CDI Director Participates in two Major International Conferences
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CDI Director Dr Benjamin Reilly recently spoke at two major international conferences on different aspects of democracy promotion. At the first, the annual meeting of the International Studies Association in San Diego, he was a participant in the panel on "Evaluating Political Institutions and Electoral Processes", which looked at issues of political parties, elections and powersharing in post-conflict societies. Professor Larry Diamond of Stanford University, one of the leading experts on democracy promotion and a former democratization advisor to the transitional administration in Iraq, was the main discussant. The main focus concerned the lessons learned for the international community from recent transitional elections in Afghanistan and Iraq. Dr Reilly led discussions of similar cases of particular interest to Australia, such as Indonesia and Bougainville.
Following this, Dr Reilly attended and spoke at the Vail Symposium on "Dilemmas of Democratization in War-Torn Societies", the culmination of a two-year international project sponsored by US and European democracy-promotion organisations examining how to promote sustainable democracy in wartorn societies as the most pivotal strategic objective in building international peace. The meeting focussed on the thorny issue of war-to-democracy transitions, examining how societies shattered by war can move towards sustainable democracy given that the process of transition toward competitive party-politics, divisive constitution-making processes, and hard-fought elections also can exacerbate conflict among contending social forces .
The symposium featured a mix ture of 35 policymakers and experts from international organizations, states, transnational non-governmental organizations, policy institutes, and development aid agencies including the United Nations, the U.S. Agency for International Development, International IDEA, the Carter Center, the International Peace Academy, the United Nations Foundation, and the Centre for Democratic Institutions.
See links below for Dr Reilly's paper presented to the Vail Symposium; an overview of the 'Dilemmas of Democratization in War-Torn Societies' project and symposium; and an overview of the International Studies Association (ISA) 2006 Annual Convention:
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