A free press, crucial to any democracy, plays a significant role in shaping public attitudes.  It can reinforce voter stereotypes about certain types of candidates, or it can help dispel the kinds of opinions that for many years in many places have hampered efforts by women to become full partners in the political process.

“We fought a senseless war for 11 years…we destroyed every piece of our society. If we had the culture of debate we would not have to war; people would not have lost their lives...”

- James Williams of Sierra Leone, discussing the benefit of debates to prevent conflict and strengthen democracy

Patrick Merloe, NDI director of electoral programs, testified July 9 before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. Representative Steve Chabot, chairman of the subcommittee, presided over the hearing, “Cambodia’s Looming Political and Social Crisis.”

Other witnesses included John Sifton, director of Asia Advocacy for Human Rights Watch; Evi Schueller, legal consultant for the Cambodian League for the Promotion of Defense of Human Rights; and Daniel Mitchell, chief executive officer and managing director for SRP International Group.

A new book by Krishna Kumar, senior social scientist at the State Department, includes contributions by a number of organizations, including NDI, that provide democracy support. The book, Evaluating Democracy Assistance, will be an important resource for practitioners, evaluators and policymakers alike.

Hodan Ahmed and her family were forced to flee Somalia in 1991. The civil war that drove them from their home would go on for two decades. Ahmed live abroad in India and then in Kenya, where she got her education and began her career, but her dream was to return to Somalia to give her children the chance to grow up where she could not.