CDI Launches Major Study of Party Politics in New Democracies at the United Nations
  |
| ^ At the UN Launch in New York (l to r): Per Nordlund - IDEA | Hon Robert Hill - Australia's Ambassador to the UN | Jean-Marc Coicaud - UNU (NY) | Prof Ben Reilly - CDI Director |
 |
| ^ The Washington Launch at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (l to r): Per Nordlund | Thomas Carothers | Ben Reilly. |
In the culmination of a three-year international project, CDI's new study of political party development in conflict-prone societies was launched at a special event at the United Nations in New York on 4 September 2008 before an audience of 150 policymakers, diplomats and academics.
Speaking at the launch, Australia's Ambassador to the United Nations, the Hon Robert Hill, emphasised the key role that parties play in successful democratization, a process supported by successive Australian governments through the work of CDI. He noted that the book was a tangible example of CDI's work to strengthen democracy in Asia and the Pacific.
The book, Political Parties in Conflict-Prone Societies: Regulation, Engineering and Democratic Development, is co-edited by CDI Director Ben Reilly and was produced in cooperation with the International IDEA and the United Nations University (UNU). It looks at the ways in which new democracies can strengthen their party systems by regulating the way parties form, organise and behave.
The study is the first work to analyse the growing trend towards ambitious political party regulation in new democracies, drawing on the comparative experiences from new democracies in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the South Pacific. As well as contributing to the scholarly work on this subject, it also offers guidelines for governments and international organisations seeking to strengthen party systems in developing democracies.
Published by United Nations University Press, the book was also launched in Washington DC at a separate event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on 5 September 2008, and will be launched in Australia by the Hon Bob McMullan, Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, on 30 October 2008 in Canberra at the Australian National University.
Click on the following links for more detail, including a full description and purchasing details for the hard copy version of the book at UNU Press, a downloadable pdf version of the book, and details of the Australian launch on 30 October:
