How can we best promote legislative strengthening in new democracies? In a previous article, I talked about a new research project that aims to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge about democracy promotion. That project aims to do more than say ‘context matters’. We want to know what works where and when, and why it does so. This week we’re taking our first steps in that direction with the release of a new policy paper. Nic Cheeseman and I argue that parliamentary strengthening involves several trade-offs. Democracy promoters can’t avoid them, but they can learn to navigate them more effectively. Our policy paper – built on the experience of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) – provides a …

In the late 2000s a two-part consensus emerged between academics, policy makers and practitioners in the realm of democracy promotion. First, parliaments needed to be strengthened if the international community was serious about promoting democracy. Second, that we had done a pretty poor job of it so far. In perhaps one of the most egregious examples, one organisation conducted training for MPs in Timor-Leste in English and Portuguese. Many of the MPs, native Tetum speakers, spoke neither of these fluently. As a result most of the content was lost in translation. Fortunately, many of the key actors in the realm of democracy promotion listened to their critics. Several of them – including the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Norwegian Agency for …