1/10

Answering the Call to Dig NED; Let's Look at Their History

Here's Anon's outline of the history of the National Endowment for Democracy, which was written by David Lowel. Notice that Lowel's name copy pasta looks like Lowe1. The history is titled, "IDEA TO REALITY: NED AT 30".

https://www.ned.org/about/history/

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED)

• launched in the early 1980s

• brief history of the Endowment

ORIGINS

• aftermath of World War II - no mechanism to channel political assistance to struggling allies

• U.S. policy makers resorted to covert means, secretly sending advisers, equipment, and funds to support newspapers and parties in Europe

• late 1960’s - revelation - American PVO’s were receivingcovert fundingfrom theCIAto wage thebattle of ideasat international forums

• Johnson Administration concluded that such funding should cease - recommended establishment of “a public-private mechanism” to fund overseas activities openly

1967

• Congressman Dante Fascell (D, FL) - bill to create anInstitute of International Affairs

• • authorize overt funding for programs to promote democratic values

• • bill failed but lead to discussions in the Administration and on Capitol Hill - how to develop new approaches re: U.S. and the Soviet Union

Administration of President Jimmy Carter - made human rights a central component of American foreign policy

Late 1970’s

• Helsinki accords and that “basket” dealing with human rights

1978

• Congressmen Fascell and Donald Fraser (D,MN) proposed a “QUANGO” (i.e,quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization) to advance human rights

• bill would have created an Institute for Human Rights and Freedom to furnish technical and financial assistance to NGOs that promote human rights abroad

German Federal Republic’s party foundations

• after World War II to help rebuild Germany’s democratic institutions destroyed a generation earlier by the Nazis

• foundations were known as “Stiftungen”

• each foundation was aligned with one of the four German political parties and received funding from the West German treasury

• 1960’s they had begun assisting ideological counterparts abroad

• mid-70’s were playing an important role in both of the democratic transitions taking place on the Iberian Peninsula

>>16273496

2/10

Answering the Call to Dig NED; Let's Look at Their History

https://www.ned.org/about/history/

1977

• Washington political consultant George Agree (citing Stiftungen) proposed creation of a foundation to:

• • promote communication/understanding between the two major U.S. political parties and other parties around the world

By 1980

-American Political Foundationestablished an office in Washington, D.C. and was headed by:

• • U.S. Trade Representative William Brock (former Republican National Committee Chairman)

• • Charles Manatt (Democratic National Committee Chairman)

-provided briefings, appointments and assistance to foreign party, parliamentary, and academic visitors to the U.S.

President Reagan (1982)

• major foreign policy address delivered at Westminster Palace before the British Parliament

• initiative to foster the infrastructure of democracy–the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities

• American Political Foundation would soon begin a study to determine how the U.S. can best contribute–as a nation–to global campaign for democracy

• the Parliamentary chamber in Britain’s Westminster Palace was packed (Reagan speech was central contribution to the establishment of a U.S. democracy foundation)

The Democracy Program

• funded by a $300,000 grant from theAgency for International Development (AID)

• establishment of a bipartisan, private, non-profit corporation to be known as theNational Endowment for Democracy (NED)

NED

-non-governmentalbutfunded primarily through annual appropriationsandsubject to congressional oversight

• would act as a grant-making foundation, distributing funds to private organizations for the purpose of promoting democracy abroad

• funded organizations would include:

• • those created by the two political parties

• • Those in the business community

• Funded organizations would join the regional international institutes of the labor movement already in existence

LEGISLATIVE ACTION

• House Foreign Affairs Committee - two-year authorization for National Endowment for Democracy

• annual level of $31.3 million as part of the FY84/85 State Department Authorization Act (H.R. 2915)

• Reagan Administration - originally proposed a larger ($65 million) democracy promotion initiative known as “Project Democracy”

• • coordinated directly byUnited States Information Agency (USIA)

-Foreign Affairs Committee H.R. 2915 did not include funding for " Project Democracy,”

• • preference for the non-governmental Endowment concept (The Administration then voiced support for the creation of NED)

>>16273496

3/10

Answering the Call to Dig NED; Let's Look at Their History

https://www.ned.org/about/history/

The legislation

• in the authorization bill for the State Department and USIA

• six purposes of the proposed Endowment:

• • encouraging democratic institutions through private sector initiatives

• • facilitating exchanges between private sector groups (particularly the four proposed Institutes) and democratic groups abroad-4 Institutes listed below

• • promoting nongovernmental participation in democratic training programs

• • strengthening democratic electoral processes abroad in cooperation with indigenous democratic forces

• • fostering cooperation between American private sector grps and those abroad dedicated to cultural values/institutions/organizations of democratic pluralism

• • encouraging democratic development consistent with the interests of both the U.S. and the groups receiving assistance

• bill spelled out the procedures by which the funding would flow from USIA to NED and the mechanisms for insuring financial accountability

• earmarks of $13.8 million for theFree Trade Union Institute, an affiliate of theAFL-CIOincorporated in 1978

• -umbrellafor labor’s regional bodies operating in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe

• $2.5 million for the proposed affiliate of theNational U.S. Chamber Foundation;

• $5 million for each of the two proposed party institutes (see list below)

“=an idea whose time has come==,” - Chairman Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Charles Percy (R,IL)

• introduced NED’s authorization on the floor of the Senate three months after the House vote

-“arguably the most important single U.S. foreign policy initiative of this generation.”

• House’s deletion of the earmarks for the party institutes, but pointed out that this was “without prejudice to their receipt of funds from the Endowment.”

GETTING ORGANIZED

• Endowment was established as a nonprofit organization under section 501c (3) of the Internal Revenue Service Code

• NED’s original Board of Directors (three three-year terms of service) included:

• party activists

• representatives of the U.S. labor

• business and education communities

• foreign policy specialists

• two members of Congress

• • Congressman Fascell was briefly acting chairman

• Endowment appointed first permanent Chairman John Richardson, a former Asst. Sec. of State - years in private organizations involved in international affairs

• Board chose Carl Gershman as President, previously the Senior Counselor to the U.S. Representative to the United Nations

NED established4 Institutes:

-Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)

-National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)

-National Republican Institute for International Affairs(later renamed theInternational Republican Instituteor “IRI”)

-Free Trade Union Institute (FTUI)- (FTUI was later reorganized as theAmerican Center for International Labor Solidarity, AKA theSolidarity Center

>>16273496

4/10

Answering the Call to Dig NED; Let's Look at Their History

https://www.ned.org/about/history/

-structure recommended by theDemocracy Programfor three basic reasons:

• wide recognition of the parent bodies of these new entities as national institutions with a public character - important asset for this non-governmental foundation - they represent sectors of political life fundamental to any strong democracy

• insurepolitical balance

**Endowment -umbrella organizationthrough which4 groupsand anexpanding number of other private sector groupswould receive $$ for programs abroad

NED's $31.3 million - later set at $18 million - new institution would not be fully organized until well into the year

• NED President, Carl Gershman - congressional testimony - considerable attention to putting into place “sound administrative, financial, and reporting procedures.”

NED’s second year hearings (May, 1984)

• funding level of $18.5 million - ban on funding the party Institutes

• NED’s appropriation was not to reach the original authorized level for another 10 years

REAUTHORIZATION

• NED authorization for FY86 and 87 set a ceiling of $18.4 million and no earmarks nor prohibition on funding the party Institutes

• Additional language was added to the NED Act that:

• • codified the Board’s prohibition on the use of funds for partisan political purposes, including funding for national party operations

• • mandated that NED consult with the State Department on any overseas programs it funds prior to the commencement of their activities

• • moved the required date of reporting to the Congress on all grants from December 31 to February 1

• • required that the Endowment, despite its nongovernmental status,comply fullywith the requirements of theFreedom of Information Act

• • made all financial transactions of the Endowment for each fiscal year subject to a possible USIA audit (later amended to require such audits)

• Since second reauthorization covering FY86 and 87, Congress has not included earmarks in any NED-related legislation

• Foreign Relations Act of 1995 recommendedequal fundingof the4 institutesand capping the total $$ reserved for them at 55% of the appropriated amount

• importance of discretionary program $$ to indigenous groups working in human rights, independent media, civic education, and strengthening democratic culture/values - FY87 conference - not less than 25% of the program dollars (i.e., the total appropriation less the amount spent on administration) be used for discretionary grants

• $5 million increase in FY94 - language instructed the Board to use the increment to enhance the discretionary program

Sometimes Congress provides special appropriations to the Endowment for specific democratic initiatives in countries of special interest:

• Poland (through the trade union Solidarity)

• Chile

• Nicaragua

• Eastern Europe (to aid in the democratic transition following the demise of the Soviet bloc)

• South Africa- Burma

• China

• Tibet

• North Korea

• Balkans - supported for civic groups, including those that played a key role in Serbia’s electoral breakthrough in the fall of 2000

• following 9/11 and adoption of its 3rd strategic document - special $$ provided for countries with substantial Muslim populations in Middle East, Africa, and Asia

>>16273496

5/10

Answering the Call to Dig NED; Let's Look at Their History

https://www.ned.org/about/history/

Foreign Relations Act of 1992

• Congress has rejected any requirement that NED’s grantees raise matching funds

FY93/4 authorization - asked the Administration to study the desirability of matching funds requirement - it was strongly rejected

• Hank Brown (had moved from the House to the Senate) - argued (failed) that NED’s original $$ were to serve as “seed money” and NED would become fully privatized

• FY93 - NED began compiling an annual report of cash and in-kind contributions raised by all of its grantees to supplement their NED funding

• FY99 report indicated that for every program dollar spent from NED’s congressional appropriation, its grantees raised over $.65 in “counterpart resources.”

CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT

• has grown steadily during its first twenty-five years

• early days of close and frequent votes on its authorizing and appropriating legislation

• now - widespread bipartisan endorsement on the Hill

• Oct., 2003 Senate/House resolutions (S. Con Res 66; H. Con Res 274) commended NED “for its major contributions… strengthening of democracy around the world…"

"The early opposition to the Endowment on the Hill tended to focus on four basic factors:

• its structure

• its independence

• its purported redundancy

• its mission

STRUCTURE

In Anon's opinion, the "structure" discussed here reflects nothing but "slush fund". Anons can read this section for themselves.

INDEPENDENCE

In Anon's opinion, this section describes NED's non-governmental status and supposed independance, while describing its dependance on Swamp $$.

REDUNDANCY

NED v AID and other agencies? Redundant v complimentary?

LEFT/RIGHT OPPOSITION

Left v right v labor v social democratic agenda v conservative v labor v human rights v fair elections v interfering in WW elections v

STRATEGIC PLANNING

• 1991 GAO report recommended - NED adopt a more systematic approach to planning program objectives and assessing program results

• • identifying more specific and measurable goals and priorities

• Board adopted new procedures including:

• • development of target funding goals for each country in its annual planning document

• • hiring of an evaluation specialist to work with grantees to draw up evaluation plans for projects and to commission independent evaluations by outside experts

• • drafting of strategic plans to focus on long range goals and objectives

6/10

Answering the Call to Dig NED; Let's Look at Their History

https://www.ned.org/about/history/

The first strategic plan, drafted by the Board in 1992, was blueprint for program activity over the next five years

• two key issues:

• • what role the Endowment should play in a post-Cold War world

• • how to address the fact that the U.S. Government, primarily through AID, had entered the field of democracy promotion

• recommended that NED play to its strengths - take advantage of those institutional features that set it apart from others:

• • non-governmental organization

• • "multi-sectoral” character

• • organization whose sole mission is to promote democracy

"As a non-governmental organization, it could provide political assistance to democratic forces in repressive or other sensitive political situations where U.S. Government support, even where channeled through intermediary institutions that were non-governmental, would be diplomatically or politically unfeasible. With its special relationship with the four Institutes and its discretionary grants, it could provide a “full package” response to the complex needs of emerging democracies. And as an institution whose sole mission is to promote democracy, the Endowment could serve as a center of democratic activity,bridging the gapbetween activists and students of democracy.20"

"Journal of Democracy", whose first issue appeared in January 1990.

Third pillar of the strategy document - proposed:

• establishment of a forum for bringing together scholars and practitioners on a regular basis

• developing a data base for democratic projects around the world

International Forum for Democratic Studies (established in 1994)

• important center for analysis of the theory and practice of democratic development worldwide

• part of the Endowment structure - receives some funding from the NED appropriation

• much of its budget has been provided by private foundations, which have helped fund the Democracy Resource Center and more

• Forum produces the Journal of Democracy, published byJohns Hopkins University Press

International Forum (in 2001)

• funds authorized by Congress and provided by theState Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor

• established theReagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program

• since 2004, the Forum, in partnership with theMunk Centre for International Relationsat theUniversity of Toronto

• • annual lecture on Democracy in the World - named forSeymour Martin Lipset

NED's second strategic plan (1997)

• federally funded budget dropping in FY96 to $30 million and frozen for the foreseeable future

• Board chose to maximize its impact during a time of fiscal austerity:

• • expanding programs that promote cross-border and intra-regional activity among grantees

• • integrating networks of grantees to maximize their impact within countries such as China and Burma

• • encouraging the growth of new counterpart organizations

COUNTERPART INSTITUTIONS

• 1992 -Westminster Foundation for Democracywas established inGreat Britain

• portion of its grants are set aside for programs administered by party affiliated organizations

• • Foundation does not fund programs that have a business orientation

• • more of a quasi-governmental character through its close relationship with theForeign and Commonwealth Office

• • grants have been heavily concentrated in Eastern Europe and former Commonwealth countries

>>16273496

7/10

Answering the Call to Dig NED; Let's Look at Their History

https://www.ned.org/about/history/

NED - FY93 appropriation

• Appropriations Committee recognized the existence of democracy promotion foundations in a number of countries

• recommended convening a “democracy summit” to review issues of mutual concern

• NED convened a group of foundation representatives in February, 1993 at Airlie House outside of Washington, D.C.

• Working withTaiwan’s Institute for National Policy Research

• convened a meeting in Taipei in October, 1997 to promote the concept of establishing new democracy foundations

• twenty countries were represented at the meeting

Australian government established theCenter for Democratic Institutions

June, 2003 - Taiwan launched theTaiwan Foundation for Democracy

• initiative of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)

• but Chairman (Speaker of the Legislative Yuan) was a prominent member of the opposition KMT

United Nations Democracy Fund (founded 2005)

Arab Democracy Foundation in 2007

European Partnership for Democracy (EPD)

European Endowment for Democracy (2013) Poland - EU countries have been given official representation on its Board of Directors

World Movement for Democracy

• “network of networks” that connects and unites people and organizations

• NED serves as the secretariat

• directed by an international Steering Committee of distinguished democratic activists and thinkers

• chaired by former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell

• has held seven World Assemblies funded mostly with non-public funding:

• • New Delhi, India in 1999

• • Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2000

• • Durban, South Africa in 2004

• • Istanbul, Turkey in 2006

• -Kyiv, Ukrainein 2008

• • Jakarta, Indonesia; and Lima, Peru in 2012.

World Movement has undertaken two major projects

• “Defending Civil Society,” - designed to counteract a growing crackdown by semi-authoritarian regimes on NGOs

• worldwide assessment of democracy assistance, looking at best practices and lessons learned over the past two decades

NED established theCenter for International Media Assitance (CIMA)in 2006 - grant from the State Department

• Center’s mission is to strengthen support, raise visibility, andimprove effectiveness of media assistance programsWW

• Center provides information, builds networks, conducts research, and highlights the indispensable role independent media play

• CIMA has undertaken several major projects, including publication of two large surveys of media assistance under the title - “Empowering Independent Media”

• • major donor’s conference held in 2012 at theRockefeller Brothers Fund’s Pocantico Center

• • spearheaded World Press Freedom Day in 2011

>>16273496

8/10

Answering the Call to Dig NED; Let's Look at Their History

https://www.ned.org/about/history/

MILESTONES

• twentieth anniversary of NED - Board of Directors invited President George W. Bush to make a statement about democracy

• one of the most cited of his Presidency - articulated a vision of a more democratic Middle East

• promoting democratic institutions and values in countries with significant Muslim populations

Library of Congress (June 4, 2008) - 25th anniversary of President Reagan’s Westminster address

• Endowment signed an agreement with the Library’s Manuscript Division to donate its official papers and documents

• SpeakerNancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and other members of Congress

NED - multi-faceted institution with a wide-ranging program, solid bipartisan support, ambitious agenda

• 2008 Presidential campaign - on-line interview with the Washington Post - Barack Obama advocated for increasing NED’s budget

NED’s Board of Directors - Chairmen:

• Vin Weber

• Richard Gephardt

• Martin Frost

"On November 13, 2013, NED celebrated its 30th anniversary with an event at the National Archives chaired by Frost and Weber. In describing NED’s mandate on behalf of the American people, SpeakerJohn Boehnerobserved, 'Our work to help spread freedom and democracy around the world is at the core of who we are and what we believe in.' And in saluting NED’s thirtieth anniversary, Democratic LeaderNancy Pelosiconcluded with the hope 'that we will continue to honor our responsibility to support freedom around the world.'”

>>16273496

9/10

Answering the Call to Dig NED; Let's Look at Their History

"The following information is copy pasta from the NED history page. Spacing is theirs, it's just copy pasta.

https://www.ned.org/about/history/

Vice President, Government Relations and Public Affairs, National Endowment for Democracy

Seymour Martin Lipset, “Democratic Linkage and American Aid,” The Washington Times, June 11, 1995.

The question of whether NED was financially accountable to USIA was not resolved until 1985, when the GAO ruled that the agency did have financial (but not programmatic) oversight over the Endowment.

Congressional Record, September 22, 1983, pp. 12703-22. Interestingly, a number of those Senators voting for the amendment would eventually become strong supporters:Biden, Domenici, Kassebaum,Murkowski, Roth, Rudman, Simpson and Wallop.

The General Accounting Office, while finding this action “understandable,” subsequently ruled that the earmarks should nonetheless have been followed. It recommended no retroactive corrective measures.

The vote was influenced by a New York Times article published three days before the vote reporting that some funding from the labor institute had been used in the Presidential election in Panama. NED’s Statement of Principles and Objectives, adopted later that year, asserts that “No Endowment funds may be used to finance the campaigns of candidates for public office.”

Although the bill was vetoed by President Clinton (for reasons unrelated to NED) and did not become law, the Board decided to follow its provision regarding equalization of the target figures for the four Institutes. This policy has been maintained since then.The proportion of funding reserved for Institute projects is currently at the 55% maximum contained in both the 1995 and 1997 State Department authorization bills.

In doing so, the committee cited the fact that some of the Institutes had begun to receive substantial amounts of funding from AID. See Conference Report to accompany H.R. 2519, October 14, 1996, p. 105.

“National Endowment for Democracy: Policy and Funding Issues,” Congressional Research Service, August 2, 1996, p. 5.

In the Senate: Frist, Daschle, Lugar, Biden, Graham, Bayh, Kyl, Hatch, Leahy, Hagel, Levin, McCain, McConnell, and Sarbanes; In the House: Hyde, Lantos, Cox, Payne, Berman, Bereuter, Cardin, Chabot, Crowley, Diaz-Balart, Dreier, Engel, Gallegly, (Mark) Green, Houghton, (Patrick) Kennedy, Kingston, Kirk, Lowey, Meeks, Menendez, Napolitano, Pitts, Rohrabacher, Ros-Lehtinen, Royce, (Christopher) Smith, and Ackerman.

A conference committee restored $1 million of the $2 million cut from the appropriation.

A fifth issue that is often raised when the Endowment is debated is the cost to the U.S. treasury. Given the modest size of the NED budget, it is clear that this “issue” is used tactically by critics to increase support among so-called “deficit hawks” and is not what stimulates them to take up the cause.

This has been mitigated somewhat on the right by theAFL-CIO’s strong anti-Communist orientation in its international work. The other aspect of the early criticism of the Endowment’s funding of the labor institute was its disproportionate allocation vis-a-vis the other core grantees prior to 1995. Many of those making this criticism were unaware of the fact that it was a congressional earmark that created the original imbalance.

>>16273496

10/10

Answering the Call to Dig NED; Let's Look at Their History

"The following information is copy pasta from the NED history page. Spacing is theirs, it's just copy pasta.

https://www.ned.org/about/history/

22 USC 4412, Sec. 503 (c).

Congressional Record, September 22, 1983. P. 12714.

1. The seven were James Baker, Laurence Eagleburger, George Shultz, Alexander Haig, Henry Kissenger, Edmund Muskie and Cyrus Vance.

See “Democracy Promotion Programs Funded by the U.S. Government,” A Report to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. Congress, as requested in P.L. 103-236, Section 534.

See “A Review of Democracy Programs Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the National Endowment for Democracy,” March 1, 1996.

See “Paying Big Labor to Export its Agenda,” Insight, July 12, 1992.

National Endowment for Democracy, “Strategy Document,” January 1992, pp.6-12.

General Accounting Office, Decision B-248111, September 9, 1992.

National Endowment for Democracy, “Promoting Democracy in a Time of Austerity: NED’s Strategy for 1997 and Beyond.”

Before the Foundation became fully operational, NED hosted a series of meetings for its acting Executive Director and a founding Board member in Washington, where they were familiarized with the Endowment’s structure and procedures. The two organizations have maintained a close relationship since that time.

Additional Reading and Downloads:

The Democracy Program, July 27, 1983

Remarks at a White House Ceremony Inaugurating the National Endowment for Democracy – President Reagan, December 16, 1983

Promoting Democracy and Peace – President Reagan, June 8, 1982

Freedom in Iraq and Middle East – President Bush at the 20th Anniversary of the National Endowment for Democracy, October 18, 2003

>>16273496, >>16273504, >>16273507, >>16273512, >>16273517, 16273521, >>16273534, >>16273536, >>16273541, >>16273544Answering the Call to Dig NED; Let's Look at Their History

A Bun forBaker

Trying that Bun Again. Brian fog has taken over. Will try to get over it.

>>16273496, >>16273504, >>16273507, >>16273512, >>16273517, >>16273521, >>16273534, >>16273536, >>16273541, >>16273544 -Answering the Call to Dig NED; Let's Look at Their History

A Bun forBaker