Democracy and Development in a globalization world

The is an evolving broad understanding that the linkages between democracy and development are multiple and equally relevant for national political actors on the one and, and for the development and democracy assistance communities on the other. The implications of these linkages appear to be at the core of some of the key challenges the various actors face today, such as: the decreasing trust in vital institutions of representative democracy in many parts of the world (political parties and parliaments in particular); the perception that domestic democratic progresses are becoming less relevant in the light of powerful external influences generated by globalization, hardly controllable financial flows, trade protectionism, mass migration and so on; the rise of populist politics and, in some cases, 'hybrid' regimes that obviously feed on the low 'delivery' capacity of many democracies, and the deepening North-South polarization - exploited by forces opposed to democracy and interested in promoting the idea that democracy is a Northern and Western construct. The democracy and development landscapes are both changing rapidly and in many ways. Regional differences are important as problems, opportunities and assets vary greatly, for example between Asia, Africa and Latin America.