centre for democratic institutions CDI.News Newsletter of the Centre for Democratic Institutions October - November 2006 Dear Colleagues, Welcome to the October-November 2006 issue of CDI.News from the Centre for Democratic Institutions (CDI), Australia. This issue focusses on our recent Responsible Parliamentary Course and a range of new activities CDI is undertaking. CDI was established in 1998 by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Hon Alexander Downer, to assist in the development and strengthening of democratic institutions in developing countries. CDI s work combines technical assistance and capacity building programs, networking, and interpersonal and knowledge exchange, including the dissemination of CDI s original research on democracy and its institutions. Our focus countries comprise Indonesia and Timor-Leste in South East Asia and Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu in Melanesia. CDI s central goal is to support these regional focus countries in strengthening their political parties & systems of parliamentary governance. Accordingly, CDI works to: Improve the operation and understanding of parliamentary machinery by members of parliament and parliamentary staff in focus countries Strengthen political parties in focus countries through improving the knowledge and skills of members and officials of political parties Extend networks in the region between Australian political party officials, parliamentarians and parliamentary staff and their counterparts from focus countries CDI s core budget is provided by AusAID, Australia s Agency for International Development. CDI.News will keep you informed periodically of our activities and events, and you can access this information and more at any time by visiting our website @ www.cdi. anu.edu.au Benjamin Reilly CDI Director In this issue Recent Activities 2006 CDI Responsible Parliamentary Government Course concludes...2 CDI International Political Party Assistance Roundtable...2 CDI and Senior U.S. Officials Discuss Democracy Promotion...3 CDI Deputy Director & Program Manager Appointed...3 Dialogue with International Visitors August-September '06...4 CDI appears before the JSCFADT Human Rights Sub-Committee...5 CDI Supports International Dialogue on Democracy in Indonesia & Thailand...5 Fiji Parliamentary Graduates Participate in the 2006 ASPG Annual Conference...5 CDI Deputy Director in PNG...5 Forthcoming 2006 Political Party Development Course...5 Improving Women's Representation in the Pacific...6 Feature Articles, Events, & Links Government capacity and citizen expectations in Bougainville: The impact of political autonomy...6 The Quest for Constitutional Reform in Tonga...6 Centre for Democratic Institutions Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA Phone: 61 2 6125 0605 Fax: 61 2 6125 9726 Email: cdi@anu.edu.au Website: www.cdi.anu.edu.au
CDI Recent Activities The 5th Annual CDI Responsible Parliamentary Government Course concludes in Canberra CDI s fifth annual Responsible Parliamentary Government (RPG) course took place 7 to 25 August 2006 in Canberra. The three-week program was again coordinated by CDI Associate Dr Stephen Sherlock. RPG is designed primarily for mid-level to senior parliamentary officials and examines the fundamental principles and doctrines underlying the practice of responsible parliamentary government. Using the Australian Commonwealth Parliament as the principal example, the course covers issues of parliamentary best practice including constitutional foundations, the main activities of parliament, and related structures for accountability and scrutiny of administration. To foster cross-regional ties and learning, the Speakers of selected Asian and Pacific parliaments were invited to nominate officials to participate in RPG. In 2006 there were 19 participants from 8 countries - Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Vietnam, East Timor and Nauru. As one of the major activities supported by CDI in the area of legislative strengthening, the RPG course has attracted increasing interest from parliaments in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands region. In its five years of existence, the course has now trained 84 parliamentary officials in 10 countries. Click on this link for further details on RPG in 2006: The RPG Class of 2006 with co-ordinator Dr Stephen Sherlock & CDI Director Ben Reilly. Female participants from PNG, Indonesia, Thailand & Vietnam 2006 International Political Party Assistance Roundtable CDI s inaugural International Political Party Assistance Roundtable concluded an intensive meeting in Canberra on 7 September 2006 with a commitment by Australian and international democracy promotion organisations to work closely together on the task of political party strengthening. Drawing together the major Australian party secretariats with relevant government representatives and international organisations, the Roundtable was the first gathering of all key actors working on political party development in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific. The roundtable focussed on lessons learned from the experience of political party assistance in the Asia-Pacific continued over 2
region, and the sharing of experiences to identify optimum strategies of party assistance in CDI s target countries of Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu and in the broader Asia-Pacific region. To this end, the workshop featured presentations from CDI, international party assistance organisations working in these countries such as the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, and the Asia Foundation, as well as the Liberal Party of Australia and the Australian Labor Party. Click on the link below for further information: CDI and Senior U.S. Officials Discuss Democracy Promotion In August CDI hosted visits from two senior United States officials in charge of U.S. democracy promotion activities. On Monday 14 August, Dr Steven Krasner, Director for Policy Planning in the U.S. Department of State, visited CDI to discuss issues of democracy in the Asia-Pacific region. Dr Krasner was appointed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and has a wideranging mandate including issues of policy coordination and democracy promotion. Prior to his appointment, Dr. Krasner was director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University, and Director for Governance and Development at the National Security Council, where he worked primarily on the Millennium Challenge Account. Discussions with Dr Krasner focussed on issues of governance, rule of law, and democracy, particularly the problem of failing and fragile states in the Asia-Pacific region and the potential for better cooperation between established and emerging democracies. On Thursday 17 August, CDI hosted Mr Carl Gershman, the President of the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which funds democracy promotion activities worldwide through grantmaking programs in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and Latin America. NED focuses on strengthening the institutions and procedures of electoral democracy to ensure free and fair elections; and encouraging the gradual consolidation of liberal democracy by measures that strengthen the rule of law, protect individual liberties, and foster social pluralism. Discussion focussed on possible areas of future cooperation between CDI and NED, including in the area of political party assistance. CDI Deputy Director & Program Manager Appointed Quinton Clements (BA Hons, 1st Class, ANU) has been appointed Deputy Director of the Centre for Democratic Institutions. A former parliamentary official and expert on the South Pacific, his work focuses on strengthening parliaments and implementing good governance best practice. Prior to taking up this position, Mr Clements held a number of positions in the Australian Public Service and in the Department of the House of Representatives, Parliament of Australia. He served as Inquiry Secretary to the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories; and acting Committee Secretary for the Parliamentary Joint Committee on ASIO, ASIS and DSD and the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works. Mr Clements has also worked in the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea as Committee Secretary to the Parliamentary Select Committee on a Pacific Economic Community. Daniela Capaccio (B. Comm) recently joined CDI on secondment from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) as Program Manager, focussing on improving women s political representation in the Pacific Islands. Prior to taking up her 3-month secondment, Ms Capaccio held a number of positions within the AEC, where she has been involved in the conduct of parliamentary elections both within Australia and internationally. Most recently she worked for 12 months in the Solomon Islands as the Manager of the Solomon Islands Village Level Civic Education Project and as an adviser to the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission for the 2006 national elections. Ms Capaccio has also worked for the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) in Stockholm where her work focused on youth voter participation at national elections worldwide.
CDI Dialogue with International Visitors August - September '06 Overseas Development Institute (UK) Diana Cammack of the Overseas Development Institute, a UK think tank on international development and humanitarian issues, visited CDI in August to discuss the political and economic situation in Papua New Guinea. She is working on an analysis for the Chronic Poverty Resource Centre on why PNG stays poor. Mali s Ambassador to Australia H.E. Madamme Guisse, Mali s Ambassador to Australia, visited CDI to discuss the World Community of Democracies, of which Mali is the current host. The Community of Democracies is an intergovernmental organization of democracies and democratizing countries with a stated commitment to strengthening and deepening democratic norms and practices worldwide. It also operates as a democracy caucus within the UN. The Community was inaugurated in 2000 and has been chaired by some of the world s leading new or restored democracies Poland, South Korea, Chile and now Mali. The government of Mali will be using its Chairmanship to bridge two gaps in international cooperation: the link between building democratic governance and fighting poverty; and second, the link between building democratic governance and overcoming conflict and helping to restore war-torn societies. Director of the Commonwealth Secretariat s Political Affairs Division Mr Matthew Neuhaus, Director of the Political Affairs Division in the Commonwealth Secretariat, visited the CDI offices to discuss future cooperation in the democratic governance field. CDI and the Commonwealth have worked together on a number of projects, particularly in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Island countries. Australia-Indonesia Governance Research Partnership The new Indonesia research director of the Australia-Indonesia Governance Research Partnership, Etsi Yudhini, visited CDI to discuss future cooperation. The Governance Research Partnership is a multi-million dollar AusAID-funded project which draws together Australian and Indonesian researchers working on governance issues in Indonesia. NDI, IRI & the Asia Foundation On 5 September, CDI Director Ben Reilly and Deputy Director Quinton Clements met with the National Democratic Institute s (NDI) Resident Representative in Indonesia, Mr W. Paul Rowland, to discuss CDI s and NDI s ongoing cooperation in the political party and parliamentary assistance fields. The following day, Dr Reilly and Mr Clements held similar discussions with Ms Johanna Kao of the International Republican Institute (IRI) and Mr Timothy Meisburger of the Asia Foundation about efforts to promote participatory, accountable, and transparent governance in the Asia-Pacific region. Mr Rowland, Ms Kao and Mr Meisburger were all in Canberra as part of CDI s International Political Party Assistance Roundtable as detailed on page 2. Asia Foundation Dr George Varughese of the Asia Foundation visited CDI to discuss Australia s support for their work in Afghanistan. Australia is providing support to Afghanisan s Independent Electoral Commission, amongst a number of initiatives aimed at strengthening the fragile political system in Afghanistan. International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance Mr Andrew Ellis, head of the electoral processes program at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), visited CDI on September 22 to discuss issues of mutual interest, including the joint CDI- IDEA-UNU program on political party development in new democracies. Click on this link to our website for more detail on these and further visits:
CDI appears before the JSCFADT Human Rights Sub- Committee CDI Director Ben Reilly and Deputy Director Quinton Clements appeared before the Human Rights Sub- Committee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (JSCFADT) to discuss CDI s activities in the South Pacific. In a broad-ranging discussion, CDI s new focus on parliamentary and political party assistance was the subject of many questions, as were forthcoming major training activities such as the inaugural Political Party Development Course in October and the 8th Pacific Parliamentary Dialogue in Samoa in December. Future linkages between CDI and the JSCFADT were also canvassed, including the potential participation of Senator Marise Payne and others in the Samoa event, and the possibility of CDI facilitating linkages between JSCFADT and analogous parliamentary committees from Indonesia and East Timor. CDI Supports International Dialogue on Democracy in Indonesia & Thailand CDI has played an active role in supporting two major international events on democracy and governance in Indonesia and Thailand. On 21-23 September, the 24th annual Indonesia Update conference was held at the ANU on the theme of Democracy and the Promise of Good Governance. CDI Director Ben Reilly participated in the conference and wrote a paper on Electoral and Political Party Reform in Indonesia. The following week, just days after the military coup in Thailand, the annual Thailand Update was held on the subject of The coup, constitution and continuing crisis: what reforms are needed? CDI chaired a session on independent institutions and supported the participation of Prof Gotham Arya, one of Thailand s leading public figures, who played a key role in drafting the 1997 constitution, and was a member of the first Election Commission. Click here for more information on our website: Fiji Parliamentary Graduates Participate in the 2006 ASPG Annual Conference CDI funded a group of 7 graduates and their supervisor from the Parliament of Fiji to attend the 2006 Australasian Study of Parliament Group's (ASPG) annual conference held in Wellington NZ in late September. This conference provided an opportunity for the graduates to build networks with counterparts from other jurisdictions, in particular New Zealand and Australia. A full report of this project will be posted on our website in the near future at this page: CDI Deputy Director in PNG CDI Deputy Director Quinton Clements visited Papua New Guinea in early October to discuss with interested bodies, including the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea, a proposed induction program for Members of Parliament following the 2007 national elections. Mr Clements also followed up on a research project CDI has commissioned from Transparency International PNG, and held discussions with the National Research Institute on possible future research projects. Click on this link for more detail on our website: CDI Forthcoming Political Party Development Course This new flagship course offered by CDI will be run at the ANU in Canberra 9-20 October 2006. The Political Party Development Course (PPD) will cover the nuts and bolts of party politics from the inside. Topics to be addressed include running effective campaigns; public opinion and polling; successful electoral strategies; media relations; policy development; membership recruitment; issue management; and political party funding. PPD is aimed at those engaged in the actual business
of politics, political advising and political campaigns - political advisers, campaign workers, party activists, and politicians themselves. 18 participants from Indonesia, East Timor, PNG, Fiji, and Vanuatu will participate in PPD this year. PPD is convened by Mr Norm Kelly, a former Member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia, where he represented the Australian Democrats. He is currently a member of the Political Science Program at the ANU, where he is completing a PhD. Click on this link for more PPD details on our website: of independence (1975 and 1990). However while expectations are understandably high, the ABG s ability to meet citizen expectations is being hampered by the government s administrative, institutional and financial capacities, the security situation on the island and a very weak economy. The success or failure of political autonomy, and indeed this post-conflict governance structure will depend to a large extent on the type of policies that the government designs and implements as well as its interactions with citizens. Improving Women's Representation in the Pacific CDI Program Manager Daniela Capaccio will be visiting Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji in early October for discussions with various organisations involved in promoting women in politics in the Pacific Islands. The visit will be a scoping study of the initiatives that these organisations are undertaking as well as possible involvement in a gender workshop that will be part of the CDI Pacific Parliamentary Dialogue to be held in Samoa in December. CDI Feature Articles, Events, & Links Government capacity and citizen expectations in Bougainville: The impact of political autonomy Raymond Masono This featured item is a recent addition to the ANU's Policy & Governance Program (Crawford School of Economics & Government) Discussion Paper Series. The author, Raymond Masono is a planning officer in the Bougainville Administration s planning unit, and this paper was submitted in part fulfillment for the requirement of Master of Public Policy at the ANU this year. The abstract is as follows and you can access the full article through the link below: After ten years of civil war (1989-97), four years of protracted political negotiations (1998-2001), and another four years of legislative amendments (2002-05), Bougainvillians now have a government which the majority believe will finally address the issues that underpinned two previous unilateral declarations The Quest for Constitutional Reform in Tonga Ian Campbell last month saw the death of King Tupou IV on Tonga, one of the world s longest-serving monarchs, six days after receiving the final report of the National Committee on Political Reform, which sets out a blueprint for democratic opening in Tonga. The following article, by Ian Campell of the University of the South Pacific, examines The Quest for Constitutional Reform in Tonga. It was published in The Journal of Pacific History, Vol. 40, No. 1, June 2005. All suggestions and comments are welcome to cdi@anu.edu.au To subscribe to CDI.News visit the CDI website @ http://www.cdi.anu.edu.au/cdinews/cdinews.htm 6