Dr. Rafto.

With the January 9, 2005 election of Mahmoud Abbas as the second president of the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian electorate conducted a nonviolent transfer of power at the highest executive level. Many NED grantees contributed to this peaceful and successful election as monitors, pollsters and civic educators.

Among NED’s grantees, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) produced some of the most accurate public opinion polls conducted before and after the elections. A week prior to the election, PSR reported that Abbas enjoyed 65% support from expected voters; Abbas officially won 62% of the vote.

Another grant through the International Republican Institute, has provided support to the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UMPRC) to strengthen local initiatives that promote leadership and educational opportunities for youth. UMPRC’s founder and director, Mustafa Barghouthi, later became Abbas’ leading rival in the January elections.

Even though the presidential elections were organized and held 60 days after Yasser Arafat’s death, they reflected preparations that were underway before his passing. A wide range of civic activists played a major role in these accomplishments, not least of which have been their ability to maintain a vibrant civil society for more than a decade. Since the early 1990s, NED has supported dozens of organizations that work to educate voters on their rights and responsibilities, build the capacity of non-governmental organizations, support women’s rights, promote conflict resolution and advocate for reform.

While the presidential election was the most visible, it was one of three sets of elections that began in December 2004 when 26 municipalities in the West Bank selected members to their local councils. The process will continue through July when Palestinians will return to the polls to elect representatives to the Palestinian Legislative Council.

As soon as the dates for local elections were set in September 2004, many of NED’s grantees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip began working earnestly with the electoral commissions. Of the 14 NED grantees in the West Bank and Gaza, 13 provided technical support for the elections and or the electoral process—some served as poll workers and election monitors, while others held town hall-style meetings and conducted television and radio campaigns to promote voter education.

Through their actions, several grantees were able to negotiate a close working relationship with the commissions, which allowed them unprecedented access as domestic monitors. On municipal and presidential election dates, they were present at polling stations to observe electoral procedures and to interview poll staff and voters. The Palestinian Center for Peace and Democracy, for example, was active in the planning process and contributed its staff to the Palestinian Election Monitoring Civil Committee, which observed the voting at 80% of polling stations. This type of activity is expected to continue as municipal elections proceed through the spring and as parliamentary elections are held in the summer.

After nearly a decade of painstaking research, the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam), a NED grantee, is poised to play a crucial role in a tribunal that might finally bring to justice those members of the Khmer Rouge regime who perpetrated horrific crimes against the Cambodian people nearly a quarter century ago.

When the Khmer Rouge came to power in April of 1975, in order to create a "classless society," they carried out a radical program to return the society to "Year Zero." Schools, hospitals and factories were closed, banking and property rights were abolished, and thousands of people were forcibly relocated from urban areas to collective farms for "reeducation." As a result of these harsh policies, many Cambodians died from exhaustion and starvation, and others were publicly executed. While the exact number of people who died during the Khmer Rouge's rule is unclear, the Cambodian Genocide Project of Yale University (CGP) estimates the death toll at 1.7 million, which would account for one-quarter of the country's total population.

For decades, Cambodians and the international community have struggled with how to address the atrocities that were committed, while survivors have lived with the knowledge that the perpetrators have not been held accountable for their crimes as evidence of those crimes faded away. In early October, 2004, after nearly eight years of negotiations and many false starts, the Cambodian government ratified an agreement with the United Nations to create a tribunal for senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge.

"The tribunal is not simply the prosecution of the individuals but rather it is a statement about the values of the society," said NED Senior Program Officer for Asia Louisa Coan Greve. "The decision to prosecute says that the Cambodian society cares about upholding truth and rejecting a legacy of lies and distortion. That it cares about the rule of law even when justice, in a cosmic sense, cannot be done."

While the dates for the tribunal have yet to be set, the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) will be an indispensable resource to the tribunal. Founded in 1995 as a field office for the CGP, DC-Cam became an independent Cambodian-led organization in 1997 and has been a NED grantee since 1999. Through its many activities, the Center aims to provide the public with a better understanding of the Khmer Rouge regime and assist Cambodians who wish to pursue legal redress for genocide and war crimes that were perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979. DC-Cam was one of the first genocide documentation centers worldwide and is the only one that catalogues the crimes committed in Cambodia. With over 600,000 pages of documentation from the Democratic Kampuchea era, DC-Cam is the largest repository of materials on the Khmer Rouge. It will provide most of the documentary evidence to be used by both the prosecution and defense of the regime's senior leaders and others accused of crimes against humanity.

One of DC-Cam's many activities is its Promoting Accountability Project. This project has compiled and organized volumes of documentary evidence, such as Khmer Rouge commanders' correspondence, daily activity logs, testimonies of victims and interviews from former officers. Based on DC-Cam's archive, which contains over 30,000 biographical files created for Khmer Rouge officials during their time in power, the staff of researchers work on locating and interviewing surviving Khmer Rouge cadres to help establish chains of command and responsibility of senior officials for grave human rights violations. Since the project began in 2001, DC-Cam staff members have interviewed over 1,300 witnesses, mapped 19,521 mass graves and identified 194 prisons and 80 memorial sites.

DC-Cam is also working to ensure that young Cambodians are aware of this incredibly dark period in their country's history. Many young Cambodian's remain largely ignorant of the atrocities committed less than a quarter of a century ago-many believing that the accounts of relatives are exaggerated, others that the genocide never occurred.

In 2004, DC-Cam received Endowment support for the initial stage of a multi-faceted education research and development project, aimed at reversing the current silence in schools on the Khmer Rouge period in Cambodian history. The Center is in the process of preparing a comprehensive resource guide for Cambodian secondary schools, including a list of genocide survivors who are willing to share their experiences with younger Cambodians. DC-Cam has also produced several documentary films and is hosting a weekly radio program that discusses the brutality committed by the Khmer Rouge.

Documentation centers and their outreach programs stimulate public discussion of the causes and consequences of history and are crucial to establishing and maintaining an accurate collective memory of a society. By cataloguing and educating Cambodians and the international community about the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge, the Documentation Center of Cambodia is helping to ensure that the public remembers the horror committed by that brutal regime and that those who were responsible for such crimes will finally be denounced, while those who were prey to their harsh policies might finally receive some measure of justice.

On October 6, 2004 the Endowment hosted a roundtable discussion entitled, “Strategies for Development in Afro-Latino Communities.” The event featured presentations from a delegation of social and political leaders of Afro-Latino descent from Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru, and was organized in collaboration with Afro-America XXI, a regional organization of over 150 Afro-Latino grassroots groups in 16 countries aimed at making the Americas a more inclusive, representative and participatory hemisphere for the nearly 150 million Afro-Latinos in the region. NED is supporting one of Afro-America XXI’s partner organizations Asociación de Grupos Juveniles LIBERTAD (Youth Association) in its work to improve the political participation in the Afro-Colombian community.

The roundtable focused on methods to organize Afro-Latino communities in Latin America and the Caribbean in order to improve their political representation and participation in the democratic process. Participants discussed the social and political position of Afro-Latinos in their respective countries, while strategizing about ways that Latin American governments and international aid agencies can support organizational efforts and promote initiatives with a special focus on Afro-Latinos.

“There are nearly 150 million people of African descent in the hemisphere and yet only two countries in the region (Brazil and Colombia) have major anti-discrimination legislation targeted at Afro-Descendants,” stated NED Board member Terence Todman, a former ambassador to several Latin American countries. “This lack of representation in politics and in government is a severe constraint on the development of inclusive, stable and democratic governments in the hemisphere.”

According to the World Bank, over 28 percent of the 520 million people living in Latin America and the Caribbean are of African descent. Generally, Afro-Latinos suffer disproportionately from poverty and social exclusion within their countries. Opportunities for them to improve their economic and social welfare are undermined by their lack of access to health and social services, general discrimination in public services, including the justice system and lower levels of educational achievement. Since the community has little or no political representation, its interests as an ethnic group often are unaddressed. As Peruvian delegate Cecilia Ramírez stated, “We don’t want the government to institute new programs, we only want to be included in the programs already in existence.”

Following the roundtable discussion, Afro-America XXI honored members of the Congressional Black Caucus for their support of House Resolution 47 at a reception in the US Capitol. The resolution recognizes the economic, political and social injustices suffered by African descendants in Latin America and recommends that the United States and the international community work to improve the situation of Afro-descendant communities in the region.

The event featured remarks from the Ambassador of Ecuador to the United States, Raúl Gangotena, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and Donald Payne (D-NJ) and former Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX). “By NED being here tonight and making sure that the members of Afro-America XXI develop a relationship with Congress, we know that the voices of the marginalized that we have been hearing in Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, and many other countries will not be silenced,” stated NED Board member Meeks. “We know that true democracy building cannot take place without you and those you represent.”

On Monday, December 6, 2004, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Embassy of Canada inaugurated an important new forum for discourse on democracy and its progress worldwide: the Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture on Democracy in the World. The lecture was delivered by former President of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

The lecture, which was held at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC, is named for one of the great scholars of democracy and public intellectuals of the twentieth century. "Marty Lipset's scholarship on themes like the conditions for democracy, political parties, voting behavior and public opinion constitutes one of the most prolific and insightful bodies of work on democracy ever produced by a single author," said NED President Carl Gershman.

Cardoso, who was introduced by NED Board Member Lee Hamilton, is one of Latin America's most distinguished social scientists and statesmen. A prominent sociologist, Cardoso served as President of Brazil from 1994 until 2002.

Lipset has also been one of the most important comparative analysts of the two great democracies of North America, and a strong advocate for US-Canadian cooperation. The joint US-Canadian sponsorship of the Lipset Lecture will provide an opportunity for influential audiences in both countries to hear and discuss a major intellectual statement on democracy each year and will serve as a catalyst for further cooperation between Canada and the United States in the promotion of democracy and democratic ideas around the world.

"We are honored to host the first annual Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture on Democracy in the World with remarks by former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso," said Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Michael F. Kergin. "Dr. Lipset has had a distinguished academic career that has included major contributions to the study of Canadian society and Canada- U.S. relations. I am delighted that we can host the inaugural lecture."

Lipset, who due to poor health was unable to attend the lecture, was also awarded NED's Democracy Service Medal prior to the event. Larry Diamond, Co-Director of NED's International Forum for Democratic Studies paid tribute to his mentor and colleague saying, "For over 50 years, Lipset has inspired, taught, and mentored several generations of leading political scientists and sociologists. Their diverse theoretical perspectives and political orientations testify to Marty's open-mindedness, breadth, and toleration. He has lived his life as he has woven his theories, with a strong belief in reason, moderation, tolerance, pragmatism, and restraint as the bedrock values of democracy and of a decent society."

The lecture, which is also cosponsored with the Munk Centre for International Relations of the University of Toronto, will in future years be delivered in both the US and Canada. It will be an intellectual platform for men and women who, like Lipset, have made important contributions to our thinking about key issues of democracy through their writings and other accomplishments.

An edited text of Cardoso's lecture will be published in the April 2005 edition of the Journal of Democracy. For more details about the event, including a webcast and transcript, visit the NED website at www.ned.org.

The task of postconflict democracy building has confronted policy makers in places as diverse as Cambodia, Mozambique, Haiti, Bosnia, and East Timor, but developments in Afghanistan and Iraq have now brought this issue to the center of public attention. What lessons have been learned from these varied experiences? How can the United States and the international community improve their performance? What are the prospects for achieving democratic outcomes in such situations?

These were some of the questions that were raised on January 13, 2005 at George Washington University during a panel discussion entitled, “Building Democracy After Conflict” to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of NED’s Journal of Democracy. The panel highlighted essays from the current issue with comments from contributors: co-editors of the Journal of Democracy Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner; NED Board member and Bernard Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies Francis Fukuyama; the Dwight D. Eisenhower Chair in National Security Studies at the U.S. Army War College, Larry Goodson; and president of the European Stability Initiative Gerald Knaus.

The Journal of Democracy is the world's leading publication on the theory and practice of democracy. Since its first appearance in 1990, it has engaged both activists and intellectuals in critical discussions of the problems and prospects facing democracy around the world. Today, the Journal is at the center of debate on the major social, political, and cultural challenges that confront emerging and established democracies alike.

The International Forum for Democratic Studies welcomed the arrival of its Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows in October. The Reagan-Fascell program aims to deepen the knowledge, enrich the skills, broaden the perspectives and revive the energy and morale of some of the world's most creative and courageous democratic practitioners and scholars. This class of fellows are democratic activists and scholars from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Chechnya, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Montenegro, and Nigeria.

In 1999, Ilyas Akhmadov was appointed foreign minister of Chechnya. Since then, he has consistently sought to focus international attention on the humanitarian tragedy in Chechnya and promote a negotiated end to the war with Russia. During his fellowship at the International Forum, Mr. Akhmadov plans to begin writing a book tentatively entitled Chechnya's Struggle for Independence.

Dragan Djuric is a Montenegrin trade union and labor relations activist, as well as a freelance journalist. He has been head of the Department for International Cooperation, Education and Information Affairs, with the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Montenegro, since 1987. During his fellowship, Mr. Djuric plans to analyze the U.S. model of conflict management with respect to labor relations and compare it with the European social model. He will focus on the potential applications of both models for Montenegro and other societies in transition.

Abiodun Kolawole is a research officer at the Center for Constitutionalism and Demilitarization, an NGO based in Lagos, Nigeria. An active participant in Nigeria's student and democracy movements, Mr. Kolawole was instrumental in the formation of the United Action for Democracy, a coalition of human rights, labor and prodemocracy groups committed to social justice, transparency and good governance. Mr. Kolawole will use his fellowship to examine the methods and strategies of U.S. opposition groups to identify ways of strengthening Nigeria's own fragile democratic opposition.

Chingiz Mammadov is an economic opportunities program officer at the Baku office of Mercy Corps International, a leading humanitarian assistance organization. As a program officer, he also oversees the Azerbaijan Humanitarian Assistance Program. During his fellowship, Mr. Mammadov plans to study the impact of external geopolitical factors on the social, political and economic development of Azerbaijan.

James Lapani Ng'ombe is the executive director of the Malawi Institute of Journalism, which promotes media independence and professionalism through training, research and writing. As one of Malawi's most distinguished and prolific authors, he has published numerous works on political themes, including the novels Sugarcane with Salt (1989) and Madala's Children (1996). Following on the success of his second novel, Dr. Ng'ombe will devote his fellowship to writing a sequel, entitled Madala's Grandchildren. The novel will examine the sociopolitical conditions in Malawi in the ten years following Dr. Banda's removal from office and will pay special attention to issues of good and bad governance, corruption and accountability.

Until recently, Akintola Olaniyan was deputy editor at The Punch, Nigeria's most widely read daily newspaper. An accomplished journalist whose writings have helped cultivate an awareness of democracy in Nigeria, Mr. Olaniyan is the author of Corruption and Economic Development in Nigeria (2002) and chairs the African Media Support Initiative. During his fellowship, he will study the relationship between the media and sustainable democracy and prepare a report on how corruption in the Nigerian media adversely affects the state of Nigeria's democracy.

Yulia Savchenko is a television anchor and journalist who has achieved public recognition for her talk show on Pyramid TV in Kyrgyzstan. During her fellowship, she will examine government-media relations in the United States and U.S. approaches to "civic" or "public" journalism. She is especially interested in the complex relationships among journalists, corporate media, government officials and the public in a functioning democracy.

Vitali Silitsky is an accomplished scholar who worked as an associate professor of economics at the European Humanities University in Minsk, Belarus before he was forced to leave for publicly criticizing the government of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. During his fellowship, Dr. Silitski will conduct a comparative study of political developments in Serbia (1987-2000) and Belarus (1994-present), examining nondemocratic outcomes in political transitions.

The World Movement for Democracy has announced that the its Fourth Assembly will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 2-5, 2006. Like previous assemblies, the meeting will be an indispensable networking opportunity for participants to share valuable experience and strategies for promoting democracy and addressing specific challenges to that work. Some 400-500 democracy activists, practitioners, trade unionists, scholars, policy makers and others engaged in promoting democracy from more than 100 countries will be invited to participate. The World Movement Secretariat at NED will organize the Assembly with local partner organizations, the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) and the Helsinki Citizens Assembly.

Like previous assemblies, the Istanbul meeting will focus on the practical ways that democrats can advance their work and will be composed mainly of discussion workshops that maximize opportunities for participation and exchange.

Proceedings of the World Movement’s Third Assembly, held February 1-4, 2004 in Durban, South Africa were recently published in a final report prepared by the World Movement Secretariat at NED. The report details many of the recommendations and proposed initiatives that resulted from over 60 workshops. The report also includes excerpts from keynote addresses and Democracy Courage Tributes, as well as a list of the nearly 600 participants. The report is available on the World Movement website (www.wmd.org), which also features video-clips and the full texts of the keynote addresses.

Since the Third Assembly, the World Movement’s Secretariat and various networks have been engaged in follow-up activities based on discussions at the Assembly. Among the activities:

• The World Movement’s regional network in Africa, the Africa Democracy Forum (ADF) recently established its secretariat at the Kenya Human Rights Commission, a Nairobi-based nongovernmental human rights organization. Since its launching in 2000, the ADF has grown to include more than 220 members throughout the region. (www.africademocracyforum.org) In October, the secretariat organized a week-long training program for over 40 ADF members on using information and communication technologies (ICTs). The program was jointly conducted by the ADF and Kabissa, a Washington, DC-based NGO that provides ICT technical assistance to African civil society organizations.
  
  
• On December 12-17, the Youth Movement for Democracy network and the Africa Democracy Forum held a training program on democratic leadership and conflict resolution for young democracy activists in East Africa. The program, which was conducted in Nairobi, trained 20 participants from Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Somaliland, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. The training emphasized practical skills as well as broadening understanding about the connections between conflict resolution, peace building and democracy.
  
  
• On September 27, the International Movement of Parliamentarians for Democracy (IMPD) held an organizational meeting of its Interim Executive Committee. Parliamentarians from Italy, Jordan, Tibet, the United States and Zimbabwe attended the Washington, DC meeting. The Committee will hold its next meeting in Rome on October 3-4, 2005, coinciding with the next meeting of the Parliamentarians for Tibet.
  
  
• The Transatlantic Democracy Network, a cooperative project bringing together Europeans and North Americans to help strengthen democracy, recently launched its website (www.demdigest.net). The Network publishes Democracy Digest, a free weekly e-newsletter that identifies and provides substantive information about democracy related issues and encourages transatlantic cooperation.
  
  
• The International Women's Democracy Network recently launched its website (www.wmd.org/women/womensdemocracy.html), and is working to support and enhance women's roles in the development of democratic practices and institutions at the community, national and international levels. Upon the recommendation of the Third Assembly workshop on “Networking Activists for Women's Rights,” the Women's Learning Partnership (WLP) is currently serving as the Network’s secretariat.

The staff and directors of the National Endowment for Democracy mourn the recent loss of three dear friends: Polish-American patriot Jan Nowak, founding NED Board member Jay Van Andel, and Congolese human rights activist Omekongo Kitoko.

Jan Nowak died in Poland on January 20, 2005 at the age of 91. Known to many in Poland as a hero of the Polish underground during WWII and as the voice of Radio Free Europe’s Polish service for many years thereafter, Nowak went on to play a crucial role in helping to solidify America’s support for Polish democrats in the 1980s.  This included acting as the principal adviser to NED on its support of Solidarity and other prodemocracy groups operating inside Poland whose courageous activities in many ways helped precipitate the end of the Cold War.  “Nowak was an indispensable guide and supporter in the early days of our organization,” said NED President Carl Gershman.  “The impact of Jan’s wisdom and his tenacious commitment to freedom for Poles was felt well beyond the borders of Poland itself.”
 
On July 11, 2002, Nowak was awarded the NED Democracy Service Medal.  At that ceremony, NED’s Director for Central Europe and Eurasia Nadia Diuk commented, “It's hard to pay adequate tribute to a man whose actions have been so integral to the turbulent struggles of Poland and Eastern Europe in the past fifty years. Most of us are shaped by the environment around us, but there are the few rare individuals who shape the times in which we live, and Jan is just such a person.”
 
Jay Van Andel died on December 7, 2004 at the age of 80. Co-founder of the Amway Corporation, Van Andel was known for his political and philanthropic influence within his home state of Michigan and internationally. He was among the first group of NED Directors, serving on the NED Board from its incorporation in 1983 to 1992. He later went on to serve on the Board of Directors at one of the Endowment’s core institutes, the Center for International Private Enterprise, from 1984 to 1987.

Throughout his lifetime, Van Andel was a champion of free societies and free enterprise. As a founder of the Jamestown Foundation in 1983, he worked to find ways to utilize the knowledge and abilities of Soviet defectors. He served on the Board of Directors at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1972 to 1979 and as Chairman in 1980. As he said in his autobiography, An Enterprising Life, “Free enterprise does something for human beings that cannot be done in any other way. It gives them hope and the incentive that goes with it. All of the plans of all the governments on earth eventually fail if freedom is not present.”

Omekongo Kitoko died on January 27, 2005 at the age of 46. As the president of Haki Za Binadamu du Maniema (Human Rights of Maniema), an Endowment grantee since 1994, Omekongo pioneered the human rights movement in the Maniema province, one of the most dangerous regions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After leading Haki Za Binadamu for many years and inspiring the emergence of many other human rights organizations, Omekongo was forced into exile during the Congolese civil war. During his exile, Omekongo earned advanced degrees in law and human rights, but rather than remaining in safety, he returned to Maniema to revitalize its beleaguered community of human rights activists.

Omekongo was active in the World Movement for Democracy and a host of other international causes advocating for human rights, the environment and development. He was an international observer in the elections of Benin, Chad and Nigeria, and was the honorary president of the Congo chapter of the African democracy monitoring network, GERDDES.

NED extends its deepest sympathy to the Van Andel, Nowak, and Omekongo’s families and friends at this time.

Asia Regional
Asian Network for Free and Fair Elections (ANFREL)
ANFREL will work closely with domestic election monitoring groups to plan targeted interventions designed to improve the quality of elections. The Network will conduct conflict resolution programs in countries torn apart by violence and organize workshops on election monitoring, voter education, election systems and good governance.

Haiti
Centre de Formation Citoyenne et d’Appui au Developpement
(Center for Citizen Education and Development Support)
CEFCAD will identify fifteen community leadership groups throughout Haiti to participate in a program for training and financial support. Groups will receive training in community organization and outreach, problem identification, proposal writing, project management, budgeting and mobilization of resources. Once the training is completed, CEFCAD will provide small subgrants to the groups to help them carry out community development projects.

Kosovo
Faik Konica Journalism Academy
The Academy will conduct a series of courses on the principles of professional journalism and media management for 275 young journalists working in electronic and print media. The courses will attempt to raise the professional and managerial competence of independent news organizations in the region and promote the development of a free and democratic media sector.

Uganda
Kitou Cha Katiba (KCK)
KCK will continue to discuss critical political issues and support advocacy efforts toward a peaceful transition from a one party system to multiparty democracy. KCK will organize a two day conference for 25 judges, lawyers, and parliamentarians on the rule of law and strengthening the judiciary. After the conference KCK will publish 100 conference reports for other NGOs working on similar issues.

Ukraine
Telekritika
Telekritika will continue analyze the Ukrainian media and to provide a forum for widespread public discussion of media issues in anticipation of the 2004 presidential election. In addition to maintaining its website, Telekritika will monitor the main television networks’ coverage of the election. Telekritika will also produce a weekly radio program; provide content to Ukrainian and foreign newspapers and publish its own journal, Telekritika.

West Bank and Gaza
Ma’an Network
Ma’an will train staff from five Palestinian independent television stations on investigative journalism. Participants will then applying these skills in the production of a nine episodes series entitled “Visual Investigation” and also produce and broadcast a series of 12 programs on elections and good governance.