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{{Short description|US quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization}}{{Distinguish|text=the "Great Society" National Endowments for Arts and Humanities programs}}{{Primary sources|date=February 2023}}{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}

factoids

501(c)(3) Non-profit organization>non-profitNGO | tax_id = 52-1344831| registration_id =Washington, D.C., U.S.| coordinates = | origins = U.S. Congress resolution H.R. 2915| key_people = Damon Wilson (President)| area_served = Worldwide (outside United States)| subsid = | owner = | motto = www.ned.org}}| footnotes = }}File:Gershman.jpg|thumb|right|alt=|The President of the National Endowment for Democracy, Carl Gershman (second from the left), presents an award to a Tunisian leader of the Arab SpringArab SpringThe National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization in the United States founded in 1983 to advance democracy worldwide,BOOK, Richmond, Yale,weblink Practicing Public Diplomacy: A Cold War Odyssey, Berghahn Books, 2008, 978-0-85745-013-5, 161, en, NED was founded at the initiative of a small group of Washington insiders, who believed that the United States needed a 'quango' (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization) to promote liberal democracy and counter communist influence abroad ... ., JOURNAL, Otsuru-Kitagawa, Chieko, 1998, The Role of QUANGO in American Democratic Assistance,weblink International Relations, 1998, 119, 127–141, 10.11375/kokusaiseiji1957.119_127, 1883-9916, by promoting political and economic institutions, such as political groups, trade unions, free markets, and business groups.WEB, About the National Endowment for Democracy,weblink August 27, 2021, National Endowment for Democracy, en-US, NED is dedicated to fostering the growth of a wide range of democratic institutions abroad, including political parties, trade unions, free markets and business organizations, The NED was created as a bipartisan, private, non-profit corporation, and in turn acts as a grant-making foundation.WEB, Lowe, David, History - Idea to Reality: NED at 30,weblink National Endowment for Democracy, It is funded primarily by an annual allocation from the U.S. Congress.BOOK, Dominguez, Jorge I.,weblink The Future of Inter-American Relations, Routledge, 2013, 978-1-136-68424-1, 429, en, "13: On NED and other QUANGO programs...", In addition to its grants program, the NED also supports and houses the Journal of Democracy, the World Movement for Democracy, the International Forum for Democratic Studies, the Reagan–Fascell Fellowship Program, the Network of Democracy Research Institutes, and the Center for International Media Assistance.WEB, 2023-06-15, Center for International Media Assistance,weblink 2023-06-27, Center for International Media Assistance, en-US, WEB, NDRI Member Institutes,weblink 2023-06-27, NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY, en-US, Upon its founding, the NED assumed some former activities of the CIA. Political groups, activists, and some governments have said the NED has been an instrument of United States foreign policy helping to foster regime change.NEWS, Shih, Gerry, China announces sanctions against U.S.-based nonprofit groups in response to Congress's Hong Kong legislation,weblink Washington Post, 4 February 2024, 2 December 2019, China, echoing such governments as Venezuela and Egypt, has previously taken aim at the NED, established in 1983 and funded by Congress to promote democracy worldwide. The Foreign Ministry in August distributed a lengthy report that named the NED as a U.S. intelligence front and listed its 20-year history of funding political groups in Hong Kong, MAGAZINE, Kinzer, Stephen, Bednarz, Christine, What Is the N.E.D.'s Mission? {{!, Christine Bednarz |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2021/10/21/what-is-national-endowment-democracy-mission/ |website=New York Review of Books |access-date=4 February 2024 |language=en|quote=The National Endowment for Democracy, which receives nearly all its funds from Congress, is a conduit through which the US government has given millions of dollars to political and other protest groups in countries from Albania to Haiti}}JOURNAL, Geoghegan, Kate, A Policy in Tension: The National Endowment for Democracy and the U.S. Response to the Collapse of the Soviet Union, Diplomatic History, 1 November 2018, 42, 5, 772–801, 10.1093/dh/dhx088,weblink 4 February 2024, Ignatius’s analysis illuminates an important but understudied development in the final years of the Cold War: the rise of private democracy organizations as tools of U.S. foreign policy, WEB, Chaulia, Sreeram, Democratisation, NGOs and "colour revolutions",weblink OpenDemocracy, 4 February 2024, 19 January 2006, Left out of the above count are victorious overthrows of democratically-elected governments in Bulgaria (1990), Albania (1992) and Haiti (late 1990s) and destabilisation in Panama, Cuba and Venezuela. The next section will demonstrate that the latest feathers in NED's cap are the colour revolutions, WEB, What is the National Endowment for Democracy and how does it promote regime change around the world?,weblink Morning Star, 4 February 2024, en, 25 February 2019, NEWS, Shipler, David K., Missionaries for democracy: US aid for global pluralism,weblink 2 April 2021, subscription, The New York Times, 1 June 1986, It would be terrible for democratic groups around the world to be seen as subsidized by the CIA. We saw that in the 1960's and that's why it has been discontinued. We have not had the capability of doing this, and that's why the endowment was created., The National Endowment for Democracy Responds to Our Burma Nuclear Story -- And Our Response, ProPublica (November 24, 2010).{{Excessive citations inline|date=February 2024}}

History

Founding

The National Security Decision Directive 77 was instrumental for the creation of Project Democracy and its offspring NED.BOOK, Snow, Nancy,weblink Propaganda, Inc. : selling America's culture to the world, 2010, Seven Stories Press, 978-1-60980-082-6, 3rd, New York, 60, 649914030, In a 1982 speech at the Palace of Westminster, President Ronald Reagan proposed an initiative, before the British Parliament, "to foster the infrastructure of democracy – the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities."WEB, Philip Seib, The Reagan Legacy and Democracy, HuffPost, June 6, 2012,weblink August 24, 2020, WEB, Bush, Sarah, Are we repeating democracy promotion mistakes in Tunisia?, Foreign Policy, July 9, 2012,weblink August 24, 2020, This intersected with previously formulated plans by the American Political Foundation, an NGO supported by some members of the Republican and Democratic parties, together with scholars based at CSIS, to create a government-funded but privately run democracy promotion foundation to support democratic civil society groups and parties. The idea was strongly championed by the State Department, which argued that a non-governmental foundation would be able to support dissident groups and organizations in the Soviet Bloc, and also foster the emergence of democratic movements in US-allied dictatorships that were becoming unstable and in danger of experiencing leftist or radical revolutions, without provoking a diplomatic backlash against the US government. After some initial uncertainty over the idea from Reagan Administration hard-liners, the U.S. government, through USAID (United States Agency for International Development), contracted The American Political Foundation to study democracy promotion, which became known as "The Democracy Program".BOOK, Pee, Robert, Democracy Promotion, National Security and Strategy: Foreign Policy under the Reagan Administration, 2015, Routledge, Abingdon, UK, 978-1-138-82865-0, 20–32, 56–60, 78–82, 86–7, 137–9,weblink June 24, 2021, The Program recommended the creation of a bipartisan, private, non-profit corporation to be known as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). NED, though non-governmental, would be funded primarily through annual appropriations from the U.S. government and subject to congressional oversight.WEB,weblink History, National Endowment for Democracy, November 3, 2008,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080426072447weblink">weblink April 26, 2008, dead, In 1983, the House Foreign Affairs Committee proposed legislation to provide initial funding of $31.3 million for NED as part of the State Department Authorization Act (H.R. 2915), because NED was in its beginning stages of development the appropriation was set at $18 million. Included in the legislation was $13.8 million for the Free Trade Union Institute, an affiliate of the AFL–CIO, $2.5 million for an affiliate of the National Chamber Foundation, and $5 million each for two party institutes, which was later eliminated by a vote of 267–136. The conference report on H.R. 2915 was adopted by the House on November 17, 1983, and the Senate the following day. On November 18, 1983, articles of incorporation were filed in the District of Columbia to establish the National Endowment for Democracy as a nonprofit organization.

1980s to present

An analysis by political scientist Sarah Bush found that while NED activity in the 1980s focused on direct challenges to autocrats by funding dissidents, opposition parties, and unions, the majority of 21st-century NED funding goes to technical programs that are less likely to challenge the status quo, with the proportion of NED funding for "relatively tame programs" increasing from roughly 20% of NED grants in 1986 to roughly 60% in 2009.BOOK, O'Rourke, Lindsey,weblink Covert Regime Change: America's Secret Cold War, 2018, Cornell Studies in Security Affairs, Cornell University Press, 978-1-5017-3069-6, 229–230, en, Political scientist Lindsey A. O'Rourke writes that, "Today, NED programs run in more than ninety countries. Although the number of US-backed democracy promotion programs have grown, most of today's programs pursue less aggressive objectives than their Cold War counterparts."In a 1991 interview with the Washington Post, NED founder Allen Weinstein said: "A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA."During the 1984 Panamanian general election the American Institute for Free Labor Development and the NED provided around $20,000 in support of activists involved with Ardito Barletta's campaign.NEWS, Franklin, Ben A., Project Democracy Takes Wing,weblink live,weblink 29 May 1984, 7 October 2022, 7 June 2023, The New York Times, NEWS, Kempster, Norman, Troubled Foundation: Democracy-Export Stirs Controversy,weblink 6 February 1986, live,weblink 14 August 2022, 7 June 2023, Los Angeles Times, The NED played a role in supporting the Arab Spring of 2011. For example, the April 6 Youth Movement in Egypt, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and individual Yemeni activist Entsar Qadhi received training and finances from the NED.NEWS, Nixon, Ron, Ron Nixon, 2011-04-14, U.S. Groups Helped Nurture Arab Uprisings, en-US, The New York Times,weblink live, 2023-02-11,weblink 2019-07-15, 0362-4331, In Egypt, between 2008 and 2012, it also supported Colonel Omar Afifi Soliman, an exiled police officer who opposed both Hosni Mubarak's and Mohamed Morsi's presidencies, as well as secularist activist Esraa Abdel-Fatah's Egyptian Democratic Academy in 2011.WEB, Mekay, Emad, Exclusive: US bankrolled anti-Morsi activists, Al Jazeera, January 25, 2018,weblink August 24, 2020, Since 2004 it has granted US$8,758,300 to Uyghur groups including the World Uyghur Congress, the Uyghur Human Rights Project, the Campaign for Uyghurs and The Uyghur Transitional Justice Database Project.WEB, May 29, 2020, Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act Builds on Work of NED Grantees,weblink live,weblink June 21, 2020, December 11, 2020, National Endowment for Democracy, en-US, It has also supported Chinese dissidents. For example, between 2005 and 2012 it gave small grants to the China Free Press NGOWEB, Driven to 'near extinction': Beijing's high-pressure campaign against the foreign Chinese-language press, Coda Story, May 6, 2020,weblink August 24, 2020, and in 2019 it gave about $643,000 to civil society programmes in Hong Kong.MAGAZINE, Trump Administration Freezes Funding Intended to Benefit Hong Kong Protesters, Time, June 26, 2020,weblink August 24, 2020, In response, in 2020 China imposed sanctions on NED president Carl Gershman and Michael Abramowitz, the president of Freedom House.WEB, China sanctions US senators over Hong Kong, BBC News, August 10, 2020,weblink August 24, 2020,

Funding and structure

NED is a grant-making foundation, distributing funds to private non-governmental organizations for promoting democracy abroad in around 90 countries. Half of NED's funding is allocated annually to four main U.S. organizations: the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (associated with the AFL–CIO), the Center for International Private Enterprise (affiliated with the USCC), the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (associated with the Democratic Party), and the International Republican Institute (formerly known as the National Republican Institute for International Affairs and affiliated with the Republican Party). The other half of NED's funding is awarded annually to hundreds of non-governmental organizations based abroad which apply for support.WEB,weblink Grants, National Endowment for Democracy, November 3, 2008, In 2011, the Democratic and Republican Institutes channeled around $100 million a year through the NED.WEB, April 15, 2011, U.S. groups nurtured Arab uprisings,weblink August 24, 2020, United Press International,

Source of funding

The NED receives an annual appropriation from the U.S. budget (it is included in the chapter of the Department of State budget destined for the U.S. Agency for International Development-USAID) and is subject to congressional oversight even as a non-governmental organization.WEB,weblink 2008 Independent Auditors' Report, 2008, National Endowment for Democracy, April 2, 2010, From 1984 to 1990 the NED received $15–18 million of congressional funding annually, and $25–30 million from 1991 to 1993. At the time the funding came via the United States Information Agency. In 1993 the NED nearly lost its congressional funding, after the House of Representatives initially voted to abolish its funding. The funding (of $35 million, a rise from $30 million the year before) was only retained after a vigorous campaign by NED supporters.JOURNAL, Carothers, Thomas, 1994, The NED at 10, Foreign Policy, 95, 123–138, 10.2307/1149427, 0015-7228, 1149427, In the financial year to the end of September 2009 NED had an income of $135.5 million, nearly all of which came from U.S. Government agencies. In addition to government funding, the NED has received funding from foundations, such as the Smith Richardson Foundation, the John M. Olin Foundation, and others. The Bradley Foundation supported the Journal of Democracy with $1.5 million during 1990–2008.WEB,weblink Recipient Grants: National Endowment for Democracy, Media Transparency, November 3, 2008, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080804085509weblink">weblink August 4, 2008, In 2018, President Donald Trump proposed to slash the NED's funding and cut its links to the Democratic and Republican Institutes.MAGAZINE, Trump's Disdain for Democracy Promotion, The New Republic, March 6, 2018,weblink August 24, 2020, NEWS, Rogin, Josh, The Trump administration wants to dismantle Ronald Reagan's 'infrastructure of democracy', Washington Post, March 5, 2018,weblink August 24, 2020,

Board

{{update section|date=January 2022}}NED's current president is Damon Wilson. His predecessor was Carl Gershman, serving between April 30, 1984World Movement for Democracy, Carl Gershman {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403025849weblink|date=April 3, 2013}} and July 2021. Carl Gershman was a former Senior Counselor to the United States Representative to the United Nations and former executive director of Social Democrats, USA.WEB,weblink November 2, 2008, Meet Our President, July 9, 2008, National Endowment for Democracy,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080426072715weblink">weblink April 26, 2008, dead, WEB, An Interview With Carl Gershman '65, President of the National Endowment for Democracy, The Politic, November 20, 2017,weblink August 24, 2020, In January 2024, NED announced the addition of Alyssa Ayres, Elizabeth Economy, and Juan Zarate to its board of directors.WEB, 2024-01-30, National Endowment for Democracy Announces New Board Members,weblink 2024-02-02, NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY, en-US,

Democracy Award

NED's Board of Directors annually gives a Democracy Award to recognize "the courageous and creative work of individuals and organizations that have advanced the cause of human rights and democracy around the world." The trophy is a small-scale replica of the Goddess of Democracy that was constructed during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.Democracy Award – Official website of the National Endowment for DemocracyNotable recipients include: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, former President of Mexico Vicente Fox, journalist Veton Surroi, and most recently, four civil society organizations focused on defending Ukraine amid Russia's war.NEWS,weblink National Endowment for Democracy Honors President of Mexico, Center, Foundation, Philanthropy News Digest (PND), September 14, 2017, en, WEB,weblink Veton Surroi, journalist and activist, to speak about Kosovo War {{!, U-M LSA Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia (WCEE)|website=www.ii.umich.edu|language=en|access-date=September 14, 2017}}WEB, 2022-05-18, 2022 NED Democracy Award Pays Tribute to Ukrainian Civil Society,weblink 2023-05-21, NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY, en-US, Past speakers at the award's ceremony have included U.S. Senator John McCain, Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.NEWS,weblink Senator John McCain's Remarks To NED On Iran's Opposition And The U.S., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, June 12, 2010, September 14, 2017, NEWS,weblink Speaker Ryan to Address NED 2017 Democracy Award Ceremony, June 6, 2017, Speaker.gov, September 14, 2017,weblink December 23, 2018, dead, NEWS,weblink Pelosi Remarks at the National Endowment for Democracy - Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, November 13, 2013, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, September 14, 2017, en-US, September 7, 2016,weblink dead,

Recipients{|class"wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style"text-align:center"

! scope="col" width=50 style="background:gold;"|Year! scope="col" width=150 style="background:gold;"|Theme! scope="col" width=150 style="background:gold;"|Recipient! scope="col" width=150 style="background:gold;"|Nationality! scope="col" class=unsortable width=250 style="background:gold;"| Notes|2022|Pays tribute to Ukrainian civil societyAnti-Corruption Action Center, Center for Civil Liberties (human rights organization)>Center for Civil Liberties, Public Interest Journalism Lab, Ukrainian Volunteer Service|Ukraine|"Ukraine's democratic development, led by its people and civil society, is key to the country's success—not only to Ukraine's defeat of Russian forces, but also to ensure Ukraine's democracy emerges stronger from this horrific war. These four organizations exemplify the heroic struggle, courage, and determination of millions of Ukrainians who risk everything to defend democracy and freedom."—NED President Damon Wilson |2021|Pays tribute to Central American civil society|Human Rights Collective Nicaragua Nunca Más (Nicaragua), Contracorriente (Honduras), The Myrna Mack Foundation (Guatemala), Transparency, Social Oversight, and Open Data Association (El Salvador)|Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El SalvadorURL=HTTPS://WWW.NED.ORG/2021-NED-DEMOCRACY-AWARD-PAYS-TRIBUTE-TO-CENTRAL-AMERICAN-CIVIL-SOCIETY/ WEBSITE=NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY, en-US, 2020Working to strengthen civil society in Sudan | Regional Centre for Development and Training {{flag|Sudan}}DATE=MARCH 5, 2020WEBSITE=NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY, | Nuba Women for Education and Development Association| Group, trained local women activists to engage in peace processes and activism on local issues and respect for women's rights| Darfur Bar Association| Group, supported marginalized people to advocate for their rights and provided legal assistance to vulnerable activists before and during the protests2019Defenders of human and religious rights in ChinaChinaAid.org>ChinaAid{{flag|China}}| Group, represented by Bob Fu, international non-profit Christian human rights organization committed to promoting religious freedom and the rule of law in China| World Uyghur CongressDolkun Isa, advocating for democracy, human rights, and freedom for the Uyghur people and the use of peaceful, nonviolent, and democratic means to help Uyghurs achieve self-determinationHTTPS://WWW.NED.ORG/DEFENDERS-OF-HUMAN-AND-RELIGIOUS-RIGHTS-IN-CHINA-TO-RECEIVE-2019-DEMOCRACY-AWARD-ON-30TH-ANNIVERSARY-OF-TIANANMEN-MASSACRE/DATE=MAY 21, 2019WEBSITE=NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY, | Tibet Action Institute| Group, represented by Lhadon Tethong, uses digital communication tools with strategic nonviolent action to strengthen the capacity and effectiveness of the Tibet movement in a digital era2018Movement for human rights and democracy in North Korea| Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights {{flag|South Korea}}| Seoul-based group advocating for human rights in North Korea.2018 Democracy Award Recipient: Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR), National Endowment for Democracy.| Now Action & Unity for Human Rights| Group, led by Ji Seong-ho, advocating for human rights in North Korea and Korean reunification.2018 Democracy Award Recipient: Now, Action & Unity for Human Rights (NAUH), National Endowment for Democracy.| Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG)| Seoul-based non-profit that documents evidence of crimes against humanity in North Korea.2018 Democracy Award Recipient: Transitional Justice Working Group, National Endowment for Democracy.| Unification Media Group (UMG) | Seoul-based multimedia consortium that includes Daily NK, Radio Free Chosun, and Open North Korea Radio.2018 Democracy Award Recipient: Unification Media Group, National Endowment for Democracy.2017Anti-corruption activists| Cynthia GabrielMalaysia}}| Human rights advocate and anti-corruption leader in Malaysia.2017 Democracy Award: Five Anti-corruption Activists Honored, Cynthia Gabriel, Malaysia, National Endowment for Democracy.| Khalil ParsaAfghanistan|2013}}2017 Democracy Award: Five Anti-corruption Activists Honored: Khalil Parsa, Afghanistan {{Webarchive>url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702141034weblink |date=July 2, 2020 }}, National Endowment for Democracy.| Claudia EscobarGuatemala}}rule of law advocate; fled the country in 2015 after becoming a whistleblower in a corruption cases involving illegal political interference in the Guatemalan judiciary.HTTPS://WWW.NED.ORG/2017-DEMOCRACY-AWARD/CLAUDIA-ESCOBAR/WEBSITE=NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY, Rafael Marques (journalist)>Rafael Marques de MoraisAngola}}| Angolan journalist and human rights activist focused on investigating government corruption, impunity, and abuses in the diamond industry.2017 Democracy Award: Five Anti-corruption Activists Honored: Rafael Marques De Morais, Angola, National Endowment for Democracy. | Denys BihusUkraine}}corruption in Ukraine>corruption and anti-corruption.2017 Democracy Award: Five Anti-corruption Activists Honored: Denys Bihus, Ukraine, National Endowment for Democracy.| 2015| Political prisoners of Venezuela|Venezuela}}| Mitzy Capriles de Ledezma, Lilian Tintori and Tamara Sujú accepted the award on behalf of "imprisoned political leaders, human rights defenders, labor unionists, and student activists."2015 Democracy Award, National Endowment for Democracy.2014 Chinese dissidents| Liu Xiaobo {{flag|China}}| 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, human rights and political reform activist known for role in launching of Charter 08.2014 Democracy Award, National Endowment for Democracy.| Xu Zhiyong| Legal scholar, co-founder of Open Constitution Initiative in China.2013 Youth pro-democracy activists| Gulalai IsmailPakistan}}| Human rights activist that established Aware Girls at the age of 16.2013 Democracy Award, National Endowment for Democracy.| Harold CeperoCuba}}| One of the authors of Varela Project in Cuba. Award given posthumously.| Vera KichanovaRussia}}| Reporter for the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, civic activist, municipal deputy in Yuzhnoye Tushino District, Moscow.| Glanis ChangachirereZimbabwe}}| Founder of Institute for Young Women's Development.2012Burmese democracy movement| Min Ko Naing {{flag|Myanmar}}| Founding member of the 88 Generation Students Group.2012 Democracy Award, National Endowment for Democracy.| Hkun Htun Oo| Politician and chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy.| Kyaw Thu| Actor and founder of the Free Funeral Service Society.| Aung Din8888 Uprising>1988 pro-democracy movement.| Cynthia MaungKaren people>Karen physician and medical clinic worker.2002Women activists in the Muslim world| Mehrangiz KarIran}}PUBLISHER=NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20080509025442/HTTP://WWW.NED.ORG/PUBLICATIONS/NEWSLETTERS/SUMMER02.HTML#MUSLIMWOMEN URL-STATUS=DEAD, | Muborak TashpulatovaUzbekistan}}| Civics education activist, Tashkent Public Education Center director.| Nadjet BoudaAlgeria}}Forced disappearance>disappeared" of the Algerian Civil War.| Mariam Hussein MohamedSomalia}}| Mogadishu-based human rights activist, founder and director of the Dr. Ismail Jumale Human Rights Organization.

Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA)

In 2006, CIMA was founded as an initiative of the National Endowment for Democracy with encouragement from Congress and a grant from the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.WEB,weblink National Endowment for Democracy, August 2, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130312165233weblink">weblink March 12, 2013, dead, CIMA promotes the work of independent media and journalists abroad, with a focus on the developing world, social media, digital media, and citizen journalism.ENCYCLOPEDIA, Marion Jeanette Herbert, Center for International Media Assistance, Encyclopedia of Social Media and Politics, 2, 249–50, SAGE, 2013, 9781452290263,weblink It issued its first report, Empowering Independent Media: U.S. Efforts to Foster Free and Independent Media Around the World, in 2008, and subsequently issued other reports, including a report on digital media in conflict-prone societies and a report on mobile phone use in Africa.

Reception

Writing in Slate in 2004, Brendan I. Koerner wrote that, "Depending on whom you ask, the NED is either a nonprofit champion of liberty or an ideologically driven meddler in world affairs."Brendan Koerner, Bush Aims To Raise Whose Budget? The skinny on the National Endowment for Democracy, Slate (January 22, 2004).NED has been criticized by both the right and the left.BOOK, O'Toole, Gavin,weblink Politics Latin America, 2014, Routledge, 978-1-317-86195-9, en, REPORT,weblink Cato Institute Foreign Policy Briefing No. 27: Loose Cannon: The National Endowment for Democracy, Conry, Barbara, Cato Institute, November 8, 1993, August 12, 2019, Some on the right accuse the NED of having a pro-social democracy agenda, promoted through its labor affiliate; conversely, some on the left accuse the NED of being "a rightwing initiative" oriented toward Reagan's Cold War politics. Within Latin America, critics accuse the NED of manifesting U.S. paternalism or imperialism, conversely, "supporters say that it helps many groups with a social-democratic and liberal orientation across the world," providing training and support for pro-democracy groups that criticize the U.S. In a 2004 article for the Washington Post, Michael McFaul argues that the NED is not an instrument of U.S. foreign policy. He said he experienced the difference between the actions of US policymakers and the actions of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) while representing the NDI in Moscow during the last days of the Soviet Union: U.S. policymakers supported Mikhail Gorbachev while the NDI worked with Democratic Russia, Gorbachev's opponents.WEB,weblink 'Meddling' In Ukraine: Democracy is not an American plot, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Michael, McFaul, November 3, 2008, NED has said in public statements that democracy evolves "according to the needs and traditions of diverse political cultures" and does not necessitate an American-style model.In 1986, NED's President Carl Gershman said that the NED was created because "It would be terrible for democratic groups around the world to be seen as subsidized by the CIA. We saw that in the 1960s and that's why it has been discontinued".NEWS, Shipler, David K., Missionaries for democracy: US aid for global pluralism,weblink April 2, 2021, subscription, The New York Times, June 1, 1986, It would be terrible for democratic groups around the world to be seen as subsidized by the CIA. We saw that in the 1960's and that's why it has been discontinued. We have not had the capability of doing this, and that's why the endowment was created., Throughout the course of a 2010 investigation by ProPublica, Paul Steiger, the then editor in chief of the publication said that "those who spearheaded creation of NED have long acknowledged it was part of an effort to move from covert to overt efforts to foster democracy" and cited as evidence a 1991 interview in which then-NED president Allen Weinstein said, "A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA."Critics have compared the NED's funding of Nicaraguan groups (pro-U.S. and conservative unions, political parties, student groups, business groups, and women's associations) in the 1980s and 1990s in Nicaragua to the previous CIA effort "to challenge and undermine" a left-wing government in Chile.BOOK, Dent, David W.,weblink U.S.-Latin American Policymaking: A Reference Handbook, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995, 978-0-313-27951-5, 467, en, (Latin Americanist scholar William M. LeoGrande writes that the NED's roughly $2 million funding into Nicaragua between 1984 and 1988 was the "main source of overt assistance to the civic opposition," of which about half went to the anti-Sandinista newspaper La Prensa.BOOK, William M. LeoGrande,weblink 2009, Our Own Backyard: The United States in Central America, 1977-1992, 543, Univ of North Carolina Press, 9780807898802, ) According to sociologist William Robinson, NED funds during the Reagan years were "ultimately used for five overlapping pseudo-covert activities: leadership training for pro-American elites, promotion of pro-American educational systems and mass media, strengthening the 'institutions of democracy' by funding pro-American organizations in the target state, propaganda, and the development of transnational elite networks."BOOK, O'Rourke, Lindsey,weblink Covert Regime Change: America's Secret Cold War, 2018, Cornell Studies in Security Affairs, Cornell University Press, 978-1-5017-3069-6, 6768, en, Criticizing these activities, Robinson wrote that "U.S. policymakers claim that they are interested in process (free and fair elections) and not outcome (the results of these elections); in reality, the principal concern is outcome."Political scientist Lindsey A. O'Rourke writes that the Reagan-era NED played a key role in U.S. efforts "to promote democratic transitions in Chile, Haiti, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, the Philippines, Poland, and Suriname," but did so to promote the success of pro-U.S. parties, not just to promote democracy, and did not support communist or socialist opposition parties. The North American Congress on Latin America says that the NED engages in a "a very particular form of low-intensity democracy chained to pro-market economics--in countries from Nicaragua to the Philippines, Ukraine to Haiti, overturning unfriendly 'authoritarian' governments (many of which the United States had previously supported) and replacing them with handpicked pro-market allies."JOURNAL, Ginden, Jonah, Weld, Kristen, Benevolence or intervention? Spotlighting U.S. soft power, NACLA Report on the Americas, 2007, 40, 1, 19–21, 10.1080/10714839.2007.11722321, 157461987,

Thailand and Malaysia

In the 2020 Thai protests, pro-government groups cited NED support for protester-sympathizing groups to assert that the US government was masterminding the protests. The United States Embassy in Bangkok formally denied allegations of funding or supporting protesters.NEWS, August 31, 2020, U.S. Embassy Denies Funding Anti-Govt Protests,weblink August 31, 2020, Khaosod English, en-US, In August 2021, Malaysian human rights activist and Suaram adviser Kua Kia Soong criticized the opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan for accepting funding from the National Endowment of Democracy, which he described as a "CIA soft power front". Citing the US track record of supporting regime change abroad and racial discrimination against Black and Asian Americans, Kua urged Malaysian civil society organizations to stop accepting funding from the NED since it undermined their legitimacy, independence, and effectiveness. Kua's statement came after Daniel Twining, the president of the NED affiliate International Republican Institute, had made remarks in 2018 acknowledging that the NED had financially supported Malaysian opposition parties since 2002. Following the 2018 Malaysian general election Twining had also praised the newly elected Pakatan Harapan government for freezing Chinese infrastructural investments.NEWS, Up to PH to reveal funding by US-based NED, says activist,weblink August 8, 2022, Free Malaysia Today, August 30, 2021,weblink September 2, 2021, live, NEWS, Suaram adviser questions Pakatan Harapan's funding from the National Endowment for Democracy,weblink August 8, 2022, The Star (Malaysia), The Star, August 30, 2022,weblink August 30, 2021, live,

Reaction from foreign governments

Russia

Russian government officials and state media have frequently regarded the NED as hostile to their country.NEWS, Alec Luhn, National Endowment for Democracy is first 'undesirable' NGO banned in Russia,weblink July 28, 2019, The Guardian, In 2015, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti blamed NED grants for the Euromaidan mass protests that forced Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych from power. In July 2015, the Russian government declared NED to be an "undesirable" NGO, making the NED the first organization banned under the Russian undesirable organizations law signed two months earlier by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

China

During the 2014 Hong Kong protests, a Chinese newspaper accused the US of using the NED to fund pro-democracy protesters. Michael Pillsbury, a Hudson Institute foreign policy analyst and former Reagan administration official, stated that the accusation was "not totally false".WEB, Pillsbury, Michael, China Tries to Blame US for Hong Kong Protests,weblink Hudson Institute, October 13, 2014, In 2019, the government of the People's Republic of China sanctioned the NED in response to the passage by the U.S. Congress of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.NEWS, Shih, Gerry, China announces sanctions against U.S.-based nonprofit groups in response to Congress's Hong Kong legislation,weblink December 12, 2019, The Washington Post, December 3, 2019, The Chinese government stated that the NED and CIA worked in tandem to covertly foment the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests,Steven Lee Myers, In Hong Kong Protests, China Angrily Connects Dots Back to U.S., New York Times (September 9, 2019; updated October 15, 2019). and that NED acted as a U.S. intelligence front.WEB, China suspends US warship visits and sanctions NGOs over Hong Kong unrest,weblink Hong Kong Free Press, December 2, 2019, NED was one of several U.S.-based NGOs sanctioned by the Chinese government; others included the Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, the National Democratic Institute, and the International Republican Institute.Amy Qin, China Hits Back at U.S. Over Hong Kong Bill in a Mostly Symbolic Move, New York Times (December 2, 2019).China bars U.S. military ships, aircraft from Hong Kong, sanctions U.S.-based NGOs, Reuters (December 2, 2019). China also already tightly restricted the activities of foreign NGOs in China, particularly since 2016, and the NGOs sanctioned by China typically do not have offices on the mainland; as a result, the sanctions were regarded as mostly symbolic. NED grant recipients in Hong Kong included labor advocacy and human rights groups such as the Solidarity Center and Justice Centre Hong Kong. The Chinese government said that the sanctioned organizations were "anti-China" forces that "incite separatist activities for Hong Kong independence"; a U.S. State Department official said that "false accusations of foreign interference" against U.S.-based NGOs were "intended to distract from the legitimate concerns of Hongkongers."WEB, Snyder, Christopher, China tries to blame US for Hong Kong protests,weblink Fox News, March 24, 2015, NED has denied it provided aid to protestors in 2019.In August 2020, the Chinese government sanctioned NED chairman Carl Gershman, together with the heads of four other U.S.-based democracy and human rights organizations and six U.S. Republican lawmakers for supporting the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement in the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. The unspecified sanctions were a tit-for-tat measure responding to the earlier sanctioning by the U.S. of 11 Hong Kong officials in response to the enactment of the Hong Kong National Security Law in June 2020.NEWS,weblink U.S. democracy and human rights leaders sanctioned by China vow not to be cowed into silence, Washington Post, Carol, Morello, August 11, 2020, January 11, 2021, In December 2020 China sanctioned the senior director of the NED, John Knaus, saying he "blatantly interferes in Hong Kong affairs and grossly interferes in China's domestic affairs".NEWS,weblink China sanctions four with U.S. democracy promotion ties over Hong Kong, Reuters, November 30, 2020, In May 2022, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused NED of funding separatists to undermine the stability of target countries, instigating color revolutions to subvert state power, and meddling in other countries' politics.NEWS,weblink China accuses US for using NED as 'tool to undermine democracy' in sovereign countries, Pakistan Today, May 9, 2022, May 13, 2022,

Elsewhere

Other governments that have objected to NED activity include Iran,NEWS, Esfandiari, Golnaz, January 5, 2010, Iran Bans Contacts With 'Seditious' Foreign Groups, en, RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty,weblink February 11, 2023, Egypt, India,WEB, Singh, Vijaita Singh/Soibam Rocky, George Soros' Open Society Foundations moves Delhi High Court against Union Home Ministry, The Hindu, January 29, 2020,weblink August 24, 2020, and Venezuela.

See also

• List of recipients of the Democracy Service Medal
• National Democratic Institute for International Affairs
• United Nations Democracy Fund
• Westminster Foundation for Democracy

References

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Further reading

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• JOURNAL, Bollen, Kenneth, Kenneth Bollen, Paxton, Pamela, Morishima, Rumi, June 2005, Assessing international evaluations: An example from USAID's Democracy and Governance Programs, American Journal of Evaluation, 26, 2, 189–203,weblink 10.1177/1098214005275640, 146522432, Evaluation performed on behalf of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), at the request of and with funding from the Strategic and Operational Research Agenda (SORA) of USAID (Office of Democracy and Governance in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance), according to the {{harvtxt, National Research Council, 2008, 28, }}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• BOOK, Committee on Evaluation of USAID Democracy Assistance Programs, National Research Council, United States National Research Council, Improving democracy assistance: Building knowledge through evaluations and research, Jack A, Goldstone, Jack A. Goldstone, xvi+336, 6×9 inches, 15×23 cm, 2008, 978-0-309-11736-4,weblink Individuals can download the complete report (pdf format) for private use., 10.17226/12164,
• BOOK, William I., Robinson, Promoting polyarchy: Globalization, US intervention, and hegemony, Cambridge University Press, 1996,
• Kate Geoghegan, "A Policy in Tension: The National Endowment for Democracy and the U.S. Response to the Collapse of the Soviet Union," Diplomatic History, Volume 42, Issue 5, November 2018, Pages 772–801,
• Søndergaard, R.S. 2020. "" International Politics.
• BOOK, Pee, Robert, Democracy Promotion, National Security and Strategy: Foreign Policy under the Reagan Administration, 2015, Routledge, Abingdon, UK, 978-1-138-82865-0,weblink

External links

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• Official site

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