Public access, transparency and balance of power in government were among topics covered in a recent study mission to the United States by members of the Cambodian National Assembly (MPs) seeking to strengthen democracy in their country.

By Kourtney Pompi, NDI citizen participation program manager

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Published on August 4, 2009

• Hourglass turned over fate of Iran vote detainees
  – headline in the Iranian run English-language PressTV

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) expresses its condolences to family, friends and supporters of former Philippine President Corazon Aquino, who died Aug. 1.

Described by NDI Chairman Madeleine K. Albright as a trailblazer with courage and charisma, Aquino received the NDI W. Averell  Harriman Democracy Award in 2004, some 18 years after she was elected to the presidency as part of a “people power” movement that swept dictator Ferdinand Marcos from office.

By Sophie Bordbar

Article 26 of the Iranian constitution provides for civil society organizations (CSOs), stating that organizations are permitted if they “do not violate the principles of independence, freedom, national unity, the criteria of Islam, or the basis of the Islamic Republic.”  Subsequently, Iran’s 1982 “Law Concerning the Activities of Parties, Associations, Political Associations and Guild Associations, Islamic Associations or the Associations of Recognized Religious Minorities” outlines four types of allowable organizations.