Democracy Assistance to Domestic Election Monitoring Organizations: Conditions for Success

Abstract

Can the international community effectively promote and support – sometimes even create – domestic civil society? Supporting civic reformers is now a common practice in the international democratization policy repertoire. Behind this practice lies the idea that strengthening civic actors improves the chances for democratic transition and consolidation. This article investigates conditions for successful democracy assistance to civic actors through comparative study of six domestic election monitoring organizations in the Americas. The article argues that both international and domestic context matter. A history of soft power (diplomatic, normative) intervention and low internal polarization create relatively favourable conditions for democracy assistance to civic actors. In cases with a history of hard power intervention (such as use of force or economic sanctions) and high political polarization, intervening variables, such as multilateral provision of democracy assistance and pluralistic structures and behaviours on the part of aid recipients, can surmount unfavourable conditions for international democracy assistance. In the absence of such mitigating conditions, democracy assistance to civic actors may be ill-advised.