The Kenya SAREAT international IDEA democracy workshop

The report of the Nairobi workshop on 22 June 2000 which follows forms part of a pilot project of democracy assessments conducted under the auspices of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) in Stockholm, and its Director of applied research, Dr. Patrick Molutsi.

The purpose of these country assessments is to answer such questions as 'How democratic are we? How much progress have we made? Which are the issues that give the most cause for public concern, from a democratic point of view? The assessment framework being used has been developed through a process of widespread international consultation, and builds on a methodology that was first used for the Democratic Audit of the UK. The assessment criteria are derived in the first instance from basic democratic values, such as equality, participation, representativeness, accountability, solidarity, and only secondarily from the institutional arrangements through which these values are to a greater or lesser extent realised.

Although the assessment framework provides a common instrument for use in any country, it treats democracy as a comparative matter - of more or less -and allows the in-country assessors to define for themselves what the appropriate standards or comparators for assessment should be, as well as how the assessment should be compiled and presented.