June 4, 2004, Volume 1, Number 5

DEMOCRACY DIGEST

The Weekly Bulletin of the Transatlantic Democracy Network


ISSUES

EU Already Taking Middle East Initiative – Patten
The European Union is already pursuing the reform strategy suggested in the US administration's Greater Middle East Initiative, says Chris Patten, the EU commissioner for external relations. He also suggests Middle East diversity and the absence of an adversarial relationship with the west invalidate comparisons of democratization in the region and the former Soviet bloc.

“Many of the initiatives that the US is now proposing,” in its Greater Middle East Initiative, “echo programs that the EU is already operating with our Mediterranean partners.” Promoting reforms has been the focus of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership for nearly a decade, he said, but argued that “reform must come from within, and cannot be imposed from the outside.” EU member states “cannot and do not seek to export any preconceived models of how political reform should be implemented in any one country.”

While appreciative that the US wants to take a “comprehensive and long-term approach” to the region, which coincides with EU objectives, Patten nevertheless insists that Europe has “a distinct policy and our relationships in the region are already well developed." Arab countries are Europe's neighbors and the EU's relationship with them is built on partnership.

Asked by Aljazeera whether the Greater Middle East Initiative could have a democratizing effect similar to the Helsinki Initiative that undermined communist states, Patten disputes the comparison, arguing that “the Middle East is not a bloc …[but]… a diverse region with different political systems and with rich economic and social differences. "Above all," he continues, Middle Eastern countries are not the West's enemies but “our partners and friends." While progress is necessary –- a fact acknowledged in the region –- the EU wants “to encourage, not impose, reform.”

The new European Neighborhood Policy offers an even closer relationship with the EU to Mediterranean countries "willing to work with us on our main issues of concern," including rule of law, democracy and human rights, economic development, and security threats from regional conflicts, terrorism, organized crime and illegal migration. The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership brings together 35 countries in Europe and around the Mediterranean, including Israel. The EU spends some €1 billion ($1.2 billion) a year in aid to the Mediterranean region alone, plus €2 billion in loans from the European Investment Bank. It is the major trading partner and major investor in the Gulf and the Mediterranean.

The EU rejects the notion, prevalent amongst Arab states, that that no real reforms are possible without first solving the Arab-Israeli conflict. “For the EU, a peace settlement is not a precondition for reforms or vice versa,” Patten insists. “We are politically committed to both.”

Imperfect Democracy Better Than False Utopia
It is because democracy is imperfect that it represents the way forward for the Middle East, Egyptian intellectual and activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim told a recent conference of Muslim democrats. “We are not looking for another utopia; we are looking for an optimal solution based on the systems available to us,” the founder of the Cairo-based Ibn Khaldun Center told a conference of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy. But, he cautioned, democracy promotion cannot afford to “ignore the cultures and values of the societies in which it is implanted. Otherwise, it will never take root or be embraced by the masses.”

Responding to Arab and European criticisms of "imposed" reform, William J. Burns, Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs in the US State Department confirmed that "democratic change must be driven from within societies in the region. It cannot be sustained by outside preaching or prescriptions.” The challenge of opening up the region's political systems “must be given much higher priority” and support for democratic change integrated with a broader strategy that “seeks with equal vigor to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.” Finally, democratization demands “gradual but real systemic change.” Beyond elections, it requires a “painful, difficult, evolutionary and sometimes risky process of building sound institutions, the rule of law and vibrant civil societies.”

Members of the Muslim diaspora have crucial roles to play in promoting democracy in their countries of origin, according to a panel at the Washington conference. "American Muslims can be a force for democracy in their countries of origin," said Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy. Democratic movements in Cuba, North Korea, Tibet and Iran are being assisted by compatriots abroad, just as exiles helped movements like Poland's Solidarity undermine communism.

Difficulties in Iraq have led some to suggest that the US should backtrack on its commitment to help reform the Middle East. Lorne Craner, US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor was at pains to disabuse the pessimists. [“[I]f you remember only one thing from my talk tonight,” he emphasized, “remember this: the US, for many reasons, has made the commitment to freedom in the region and we will stick to it. The US Government has turned an important corner in our thinking. From the President on down, support for democratic reform in the Muslim world has moved to the very top of our agenda.” Other speakers emphasized the need to overcome doctrinaire and archaic interpretations of Islam. “There is a need for Muslims to differentiate between what is divine and what is human, said Zainah Anwar, executive director of Sisters in Islam, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “The source of the law is divine, but the human effort in understanding God's message … is not infallible and divine.”

“Democratic gradualism“ will be necessary in some Muslim countries, cautioned Ali A. Mazrui, CSID Chair and Director of the Global Cultural Studies Institute, Binghamton University. “We have learnt from Nigeria and from some of the former Soviet republics that instant democracy corrupts." He was optimistic that because “some democratic principles have been part of Islam from the beginning" change will come. He cited concepts such as shura [consultation] and idjitihad, independent interpretation of Islamic sources of law. He noted that the earliest Caliphs after the Prophet Muhammad were chosen through an ancient form of the electoral college.

Iraq Failure Could Prompt European Fracturing, New Alliances
With President Bush's trip to Europe for the D-Day commemorations marking a nadir in US-European relations, the long-term implications of the Iraq crisis for transatlantic relations is troubling a US administration under attack from political rivals for alienating allies and eager to secure international assistance in Iraq.

An independent report suggests that “strategic separation” would be an attractive option for many Europeans in the event of failure in Iraq. The starkly pessimistic report, which is not in the public domain, is by Simon Serfaty, director of the Europe Program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. The Financial Times reports that Serfaty was commissioned by the US adminstration to speculate on the effect of failure in Iraq on Europe and transatlantic relations, defining failure as an abrupt withdrawal of most US troops as Iraq fragments into civil war.

Europe's post-war development was based on “robust economic growth, centrist political stability, reliable regional security and credible transatlantic relations – conditions that would all be seriously compromised by the circumstances surrounding the US retreat from Iraq.”

Irrespective of their stance on the Iraq war, a US retreat might turn “most European allies into bitter communities of fears and resentments of the United States that conditioned their new insecurity, of Israelis that exacerbated it, of their own Muslim citizens made to look ominously threatening, of their neighbors for whatever reasons, and of their own governments for all sorts of reasons.”

“Whatever is thought of as a strategy of preponderance is not nearly as bad as a strategy of preponderance that fails,” he suggests. “[F]ailure in Iraq would transform significantly the dynamics of inter-state and institutional relations in Europe and across the Atlantic,” he says. "Europe's fragile political structure of centrist republics would be vulnerable to long-repressed cultural or nationalist instincts, with consequences for Europe's entire institutional structure.”

"Much of Europe might now view strategic separation (from the US) as a viable response to an unnecessary cultural clash with an Islamic world progressively united by the misuses of American power and the misrepresentations of western values," he continues. Europeans feel less safe now than 15 months ago and many “attribute their vulnerability to a misuse of US military power and a related misunderstanding of the global conflict against terror.” Given such sentiment, Serfaty suggests that Russia and China might be viewed as more stable strategic partners by Europe. The need for reliable energy supplies in the face of Middle East turmoil would bolster the case for a European rapprochement with Russia.

France and Germany could take the initiative to form a "smaller but more cohesive union of pioneer states as a rampart against the allegedly irresponsible uses of American power." For Russia, the "prospects of a renewed Russian empire, built around a new alliance with Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, might prove irresistible," Serfaty suggests.

Report Contends Kerry Downplays Democracy
A recent article in The Washington Post reports that Democratic presidential candidiate John Kerry sees security as a separate and more important foreign policy objective than democracy. According to this account, Kerry would "play down the promotion of democracy as a leading goal in dealing with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, China and Russia...."

A follow-up story in the New York Sun reported that an unnamed Kerry adviser "implied that The Washington Post had misconstrued the senator's remarks." The adviser did acknowledge that Kerry hopes to change a perception among American voters that "Democrats are soft on security."

Kenneth Roth, Director of Human Rights Watch, a prominent US human rights activist, called Kerry's statement "a step toward Kissingerian realism. It's the opposite of the lesson that should be drawn....Bush has lost the capacity to promote human rights and Kerry's suggesting he's not going to even try? It's like a gift to these tyrants." Kerry's interview appeared as the Bush Administration's ardent rhetoric about democracy in the Middle East also came under questioning from a number of the President's conservative supporters, ranging from columnist George Will to former Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni to The Washington Times's Arnaud de Borchgrave

Senator Kerry's Washington Post interview seems likely to stir further comment and interpretation in the weeks ahead.

Worrying Democracy Gap in Former USSR
A “widening and worrisome democracy gap” is emerging between the stable democracies of the Baltics and Central Europe and the weaker post-Communist states of the non-Baltic former Soviet Union, says a new report from Freedom House. Particularly troubling, says the independent democracy-monitoring group, are the decline in democracy scores in Russia “which has failed to lead by example in the region where its influence remains pervasive.”

As if to confirm Freedom House's point, a few days after its report was released, President Vladimir Putin's state of the union address, displayed open hostility to democratization and human rights groups within and outside Russia. Rather than defending ''the real interests of the people,'' Mr. Putin claimed, the priority such groups was ''getting financing from influential foreign and domestic foundations, while others serve dubious group and commercial interests.''

Putin sought to portray democrats as elitists, who give prioritiy to foreign interests over the concerns of Russia's ordinary citizens. ''I have to say that when it concerns violations of fundamental human rights and infringements upon real interests of the people, the voice of those organizations is often unheard,'' Putin said. ''Actually there is nothing strange about that. They cannot bite the hand that feeds them.''

Many activists consider Putin's speech a prelude to a campaign to clamp down on civil society groups, one of the few relatively autonomous sectors in what Putin associates call "managed democracy." "The government has already taken under control the mass media, parliament and many other independent structures, and this is a step to attack our independence and a desire to take us under control," said Arseny Roginsky, chairman of the human rights group Memorial. Putin's message to Russian officials was “that they should divide organizations into good and bad, help the ones they consider good and build barriers for the ones they consider to be bad," said Roginsky, who is due to be honored in the US for his work in defending human rights in Russia (see "Events" item below).

Storm Clouds Over Ukrainian Elections
“No political event in Europe this year is more important than Ukraine's presidential elections next October,” argues Anders Åslund. The Director of the Russian and Eurasian Program at Washington's Carnegie Endowment for International Peace sees a clear choice "between democracy and dictatorship [and] between a Western and Eastern geopolitical orientation.”

Both the US and EU have protested against abuses in regional and local elections, he notes, but “more high-level attention would be useful.” The EU's insistence that Ukraine will not be eligible for EU membership has reduced its leverage, and the US should help build up a cadre of pro-Western Ukrainians through scholarships at US universities. But the US faces a policy dilemma between "on the one hand, the relative importance of Ukrainian troops in Iraq, and democracy in Ukraine, on the other.”

Ukraine's fledgling civil society is “rising to the challenge” of preparing for the country's October elections, says Nadia Diuk, Director of Central Europe and Eurasia at the National Endowment for Democracy. In recent testimony on Capitol Hill to the US House of Representatives' International Relations Committee she made a number of specific recommendations:

  • all candidates should be given access to the national TV channels and debates should be encouraged and fully covered;
  • electoral law violations should be swiftly and fairly adjudicated, and where guilt is determined, prosecutions should be seen to ensue;
  • candidates' representatives should be able to participate in electoral commissions, with an equitable distribution of the heads of commissions according to party affiliation;
  • international observers should be welcomed and provision made for domestic observers;
  • Madeleine Albright's recommendation in a recent op-ed piece in the New York Times should be explored: Ukraine's leaders should be told that entry into Western institutions will slow and their own bank accounts and visa privileges be jeopardized if the elections are fraudulent.

      * Editors from one of Ukraine's few opposition news sources, the Web-based Ukrayinska pravda says the head of the presidential administration is trying to disrupt their work or close them down ahead of forthcoming presidential elections.

    EU Foreign Policy Head Pledges Support for Belarus Opposition
    The European Union will focus attention on the situation in Belarus, “particularly in the run-up to parliamentary elections scheduled for this autumn," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on 26 May after meeting Belarusian opposition leaders in his Brussels headquarters. The opposition leaders raised the issue of human rights violations in Belarus, arrests of opposition activists, pressure on civil society and obliteration of freedom of speech.

    EU officials do not normally meet opposition leaders, and Belarus's President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and other top officials of his government have never been granted meetings with high-ranking EU officials.

    "The forthcoming parliamentary elections provide the Belarusian authorities with an opportunity to demonstrate their readiness to develop democracy and pan-European values,” said Solana. “Those fighting against the regime have found themselves in a difficult situation. The visit of the Belarusian opposition at the EU's invitation should be considered as a sign of support."

    According to Charter-97, the delegation also met the European Commission's Director General for Enlargement, Eneko Landaburu. Landaburu, a Basque, expressed his personal support for the Belarusian opposition, saying "I fought the Franco dictatorship and I understand too well the situation you have found yourselves in.”

    Civic Educators Stress Role of Citizenship
    Education for democracy was the theme as hundreds of teaches and civic activists from around the world met in Budapest for the World Congress of Civic Education.

    The meeting, organized by the California-based Center for Civic Education in California, provided opportunity for educators to compare methods and experience, and for discussion on the role that education and culture have to the health of democratic institutions. Democracy Digest co-editor Penn Kemble, the keynote speaker, stressed that democracy is impossible without citizens, and that "unless people who have been subjects become citizens -- members of a democratic community who understand and exercise both the rights and responsibilities of self-government -- the institutions of any democracy will at best be dangerously unhealthy."

    EU elections raise eyebrows, not voter interest
    Many Europeans watched the last American presidential elections -- down to the dangling chads -- with an amusement edged in dread. It appeared that a great democracy was squandering itself in division and incompetence. Now observers are asking about the condition of democracy in Europe. Elections for the European Parliament are coming up, and evidence of civic vigor is not compelling.

    Although the European Parliament now has powers that exceed those of many national governments, vast numbers of European citizens don't know much about it, and don't participate in its selection. Some who do often use their votes to send messages to home country politicians, while others make celebrity-stricken Americans seem tediously serious. A survey of the entire process in the International Herald Tribune notes, along with some telling substantive points, that "candidates in the coming elections include a sprinkling of nonpolitical personalities: an Estonian supermodel, Carmen Kass; a Slovak ice hockey star, Peter Stastny; the race car driver, Krzysztof Holowczyc; and the pornography star, Katerina Bochnickova, also known as Dolly Buster.

    INFORMATION

    New Israel Democracy Index
    The Israeli Democracy Index is an annual survey of the state of democracy in that country, based on quantitative measures, international rankings and surveys, and public opinion surveys conducted in Israel. A special feature of this year's Index is a survey of Israeli youth that allows readers to compare young people with the general population and also to compare attitudes of native-born Jewish youth, immigrant Jewish youth, and Arab youth on a number of key issues. The Index also allows comparisons with the 2003 survey to highlight areas of progress and regress in Israeli democracy in the past year.

    On June 1, Asher Arian, senior fellow at IDI, presented highlights from the 2004 Israeli Democracy Index at a conference in the residence of Moshe Katzav, president of the state of Israel. One finding described in an advance report on this year's survey: a large proportion of Israeli youth support the right to refuse military service in the territories (43%), and an almost equal proportion support the right to refuse an order to evict settlers from places where they have established themselves.

    In conjunction with this event, the Israel Democracy Institute and the International Forum for Democratic Studies cosponsored a workshop on the theory and practice of democratic audits in Jerusalem on June 1-3. Participants included the Institute for Regional and International Studies (Bulgaria), Ghana Center for Democratic Development (Ghana), Romanian Academic Society (Romania), St. Petersburg Humanity and Political Studies Center (Russia), Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies (Serbia and Montenegro), Institute for Public Affairs (Slovakia), King Prajadhipok's Institute (Thailand), and Democratic Initiatives Foundation (Ukraine)

    A complete English text of the 2004 Israeli Democracy Index will be available soon at: http://www.idi.org.il/english/article.php?id=205bf79ab2a9fdbc8aa2b819f733b9da.

    A Full Translation of Ayatollah Sistani's Statement
    on the Formation of the New Iraqi Interim Government
    Issued on 3 June 2004, In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Benevolent
    His eminence Ayatollah Sistani, may God preserve him, has previously and continuously confirmed the importance of an Iraqi government that is sovereign and that emanates from free and honest elections with the participation of all Iraqis. However, and for many well known reasons, the choice of elections was overlooked. Between hindrances, procrastination, opposition and intimidation, time has lapsed and the date of 30 June has approached when supposedly sovereignty will be handed back to the Iraqis.  

    Thus, events have dictated that the new government be formed without any electoral legitimacy. Furthermore, not all sectors of Iraqi society or its political forces were suitably represented.  

    Despite this, it is hoped that this government proves its competence and integrity and its absolute determination to address the serious responsibilities it now faces and these are:  
    1. To extract a clear resolution from the international security council by regaining full sovereignty of Iraq for the Iraqis; that is not lacking in any of its political, economic and security aspects and to effectively seek removal of all traces of the occupation.
    2. To present general services to Iraqis, to reduce the suffering they face in their daily life.
    3. To prepare well for the general elections and to uphold the date agreed upon at the beginning of the next Christian year. To form a national assembly that is not bound by any decisions issued under occupation, including what is referred to as the transitional administrative law.  

    The new government will not gain popular acceptance, unless it proves, through clear and practical steps, that it seeks, with seriousness and loyalty, achieving the above mentioned responsibilities


    VACANCIES

    DPK Consulting     seeks senior experts in judicial reform, anti-corruption, information technology, civil society, and gender for short and medium-term assignments on a USAID-funded Improved Rule of Law Project in Jordan. Email resume and availability information to resume@dpkconsulting.com and reference "JO04-03" in the email subject line. Deadline: June 11, 2004.

    Médecins sans Frontières seeks to appoint a head of humanitarian affairs in the organization's HQ in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

    The International Foundation for Electoral Systems seeks a Chief of Party--Georgia. The position, under the supervision of IFES/Washington, involves the development and implementation of a technical assistance program in civic education and democratic institutions in Georgia. Primary duties will include management of a pilot civic education program in Georgian secondary schools and strategizing with donors and implementers for supporting Georgia's nascent democratic institutions, including: electoral and judicial systems, municipal governance, and civil society writ large. Send resumé and cover letter to: jobs@ifes.org indicating “1114” in the e-mail subject line.


    FORTHCOMING EVENTS

    June 9, Washington, DC
    The National Endowment for Democracy 2004 Democracy Award:
    Prospects for Democracy and Human Rights in Russia
    The National Endowment for Democracy will make its 2004 Democracy Award to Russian human rights activists in a presentation on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, June 9, 2004.
    Ludmilla Alekseeva and the Moscow Helsinki Group, Mara Polyakova and the Independent Council for Legal Expertis, Arseny Roginsky and the International Memorial Society, and Aleksei Simonov and the Glasnost Defense Foundation will be recognized for their courage in defending human rights in Russia.

    The presentations will be made by Elena Bonner, former dissident, human rights activist and widow of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, former Czech president Vaclav Havel (invited) and Stanford University Russia expert Michael McFaul. Commentators will include US Congressman and NED Board member Christopher Cox, Washington Post columnist Jackson Diehl, US Senator John McCain and Steve Sestanovitch, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and professor of international diplomacy at Columbia University. The reception and presentation will be on Wednesday, June 9, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., in the Russell Caucus Room, 325 Russell Senate Building, First Street and Constitution Avenue, NE, Washington, D.C. RSVP, specifying reception and/or roundtable, to (202) 293-7396 ext. 1 or register online at http://www.ned.org/.

    June 14-21, Salzburg, Austria
    'Reinventing the West: Redefining the Transatlantic relationship'     Salzburg Seminar, Leopoldskron Strasse 56-58, Box 129, A-5010 Salzburg, tel: +43 662 83 98 30, fax: +43 662 83 98 37, e-mail:info@salzburgseminar.org, web site: http://www.salzburgseminar.org/.

    June 15, Washington, D.C.
    Political Islam: Image and Reality
    … is the theme to be addressed by Professor Mohammed Ayoob, University Distinguished Professor of International Relations at James Madison College, Michigan State University on June 15, 2-4 PM at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Ave NW. A discussion will follow. Professor Ayoob specializes in conflict and security in the Third World, his publications including conceptual essays and case studies on South Asia, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, and Southeast Asia. RSVP to Indhu Sekar, isekar@ceip.org or 202.939.2262 by June 10, C.O.B.

    June 16-21, Halki, Greece
    15th Halki International Seminars: 'Transatlantic cooperation in the greater Middle East and South-eastern Europe', ELIAMEP, 4 Xenophontos Street, GR-105 57 Athens, tel: +30 210 331 50 22, fax: +30 210 364 21 39, e-mail: halki@eliamep.gr, web site: http://www.eliamep.gr/.

    June 24-25, 2004, Berlin, Germany
    Heinrich Boll Foundation Conference on International Law and the United Nations
    The Heinrich Böll Foundation holds its 5th Annual Foreign Policy Conference Thursday, June 24-25, in Berlin, on the Role of International Law and the United Nations in a Globalizing World. Speakers include Gareth Evans, former Australian Foreign Minister, President and Chief Executive of the International Crisis Group (ICG); Ralf Fücks of the Heinrich Böll Foundation; Democracy Digest's own Penn Kemble, senior fellow, Freedom House; Klaus Scharioth, German Foreign Ministry State Secretary; and Rebekka Göhring of the German Society for Foreign Affairs. All conference contributions will be simultaneously translated into German and English. Details and registration from Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Andrea Peschel.

    June 25, London, United Kingdom
    One World Trust Seminar on a Universal Framework for Gauging Democracy
    “To combat disillusion with democracy, we must find out how well it works,” says the UK-based One World Trust. It is organizing a seminar on the “State of Democracy” to discuss a universal framework for assessing democracy in any country around the world, and the international contributions that such audits can make to democracy and human rights.  Speakers include Marwan Sawer (Australian Democratic Audit), Peter de Souza (South Asian Audits), Abdulla Hamdock (Africa), David Beetham (Democratic Audit), Todd Landman (Human Rights Centre, Essex) and Simon Burall (The One World Trust). The seminar, organised in partnership with Democratic Audit and International IDEA, is on 25 June 2004, 4:30 - 6:30 p.m., at Friends Meeting House, Euston Road, London. Email owt@parliament.uk to ensure a seat.  For further details, contact Leticia Labre, Publicity and Advocacy Manager, One World Trust.

    July, 4-6, The Hague, the Netherlands
    High-profile Speakers at
    "Enhancing the European profile in Democracy Assistance" Conference
    Democracy AGENDA –- the Alliance for Generating a European Network for Democracy Assistance -– has confirmed several important speakers for their forthcoming conference,   “Enhancing the European profile in Democracy Assistance.” Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende will join Madeleine Albright, former US Secretary of State and president of the National Democratic Institute, in addressing the conference in The Hague, Netherlands. Other speakers include Lord Dahrendorf of the British House of Lords, Adrian Severin, president of the OSCE and former minister of state in Romania), Mamphela Ramphele, Managing Director of the World Bank), Miguel Angel Rodriquez (former President of Costa Rica) and Agnes Van Ardenne, the Dutch Minister of International Cooperation.

    The event is hosted by the Institute for Multiparty Democracy, parallel to the Dutch presidency of the European Union. The conference is prepared by a European wide steering committee, containing the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, the British Westminster Foundation for Democracy, the French Fondation Jean Jaures and the Swedish Centre Party International Department

    European political parties have a long history of assisting democracy in developing countries and the conference will consider how their experiences can help shape European Foreign and Security Policy in which democracy assistance could play a significant role. An alliance of European party organizations started to consider the importance of an enhanced European profile at the Paris meeting of the 'World-wide Conference of Democracy Support Foundations,' in March 2003. During a Berlin brainstorming session, organised by the German Social Democrats' Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the alliance decided to set up a European-wide conference for party organizations to develop a European profile.


    Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, IMD Office, Korte Vijverberg 2, NL-2513 AB The Hague, tel: +31 70 3115464, fax: +31 70 3115465, e-mail: info@nimd.org, web site: http://www.nimd.org/

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