Role of Democracy Assessment Tools in Democracy Consolidation: Lessons Learned From Mongolia

Abstract

Executive summary

1. Democracy assessment in Mongolia was a state-led exercise conducted as part of the follow-up activities to the 5th International Conference of New or Restored Democracies and involved the active participation of the Government, Parliament, and Civil Society.

2. The process of democracy assessment itself provided a unique opportunity for critical self-reflection within Mongolia about the quality of democracy, the performance of democratic institutions, and elite and mass perceptions of democracy.

3. The follow-up activities successfully generated methods for assessing democracy in the particular context of Mongolia using comparable concepts and measures employed in the measurement and assessment of democracy in other developed and developing democracies around the world, as well as a series of ‘satellite’ indicators that captured aspects of democracy particular to the Mongolian national context.

4. Mongolia has built on the assessment process by institutionalising a democratic reform agenda through the passage of the 9th Millennium Development Goal on democracy, human rights, and zero tolerance of corruption.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5564/mjia.v0i18.73

Mongolian Journal of International Affairs No.18 2013: 105-117