International Republican Institute
 |
|
| Abbreviation | IRI |
|---|---|
| Motto | Advancing Democracy Worldwide |
| Formation | 1983 |
| Headquarters |
Washington, DC, United States |
|
President
|
Mark Green |
|
Budget
|
$78m (2008) |
|
Staff
|
400 (2008) |
| Website | iri.org |
Founded in 1983, the International Republican Institute (IRI) "is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide by helping political parties to become more issue-based and responsive, assisting citizens to participate in government planning, and working to increase the role of marginalized groups in the political process – including women and youth."
Initially known as the National Republican Institute for International Affairs, the IRI's stated mission is to "expand freedom throughout the world". Its activities include assisting political parties and candidates develop their values and institutional structures, good governance practices, civil society development, civic education, women’s and youth leadership development, electoral reform and election monitoring, and political expression in closed societies. It has been chaired by Arizona Senator John McCain since January 1993.
IRI has dramatically increased its efforts to bring institutional structure to Arab countries whose social and political fabric was frayed by the Arab Spring. IRI controversially was helping organize Haitian workers and farmers in Haiti prior to the 2004 Haitian coup d'état, organized conservative political parties in Poland, and has been involved in organizing women in Egypt during and after the Arab Spring.
The IRI is a non-partisan organization founded in 1983 after U.S. President Ronald Reagan's 1982 speech before the British Parliament in Westminster in which he proposed a broad objective of helping countries build the infrastructure of democracy. Quoting the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, he stated: "we must be staunch in our conviction that freedom is not the sole prerogative of a lucky few but the inalienable and universal right of all human beings."
The Westminster speech led to the establishment of the National Endowment for Democracy by Congress in 1983. The endowment is a mechanism to channel congressional funds to the IRI and three other institutes: the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, and the Center for International Private Enterprise. These organizations provide technical assistance to political bodies worldwide.
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