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On 11 July 2019, Westminster Foundation for Democracy organised a roundtable on media freedom in South-East Asia, as part of the UK Foreign Office’s conference on defending media freedom.
September 15 2019 is International Day of Democracy, a day to step back and think about the state of democracy in the world, celebrate democratic achievements worldwide and consider how we can all stand up for democracy.
Burma’s democratic transition was one of the most watched in the world in 2016. After over 50 years of military rule, the national parliament faces the challenge of delivering change in line with citizens’ expectations.
Myanmar |
In the short time since the Prime Minister announced the creation of a new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, my former colleagues in both the FCO and DFID have been working hard to prepare for its launch tomorrow. But determining the culture of FCDO will be a multi-year task – I was present when DFID was created and know how significant this change in identity could be.
WFD in Kenya is currently offering direct technical support to 7 county assemblies through the Kenya Devolution Programme (KDP). WFD supports them in strengthening their financial and audit or public expenditure management (PEM) related committees to carry out their functions in a more effective manner.
Kenya |
On 26 September 2017, the research collaboration between the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the University of Birmingham launched a new policy paper at the European Endowment for Democracy in Brussels. WFD Research Fellow, Susan Dodsworth reflects on the discussion at the event.
In response to COVID-19, countries have applied different legislative models to introduce emergency measures. Some countries declared a state of emergency. Others decided to rely on existing legislation to face the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite common assumptions, neither is ‘better’ or ‘worse’ for democracy and both approaches have carried considerable risks for parliamentary accountability. To declare an emergency or not to declare an emergency is not the question. Whether or not democracy is safeguarded depends on a separate set of good practices.
WFD’s Director of Research and Evaluation Graeme Ramshaw explores how in governance, looking at how and why things happen can be just as important as the end result.
Modern parliaments are increasingly questioning not only whether they should perform oversight over the executive, but how they should do so. As parliaments continue to be responsible for monitoring whether the laws they have passed are implemented as intended and lead to the desired impact, Post-Legislative Scrutiny (PLS) is increasingly recognized as an important dimension within the oversight role and the legislative role of parliaments and as an integral part of entire legislative cycle. Therefore, PLS could be considered as a new practice of monitoring the implementation and evaluating the impact of laws. PLS also ensures that laws benefit citizens in the way originally intended by lawmakers.
Montenegro | Briefing |
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is not only a health crisis. It is already having seismic economic, social and political implications. Those interested in democracy and good governance should be alive to both the risks and the opportunities posed by the current crisis – their voices could make the difference between setback and progress.
Supported by WFD's British Embassy funded-programme, the Committee on Economic Development conducted a post-legislative scrutiny (PLS) pilot to assess the effectiveness and the impact of COVID-19 emergency legislation and presented its findings to the government in a PLS report.
Ukraine |
Hungry for good news about politics? Here’s some: more women than ever before are participating in politics worldwide. It’s a global trend that signals positive outcomes for inclusive governance.
The coronavirus crisis is hitting public health, the economy and the state of our democracy hard – nowhere more so than in developing countries.
As governments decide to postpone elections or alter electoral processes because of COVID-19, it is crucial that they have a transparent debate about doing so.
On 16 May 2022, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy presented the findings from its latest study on socio-political participation of young people in North Macedonia. The findings show that half of young people (51%) take initiative to solve certain social problems, but only one third manage to often solve the problems they engaged with. One third of the respondents (34%) believe the country is farther from the EU perspective compared to last year. Almost half of respondents (45%) believe the country will become an EU member state, which is a drop of 15% compared to 2019. Half of young people (57%) rarely or never follow political events and developments in the country. Young people with disabilities are facing greater challenges in increasing their participation compared to the general youth population.
North Macedonia | Study |