Democracy Guide

The experience of Central and Eastern European countries that underwent transition in recent decades shows that facing the questions of the past, in particular addressing the legitimacy and legality of the former regime and remembering its crimes and their perpetrators, is crucial to the democratization of any society. To avoid “repeating of own past”, taking a clear stance towards both the victims and the culprits and embedding this stance into the legal system, education and society’s memory is a necessary task for every transiting nation and may not be underestimated.

The current project, which is supported by the National Endowment for Democracy and was launched at the beginning of October 2016, wants to make the democratic transition experience of seven selected countries available in an organized and systematic manner. The primary objective of the project is to produce a practical guide chronicling the democratic transition experience of the seven countries to help reformers, who are in charge of democratization processes in their home countries, to deal with issues involving security services during transition.  Secondly, the project aims at creating a database of international experts, the authors of the guide, who are willing to provide guidance to new democracies with navigating delicate issues concerning dismantling the state security apparatuses and preservation of national memory.

It is clear that the transitional experience of one nation cannot be copy-pasted to another country. However, it is possible to find inspiration or on the contrary, to learn from mistakes made by others in order not to repeat them. Thus, it is important to have in mind various experience of other countries when choosing the best practices for one´s own transition and to be informed about past setbacks and problems encountered in order to avoid them.

Who is the target group?

The primary target group of the project are potential reformers using political and civic activities to promote democracy, human rights and rule of law in their transitioning home countries and

  • Opposition leaders
  • Youth leaders
  • Human rights activists
  • Politically active emigrants
  • NGOs supporting democracy worldwide
  • Universities offering courses on the project-related democratic transition topic
  • And everyone who is interested in democracy, seeks freedom, rule of law and human rights

Download the Democracy Guide here.