Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

'The US response to 9/11 and the war in Iraq has rendered democracy assistance controversial,' says Marieke van Doorn, one of the editors of the book. 'That is unfortunate because both in the US and in Europe as well there are many organisations that work with governments and political parties, helping them improve the democratic system in their countries.'

The experience derived from successive enlargements of the European Union confers on Europe a unique position in democracy assistance worldwide. The EU now embraces 27 different democratic systems, which demonstrates that democratization can take on a variety of forms.

In the book European scholars and practitioners, including Peter Burnell and Richard Youngs, discuss various aspects of the distinctly European contribution towards this challenge. Their essays concentrate on European democratic values and the European profile in democracy assistance work.

The editors of the book are Roel von Meijenfeldt and Marieke van Doorn, respectively Director and Policy Officer with the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD). NIMD is an organization of political parties in The Netherlands for political parties in young democracies. NIMD supports joint initiatives of parties to improve the democratic system in their country. NIMD also supports the institutional development of political parties, helps them develop party programmes and assists them in efforts to enhance relations with civil society organizations and the media.

NIMD was founded in 2000 by seven Dutch political parties (CDA, PvdA, VVD, Groenlinks, D66, Christen Unie en SGP). The NIMD currently works with more than 150 political parties from 17 countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe.