The International Republican Institute (IRI) is an American nonprofit organization. Most of its board is drawn from the Republican Party. It is 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. Founded in 1983, it was initially known as the National Republican Institute for International Affairs. Its activities include assisting political parties and candidates develop their values and institutional structures,

good governance Good governance is the process of measuring how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for th ...

practices,

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.Haiti, Honduras, the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. In 2018, US Senator John McCain informed its board of his intention to step down as chair of IRI after 25 years in the role and recommended for US Senator Dan Sullivan to succeed him.

Background

The IRI is an organization founded in 1983 after U.S. President Ronald Reagan's 1982 speech before the

British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

in which he proposed a broad objective of helping countries build the infrastructure of democracy. Quoting the UN

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, ...

, 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 IRI operates abroad, providing training and assistance to political parties. As a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, it plays no part in domestic U.S. politics. However, the majority of its board are drawn from the Republican Party. Its sister organization, the

National Democratic Institute for International Affairs The National Democratic Institute (NDI), or National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, is a non-profit American NGO that works with partners in developing countries to increase the effectiveness of democratic institutions. The NDI's ...

, draws mainly from the Democratic Party. In 1995, IRI established the Freedom Award "to honor individuals who have worked to advance freedom and democracy in their countries and around the world".

Activities

Africa

IRI in Africa currently works in the following countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. 

Asia-Pacific

IRI in the Asia-Pacific currently works in the following countries Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Indonesia, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Timor-Leste. 

Eurasia

IRI in Eurasia currently works in the following countries: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. 

Controversies

2004 Haitian coup

The IRI received funding for the Haiti project from

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

for two years (late 2002–2004). IRI ended all programming in Haiti in summer 2007.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

television premiered a documentary film about the IRI's role in the coup, ''Haiti: Democracy Undone'', on 29 January 2006. IRI was accused by former US Ambassador

Brian Dean Curran Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word me ...

of undermining his efforts to hold peaceful negotiations between Aristide and his opposition after contested senatorial elections in 2000. According to Curran, Stanley Lucas, then IRI's representative in Haiti, advised opposition leaders not to compromise with Aristide, who would soon be driven from power. Curran also alleged that Lucas represented himself to the opposition as the true envoy of Washington, and his advice—which was contrary to that of the State Department—as advice from the American government.

Walt Bogdanich Walt Bogdanich (born October 10, 1950) is an American investigative journalist and three-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize. Life Bogdanich graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1975 with a degree in political science. He recei ...

and Jenny Nordberg,
Mixed U.S. Signals Helped Tilt Haiti Toward Chaos
, New York Times, 29 Jan. 2006 retrieved 28 July 2007. IRI responded to Ambassador Curran's allegations in a letter to the New York Times.

2009 Honduran constitutional crisis

The IRI received $550,000 from the

National Endowment for Democracy The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is an organization in the United States that was founded in 1983 for promoting democracy in other countries by promoting political and economic institutions such as political groups, trade unions, ...

in 2009 in order to "promote and enhance the participation of think tanks in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and Honduras as 'pressure groups' to impel political parties to develop concrete positions on key issues", and to "support initiatives to implement political positions during the campaigns in 2009" following the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis.

Cuba

The Cuban government accuses former Congressional staffer

Caleb McCarry Caleb Charles McCarry (born October 24, 1961) was the Bush administration's Cuba Transition Coordinator. The position developed out of the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba. McCarry described the Commission's purpose as to put forth "an in ...

of orchestrating the 2004 Haitian coup and attempting to provoke a coup d'état in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Middle East

According to an April 2011 ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' article, the IRI, the

and other groups were credited for training activists in the

, specifically

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, who were advocating for reform in authoritarian regimes. A ministry of justice's report on foreign funding of NGOs in Egypt has revealed that IRI in Egypt has received funding of about 7 million dollars by

for the Egyptian 2011–12 elections. The military rulers who gained control of the country following the January 2011 revolution consider this foreign funding interference in internal affairs.

Poland

The IRI program in Poland began in 1991 and has said that it united and organised a diverse range of "

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

and center right-wing" political parties together to create the

Solidarity Electoral Action Solidarity Electoral Action ( pl, Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność, AWS) was a political coalition in Poland from 1996 to 2001. From 1997 to 2001, its official name was ''Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność Prawicy'' (AWSP) or Electoral Action Solidarity ...

(AWS), which was in government in

, together with its coalition partner the Freedom Union (UW) party, from 1997 to 2001. It also said that it provided training in political campaigning, communications training and research which helped organise and create the AWS.

China

In August 2020, IRI president Daniel Twining was sanctioned – together with the heads of four other U.S.-based democracy and human rights organizations and six U.S. Republican lawmakers – by the Chinese government for supporting the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement in the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. The leaders of the five organizations saw the sanctioning, whose details were unspecified, as a tit-for-tat measure in response to the earlier sanctioning by the U.S. of 11 Hong Kong officials. The latter step had in turn been a reaction to the enactment of the

Hong Kong National Security Law The Hong Kong national security law, officially the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a piece of national security legislation concerning Hong Kong. It ...

at the end of June.

References

External links

International Republican Institute
official site {{Authority control Organizations established in 1983 Republican Party (United States) organizations 1983 establishments in the United States National Endowment for Democracy Undesirable organizations in Russia