Building Institutions for Democracy

Quality democracies ensure that citizens have a way to participate in governance between elections. In the above video, Hernando de Soto and Larry Diamond explain why democracies need institutions in order to operate with accountability and deliver policies to tangibly improve people’s lives. Additionally, in the latest Economic Reform Feature Service article, Hernando de Soto desribes the challenges of building democratic institutions in Peru.

Elections are a key component of democracy. Without democratic institutions to operate between voting periods, however, elections will only produce the shell of democracy without the benefits of a truly accountable government.

Institutions such as representation systems, consultation committees, and comment-and-notice periods ensure that policymakers must confer with their citizens and other elected officials before making policy. Without these institutions and practices, elected lawmakers can behave like dictators, enacting and implementing policies as they see fit.

Feature Service article at a glance:

  • The challenge of making democracy work is the challenge of setting up a system that allows people to participate in governance between elections.
  • Economic exclusion can lead to democratic disenfranchisement, as the case of the indigenous population in Peru shows.
  • Equal access for all to the legal tools of a modern market economy requires first of all that the democratic process through which laws and regulations are created is responsive to public needs and concerns.
  • Without the institutions that underpin democratic market economies, such as the rule of law and property rights, the democratic process can be hijacked even by democratically-elected leaders.

Building strong institutions is only one step to ensure that democracies deliver real results. To learn more about strengthening democracies, visit www.democracythatdelivers.org.

Published Date: October 28, 2010