Understanding Swedish Democracy Aid: An analysis of political party assistance.

Sammanfattning: Abstract The Swedish government commissioned a committee led by Hadar Cars in December 1993 to report on the question of channeling assistance for building democratic structures through Party Affiliated Organizations (PAOs) 1. The report laid down the foundation for what can be seen as the Swedish template for political party assistance. A set of guidelines on how assistance for the establishment of democracy was to be initiated in cooperation with Swedish political parties in the Swedish parliament was outlined. The main aim was identified as assisting in the build-up of stable democratic societies in the Third World and in Eastern Europe. Among other proposals, it was also suggested that partners in cooperation abroad should be democratically constituted movements (political parties and other groups) engaged in work to achieve democratic government and protection of human rights. Consequently, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) has supported Swedish PAOs in this regard through a special allocation in the development assistance budget since 1995. In 2010 its board submitted at the request of the government, a strategy proposal for special democracy support through PAOs which would cover the period 2011-20152.This strategy introduced multi-party support in addition to the traditional sister party support. The Swedish government thus decided in September 2010 that Sida take responsibility for the execution of the strategy to realize the two main goals of (a) well functioning democratic parties and (b) democratically grounded and well functioning multi-party systems in developing countries. Like with other forms of development assistance, the effectiveness of party aid has recently been questioned in political circles and in the development field. Despite the growth of party aid over the years, academic interest in the field of party assistance has however been low. Carothers (2006) notes that the “paucity of reflective, analytic assessments of past work and a dispersion of accumulated wisdom are not just characteristic of party aid but of democracy aid generally.”3 Against this background, this paper seeks to explore the contours and dimensions of Swedish party assistance, paying particular attention to their goals, challenges, operational environment, strategies to reach their stated goals and why Sweden shifted from the traditional sister party support to include a component of multi-party support in its party assistance package. In order that the nature of Swedish party aid is elucidated, a series of interviews were conducted with secretaries general and/or chairpersons of the PAOs and Sida staff. Understanding the Swedish approach at a time when democracy aid practitioners are faced with unclear and incoherent transitions in the world and at worst backlashes against democracy and its promotion may compel a relook at strategies and methods. The paper concludes that Swedish party assistance strategy has been influenced by political context rather than ideas about democracy and democratization. 1 Demokratier Kräva Dessa Partier: Report by the Committee on Extended Contributions towards Democratic Construction. Swedish Foreign Affairs ministry Ds 1994:63 p.3 2 Strategi för särskilt demokratistöd genom svenska partianknutna organisationer 2011-2015:Swedish Foreign Affairs ministry. Instrument UF2010/34078/UP p.2 3Thomas Carothers (2006), Confronting the weakest link. Aiding Political parties in New Democracies. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington D.C p. 14