About International IDEA
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) is an intergovernmental organization that supports democracy worldwide. Their mission is to support sustainable democratic change by providing comparative knowledge, assisting in democratic reform, and influencing policies and politics.
International IDEA was launched on 27 February 1995 in Stockholm as an intergovernmental organization numbering 14 countries. As of 2010, there are 25 Member States: Australia, Barbados, Belgium, Botswana, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Costa Rica, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ghana, India, Mauritius, Mexico, Namibia, The Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Uruguay. In addition, Japan is an Observer State.
Member States are all democracies spanning many cultures and countries. They provide both financial and political support to the work of the Institute.
IDEA is led by a Secretary-General, with a governing body composed of a Council of its Member States. The Board of Advisers are eminent personalities and experts in the field of democracy support.
As well as the Stockholm headquarters, International IDEA has regional offices in Africa, Latin America and Asia. An Office of the Permanent Observer for International IDEA to the United Nations is maintained in New York.
Networks and partnerships with a wide variety of organizations and policy makers continue to be developed in many countries. Examples are United Nations agencies, regional political entities such as the European Union, the Organization of American States and the African Union, electoral management bodies, political parties and civil society organizations.
The Institute has four main areas of expertise:
- electoral processes
- constitution building processes
- political parties, participation and representation
- democracy and development.
Issues and themes that cut across the four areas are gender, conflict and security, and diversity. International IDEA’s State of Democracy assessment methodology is used by citizens to assess the quality of democracy in their country.
IDEA offers expertise and knowledge by providing comparative data derived from practical experience on democracy building processes from diverse contexts around the world
Transmachina has been working with International IDEA since 2004, assisting with database management, web publishing and translation management.