Democracy has globally declined over the last decade, due to numerous internal and external challenges to democratic societies. Where does the democracy assistance go? The new democracy support data tool of the European Democracy Hub digs deep into the major donors’ democracy spending.
Autocracies rising, wars ravaging, widespread unrest: these are just some of the challenges that have put democracy and democratic values under strain. Democracy assistance must be there to face these challenges and support democratic societies. In order to do so, quality democracy support evidence and access to information on democracy support worldwide is essential.
An interactive way of researching democracy data
As part of the European Democracy Hub’s efforts to collect and analyse democracy support funding, our new European democracy support data tool offers an overview of such funding from European Union (EU) institutions and other European donors.
The tool showcases data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) Creditor Reporting System, which covers the period 2014–2020, with a focus on official development assistance (ODA) disbursements for government and civil society provided by European donors.
Users can browse 12 distinct categories of core democracy support funding: civil and political rights, civil society support, civic and political education, electoral assistance, election observation and follow-up missions, justice and the rule of law, media support, parliamentary strengthening, political participation, political-party support, political inclusion, and transparency and anti-corruption.
What do we take from the analysis?
The study of the data has revealed interesting trends rumoured for years among democracy support practitioners. Do you want to find them out? Check the analysis of the tool by our Evelyn Mantoiu and Richard Youngs.
The European Democracy Hub is an initiative implemented by the European Partnership for Democracy and Carnegie Europe.
Photo Credits: Daphne Matthys
