Following years of democratic liberalisation after the early 90s, the authoritarian backlash is seemingly in full swing, imposing restrictions on civil society and individual rights in countries in every region of the world. For some groups, women most notably, access to political participation and rights has always faced constraints. WFD’s research in this area looks at the distribution of power, be it political, social, or financial; how political elites limit democratic space and access to politics to maintain existing power structures; and how democracy support actors can provide an effective counterbalance through their programmes.
Commonwealth organisations are hosting a three-day conference in London which begins today (4 March) which aims to put inclusion and accountability high on the agenda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Rwanda in June 2020. Over the last two years the UK Government has helped advance inclusion and accountability across the Commonwealth […]
A recent survey by WFD, Michigan State University (United States), Aarhus University (Denmark) and the Institute for Policy Interaction (Malawi) studied the costs of seeking and holding parliamentary office in Malawi.
WFD works in North Macedonia to set up new ways to make state institutions more transparent, through increasing the level of scrutiny over public spending – which we believe will lead to a higher level of trust among citizens in key state institutions’ capabilities. One way which the Assembly is doing this is by setting […]
