African Governance – Ibrahim Index

The Ibrahim Index of African Governance is a comprehensive ranking of sub-Saharan African nations according to governance quality. The criteria for assessment capture the quality of services provided to citizens by governments and focus on the results that the people of a country experience.
The criteria are divided into five over-arching categories which together make up [...]

Live or Dead Aid – Who is responsible for development in Africa?

Who is responsible for development in Africa?
This is the question I’m mulling over, after a presentation by Dr Dambisa Moyo, author of Dead Aid.  The book has caused quite some controversy, not least among NGOs and recipients of the aid that Moyo critiques.
Foreign aid is a complex subject and one that has many vested interests. [...]

Idasa celebrates second International Day of Democracy

http://democracycharter.wordpress.com/
African democracy institute Idasa marks the second United Nations International Day of Democracy on 15 September with a call to political leaders on the continent to take up the challenge of strengthening and supporting democratic governance systems within Africa.
Idasa commemorates International Democracy Day by extending its campaign for the endorsement of the African Charter on Democracy, [...]

What South Africa does the world need?

Today, it is commonplace to say there is a crisis in world governance. Governments and international institutions seem limited in their power to contain the deterioration of citizen’s lives. Cultural diversity offers a fundamental starting point for global communication, and in order to revisit notions of world governance in fresh ways, political and religious communities [...]

What is Democracy?

These days, democracy is a much used word. Around the world, comparisons are made between democratic countries and undemocratic countries. Most people have a deepseated feeling that democracy is a good thing. By examining the word more closely, we can uncover some of meanings of democracy that are too often ignored.

The Democracy Debate

By Stefan Gilbert: What do we mean by democracy, specifically in the African context? and, What is it that Idasa is trying to do when it espouses the statement, “building democratic societies”?