Democracy Canada - Turning Canadian Democratic Values and Experiences into International Action
November 17, 2008
DEMOCRACY CANADA:
Turning Canadian Democratic Values and Experiences into International Action
Leslie Campbell
First published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), April, 2003
“Now is the time to assert Canada’s role in the world. To show leadership with clear positions, clearly explained. To apply ourselves constructively in areas where we know we can make a difference.” Paul Martin Jr., April 30, 2003. Excerpted from the speech, “Canada’s Role in a Complex World”.
Summary:
This paper describes a Canadian policy and programmatic approach to the challenge of developing multi-party democracy, good governance and the rule of law in developing nations. The centerpiece of this initiative is a new Canadian democracy promotion organization — provisionally named Democracy Canada. To be governed by a multi-partisan, multi-sectoral board charged with providing a policy and programmatic focus to Canada’s myriad efforts to promote democracy and good governance abroad, Democracy Canada’s structure would include a multi-party political development institute to help strengthen political parties in emerging democracies.
By drawing on relevant Canadian expertise in the fields of political party strengthening, parliamentary development, the practice of federalism, public broadcasting and independent media development, rule of law and the promotion of independent labour unions, Democracy Canada would immediately raise Canada’s international profile in these important fields and further develop Canada’s international “brand” in areas appropriate to a middle power.
The idea of a Canadian democracy promotion organization and an international political party institute is not new. Discussions have taken place in government and policy circles as far back as 1983 and serious efforts were made in 1985 to start such an initiative. One organization, the International Center for Human for Human Rights and Democratic Development, was a direct outgrowth of those early discussions, but, for a number of reasons, never became Canada’s version of a democracy foundation. If Canada were to develop a democracy foundation and a multi-party institute, it would join the Netherlands, Germany, Britain, the United States, Japan, Sweden and France and would have a measurable and constructive impact on the development of international democracy, good governance and the rule of law — contributing to the well being of citizens in the less developed world and promoting Canada’s identity in a field where Canada and Canadians should take a proud place.
Democracy Canada, which should be established as a non-profit, non-governmental organization, would be endowed with significant yearly funding for its own programs and would provide grants to partner institutes and organizations. Democracy Canada would assume responsibility for many existing Canadian democracy initiatives including parliamentary strengthening and political development programs, thus reducing the amount of “new” funding required for its creation, and the new entity would work collaboratively with established democracy and governance organizations abroad. Democracy Canada would reinforce the established governance, democracy, human rights and media development community in Canada by providing a more coherent policy structure, a higher Canadian profile abroad and, in some cases, an increased and more predictable source of grant funding.
Democracy Canada should be based in Ottawa and should be publicly funded but it should have no direct operational ties to the Canadian government. Although Democracy Canada will form an important part of Canada’s image and brand abroad, it should operate at arms length – democracy promotion activities cannot be done on an exclusive government to government level, so the foundation and party institute must be free to pursue and influence change, marshal non-governmental resources, establish relationships with opposition and ruling forces and be otherwise free of the constraints of traditional diplomacy. Just as Democracy Canada must be able to claim independence, so too should the Government of Canada be able to claim an arms-length relationship if and when necessary.
Background and Rationale:
There is an emerging international consensus that traditional development aid is more likely to be misspent or wasted in countries where democratic processes and institutions are lacking and where the basic tenets of good governance and the rule of law are not respected. The communiqué of the United Nations “Millenium Summit” presented the international consensus this way, “Improving the quality of democratic institutions and processes, and managing the changing roles of the state and civil society in an increasingly globalised world must underpin national efforts to reduce poverty, sustain the environment, and promote human development”.
While the principles of democracy are universal, there is no one model, no one practice of democracy that should be promoted, and a number of countries, including the Netherlands, Germany, Britain, the United States, Japan, Sweden, and France actively support emerging parliaments, political parties and civil society organizations through dedicated democracy and/or political party institutes. Canadian democratic values and practices, so evident in Canadian institutions of governance and Canadian federalism, would be welcome additions to the democracy promotion community and the Canadian experience of democracy, while imperfect, should be injected into the international marketplace of ideas through a distinctly Canadian initiative.
The ability of Canada and Canadians to contribute to a worldwide movement for more democracy and better governance is already proven. Canadians hold senior positions in the democracy offices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Organization of American States (OAS). The National Democratic Institute (NDI), a Washington-based NGO that is one of the leading actors in international political party and parliamentary development, employs 29 Canadians in senior capacities in its overseas offices.
Canadians employed at the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme play a lead role in governance and rule of law programs. Canadians help set policy at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) in Stockholm and the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) in Washington and Canadians have held leadership positions within the international headquarters of the main political party internationals. Canadian parliamentarians, ministers, MLAs and others have participated in study missions and exchange fora and have provided advice to their elected counterparts around the world. Canadian universities supply expertise to a diverse set of governance projects and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) both have a portfolio of successful democracy and governance programs around the world.
Canadian experiences and models are in demand around the world for a number of reasons:
- Canadians are well received abroad and Canadian motives, particularly in the sensitive area of political development, are seldom challenged. A Canadian organization would find great receptivity around the world in the field of democracy and governance.
- Canada’s multi-lingual, multi-cultural, tolerant milieu tends to produce people who exhibit sensitivity to foreign cultures and sensibilities and who thrive in difficult foreign settings.
- Canada’s political parties have highly developed grassroots organizing models that are relevant in many developing countries. Unlike the large, publicly funded European parties or the private money-reliant American parties, Canadian political parties are de-centralized, volunteer driven, have modest budgets with both private and public funding and operate under strict political spending limits. Canada’s political parties are valued and important members of the main international groupings of political parties, the Liberal International, the Socialist International and the Centrist Parties International. As such, Canada’s parties and party leaders are already part of an international network of political activists.
- Canada’s parliamentary system and the experiences of current and former Canadian parliamentarians are relevant around the world. Most emerging democracies have parliamentary systems, and the Canadian model is more applicable to nascent parliaments than the unique, expensive and unwieldy American system. Quebec’s National Assembly can provide positive examples in countries where the political system resembles the French model. Canadian provincial legislatures are similar in scale and budget to the legislatures in many developing nations and can be a source of legislative expertise and best practices.
- Canada’s federation is a model of decentralization, power sharing and respect for minority rights. The flexible nature of Canada’s constitution has allowed a constructive and pragmatic devolution of power to the provinces — maintaining Canada’s unity and integrity through many trying times.
- Canada is world renowned for administering fair, efficient elections and for maintaining accurate voter registries.
- Canada has a relatively high rate of unionization and has advanced labour legislation at the national and provincial level.
- The Canadian business community has a positive international reputation and is well placed to offer advice on ethical business practices around the world.
- Canada has both a successful public broadcaster and a dynamic private media sector. The quality of training provided to Canadian journalists, particularly through the public broadcaster, and the generally high standards of Canadian political journalism can be used as a basis for training journalists around the world.
Despite the wealth of talent and experience Canada has to offer in the democracy field, Canadian efforts remain disparate, under-funded and often anonymous. Perhaps more importantly, there is little sense of “Canadian-ness” and almost no effort to promote Canadian contributions to democracy promotion as part of Canada’s international identity. While it is admirable that Canada has exported so many talented individuals who thrive within international organizations, little or no credit accrues to Canada as a result of their activities.
More often than not, Canadians contribute to other organizations and other countries’ aid and foreign policy objectives – the large coterie of Canadians working for NDI and IFES, for example, while highly valued by their respective organizations, contribute primarily to U.S. foreign policy priorities in the democracy field and only tangentially to Canadian interests. Two of the more important Canadian organizations in the democracy and governance arena, the International Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights and Democracy) and the Forum of Federations both downplay their Canadian genesis and are governed by international boards of directors which dilute their Canadian character.
The policy initiative described in this paper would harness Canada’s unique capacities in the field of democracy and governance, draw on the expertise of the many dozens of Canadian individuals that are already accomplished democracy practitioners, bring together lessons learned through the work of CIDA and DFAIT and allow Canada to formally join the community of countries sharing the democratic experiences and practices proven to reduce poverty, promote peace and increase economic opportunity.
Democracy Canada:
The centerpiece of a new Canadian democracy initiative would be a new foundation inspired by Canadian values and experiences, but international in scope. Focused and practical, the new foundation would not be a think-tank, but a “do-tank”, would be volunteer driven and would complement other Canadian international initiatives including traditional development assistance and peace-building/keeping. Provisionally named “Democracy Canada”, this new foundation would be governed by a multi-partisan board with members drawn from backgrounds in politics, parliament, business, international affairs, media, government, labour and human rights. Endowed with a significant budget, ideally $60 million per year, Democracy Canada would gather and distill information on Canadian experiences and best practices in democratic development, provide grant funding to the key Canadian organizations active in the field of democracy promotion and establish relationships and partnerships with the family of democracy promotion and political party institutes around the world.
A new Canadian multi-party political party institute, would be formed to operate under the “umbrella” of Democracy Canada. With the goal of involving Canada’s political parties in public diplomacy and democracy promotion abroad, the new institute would be governed by a board drawn, in part, from nominations from all of the parties represented in the House of Commons. The multi-party institute would harness the talents and experience of Canadian political party practitioners from the federal and provincial levels and would conduct training programs abroad aimed at encouraging political reform and political party development.
Examples of the types of programs that the party institute would undertake would include: training of political candidates and campaign managers; advice on developing mechanisms for internal party democracy and transparency; seminars with political party leaders and activists on volunteer recruitment, fundraising, message development and communicating with voters; development of written materials describing political party constitutions, by-laws, structures and outreach activities; facilitating research on party financing laws and regulations; attaching foreign political activists to Canadian election campaigns in internship-type capacities; and contributing political practitioners to international election observation missions.
The multi-party institute would be strictly multi-partisan abroad, that is, it would work with all legitimate non-violent political groupings and it would be process oriented — recommending methods and strategies for party development, not the content of political messages and platforms.
Democracy Canada, the multi-party institute and other organizations affiliated with Democracy Canada would adhere to the following policy guidelines in their activities. Programs would:
- complement a strategic program framework to be developed by Democracy Canada and its board;
- respond to a demonstrated international need in a niche where Canadian experiences and expertise do not duplicate or simply add to existing democracy promotion activities;
- draw on relevant Canadian expertise in the fields of political party strengthening, parliamentary development, the practice of federalism, public broadcasting and independent media development; rule of law, promotion of independent labour unions and the encouragement of ethically sound international business practices;
- implement projects in the target country, using, where practical, pro-bono practitioners with significant expertise in their field, in partnership with relevant local counterparts.
Democracy Canada should be based in Ottawa and should be publicly funded but it should have no direct operational ties to the Canadian government. Although Democracy Canada will form an important part of Canada’s image abroad, it should operate at arms length – democracy promotion activities cannot be done on an exclusive government to government level, so the institute must be free to pursue and influence change, marshal non-governmental resources, establish relationships with opposition and ruling forces and be otherwise free of the constraints of traditional diplomacy. Just as Democracy Canada must be able to claim independence, so too should the Government of Canada be able to claim an arms-length relationship if and when necessary.
Democracy Canada would join the established governance, democracy, human rights, parliamentary and media development community in Canada. Organizations including (in alphabetical order) the Canadian Labour Congress International Program (CLC), the Canadian Parliamentary Centre, Elections Canada, the Forum of Federations, the Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS), the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights and Democracy), the International Development and Research Centre (IDRC) and the Judicial Council, not to mention DFAIT and CIDA, already design and implement important programs around the world. The Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians (CAPF) and the Canadian Executive Services Organization (CESO) often offer the pro bono services of their members in overseas assignments. Democracy Canada would offer visibility, international political profile and structure to these disparate efforts.
Existing publicly funded parliamentary strengthening and political development programs should be transferred to Democracy Canada and the new party institute but programs in the areas of rule of law, media development, federalism and other areas of democracy and governance would not be operated by Democracy Canada but complemented through a more coherent policy structure, a higher Canadian profile abroad and, in some cases, an increased and more predictable source of grant funding.
An appropriate business umbrella entity could also be invited to form an organization to promote ethically sound international business practices.
Conclusion:
The time has never been better for Canada to take a leading, rather than background, role in the international promotion of democracy and good governance. A new Canadian democracy foundation — dedicated to these crucial issues in international development — can provide policy integrity, harness the talents of Canadian political practitioners and establish a unique Canadian presence in a field where Canadian contributions can make a lasting difference.
This paper was prepared for discussion purposes by Les Campbell. Questions or comments about this paper should be directed to les@ndi.org
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