International Centre for Democratic Transition

Mission statement

Because the International Centre for Democratic Transition was founded in Central Europe, we are acutely aware of the complexity of democratic transition as a process. We ourselves have recently undergone this process and know full well the fragility of new democracies. We firmly believe that a transition can only be judged to be successful when the benefits of democracy are shared by the whole of society. The ICDT’s mission is to facilitate the smooth and peaceful process of democratic transition on the basis of participatory principles; the political, economic, legal, cultural, and civil societal aspects of transformation; and the socio-cultural context of regions and countries where the process takes place.

History

The idea to establish an institute to collect and share the experiences of past democratic transitions originated from former US Ambassador Mark Palmer, Vice President of the Council for a Community of Democracies (CCD). His proposal was followed by a meeting between the Hungarian Foreign Minister László Kovács and the US Secretary of State in June 2004. At a conference in Budapest in March 2005 civil society and governmental leaders from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the United States, as well as representatives of a number of international organizations approved the concept paper on the new Centre. Subsequently, the idea was presented by the Hungarian Foreign Minister at the Third Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies in Santiago de Chile. Once again, the idea was well received and endorsed by the participating Foreign Ministers, representing more than 100 democratic governments of the world. Finally, in September 2005, the President of Hungary announced at the World Summit of the United Nations that “an International Centre for Democratic Transition (ICDT) has been set up in Budapest.”

Operational Method

The ICDT:

Key Achievements

Program Areas

Interregional Cooperation
Promoting interregional cooperation between governments and civil societies of neighboring countries to enable democratic transition and to ensure regional stability.

Toolbox for Democracy
Providing technical assistance and learning opportunities to new and fragile democracies, concentrating on particular and practical elements of democracy such as elections and freedom of speech.

Sustainable Democracy
Strengthening the involvement of marginalized groups such as minorities, women and other unprotected social groups in both the transition process and the functioning of democracy.

Research & Analysis
Understanding and explaining the complex process of democratic transitions in order to forecast future trends and give recommendations for projects in the Centre’s three program areas.

International Board

The International Board of Directors of the Centre consists of prominent personalities from the areas of international politics, economics, the arts and the sciences.

Executive committee

The Executive Committee of the ICDT consists of five internationally recognized figures from the scientific and public arenas, elected for a term of three years by the International Board.

Chairperson

Members

Governmental Advisory Board

The members of the GAB represent their governments. This body serves as an organized form of communication with the democratic governments of the world. So far over 40 democracies have delegated a representative to the ICDT’s Governmental Advisory Board, which advises and appraises the work of the Centre and makes proposals for specific projects.

Board of Trustees

Advisors

Staff