Building democratic��small d��institutions in Iraq

In the three years that Lorne Craner has been gone from the International Republican Institute (IRI), the world--and the organization--have become very different places.

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"There's a new environment, new challenges," said Craner, who returned as IRI's president in August after serving as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor. There is more interest among voters in foreign policy, and President George W. Bush has made democracy and human rights a centerpiece of his presidency.

As a result IRI's budget has more than doubled and much of its work is centered on helping Iraq make the transition to democracy. Heading the Iraq project is another former IRI hand, Executive Vice President Judy Van Rest, who was recently with the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. While there, she worked on "everything you can think of that has to do with democracy," Van Rest said.

Washington, D.C.-based IRI has a Baghdad office and plans to open other offices in Iraq as security permits. Its staff there includes eight Americans and 51 Iraqis. The program's emphasis is building political parties and a civil society, the involvement of women and youth in politics, and assisting the interim government in building institutions, as Iraq gets ready for elections next year.

"A very strong foundation can be laid for Iraq's democracy," said Van Rest, noting that "democracy is a long-term process. The majority of Iraqis, in my view, want to have democracy."

IRI plans to spend $37 million in the next 18 months in Iraq. Its budget this year is about $40 million, up from $15 million three years ago, said Craner, who headed the group from 1995 to 2001. Much of that money comes from the federal government, under the National Endowment for Democracy, as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development, private funds and overseas development administrations.

The 21-year-old group was founded as the result of a 1982 call by President Ronald Reagan to help other countries build the infrastructure of democracy. A year later, Congress established the National Endowment for Democracy, which also created the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), the Center for International Private Enterprise and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity.

IRI is now active in more than 60 countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, where it became involved in the 1990s "before it was hip," Craner said. "We tend to work in places before they really come on the radar screen for democracy," he added, citing Morocco, the West Bank and Kuwait. The group also brings in third countries to talk about their experiences in becoming democracies. It took a group of Iraqis to Indonesia in September to see how elections work there.

Training citizens in areas such as polling gives parties and governments tools that they can use in their transformation to democracy.

"When we leave, there's something left behind that they can consult," Craner said.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairs IRI's board of directors, which also includes former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, former U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft. While IRI enjoys relationships with prominent Republicans, it is not affiliated with the Republican Party and works closely with NDI.

"There's some perception somewhere that if the Democrats are in [power], the Republican institute is going to be opposed to whatever they do," Craner said. "The world is too big to be partisan."

For many of the countries IRI helps, "They haven't sorted out if they're for this kind of economics or that kind of tax plan," he added. "They just want to be free."

Mary Lynn F. Jones is a Washington-based writer and online editor of The Hill.

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