Information newsletter
Issue 7(19), July 2005

Paths to Democracy—The Role of the Nongovernmental Organizations
Diana Bancheva, AIP

Paths to democracy: Learning from the Reform Experiences of European, Post-Soviet, and Arab countries was the topic of a conference that was held in Sofia, 5-7 July 2005. The event was organized by the International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy, USA. In search of successful strategy for bringing democracy to the Arab world, representatives of NGOs and political scholars from Italy, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Russia shared their experience from the transition period with colleagues from Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Palestine, and Lebanon. The conference was hosted by the Center for Liberal Strategies. A representative of Access to Information Programme took part in the event as a member of the National Development and Research Institutes Network.

During the two-day-long intensive discussion, definitions for democratic transition were given regarding different perspectives and resulting from different conditions. The Central and Eastern European experience, including that of Bulgaria, was set as an example of successful process of democratic reform and social transformation. Looking for particular approaches of achieving democracy, the participants in the conference outlined the major obstacles that the liberal democrats in the ex-Soviet counties and the Middle East should overcome.

The role of the active civil organizations, the impact of the media, and the support of the international community were defined as the most important factors for the successful transition. The majority of the participants pointed out that a lot of nongovernmental organizations turn out to be fictive-they are owned by people from the authorities and do not work for the benefit of the society. The phenomenon is particularly common in the Arab world where international institutions and the USA provide funding for the implementation of specific projects. Thus, the NGOs operating in such a context should remain independent, should define permanent goals, and should not surrender their position. To oversee the allocation of financial resources, to stay alert for malfeasances, and timey to alarm the international donors promptly about misuse of funding were some of the main tasks that the NGOs working for transparent and accountable governance should fulfill.

Participants agreed that independent and active civil organizations are the agents of transformation. NGOs should serve as models of change, it was claimed during the discussion. They should stay critical, should initiate debates, and should run campaigns. The mission of the NGO is to facilitate the establishment of a strong civil structure through civil education. Its role is to maintain the dialogue between the civil society, the state and the external actors. Besides agents of change, the NGOs are the permanent advocates for the development of the democratic principles in the government.

The conference ended with a high assessment by the participants, who regarded the results from the interaction as effective and valuable. The representatives of several organizations wished for future cooperation in the established network. Networking is a strong campaigning tool for obtaining political demands by providing the support of other co-thinkers. Networking also mobilizes public opinion, attracts the attention of foreign partners for the achievement of the goal - the ultimate overthrow of the authoritarian regimes, fight against the corruption, and establishment of open market economy and powerful civil society.