The complete dismantling of USAID, except for 15 legally mandated positions, was announced on March 28, just as a massive earthquake hit Thailand and Myanmar, creating an urgent need for international aid. The destruction of USAID, with resulting harm to thousands of its employees, contractors, partners, and—most of all—life-threatening consequences for millions of people around the world, is the subject of multiple legal challenges and numerous news reports over the last few weeks that are mostly focused on the loss of humanitarian and development assistance.
Events of the last few weeks also demonstrate that the loss of U.S. democracy assistance merits attention as well as actions to preserve it.
The recent arrests of the mayor of Istanbul and other opposition figures in advance of Turkey’s elections, Serbia’s intensified suppression of independent media news plus the apparent use of an illegal ultrasonic device to break up anti-corruption demonstrators, and the dissolution decision by Hong Kong’s oldest opposition party, amid prolonged crackdowns against democracy organizations and bookstores, are among the visible developments as the U.S. retreats. Such examples illustrate how adversaries of democracy are emboldened by the curtailment of U.S. assistance.
Democracy assistance aids the development of accountable, inclusive, multiparty systems that offer citizens meaningful choices and opportunities for political participation and governance that is effective, representative, and accountable. It engages parliaments, political parties, citizen organizations, and public institutions, among many other things, to promote trustworthy elections.
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Covering more than three decades and 65 countries, my electoral-related experiences confirm that democracy assistance is vital to peace and stability within and between nations, developing trade relations, and curtailing power grabs by autocrats who abuse fundamental rights, feed on corruption, and work internationally against democratic governance. Here are just a few examples that demonstrate how assistance efforts help democratic actors.
With early democracy assistance funding, international observers from two U.S. nonpartisan organizations, the National Democratic Institute (NDI, where I later worked) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), jointly determined in 1986 that Filipino nonpartisan election monitors accurately collected results from polling places and credibly demonstrated that Corazon Aquino, not Ferdinand Marcos, won the election. The observers helped the media, the U.S. Congress, and President Reagan appreciate those facts, which led to the U.S. supporting Marcos’ departure. The end of his corrupt dictatorship reinforced the stability of an important trading partner and a country that counters China’s regional influence. The Philippine election commission and citizen election monitors, often with U.S. funding, have since played important roles in supporting democratic elections in Asia and beyond.
Subsequently, nonpartisan citizen election monitoring spread around the globe with U.S. support, including the development of a global network of 250+ NGOs from 92 countries and territories (the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors - GNDEM) and regional networks that all provide solidarity to their colleagues. Many of those organizations play instrumental roles in advancing electoral reform in their countries, supported largely by U.S. funds.
International election observers from all of the key organizations in the field galvanized cooperation around a declaration of principles and a process that for 20 years has helped ensure the integrity of their efforts in hundreds of elections. U.S. democracy assistance is critical to much of that work. The same is true for the work around norms and standards for election administration and many other processes related to democracy.
There are scores of positive examples just in the electoral arena; Guatemala illustrates how efforts have matured. In 2023, political corruption was overcome and the presidential choice of Guatemala’s voters was honored in significant part because of independent results that were verified by nonpartisan citizen election monitors and strong cooperation among them, international election observers, and broader citizen and international efforts. That cooperation was aided by years of U.S. democracy assistance, which aimed at building localized endeavors to counter corruption, including activities of criminal gangs responsible for conditions that cause many to migrate to the U.S. and elsewhere. Those efforts dovetailed with citizen election monitoring.
While numerous countries provide democracy assistance, none have done so at the scale of the United States, principally through USAID, the Department of State, and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). On March 24, Congress was reportedly provided with a spreadsheet, listing approximately 900 USAID programs that would remain active after DOGE’s review and more than 5,000 that would be cancelled. A cursory review of the spreadsheet reveals that only four democracy-related programs were on the active list.
With democracy assistance virtually terminated at USAID and little information available about the State Department, the NED provides a small and important glimmer of hope. Some of the congressionally specified funding for the NED, which is distinct from that for State and USAID, was recently released and more of it is promised. The NED’s funds provide a crucial, thin lifeline. Plus, legal challenges about other congressionally mandated democracy and broader development assistance funds remain before the courts and should be put on Congress’ agenda. This is particularly important in light of a March 28 federal appeals court decision, concerning one area of challenge and because Congress is being asked to approve the so-called “reorganization” of USAID, which opens broader questions about foreign assistance.
It is vital that a popular demand be raised for the continuation of more than 40 years of bipartisan support for funding the NED and the robust democracy support that Congress directed to USAID and the State Department. That demand illustrates the connection between defending our own democracy and supporting it elsewhere.
Pat Merloe provides strategic advice to groups focused on democracy and trustworthy elections in the U.S. and internationally.
