Promoting Democracy and Good Governance
Today the world is a much smaller place, and its problems confront us in more immediate ways. The United States is vigorously engaged in all corners of the globe, acting as a force for peace and prosperity. Expanding the global community of democracies is a key objective of U.S. foreign policy.
Democracy & the U.S. National Interest
As the primary channel for U.S. foreign assistance in the developing world, USAID has taken a leading role in promoting and consolidating democracy worldwide. Expanding democracy improves individual opportunity for prosperity and improved well-being, thus contributing to the more traditional goals of the Agency.
The strategic long-term domestic and foreign policy objectives of the United States are best served by enlarging the community of democratic nations worldwide. Establishing democratic institutions, free and open markets, an informed and educated populace, a vibrant civil society, and a relationship between state and society that encourages pluralism, participation, and peaceful conflict resolution -- all of these contribute to the goal of establishing sustainable democracies.
USAID Democracy & Governance Goals
The Agency focuses its efforts to promote democracy and good governance on four distinct, but related, goals:
Progress in all four areas is necessary to achieve sustainable democracy.
USAID Definition of Democracy Programs
Democracy and governance programs are technical assistance and other support to strengthen capacity of reform-minded governments, non-governmental actors, and/or citizens in order to develop and support democratic states and institutions that are responsive and accountable to citizens. These efforts also include promoting democratic transitions in countries that are not reform-minded. Democracy programs promote the rule of law and human rights, transparent and fair elections coupled with a competitive political process, a free and independent media, stronger civil society and greater citizen participation in government, and governance structures that are efficient, responsive and accountable.
New Study Finds Positive Impact of USAID DG Assistance
USAID democracy and governance programs have had a measurable impact on democratic progress around the world, according to a new study by Vanderbilt University and University of Pittsburgh professors.
“We found that when the United States spends money to promote democracy in foreign countries, it works,” said Mitchell Seligson, Centennial Professor of Political Science and a fellow of the Center for the Americas at Vanderbilt. “Unlike all prior published research, our data set is based upon an exhaustive survey of the entire democracy portfolio of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) since the end of the Cold War.”
Co-principal investigators were Steve Finkel, professor and Daniel Wallace Chair in Pitt’s Department of Political Science, and Anibal Pérez-Liñán, Pitt assistant professor of political science.
The results of the USAID-funded study, titled “Effects of U.S. Foreign Assistance on Democracy Building: Results of a Cross-National Quantitative Study,” were recently presented at a workshop hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center, attended by about 100 academics, policy-makers, and practitioners. The study broke new ground in the field, using a sophisticated statistical model to draw its conclusions, measuring the specific impact of USAID spending on democracy assistance rather than the impact of all types of U.S. foreign assistance on increasing democracy, and controlling for many other possible influences on the growth of democracy.
The Vanderbilt-Pittsburgh research team won a competitively awarded subgrant under a USAID cooperative agreement with the Association Liaison Office, an umbrella organization representing virtually all US higher education establishments. The research team was selected by a panel of independent peer reviewers from U.S. colleges and universities. Additionally, to ensure the highest quality research, the work of the research team was critiqued at regular intervals by an outside group of academic experts with experience in the field of democracy assistance and evaluations.
The study is part of the DCHA/DG Strategic and Operational Research Agenda (SORA), which is a long term effort to measure the impact and effectiveness of USAID democracy assistance programs. The findings from this quantitative study will help inform subsequent research, including in-depth country case studies. The results of the different pieces of research will be combined to provide the information needed by policy makers and practitioners to make the best possible investments in supporting democratic development and good governance.
The full study is now available here.
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