Suchergebnisse

Since gaining independence from France in 1958, Guinea has remained relatively stable and has never experienced violent conflict. Until the bloodless military coup of 2008, it had had only two governments: the socialist administration of Sékou Touré (1958-1984) and the liberal regime of Lansana Conté (1984-2008). Despite some moves towards a more democratic system, including the adoption by referendum of a new constitution in 1990, the latter years of the Conté government were marked by bad governance, human rights violations, weak rule of law and impunity. This was compounded by the prolonged illness of the president, whose fitness to govern was widely doubted, and by 2003 there were fears that Guinea could become yet another failed state. The military junta headed by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara that assumed power following Conté's death in December 2008 promised a transition to democracy but hopes were shattered on 28 September 2009 when a peaceful demonstration was brutally suppressed, leaving 150 people dead. Nevertheless, when Dadis Camara was replaced by General Sékouba Konaté following an assassination attempt, transitional institutions were established to pave the way for elections. Despite political turmoil and technical challenges, Alpha Condé, a longstanding opposition leader, was elected president in December 2010 after what were considered to be the first ever credible elections in Guinea. ; This report forms part of the Noref project, supported by the Ford Foundation, on the internal and external dimensions of state fragility.

Public policy making through networks raises democratic accountability concerns related to lack of control, transparency and predictability. There is a question of how democratic accountability can increase in governance networks. This article utilises an extended notion of democratic accountability to additionally include democratic dialogue and the wider accountability environment. Through three case studies, the article argues that governance networks involved in public policy processes have to take their role as democratically accountable actors seriously. In order to inspire confidence between governance networks and the regional society (political, administrative, private sector and civil society), inclusion of elected representatives (meta-governance) at different stages of the process is not alone a sufficient solution. Transparency through process openness, predictability and clarity in who is to be held responsible for their actions, in addition to control through open arenas and responsiveness, is essential for a governance network to be perceived as democratically accountable. These accountability elements can enhance trust relations between network and surroundings, and by this shape the basis for the crucial balance between network benefits and democratic ideals.

This paper focusses on participation in the main planning documents produced in Bolivia in the first decade of the 2000s: the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and the National Development Plan (PND). It is analyzed how these planning instruments have been able to capture popular participation through diverse mechanisms and how these practices fit in the current mainstream participation discourse. Special attention is paid to natural resources because of the predominant role they have in the Bolivian economy and because of their substantial contribution to the state budget. The Bolivian experience shows an apparent paradox: while the process leading to the PRSP followed participatory guidelines and the PND did not, the resulting PRSP failed to include the most pressing demands of social movements, while the PND succeeded in including them.